JPS6332950A - Wafer cassette housing box - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always hold a wafer cassette housing box in a dust-free state by providing a fan and a dust removing filter in an upper part in the box having a solar cell on an outer wall and disposing a cylinder opened at the upper and lower parts for containing a wafer cassette to generate an air convection from the inside of the cylinder toward an outside. CONSTITUTION:When a motor 32 to which electric power is supplied from a solar cell 3 rotates a fan 10, air in a box 7 is sucked from the upper part of a fan, and dusts in the air is filtered through a filter 12. Cleaned air is fed between a wafer 40 and a wafer cassette 14 in a wafer cassette housing space 16 through a lower opening 28a, and sucked from an air gap 24 to an upper part. The air is then fed through an upper opening 28b of the cylinder and again blown up by the fan 10 toward the filter 12. The air convection is continued without stop during the period that a light is being applied to the solar cell. Thus, no foreign material is adhered to the wafer while the wafer housed in the cassette is being moved or stocked.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Usage of fPPI3! I! Chico The present invention relates to a wafer cassette storage box.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a wafer cassette storage box having a dust removal function.

[Prior Art] In the semiconductor manufacturing process, wafers are generally stored in wafer cassettes and moved. This is because by handling wafers in a so-called cassette-to-cassette manner, the throughput of conductor manufacturing can be dramatically increased.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, cassettes for storing wafers are usually contaminated with dust adhering to the backside of the wafers and dust falling from the outside.

Therefore, as a matter of course, there are many cases where even if a mirror-finished wafer to which no dust or foreign matter is attached is placed in a cassette, foreign matter becomes attached to the wafer surface.

Historically, in the previous process, when moving to the next process, if the wafers were stored and moved to a case, the more the wafers were moved, the more foreign matter would adhere to them.

Dust attached to the surface of the wafer is removed during (1) impurity diffusion and ion implantation processes, (2) photoresist exposure process, (3) thin film formation process, and (4) dry etching process. Acts as a serious obstacle in the process of When the width of the pattern forming the IC was wide, the influence of small dust particles could be seen through the screen, but LS1. As ultra-LSIs become more highly integrated and pattern widths become narrower, even dust as small as 0.1 μm can have a negative impact.5.

[Objects of the Invention] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer cassette storage box that can prevent foreign matter from adhering to wafers while the wafers stored in the cassettes are being moved or stored. That's true.

[Steps for Solving the Problems] As a step for solving the above-mentioned problems and also achieving the object of the present invention, the present invention provides a system in which at least one solar cell is disposed on the outer wall surface [-]. It is a box body with a cover member that can be opened and closed. A cylindrical body with a part and a lower part open and having enough space to store a wafer cassette is disposed, and a fan is driven by the solar cell to cause the flow to flow from the inside to the outside of the cylindrical body. To provide a wafer cassette storage box characterized by generating air convection.

[Operation] As described above, according to the present invention, the wafer cassette can be moved or stored in a portable clean box.

Since the wafer cassette storage box of the present invention has a solar cell built into the outer wall surface 1-, power can be supplied from the outside without contact. Therefore, there is no fear of dust generation, and it can be carried freely anywhere.

The only requirement for the wafer cassette storage box of the present invention is to ensure that indoor illumination light is always irradiated onto the solar cells mounted on the outer wall surface.

Inside the box is a motor, fan and filter.
Since a high level of cleanliness is always maintained, the cassette itself can be kept dust-free by storing only the cassette in the box.

In addition, for example, about 25 wafers are stored in a cassette,
By placing this in a storage box, the amount of foreign matter adhering to the wafer can be significantly reduced. This keeps the wafers cleaner than transporting them in cassettes within a clean room. When the storage box of the present invention is placed on a storage shelf in an empty, face-down position, if the solar cells are always irradiated with indoor lighting, the inside of the box can be kept clean at all times by the fan and filter 7.

Thus, by using the wafer cassette storage box of the present invention, dust and debris will not adhere to the wafers, and
Able to satisfactorily clear various requirements for conductor manufacturing. As a result, not only the throughput of semiconductor manufacturing can be improved, but also the manufacturing yield can be improved.

[Embodiment Code] An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of the wafer cassette storage box of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the back side thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wafer cassette storage box 1 of the present invention comprises a box body 7 having a solar cell 3 disposed on its outer wall surface and a lid member 5 which can be opened and closed.

Sun type i'lt! 3 can be any type of battery known to those skilled in the art. - By way of example, silicon or amorphous type solar cells etc. can be used. Solar type/111
3 is disposed on at least one of the top surface, left and right side surfaces, and back surface of the box body 7. It can also be provided on aesthetic parts if desired. The greater the number of solar cells installed, the higher the cleanliness inside the box.

The +lS material 5 can be arranged in the box body 7 by a hinge mechanism (not shown), or it can be constructed as a separate body and covered with the box body.

The box body 7 and the shell member 5 can be made of plastic or the like.

The inside of this box body 7 has a fan IO in one part, a dust removal filter 12 adjacent to this fan, and a space 1 sufficient to accommodate a wafer cassette 14 adjacent to the dust removal filter.
A cylindrical body 20 having an opening at a -L portion and a lower portion is disposed.

The cylinder can be made of the same or different material as the box and the 1mS material.

The cylindrical body 20 is smaller in width and depth than the box body 7. It is preferable that the height of the cylinder 20 is approximately the same as the internal height of the box. Since the cylinder 20 has a smaller circumference than the box 7, a gap 22 is formed between the cylinder and the box.

A pair of protrusions 24 for holding a wafer cassette are provided at a corner of the wafer cassette storage space 16 of the cylinder 20.

The wafer cassette 14 is placed on this protrusion 241. Furthermore, legs ff1526 are provided at the four corners of the 1-9 and 10' portions of the cylindrical body 20. The T and two wall surfaces between the leg parts are cut out, and the gap 28a and the L part are opened 1-1.
A portion 28b is formed.

At the front of the wafer cassette storage space 18, an openable and closable arm portion 30 for loading and unloading the wafer cassette 14 is provided. As a general rule, this door section 30 is closed when the wafer cassette 7) is not being taken in or taken out. The partial opening mechanism and door closing mechanism of the door portion 30 are well known to those skilled in the art and need not be specifically illustrated or described.

The fan 10 is rotationally driven by a motor 32.

The motor 32 is supplied with power from the solar cell 3 disposed on the outer wall of the box. The solar cell generates power using indoor illumination light or solar cell illumination light (for example, L E i ) element rJE1 >.

Since the power generation output of the solar cell is direct current, if an AC induction motor is used as the motor, for example, the output is converted to alternating current by an orthogonal conversion circuit (not shown). Induction AC motors generate less dust than DC motors, making them particularly desirable for use in the storage box of the present invention.

For example, a so-called HEPA filter can be used as the dust removal filter 12. Of course, other filter media can also be used. The filter material may be selected depending on the cleanliness of Li. The filter 12 is arranged inside the cylinder so that it can be replaced periodically.

As shown in FIG. 2, a motor 32 supplied with electric power from the solar pond 3 rotates the fan 10. As the fan 10 rotates, the air inside the box 7 is sucked from the -1- capital of the fan as shown by the solid arrow, and the air inside the box body 7 is sucked from the -1- capital of the fan,
Pass through 2. At this time, dust in the air is filtered out. Then, the purified air passes between the wafer 40 and the wafer cassette 14 in the univaccent storage space 16, passes through the gap 28a between the cylindrical body and from the gap 24 between the cylindrical body and the box body. 1 part is sucked and 1- is given. Then, the air passes through one section 11 28b of the cylinder and is blown down toward the filter 12 by the fan 14 and the fan 10.

While the solar cells are illuminated with light, this air convection is 11
-Continued without stopping. In this way, not only the wafers housed in the cylinder are kept clean, but also the insides of the box and cylinder themselves are kept clean.

The volume of the box and cylinder is the same as the wafer cassettes and tubes stored inside.
It can be determined depending on the size of the throat. Therefore, the size of the box and cylinder itself is not an essential requirement of the present invention.

Furthermore, the arrangement order of the fan, filter, and wafer cassette storage space within the cylinder is not limited to the illustrated embodiment; for example, the wafer cassette storage space may be arranged at number II, the filter may be arranged at number II, and the filter may be arranged at number II. A fan can also be placed on the side of this filter. 〉As the 111 law,
It is also possible to arrange a fan in the door of the wafer cassette storage space and arrange a filter in the door.

[The effects of invention! - As described above, according to the present invention, sea urchins and sea urchins can be moved or stored in a portable clean box.

The wafer cassette storage box of the present invention has a solar cell built into the outer wall 1, so that power can be supplied from the outside with just one contact. Therefore, there is no fear of dust generation, and it can be carried freely anywhere.

The only thing that is essential in the wafer cassette storage box of the present invention is that the solar cells attached to the outer wall 1 always provide indoor illumination! ! (Be careful to get one shot.)

Inside the box is a motor, fan and filter.
Since a high level of cleanliness is always maintained, the cassette 1 itself can be kept dust-free by storing only the cassette in the box.

In addition, for example, about 25 wafers are stored in a cassette,
If this is placed in a storage box, the amount of foreign matter adhering to the wafer can be reduced to 1. This keeps the wafers cleaner than transporting them in cassettes within a clean room. When the storage box of the present invention is placed on a storage shelf in an empty state, if the solar cells are always illuminated with indoor lighting, the inside of the Bozox is always maintained in a clean state by the fan and filter.

(Thus, by using the wafer cassette storage box of the present invention, various steps in the conductor manufacturing process can be completed without any dust or foreign matter on the wafers. As a result, semiconductor manufacturing Not only is the throughput improved, but the manufacturing yield can also be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of the wafer cassette storage box of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the back side thereof. ■...Wafer cassette storage box, 3...Solar battery. 5... Cap member, 7... Box body, 10... Fan, 1
2... Filter, 14... Wafer cassette, 16...
...Wafer cassette storage space, 20...Cylinder, 22.
...Void. 24...Protrusion part, 26... Leg part, 28a... 11 parts between to parts. 28b...- to section]'' section, 30...'' section, 32.
··motor. 40... wafer

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) At least one solar cell is arranged on the outer wall surface,
It is a box body having an openable and closable lid member, and inside the box body, there is a fan at the top, a dust removal filter adjacent to the fan, and a space sufficient to store a wafer cassette adjacent to the dust removal filter. A wafer characterized in that a cylindrical body having a space and having an open upper and lower part is disposed, and a fan is driven by the solar cell to generate air convection flowing from the inside to the outside of the cylindrical body. Cassette storage box. (2) the fan is rotated by an AC induction motor;
The wafer cassette storage box according to claim 1, wherein the solar cell is provided with an orthogonal conversion circuit. (3) The wafer cassette storage box according to claim 1, wherein the filter is a so-called HEPA filter.