KR20080035436A - Buffer body for packaging pellicle and method for packaging pellicle - Google Patents

Abstract

A buffer body for packaging large pellicles in a case having one side larger than 500mm is provided to protect the pellicles from vibration, shocks and dusts present in a container during the delivery. A buffer body(1), lateral buffer bodies(4) applied to all lateral faces of a pellicle case(3), and a top buffer body(5) on the top of the pellicle case constitute a packaging container of pellicles. A flat board(7) made of a different material from the buffer bodies is arranged at a certain distance away from the top of the pellicle case. The outermost peripheries of the buffer bodies and the flat board are surrounded by a container(6). A panel(8) is arranged above the container, and a pallet(9) is arranged below the container. The container, the panel, and the pallet are firmly connected to each other by a plurality of connecting bands(10).

Description

BUFFER BODY FOR PACKAGING PELLICLE AND METHOD FOR PACKAGING PELLICLE}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a packing buffer and a packing method for a pellicle used as a dust shield in manufacturing a semiconductor device, a printed board or a liquid crystal display, and particularly a large pellicle used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display.

In the manufacture of semiconductor devices such as LSI or liquid crystal displays, a pattern is produced by irradiating light onto a semiconductor wafer or a glass disc for liquid crystal, but dust adheres to a photomask or reticle (hereinafter referred to as a photomask) used at that time. If present, the transfer pattern is damaged because this dust obscures, bends, or causes light.

Therefore, these operations are usually performed in a clean room. However, since it is difficult to keep the photomask clean at all times, a method of applying a pellicle to the surface of the photomask as a dust barrier is adopted.

In this case, the foreign matter is not directly attached to the surface of the photomask, but is attached to the pellicle, so that when the focus is set on the pattern of the photomask during lithography, the foreign material on the pellicle becomes independent of the transfer.

However, the pellicles have an effect of preventing foreign matter from entering the interior from the outside of the closed space they form after being attached to the mask, but when the foreign matter is attached to the pellicle itself and is inside the closed space, the photomask It is difficult to prevent foreign matter from adhering to the surface.

Therefore, not only high cleanliness is required for the pellicle itself, but also strong performance is required for the transport container of the pellicle used for storage and transportation.

Causes of damage to the pellicle's cleanliness during transportation include oscillation due to contact between the pellicle and the pellicle case containing it, oscillation due to friction between the lid and tray of the pellicle case, and foreign matter intrusion due to deformation of the pellicle case due to external force. have.

Therefore, the transport container used for conveying a pellicle is required to have a structure that does not apply vibration or impact to the pellicle and the pellicle case containing the pellicle, and also prevents the external force applied to the pellicle case.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, the transport container used for the conveyance of the pellicle case which accommodated the pellicle has loaded the pellicle case 12 on the flat buffer 11 arrange | positioned at the bottom face of the transport container. .

Of course, the side buffer 13 and the top buffer 14 are also disposed on the side surfaces and the top surface of the pellicle case 12 in order to prevent the impact from other than the bottom surface. The buffer 11 at the bottom is absorbed.

In the case of storing a plurality of pellicle cases in the same package, for example, the buffer body is formed into a concave shape of a flat bottom deeper than the height of the pellicle case, and the pellicle case is stored therein, and the plurality of stacked plural cases are stored. The method was employ | adopted (refer patent document 1).

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication 2005-75428

In the case of the plate-shaped buffer member, a pellicle case for semiconductors of about 200 mm on one side and a small pellicle case of about 300 mm on one side even for liquid crystal have a shock absorbing effect that can withstand practical use. Obtained.

However, recently, when one side used for liquid crystal is used for a pellicle case of a large size pellicle of more than 500 mm, no matter how low the hardness is selected, a sufficient shock absorption effect is not obtained, and the pellicle is damaged after transportation. It has been found that there is a case that it becomes or becomes contaminated.

It is an object of the present invention to protect pellicles and pellicle cases from various vibrations and shocks occurring in transport containers during transport of pellicles, particularly large pellicles with one side of the pellicle case exceeding 500 mm, and prevent oscillation from their component parts. Thereby, it is providing the pellicle packing buffer which can be transported safely, maintaining a pellicle in a clean state, and the method of packing a pellicle using the same.

The pellicle packing buffer of the present invention is characterized in that irregularities are formed on the surface in contact with the pellicle case (claim 1). It is preferable that the height difference of each unevenness | corrugation is 0.5 times or more of the maximum width of a recessed part or convex part, and is 20 mm or more (claim 3). Moreover, it is preferable that the contact area at the time of loading a pellicle case in this buffer body is 30% or more and 70% or less of the total area of the pellicle case bottom surface (claim 4).

According to the method for packing pellicle of the present invention, the pellicle packing buffer is disposed on the inner bottom of the transport container, and a buffer having a thickness of 20 mm or more is disposed on all inner sides, and the pellicle is placed in the inner space surrounded by each buffer. It is characterized by receiving a case (claim 5). Further, in this wrapping method, a flat plate made of a material different from that of the cushioning material is placed at a height not in contact with the upper surface of the pellicle case housed, and each buffer body is arranged on the upper portion thereof so that a plurality of pellicle cases are stacked together. A plurality of pellicle cases can be stored in one transport container without being loaded on the lower surface (claim 6) and the pellicle case upper surface.

And when the flat plate is supported by the upper surface of the shock absorber arranged on the side of the pellicle case (claim 7), there is no need to provide a special mechanism for supporting the flat plate in the transport container.

According to the pellicle packing buffer of the present invention and the packing method using the same, the pellicle can be protected from vibration and impact during storage, transportation and transport of a large pellicle, so that no foreign matter adheres to the pellicle and is contaminated. It can be kept and transported.

The inventors found that when the pellicle case to be placed in the transport container is enlarged and the contact area between the bottom face of the pellicle case and the buffer body becomes large, the load per unit area of the pellicle packing buffer received from the pellicle case is reduced, As a result, it was found that the displacement amount was suppressed so that the predetermined buffering capacity was not exhibited, and the present invention was completed.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, this invention is demonstrated based on an accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is typical sectional drawing which shows the state which stored the pellicle in the transport container using the pellicle packing buffer of this invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view which shows an example of the pellicle packing buffer of this invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, the pellicle packing buffer (henceforth only a buffer) 1 of this invention is the structure which formed the unevenness | corrugation 2 in the surface, and a pellicle (not shown) In storing the pellicle case 3 which accommodated this in the transport container, it arrange | positions so that the surface which formed the uneven | corrugated 2 of the buffer body 1 in contact with the bottom face of the pellicle case 3 may be contacted.

The irregularities 2 formed on the surface of the buffer 1 have a shape in which a large number of conical projections 2 are arranged as shown in FIG. Although it is preferable to set it as the shape which formed the recessed part of the reverse same shape in the clearance gap between mutually, this shape and arrangement can also be made into another shape, if the buffering capacity and a manufacturing method are appropriately enjoyed.

As examples of these shapes and arrangements, the linear arrangement of Fig. 3 (a) square weight shape, the Fig. 3 (b) quadrangular pillar shape, the Fig. 3 (c) triangular cross section, the linear arrangement of Fig. 3 (d) rectangular cross section, etc. Can be mentioned. In addition, these may be a dotted arrangement instead of the compact arrangement shown.

At this time, it is preferable that the height difference of each unevenness | corrugation (h in FIG. 2) shall be 0.5 times or more of the maximum width (w in FIG. 2) of a concave or convex part. Below this, the buffer capacity falls, and the effect which added unevenness | corrugation becomes small. In addition, the height difference h of each unevenness | corrugation should be 20 mm or more. It is because a desired buffering capacity is not obtained in less than 20 mm, Especially preferably, it is 30 mm or more.

In addition, it is preferable that the total sum of the convex-contacting areas of the buffer when the pellicle case is loaded is 30% or more and 70% or less of the total area of the bottom surface of the pellicle case.

If this is less than 30%, the convex portion is not deformed in spite of the weight of the pellicle case, i.e., the hardness of the buffer is too hard with respect to the weight of the pellicle case, and the desired cushioning even when an impact is actually applied. There is a possibility that an effect may not be obtained.

On the contrary, when it is larger than 70%, the convex portion is already crushed to a considerable height, so that further deformation cannot be expected, and this also may cause a sufficient buffering effect not to be obtained.

From the above, it is necessary to appropriately determine the shape and arrangement of the unevenness 2 formed in the buffer 1 in consideration of the above points with respect to the weight and the area of the pellicle case to be stored so as to obtain a desired buffering effect. .

The material of the buffer may be appropriately selected from foams such as urethane foam, polyethylene foam, rubber foam, and latex foam, but it is not limited to these, as long as it has appropriate buffering capacity.

Hereinafter, the structure of the whole transport container in the packing method by this invention is demonstrated.

As shown in FIG. 1, the buffer 1 for side surfaces and the pellicle case 3 are arrange | positioned at the side surface buffer 4, and the upper surface buffer 5 at the upper surface of the pellicle case 3 is arrange | positioned. Then, a flat plate 7 made of a material different from that of the cushioning body for short stacking another pellicle case at a height not in contact with the upper surface of the pellicle case 3 is disposed thereon.

On this flat plate 7, each buffer body is arrange | positioned in the structure similar to the following stage, and the pellicle case of the upper end is accommodated. An upper buffer 5 is disposed in the gap between the flat plate 7 and the pellicle case, and the pellicle case 3 is considered to be lifted up and not hit the flat plate 7 by an impact during transportation.

And the outermost periphery of these buffer bodies 1, 4, 5 and the flat plate 7 is the transport container 6, the top plate 8 is arranged in the upper part, and the pallet 9 is arranged in the lower part. Then, the top plate 8, the transport container 6, and the three pallets 9 are firmly fastened by the plurality of binding bands 10.

The thickness of the side cushion 4 is preferably set to 20 mm or more in preparation for side impact. Although the contact surface with the pellicle case 3 may form the unevenness | corrugation like the buffer 1, normally, a big impact is not applied to a lateral direction, and the lateral area of the pellicle case 3 is small. Therefore, even if it contacts with a flat plate, since sufficient buffering property is obtained, a flat plate may be sufficient normally.

The flat plate 7 is preferably supported on top of the side buffer 4. In this way, the flat plate support becomes unnecessary in the transport container 6, and the buffer effect by the side buffer 4 can be expected.

It is necessary to have sufficient rigidity so that the flat plate 7 does not bend and apply a load to the pellicle case at the bottom, and plywood, reinforced cardboard, plastic corrugated cardboard, or the like having a thickness of at least 10 mm is preferable.

The upper buffer 5 may fill the gap between the pellicle case 3 and the flat plate 7, and may be the same uneven surface as the buffer 1, or may have a planar shape. However, in the case of a planar shape, the entire surface of the pellicle case is not to be covered, but only partially covered. This is because when the packing container is reversed up and down by accident during transportation, a great impact is applied to the pellicle case.

The top plate 8, the transport container 6, and the pallet 9 are preferably made of a material having sufficient strength, and materials such as plastic corrugated cardboard, reinforced corrugated cardboard, and plywood are suitably used.

As for the top plate 8, it is preferable to use a particularly rigid one so that external force may not be applied to the pellicle case 3 even when a heavy object is loaded on the top plate.

Although the binding band 10 is made of polypropylene, it is preferable to select the binding band 10 appropriately according to the weight of each structural member.

According to the pellicle packing buffer of the present invention and the packing method using the same, the pellicle can be protected from vibrations and shocks when the pellicle is stored, transported, and thus the pellicle does not adhere to the pellicle and is contaminated. I can carry it.

In addition, as mentioned above, although this invention is especially effective with respect to a large sized pellicle, even if it applies to the semiconductor pellicle and the small sized liquid crystal pellicle case whose case length is 300 mm or less, the conventional plate-shaped buffer Better buffering capacity can be expected than a transport vessel using

EXAMPLE

Hereinafter, although the Example of this invention is described, this invention is not limited to this. The buffer which consists of urethane foam materials of the shape as shown in FIG. 2 was produced. This buffer had a size of 670 x 890 mm and a thickness of 70 mm (bottom-convex top). The height of the convex part was 35 mm.

The convex part is conical, the diameter of the base (maximum diameter) part is about 60 mm, the interval of each vertex is about 60 mm, and it is arrange | positioned without a clearance in the buffer whole surface. The hardness of this material is also about 13 kgf (according to JIS K 6400 test method).

This buffer 1 was placed in a transport container as shown in Fig. 1, and a pellicle case 3 containing a clean pellicle (not shown) in which foreign substances on the membrane were checked was loaded thereon.

The size of the pellicle case 3 is 860 × 640 × 50 mm in height, and the weight including the pellicle is about 3 kg. The side shock absorbers 4 were 80 mm wide, 840 mm long and 200 mm high, and were arranged around the pellicle case 3. The upper buffer 5 is arranged in the same manner as that of the buffer 1 disposed on the bottom of the pellicle case 3 so as to be inverted vertically, that is, the uneven surface is in contact with the entire upper surface of the pellicle case 3.

A flat plate 7 made of reinforced corrugated cardboard (approximately 10 mm thick) is loaded on the upper side of the shock absorber 4, and another pellicle case is housed thereon in a completely identical configuration. It was set as the structure which accommodates.

In addition, the outer container 6 is reinforced corrugated cardboard (thickness about 10 mm), the top plate 8 is reinforced corrugated cardboard (thickness about 15 mm), and the pallet 9 is also made of reinforced corrugated cardboard (thickness about 15 mm thick). It was made. The binding band 10 which clamps these is made of polypropylene, and was firmly fastened by four bands in the shape of a sperm.

In addition, in order to measure the impact applied to a pellicle case, the shock sensor (made by Fujifilm) was firmly attached to the upper surface of each packed pellicle case with adhesive tape. In order to evaluate the performance of this transport container, the drop test from the air was performed instead of the actual transport test. The whole container was lifted to a height of 1.1m, and the entire bottom was free-falled so as to land at the same time. After that, the package was immediately opened to take out the pellicle, and the number of foreign substances on the membrane was checked in the dark room in the clean room.

As a result, two of the three pellicles stored did not show any increase in foreign matter, and the other one had two foreign matters of about 20 µm, but this could be easily removed by air blow. In addition, the value of the shock sensor was 20 G or less in either pellicle case.

[Comparative Example]

The same experiment was performed about having changed the surface shape of the buffer body 1 into the flat structure exactly as the said Example. As a result, in all three stored pellicles, hundreds of foreign materials of several micrometers to 100 micrometers were affixed, and this was unbearable at all. In addition, the value of the shock sensor showed about 60G.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is typical sectional drawing which shows the state where the pellicle case was accommodated in the transport container using the pellicle packing buffer of this invention.

It is a typical perspective view which shows an example of the pellicle packing buffer of this invention.

Fig.3 (a)-(d) is typical partial perspective view which shows the example of the uneven | corrugated shape and arrangement | positioning of the buffer for pellicle packing of this invention.

It is typical sectional drawing which shows an example of the conventional transport container.

(Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing)

1: pellicle packing buffer 2: unevenness

3: pellicle case 4: side buffer

5: buffer for upper surface 6: transport container

7: flat plate 8: top plate

9: palette 10: binding band

11 plate buffer 12 pellicle case

13: side buffer 14 side buffer

15: transport container

Claims (7)

A buffer disposed on a lower surface of a pellicle case during storage and transportation of a pellicle, wherein the unevenness is formed on a surface in contact with the pellicle case. The buffer for pellicle packing according to claim 1, wherein the height difference of each unevenness is 0.5 times or more of the maximum width of the concave portion or the convex portion. The pellicle packing buffer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the height difference of each unevenness is 20 mm or more. The pellicle packing buffer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contact area when the pellicle case is loaded is 30% or more and 70% or less of the total area of the bottom surface of the pellicle case. The buffer for pellicle packing according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is disposed on the inner bottom of the transport container, and a buffer having a thickness of 20 mm or more is disposed on the entire inner side, and surrounded by each buffer. A method for packing a pellicle, characterized in that the pellicle case is accommodated in the inner space. 6. The stacked stack of pellicle casings according to claim 5, wherein a plate member made of a material different from that of the cushioning body is disposed at a height not in contact with the upper surface of the accommodated pellicle case, and the respective buffering bodies are arranged on the upper portion thereof in the same configuration. The packing method of a pellicle characterized by the above-mentioned. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plate is supported by a top surface of the buffer disposed on the side of the pellicle case.

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