JPH10242258A - Wafer pressing tool of wafer storing container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wafer pressing tool which is easy of mounting on and removal from the body of wafer storing container. SOLUTION: This wafer pressing tool is composed of shafts 4a and 4b united with wafer pressers 3a and 3b, grooves 5a and 5b, and hooks 6a-6d fixed to the inwall of a wafer storing container body 1. Moreover, it will do to make it in such constitution that the metallic shaft 4a and 4b are fixed to the inwall of the container 1, and that the grooves 5a-5d are molded to the wafer pressers 3a and 3b themselves. In this case, it is to be desired that each groove 5a-5d should be made into longitudinal grooves which are constituted by connecting vertical grooves with grooves at predetermined angles to them. Furthermore, in the above wafer pressing tool, it will do to make the above wafer presser into the shape of a bag having a hollow, and provide that wafer presser so as to cover, in longitudinal direction, the sliding part between the groove made in the above hook and the above shaft.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has a function of aligning the positions of irregular wafers when storing wafers and preventing lateral displacement of the wafers when transporting the wafer storage container body. In particular, the present invention relates to a wafer holder improved so as to be easily attached to and detached from a wafer storage container body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the mass production period of an LSI having a degree of integration exceeding 256 Mbits, not only fine particles but also various pollutant gases contained in the air are considered to adversely affect the yield.
Wafer storage containers have been developed to protect wafers from particulates and various airborne contaminants.

The configuration of a conventional wafer storage container will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG.
Is composed of a wafer storage container body 1, a lid 2, a pair of wafer holders 13a and 13b, and two pairs of links 14a to 14d. The links 14a to 14d are connected to the inner wall of the wafer storage container body 1 and the wafer holders 13a and 13b.
, And can be freely rotated with the movement of the wafer holders 13a and 13b. The wafer storage container main body 1 and the lid 2 are generally made of resin, but are made of metal so as to withstand heat for applications requiring cleaning and baking of the wafer storage container 8. Sometimes. However, the wafer retainers 13a, 13
The b and the links 14a to 14d are often made of a resin that hardly generates dust because they include a sliding portion.

Next, the operation of the conventional wafer holder 9 of the wafer storage container 8 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A shows a state of the wafer storage container 8 before the wafer storage cassette 21 storing the wafers 20 is placed on the lid 2 and the cassette 21 is completely stored in the inside of the wafer storage container body 1. It is shown. In this case, the wafer holders 13a and 13b are not in contact with all the wafers 20 inside the cassette 21, and the positions of the wafers 20 inside the cassette 21 are uneven.

When the lid 2 is pushed up in this state, the upper surface of the lid 2 comes into contact with the lower surfaces of the wafer holders 13a and 13b, and the wafer holders 13a and 13b are lifted. As a result, the wafer holders 13a and 13b are moved by the operation of the links 14a to 14d.
It will be pushed to one side. Therefore, the wafer holders 13a and 13b have a function of aligning the positions of the wafers 20 that have been uneven. FIG. 5B shows a state of the wafer storage container in this state. Further, the wafer holder 13
a and 13b also have a function of preventing a lateral displacement of the wafer 20 when the wafer storage container 8 is carried.

[0006]

Incidentally, it is necessary to wash and bake the wafer storage container according to the frequency of use and the purpose of use of the wafer storage container. As described above, the wafer holder and link are often made of resin that is hard to generate dust because they include sliding parts. However, the resin is weak to heat, so remove the wafer holder and link when performing baking. There is a need. However, the attachment of the link to the wafer storage container body is not illustrated, but cannot be easily removed because screws are used. Also, even if the purpose is not baking, it is necessary to perform the work of disassembling and assembling the wafer storage container, and there is a problem that it takes time and trouble to attach and remove the wafer holder and the link. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer holder that can be easily attached to and detached from a wafer storage container body in order to solve the above-mentioned problems (problems) of the conventional one.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a wafer holding device provided with a hook on an inner wall of a wafer storage container main body in a wafer storage container, and a wafer holder engaged with the hook. And a groove formed so as to extend obliquely downward from the vertical direction and a shaft connecting a pair of right and left wafer retainers. With this configuration, the wafer holder can be easily attached to and detached from the wafer storage container body.

Alternatively, a hook is provided on the inner wall of the wafer storage container main body, and a wafer retainer is provided for engaging with the hook. The same effect can be obtained by a configuration in which the groove formed in the direction is engaged with a shaft connecting a pair of right and left wafer holders.

In this case, it is desirable that the hooks and the shafts are respectively arranged in upper and lower stages in the wafer container body.

Further, if the wafer retainer is formed in a bag shape and covers a sliding portion between the hook and the shaft, fine particles generated when the shaft slides along the guide of the groove are scattered. Can be prevented by the wafer holding.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

First Embodiment: The configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Figure (A)
1 is a vertical sectional side view of a main part of a wafer holding member 7 according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 (B) is a top view. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a pair of hooks 6a to 6d provided on the inner wall of the wafer storage container main body 1 in two upper and lower stages and two shafts are provided. 4a and 4b are provided integrally with the wafer holders 3a and 3b, and the wafer holders 3a and 3b are engaged with both ends of the shafts 4a and 4b in grooves 5a to 5d (described later) of the hooks 6a to 6d. It is configured to support. Each hook 6
The grooves 5a to 5d provided in the a to 6d are bent at a predetermined angle from the vertical direction as shown in FIG. It is formed so as to be a groove directed in the direction. Therefore, both ends of the shafts 4a, 4b provided through the respective wafer retainers 3a, 3b are engaged with the respective grooves 5a, 5c, 5b, 5d of the pair of hooks 6a, 6c, 6b, 6d, respectively. Finally, it is supported by the bottom of each groove. Above,
The wafer holder 7 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is configured.

Also in the case of the present embodiment, irregular wafers are sorted out by the respective wafer holders 3a and 3b in the same manner as in the prior art. Next, when the wafer holder 7 is disassembled, the shafts 4a and 4b are guided by the grooves 5a to 5d only by lifting the wafer holder 7 upward, and the hook 6
Since the upper portions of the grooves 5a to 5d of a to 6d are open,
A wafer holder 3a integrated with the shafts 4a and 4b,
3b can be easily removed, and the attachment is simple. The hooks 6a to 6d are made of metal, and are fixed to the inner wall of the wafer storage container 1 as described above. Further, since the wafer holders 3a and 3b and the shafts 4a and 4b are made of resin which is hard to generate dust, they are weak to heat and must be removed at the time of baking or the like. It can be easily performed.

Second Embodiment: The configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, no grooves are provided in the hooks 6a to 6d, and grooves 5a to 5d are provided in the wafer holders 3a and 3b instead. As shown in FIG. 2A, metal shafts 4a and 4b are fixed to the inner wall of the wafer storage container 1, and grooves 5a to 5d with which the shafts 4a and 4b are engaged are directed toward the wafer holders 3a and 3b. 2A, it is formed so as to extend diagonally upward from the side direction. Therefore, lift the wafer holders 3a and 3b,
When engaged with the shafts 4a, 4b, the shafts 4a, 4b
b is guided by the grooves 5a to 5d and fitted. in this case,
Since the lower portions of the grooves 5a to 5d are open, they can be easily attached and detached.

In this embodiment, the grooves 5a to 5a
5d is formed in a vertical direction such that it can be bent at a predetermined angle from the vertical direction, so that the wafer holders 3a and 3b are lifted up by lids (not shown), as in the first embodiment, so that the wafer storage cassette (see FIG. (Not shown) to align the positions of the wafers 20 when the wafer cassette is stored, and to prevent the wafers 20 from laterally shifting when transporting the wafer storage container.

Third Embodiment: FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention, which is a modification of the first embodiment.
This will be described with reference to (A) and (B). As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the wafer holder 7A according to the present embodiment includes:
The wafer holders 3a 'and 3b' are formed in a bag shape having a hollow portion, and the wafer holders 3a 'and 3b'
a to 6d formed in grooves 5a to 5d and shafts 4a and 4b
Is configured to cover the sliding portion with the vertical direction. With such a configuration, the shafts 4a and 4b are formed with the grooves 5a to 5d.
Can be prevented by using the wafer holders 3a 'and 3b' as shields. FIG. 3A shows the wafer holder 3
FIG. 4B is a longitudinal sectional side view in which a ′ and 3b ′ are attached to sliding portions between the grooves 5a to 5d and the shafts 4a and 4b, and FIG.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. That is, in each of the above-described embodiments, the example in which the hooks are configured in two stages, upper and lower, has been described. Further, the present invention is not limited by the shape of the groove or the material of each part constituting the wafer holder.
For example, unlike the shapes of the grooves 5a to 5d shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there may be an improvement in molding a smooth curve that is easier to attach and detach. In the above description, the wafer holders 3a, 3a
Although it has been described that the b and the shafts 4a and 4b are made of a resin that does not easily generate dust, the present invention is of course applied to a material different from this.

[0017]

According to the present invention, since the wafer holder of the wafer storage container of the present invention is detached from the inner wall of the main body of the wafer storage container by a hooking method, it is compared with the conventional one.
It has the following excellent effects. (1) In order to disassemble and clean the wafer storage container or to perform baking, it takes time and effort to remove the wafer retainer with the conventional wafer retainer. The attachment / detachment is performed by a hooking method, so that attachment / detachment can be performed very easily. (2) Further, since the hook or the groove formed in the wafer retainer itself is bent at a predetermined angle from the vertical direction, the engagement by the above-mentioned hooking is reliably performed. In addition, the lateral displacement of the wafer during transport of the wafer storage container can be reliably prevented. (3) Further, the wafer retainer is formed in a bag shape having a hollow portion, and the wafer retainer is provided so as to vertically cover a sliding portion between the groove formed in the hook and the shaft, so that the wafer retainer is formed. In addition to aligning the positions, it is possible to operate the mechanism for holding the wafer, which is necessary to prevent the wafer from being vibrated during the transport of the wafer storage container, without worrying about contamination by fine particles.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 (A) is a vertical sectional side view of a main part of a wafer holder comprising a wafer holder, a shaft and a hook, and FIG. () Is a top view.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views showing a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 2A is a longitudinal sectional side view of a main part of a wafer holder comprising a wafer holder and a shaft, and FIG. It is a top view.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 (A) is a longitudinal sectional side view in a state where a wafer retainer is attached to a sliding portion between a groove and a shaft; (B) is a top view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view showing a configuration of a conventional wafer storage container.

5A and 5B are diagrams showing functions of a conventional wafer storage container, wherein FIG. 5A is a vertical sectional side view of the wafer storage container before storing a wafer-containing cassette, and FIG. It is a vertical side view of the wafer storage container of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Wafer storage container main body 2: Wafer storage container lid 3a, 3b: Wafer holder 4a, 4b: Shaft 5a to 5d: Groove 6a to 6d: Hook 7, 7A: Wafer holder 8: Wafer storage container 20: Wafer 21 ： Wafer storage cassette

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A wafer storage container in which either a wafer storage container main body or a bottom lid for loading a wafer cassette moves upward or downward to accommodate the cassette in the wafer storage container main body and lock the bottom lid. In the above, a hook is provided on the inner wall of the wafer storage container main body, and a wafer retainer is provided for engaging with the hook. A wafer holding device for a wafer storage container, wherein the holding is performed by engaging a shaft connecting a pair of wafer holding members. 2. A wafer storage container in which either a wafer storage container main body or a bottom lid for loading a wafer cassette moves upward or downward to accommodate the cassette in the wafer storage container main body and lock the bottom lid. In the above, a shaft is provided on an inner wall of the wafer storage container main body, and a wafer retainer is provided to engage with the shaft. The engagement is performed such that the pair of left and right wafer retainers is directed obliquely upward from an inner surface in a vertical direction. A wafer presser for a wafer storage container, wherein the process is performed by engaging a shaft with a formed groove. 3. A wafer holding device for a wafer storage container, wherein the hook and the shaft according to claim 1 or 2 are respectively arranged in upper and lower stages in a wafer container main body. 4. A wafer holder for a wafer storage container, wherein the wafer holder according to claim 1 or 3 is formed in a bag shape and covers a sliding portion between the hook and the shaft.