JPS618913A - Housing box - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To keep the inside of a housing box always clean by providing an opening at four corners of the box to exhaust a foreign matter in the box through the opening by its own weight or by an air current. CONSTITUTION:A housing box consists of a rectangular parallelepiped main body 2 the top of which is opened and a lid 3 which covers the opening of the main body 2 and is freely fixed or removed. The bottom 6 of the main body 2 is provided with many holes 7 and the four corners of the bottom 6 are cut to make an opening 8. These holes 7 and openings 8 are used for exhausting foreign matters entered into the box 1 or generated within the box 1. A cartridge 4 is housed in the main body 2. For example, 25 wafers 5 are housed in the cartridge 4 stood in parallel and these wafers 5 are always kept clean.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a storage box for storing articles, and particularly to a storage box suitable for storing articles that need to be kept in a clean state at all times.

[Background technology]

As the degree of integration of semiconductor products increases, circuit patterns are becoming increasingly finer. The minimum line width of an IC pattern is about to become 1 μm or less after passing through 3 μm and 2 μm. In semiconductor manufacturing processes under these circumstances, it is important to reduce contamination from wafer dust in order to accurately form finer patterns and improve yield (probe yield). For example, Hitachi Hyoron, Vol. 65. Nα7 (
1983).

It is discussed in the article entitled "Clean System for Semiconductor Manufacturing" by Yagi et al. on pages 23-28.

Generally, a plurality of wafers, such as 25 wafers, are stored in a cartridge, and when transporting the wafers, each cartridge is handled by being placed in a storage box.

As an example of the storage box, for example, Sem1co! 1du
ctor11orld, separate volume, Buyers Gu
A "carrier transport case" introduced on page 353 of ide & Directory, October 20, 1983 issue is known.

By the way, the present applicant uses, for example, a storage box with a structure as shown in FIG. 1 as a storage box for transporting cartridges. This storage box 1 consists of a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped main body 2 that is open at the top, and a removable lid 3 that covers the opening of the main body 2, and is adapted to accommodate a cartridge 4 inside the main body 2. ing. For example, 25 wafers 5 are housed in the cartridge 4 in a row in parallel.

However, since such a storage box 1 has a sealed structure, the following phenomenon occurs, and the inventors have found that it is not necessarily suitable as a storage box for use in semiconductor manufacturing processes where dust is averse. It was made clear.

That is, since the storage box 1 has a sealed structure, if foreign matter gets inside or dust is generated at the contact area between the wafer 5 and the cartridge 4 due to vibrations during storage, transportation, etc., these foreign matter may It may adhere to the wafer 5 and reduce the yield.

Furthermore, as described above, the storage box l needs to be kept clean at all times, so it needs to be cleaned regularly. However, since the main body 2 of the storage box 1 has a box-like structure in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped, it is difficult to wash the corners, especially the four corners 1, and it is difficult to completely remove foreign substances.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a storage box with a structure that prevents objects to be contaminated.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a storage box whose interior is easily cleaned automatically at all times.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a storage box whose interior is easily cleaned by washing.

The above and other objects and novel special precipitation of the present invention are as follows:
It will become clear from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Summary of the invention]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, in the storage box of the present invention, the four corners of the main body of the storage box for storing objects are opened, and the foreign objects inside the storage box are discharged to the outside by their own weight or airflow through these openings. The inside of the storage box is kept clean at all times, and the four corners of the main body are open. As a result, the storage box can be kept clean at all times, and the effect of preventing contamination of stored objects is improved.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a storage box according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the storage box turned upside down, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the storage box in a clean room with a downflow structure.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the storage box according to this embodiment consists of a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped main body 2 with an open top, and a removable lid 3 that covers the opening of the main body 2. There is. The storage box 1 is made of plastic such as polypropylene or polyethylene. Also,
As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom 6 of the main body 2 is provided with a large number of holes (openings) 7, and the four corners of the bottom 6 are cut out to form openings 8. These holes (openings) 7 and openings 8 serve as discharge holes for discharging foreign matter mixed into the storage box 1 and foreign matter generated within the storage box 1.

A cartridge 4 is housed within the main body 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the storage box 1 accommodates the cartridge 4 that accommodates Ueno 5. For example, 25 wafers 5 are housed in the cartridge 4 in a row in parallel.

This wafer 5 needs to be kept clean at all times.

In this way, the storage box 1 is handled at a semiconductor device manufacturing work site, for example, as shown in FIG. This figure is a schematic diagram of the entire working room in a dust-free (cleaned) state. This work room 9.

Passage 1 is designed to be dust-free due to downflow.
0 and above the semiconductor manufacturing equipment 11 disposed on both sides of the passage 10, high performance filters (HEP
A) 12 are arranged.

Clean air (air) 14 is supplied to these high performance filters (HEPA) 12 from a supply duct 13.

Furthermore, the exposed floor 15 of the passage 10 and the like has a mesh structure. Beneath the floor 15 is a lean duct 16, which is forcibly exhausted by an exhaust system (not shown). Furthermore, air through holes 19 are provided at various locations on the table 17 on which the storage box 1 and the like are placed and on the device side portion 18.

Therefore, in this work room 9, clean air 14 sent from a supply duct 13 is constantly poured down from a high-performance filter (HEPA) 12 on the ceiling, and from a mesh-like floor 15 via a return duct 16. As a result of the forced exhaust treatment, the interior of the work chamber 9 is maintained clean. That is, when the foreign object 20 is brought into the work room 9, the foreign object 20 is quickly transported to the work room 9 via the return duct 16 by the airflow flowing from the ceiling toward the floor 15.
Exhausted outside. Therefore, when the storage box 1 according to the present invention is handled in such a work room 9, since the bottom of the storage box 1 is provided with a large number of openings 7 and 8, the storage box 1 is handled by the air flow and its own weight. 0 foreign objects in box ↓ 201D section 7/8'! 'NG is sucked out, carried by the air flow flowing inside the working chamber 9, and discharged outside the working chamber 9. In particular, dust such as foreign matter 20 is likely to accumulate in the partitions at the bottom of the storage box 1, but in the storage box 1 of this embodiment, the four corners of the bottom are cut out and opened. In the work chamber 9, which has a down-flow structure and is difficult to collect dust, the storage box 1
Internal cleanliness is maintained at all times.

As mentioned above, the four corners of the bottom of the storage box 1, which are the most likely to get dirty, are open, so the inside of the storage box 1 is clean, and it also has the feature that it can be cleaned quickly when washed.

〔effect〕

(1) Since the housing box 1 according to the present invention has an opening at the bottom, particularly at the four corners, foreign matter 20 that has entered the housing box 1 or foreign matter 2o generated by friction due to contact between the cartridge 4 and the wafer 5 can be removed from the openings. Since the wafers 1 are discharged from the storage box 1, the inside of the storage box 1 is always kept clean, and the wafers 5 are less likely to be contaminated by the foreign matter 20.

2. Since the storage box 1 according to the present invention has an opening at the bottom and a V-shaped
・1 Because the water flows well, the effect of cleaning can be achieved in a short time. In particular, since the four corners of the bottom, which are difficult to remove dirt from, are open, it is difficult for dirt to remain inside the storage box 1, making it ideal as a storage box for wafers 5 that must be maintained in a clean state.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. . For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained even if the openings 7 and 8 are provided at the four corners of the bottom and at the center of the bottom. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the main body 2
The opening 7 provided at the bottom is a slit-shaped opening 7 as a so-called louver structure in which the blades 21 are arranged at regular intervals.
Even so, the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained. moreover,
In the storage box 1 of the present invention, even if the opening is provided on the side and/or the top of the lid 3, the same effect as in the embodiment described above can be obtained. In this case, in order to prevent foreign matter from falling directly onto the wafer, it is better not to provide the opening directly above the wafer.

[Application field]

The above explanation has mainly been about the application of the invention made by the present inventor to semiconductor manufacturing technology, which is the background field of application, but the invention is not limited thereto. It can be applied to manufacturing technology for pharmaceuticals, food products, etc.

The present invention can be applied at least to techniques for storing articles that need to be maintained in a clean state.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional storage box, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a storage box according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the storage box turned upside down, and FIG. The figure is a schematic diagram showing a storage box in a clean room with a downflow structure, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a storage box according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a storage box according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1... Storage box, 2... Main body, 3... Lid, 4...
Cartridge, 5... wafer, 6... bottom, 7...
Hole (opening), 8... Opening, 9... Working chamber, 10
...Aisle, 11...Semiconductor manufacturing equipment, 12...High performance filter (HEPA), 13...Supply duct, 14...Air, 15...Floor, 16...Return Duct, 17... Table, 18... Equipment side, 19... Hole, 20... Foreign object, 21... Control plate. Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A storage box comprising a main body and a lid for closing the main body, characterized in that an opening is provided at the bottom of the main body. 2. The storage box according to claim 1, wherein openings are provided at the four corners of the lid.