TW201839889A - Cassette adaptor - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention discloses a cassette adaptor. The aforementioned cassette adaptor is able to load the small-sized cassette into the large-sized wafer container. Therefore the production line can use the original crane of the large-sized wafer container to transfer the small-sized cassette.

Description

 Cartridge structure transfer container  

A cassette structure transfer container, especially a cassette structure transfer container capable of loading a small-sized cassette into a large-sized wafer cassette.

In the field of manufacturing and transmission of semiconductor semi-finished products, the transmission and transmission of wafers of various sizes is a very important part. Whether it is automated control, or clean maintenance of the production line, etc., it is a focus that needs special attention on the production line or transmission line.

In addition, for various sizes of wafer transfer, it must be considered in accordance with the needs of various plants and equipment. Due to the rapid development of technology, it is often difficult to meet the needs of the current semiconductor industry for R&D or manufacturing. Often over time, it can lead to a significant increase in the demand for wafers of a specific size.

Therefore, in the original production line or transmission line, only the wafers of a certain size can be used, and it is necessary to set up a new production line for transferring wafers of a specific size. However, this will inevitably increase the production and equipment maintenance costs of semiconductor factories.

In the existing technology, such as the technology disclosed in the Republic of China Announcement Patent No. TWI283452 (wafer support connector for semiconductor wafer transport containers), a series of elastic mechanisms are designed to carry wafers and prevent wafers. Damage caused by a sloshing collision during transportation. But even with such a technology, its protection ability will still be lower than that directly loaded in the cassette. Moreover, the design of the sheet mechanism also has the disadvantage that the damage is not easy to repair. Therefore, under this premise, direct loading of the wafer through a thin and poorly wrapped mechanism is not the most ideal technique.

In the technology contained in the Republic of China Public Patent No. TW201222704 (Card Adapter), although the wrapped cassette transfer structure is described, the case has not effectively solved the different size cassettes and wafers. How to safely and smoothly ride and fix between boxes.

Also disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2002-231802 (Compatible wafer handling container (interchangeability) Prepare In the case of the transport container)), although the coated cassette structure has been used to transfer the wafer, the case still has the disadvantages of difficulty in positioning and easy slippage of the cassette. Therefore, the card structure used in the case to prevent the card from slipping out can only be applied to a special wafer cassette, and has no versatility.

Therefore, if the existing transfer device can be used to perform the wafer transfer scheme, and at the same time overcome all the deficiencies mentioned in the prior art, it will significantly contribute to the production and equipment maintenance costs of the semiconductor factory.

In order to solve the problems mentioned in the prior art, the present invention provides a cassette structure transfer container. The cassette structure transfer container mainly comprises a box body, at least two first ribs, at least two second ribs and at least two third ribs.

The box body has a positioning opening, and the positioning opening is in the shape of a trumpet, and the box body houses a cassette. The at least two first ribs are symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of the inner upper edge of the casing, and are engaged with the upper end of the cassette.

The at least two second ribs are symmetrically disposed on the left and right sides of the box body, and are engaged with the left and right sides of the cassette. Finally, the at least two third ribs are disposed at the bottom of the box and are engaged with the bottom of the cassette. The positioning opening is configured to position and guide the cassette into the cassette structure transfer container.

The above summary of the present invention is intended to provide a basic description of the various aspects and features of the invention. The invention is not to be construed as being limited to the details of the invention. The invention is not intended to be limited to the scope of the invention.

10‧‧‧Carcass structure transfer container

100‧‧‧ box

101‧‧‧First ribs

102‧‧‧Second ribs

103‧‧‧ Third rib

104‧‧‧ Positioning opening

105‧‧‧First stop

106‧‧‧second stop

107‧‧‧Positioning holes

108‧‧‧door lock

109‧‧‧ Inclination element

11‧‧‧Carmen

12‧‧‧Upper cover

121‧‧‧Fixed components

13‧‧‧Flexible components

131‧‧‧Flexible ribs

20‧‧‧wafer box

21‧‧‧Fabric lid

θ‧‧‧Slip angle

1 is a schematic structural view of an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic diagram of the embodiment of the present invention reprinted in a front open wafer cassette.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a loading cassette of a front opening wafer cassette in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a front elevational view showing the loading of the cassette in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of an upper cover and a fixing component according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the installation of the upper cover and the elastic member according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 is a schematic view showing the structure of an elastic rib according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In order to understand the technical features and practical effects of the present invention, and can be implemented in accordance with the contents of the specification, the following is a detailed description of the preferred embodiment as shown in the following figure: Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. 1 is a schematic structural view of an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the embodiment of the present invention reproduced on a front open wafer cassette; and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the front open wafer cassette of the embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the eight-inch cassette is used as the embodiment of the cassette 11, and the wafer cassette 20 is a twelve-inch front open cassette. Actually, the types of the cassette 11 and the wafer cassette 20 are not limited, and only the wafer W loaded on the cassette 11 is smaller in size than the wafer cassette 20.

As shown in FIG. 1 , in this embodiment, the cassette structure transfer container 10 that can reload the cassette 11 in the wafer cassette 20 mainly includes a box body 100 , at least two first ribs 101 , at least two second ribs 102 , and At least two third ribs 103. The case 100 has a positioning opening 104, and the positioning opening 104 has a flared shape. The positioning opening of the embodiment is set to be flared (also see FIG. 3 first), and is mainly used as the guide cassette 11 to enter the casing 100.

The design of the positioning opening 104 as a flared structure allows the present embodiment to naturally form a guide angle function, allowing the cassette 11 to be aligned and received in the cassette 100 of the cassette structure transfer container 10.

At least two first ribs 101 are symmetrically disposed on two sides of the inner upper edge of the casing 100, at least two second ribs 102 are symmetrically disposed on the left and right sides of the casing 100, and finally at least two third ribs 103 are disposed on the casing. The bottom of 100. The arrangement of the aforementioned first rib 101, second rib 102, and third rib 103 has various effects. The first rib 101, the second rib 102, and the third rib 103 of the present embodiment have a thickness closer to one end of the positioning opening 104 than to one end of the inner portion of the casing 100. In this way, in addition to the function of positioning, the frictional force of the cassette 11 sliding into the casing 100 can be reduced.

In other possible embodiments, the first rib 101, the second rib 102, and the third rib 103 can be combined with the outer shape of the cassette 11 as a slide type cassette or a fixed structure having a clamping function. No restrictions.

In the present embodiment, in order to reduce the weight of the casing 100, the positioning opening 104 is provided with a first stopper 105 and a second stopper 106 on the opposite side of the inside of the casing 100. The width of the first stop member 105 is greater than that of the second stop member 106, and the first stop member 105 and the second stop member 106 of the embodiment are further provided with at least one stop rib. The arrangement of the blocking ribs can be seen in detail in the cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 3. The blocking ribs can be used as a force point for increasing friction or force when manually or mechanically carrying the casing 100.

After the cartridge 11 is slid into the casing 100, in this embodiment, in order to prevent the cartridge 11 from sliding out of the casing 100, in addition to the use of the first stopper 105 and the second stopper 106, the casing 100 of the embodiment is used. There is at least one door lock 108. The door lock 108 may be in the form of a rotary door lock or a latch type door lock, which is not limited in the present invention. In a possible implementation, it is further configured that when the clicker 11 slides into the bottom of the case 100, the first stop member 105 and the second stop member 106 are struck while pulling at least the movement hidden in the case 100. The component (not shown) allows the door lock 108 to be automatically locked.

In a possible implementation, it may also be designed to pass through the wafer cassette 20 after the wafer cassette cover 21 is locked, and the other is disposed in the wafer cassette 20 or between the interlayers thereof while being locked on the wafer cassette 20. At least the actuating element (not shown), after in physical contact with the door lock 108, locks the door lock 108.

In this embodiment, after the cartridge 100 is mounted in the wafer cassette 20 and fixed, only the cassette 11 will touch the wafer cassette cover 21. The casing 100 itself is designed such that the positioning opening 104 does not touch the wafer cassette cover 21.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, in order to further prevent the cassette 11 from slipping out of the case 100, the case 100 of the embodiment may further be provided with at least one positioning hole 107, at least one tilting element 109 or combination. In a possible implementation, the positioning hole 107 can be used for fixing with the cassette 11 having a special cassette structure, or for fixing the cassette 100 to the wafer cassette 20. The angled element 109 can be used to match the flared structure of the positioning opening 104 to form the box body 100 of the cassette structure transfer container 10 to form an anti-slip angle θ.

In the present embodiment, the tilting element 109 tilts the anti-slip angle θ of the cassette structure transfer container 10 upward in the direction of the positioning opening 104 between 2° and 6°. More precisely, the anti-slip angle θ used in this embodiment is an angle of 4°.

In order to prevent the wafer W loaded in the cassette 11 from being shaken, the upper cover 12 may be further mounted on the cassette 11. Please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a front view of the embodiment of the present invention when the cassette is loaded. As shown in FIG. 4, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, at least two first ribs 101 are used to engage the upper cover 12, and the upper cover 12 is disposed on the cassette 11. In the embodiment, when the at least two first ribs 101 are engaged with the upper cover 12, the gap between the first rib 101 and the upper cover 12 is between 0.5 and 1.5 mm.

Please refer to FIG. 5 together. FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of an upper cover and a fixing component according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the upper cover 12 (shown by a broken line and may also refer to the structure of the upper cover 12 in FIG. 1) of the embodiment includes a fixing member 121. The fixing member 121 in this embodiment is composed of a plurality of fixing wings 121, and has a certain elastic force, which can be used to fix the wafer W in the cassette 11. As shown by the fixing member 121 of the close-sectional view of Fig. 5, when the fixing member 121 is covered in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 5, the wafer W is fixed.

In this embodiment, the depth of the upper cover 12 (ie, the portion where the upper cover 12 and the cassette 11 overlap repeatedly) is designed to be between 23 and 30 mm, which ensures that the wafer is not touched during the assembly process.

In actual operation, the wing-shaped fixing member 121 can directly contact the wafer W, or can not directly touch the wafer W, and only limits the movement amplitude of the wafer W.

In the embodiment, the upper cover 12 and the fixing member 121 may be made of polycarbonate (PC), Carbon Nanotube (CNT), Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) or a combination thereof. More precisely, in this embodiment, the material combination can be implemented as a polycarbonate (Polycarbonate, PC) carbon nanotube (CNT) or a Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) mixed nanocarbon. Made of carbon nanotubes (CNT). The upper cover 12 and the fixing member 121 have characteristics of the upper cover 12 and the fixing member 121 having a surface impedance of 10 ⁴ to 10 ⁹ ohms (Ω) and an elastic value of 5 to 100 gram force (gf).

6 and FIG. 7, FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the installation of the upper cover and the elastic member according to the embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 7 is a schematic structural view of the elastic rib according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, the means for preventing the wobble of the wafer W is fixed by the elastic member 13 provided on the upper cover 12 (indicated by a broken line). In this embodiment, the elastic member 13 can be disposed on the upper cover 12 by being engaged, fitted, bonded, or even integrally formed. The material of the elastic member 13 in this embodiment may be an elastomer such as foam or rubber, and the invention is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 7, the elastic member 13 of the present embodiment is further provided with at least one elastic rib 131. In order to facilitate the understanding of the fixing effect of the elastic rib 131, it is explained in the section of the close-up elastic rib 131 in Fig. 7. Part of the viewing angle of the close-up elastic rib 131 in Fig. 7 is from the side. That is, the elastic ribs 131 are linearly disposed along the longer end of the elastic member 13. When the wafer W is engaged by the elastic member 13, the elastic rib 131 is elastically recessed to fix or prevent the wafer W from shaking.

The material of the elastic member 13 is different, which affects the depth of the wafer W embedded in the elastic rib 131. In this embodiment, the embedded depth can be between 1 and 3 mm, and the force on the wafer is between 0.1 and Between 100 grams force (gf). Further, in order to allow the elastic member 13 to have more functions, the elastic member 13 may be made of an antistatic foam.

In a possible embodiment, an anti-vibration layer of the same material as the elastic member 13 may be added to the recess of the fixing member 121, which is not limited by the present invention.

However, the above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, that is, the simple equivalent changes and modifications according to the scope and description of the present invention remain It is within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (17)

 A cassette structure transfer container comprises: a box body having a positioning opening, the positioning opening is a trumpet shape, the box body accommodating a cassette; at least two first ribs are symmetrically disposed on the inner upper edge of the box body a side, and engaging the upper end of the cassette; at least two second ribs symmetrically disposed on the left and right sides of the box body and engaging the left and right sides of the cassette; and at least two third ribs disposed on the box The bottom of the body is engaged with the bottom of the cassette; wherein the positioning opening is used to position and guide the cassette into the cassette structure transfer container.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 1, wherein the positioning opening is provided with a first stopper and a second stopper on opposite sides of the inside of the casing.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 1, wherein the cassette is one of eight cassettes, and the cassette structure transfer container is carried in a twelve-inch front open cassette.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 1, wherein the at least two first ribs are configured to be engaged with one of the upper covers of the cassette.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 4, wherein the upper cover comprises an elastic member, a fixing member or a combination thereof.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 5, wherein the upper cover has a depth of between 23 and 30 mm.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 5, wherein the upper cover and the fixing member are made of polycarbonate (Polycarbonate, PC), Carbon Nanotube (CNT), and cyclic olefin copolymer (Cyclic). Olefin Copolymer, COC) or a combination thereof.   The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 5, wherein the surface resistance of the upper cover and the fixing component is between 10 ⁴ and 10 ⁹ ohms (Ω), and the elastic value of the upper cover and the fixing component is between 5 and 100 Cree (gf).  The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 3, wherein the box body is further provided with at least one tilting element, and the at least one tilting element causes the cassette structure transfer container to be inclined upward by a non-slip angle in the direction of the positioning opening.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 9, wherein the anti-slip angle is between 2° and 6°.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 5, wherein the material of the elastic member is foam or rubber.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 11, wherein the elastic element is in direct contact with the plurality of wafers carried in the cassette, and the elastic element is embedded in the plurality of wafers to a depth of 1 to 3 mm. The force between the plurality of wafers is between 0.1 and 100 grams force (gf).    The cassette structure transfer container of claim 5, wherein the fixing element comprises a plurality of fixed wings.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 1, wherein each of the first rib, the second rib and the third rib has a thickness closer to an end of the positioning opening than a one end of the inside of the box.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 1, wherein the cassette body is further provided with at least one door lock.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 1, wherein the box body is further provided with at least one positioning hole.    The cassette structure transfer container according to claim 4, wherein a gap between the first rib and the upper cover is between 0.5 and 1.5 mm when the first rib is engaged with the upper cover.