US20070295638A1

US20070295638A1 - Wafer transportable container

Info

Publication number: US20070295638A1
Application number: US11/471,670
Authority: US
Inventors: Takuji Nakatogawa
Original assignee: Vantec Co Ltd
Current assignee: Vantec Co Ltd
Priority date: 2006-06-21
Filing date: 2006-06-21
Publication date: 2007-12-27

Abstract

A waver transportable container (1) includes a container body (2), which is capable of storing a plurality of wafers (33) and has one end an opening portion (2 a), and a door body (3) capable of fitting to the opening portion (2 a) of the container body (2) in a detachable manner; a guide rib (17) for positioning is provided in an outside portion of the door body (2), and a positioning rib (22), which engages with the guide rib (17) to position the door body (3), is provided in an outside portion of the container body (2).

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wafer transportable container, which houses and transports a wafer such as a semiconductor wafer, memory disk and liquid crystal glass.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there are, for example, semiconductor wafers as one example of wafers. A transportable container, which houses the semiconductor wafers in a plurality of levels, comprises a boxing container body that the upper portion is opened, for example. The side walls of inner portion of the container body are provided with a plurality of circular arc-shaped curved groove portions having V-section, and the bottom portions thereof are provided with groove portions having U-section, respectively. The groove portion supports the outside edge of lower portion side of the semiconductor wafer to house the semiconductor wafer.
On the other hand, a door body is detachably installed to the upper portion of the container body, and the lower side (back side) of the door body is provided with a wafer retainer, which has contact with the outside edge of the upper portion side of the semiconductor wafer housed in the container body to hold the semiconductor wafer. In addition, the opening and closing of the door body and container body are performed by the locking and unlocking of a locking tool mounted on the door body (for example, reference to WO99/39994).
A wafer retainer, which has contact with an upper edge of a semiconductor wafer stored in a container body to retain the wafer, is disposed in a door body installed in the container body that the semiconductor wafers are stored (references to JP H07-307379A, JP2000-349135A and JP2796502B).
As one example of these wafer retainers, there has been proposed a wafer retainer 1 illustrated in FIG. 17. The wafer retainer 1 comprises a pair of elastic pieces 3, 3 provided in a supporting frame 2 and a pair of locking pieces 4, 4 provided in the supporting frame 2 between both of the elastic pieces 3, 3. The semiconductor wafer is pressed into the container body from the edge portion thereof by a pair of elastic pieces 3, 3 and a pair of locking pieces 4, 4.
Moreover, in order to automatically house a semiconductor wafer relative to a container body, there has been known a waver transportable container having an open front container body (for example, references to JP2000-159288A).
However, in the conventional waver transportable containers, the door body and container body are not provided with a guide portion, which guides the door body when installing the door body to the container body, so the door body has to be fastened to the container body by the locking tool after the door body is brought into contact with the container body to be fitted to the container body.
Moreover, the positioning of the door body and the container body is carried out in such a manner that the wafer retainer functioning as a cushion of the back side of the door body is brought into contact with the wafer in a prescribed position. Therefore, there is a problem that the operation for installing a door body takes extra effort. When the door body does not have contact with the container body in a prescribed position, the wafer retainer may not have contact with the wafer in a prescribed position.
Next, in a structure that locking tools are disposed in four corners of the door body as a means for locking the door body to the container body (for example, reference to WO99/39994), there is a problem that the door body can not be opened or closed with one operation by hand. In addition, when the door body is opened and closed to the container body, the opening and closing operation takes extra effort in a structure which elastically deforms the locking tool mounted on the container body (reference to JP2000-159288A).
Furthermore, in the waver transportable container having the conventional semiconductor wafer retainer 1 described in FIG. 17, a distance from the circular arc-shaped curved portion 3 a of each of the elastic pieces 3 to the leading end portion 3 b of the contact portion relative to the semiconductor wafer is short. Therefore, the circular arc-shaped curved portion 3 a of each of the elastic pieces 3, 3 hardly bend, so the stress acting on the circular arc-shaped portion 3 a of each of the elastic pieces 3, 3 may be increased. In addition, a pair of inner locking pieces 4, 4 disposed between a pair of elastic pieces 3, 3 is hardly elastically deformed, so the stress acting on the locking pieces 4, 4 during retaining a semiconductor wafer may be increased.
The large stress acting on a pair of elastic pieces 3, 3 or a pair of locking pieces 4, 4 generates creep deformation to each of the pieces 3, 3, 4, 4 during storing the semiconductor wafer for a long time, resulting in the decrease in the holding power for retaining the semiconductor wafer. Consequently, friction is easily caused between the semiconductor wafer and especially a pair of locking pieces 4, 4 during the transport after the long time storage. Accordingly, the semiconductor wafer may be contaminated by the dust generated by this friction.
Moreover, if the stress of a pair of elastic pieces 3, 3 and a pair of locking pieces 4, 4 is large, the miss-catching that the semiconductor wafer removes from the wafer retainer 1 may be generated when the waver transportable container falls into a floor in the semiconductor stored state. As a result, the semiconductor wafer may be destroyed by this miss-catching.

SUMMARY

It is, therefore, a first object of the present invention to provide a waver transportable container, which facilitates the attaching and detaching the door body to the container body, so as to improve the opening and closing operation of the door body.
Moreover, a second object of the present invention is to provide a waver transportable container, which absolutely retains a semiconductor wafer over a long period of time, so as to prevent the contamination of semiconductor wafer and the miss-caching when dropping the transportable container, and damage by this miss-catching.
In order to achieve the first object of the present invention, a waver transportable container according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a container body, which is capable of storing a plurality of wafers and has one end an opening portion, and a door body capable of fitting to the opening portion of the container body in a detachable manner, wherein a guide rib for positioning is provided in an outside portion of the door body, and a positioning rib, which engages with the guide rib to position the door body, is provided in an outside portion of the container body.
In order to achieve the second object of the present invention, a waver transportable container according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises a container body having an opening portion, and a door body capable of installing to the opening portion of the container body, wherein the door body is provided with a retainer for a wafer contained in the container body, the retainer includes a rectangular supporting frame and an elastic member provided in each of opposing two sides of the supporting frame, and the elastic member is formed of a substantially J-shape in its entire, which represents an arc-shaped line in the direction approaching each other after coming down from the supporting frame toward a bottom portion of the container body at an angle inwardly inclined at 2° or more relative to a vertical line, and comes up inward at a slop of 20°-45° through a horizontal straight portion of 5-20 mm.
Following are preferred embodiments (1) to (6) of the waver transportable container according to the first aspect of the present invention. Any combinations thereof may be considered to be preferred ones of the first aspect of the present invention unless any contradictions occur.
(1) A clamp mounting portion is provided in the outside portion of the container body, and a rotatable clamp, which is locked and is unlocked to a locking portion provided in the door body, is attached to the clamp mounting portion in a detachable manner and a rotatable manner.
(2) The clamp includes a contact portion, which the guide rib is contactable and rotates together with the clamp, and the clamp is provided such that the clamp is locked to the locking portion by pressing and rotating the contact portion with the guide rib, in conjunction with an operation for closing the door body to the container body, and the door body is uniformly separated from the container body by pushing out the guide rib with the contact portion, in conjunction with an operation for removing the clamp from the locking portion for opening the door body.
(3) The container body is disposed such that the opening portion opens to a side, a plurality of wafer supporting grooves, which holds each of the wafers, is formed in an inner plan of each of right and left side plates of the container body, so as to extend from the opening portion toward a back plate of the container body, the back plate of the container body is provided with a retaining member, which retains the wafer, the door body is provided with a retainer, which sandwiches the wafer in combination with the retaining member by pushing the wafer toward the retaining member in a state that the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body, and a side plane of at least a lower side of each of the wafer supporting grooves is provided with a protrusion portion, which projects in each of the wafer supporting grooves from the side plane to support each of the wafers inserted into each of the wafer supporting grooves in a state that the opening portion is opened without fitting the door body to the opening portion.
(4) The container body is disposed such that the opening portion opens to a side, a plurality of wafer supporting grooves, which holds each of the wafers, is formed in an inner plane of each of right and left side plates of the container body, so as to extend from the opening portion toward a back plate of the container body, the back plate of the container body is provided with a retainer member, which retains the wafer, the door body is provided with a retainer, which sandwiches the wafer in combination with the retaining member by pushing the wafer toward the retaining member in a state that the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body, a plurality of retaining grooves, which receives a back edge portion of the wafer, is formed in the retaining member corresponding to each of the wafer supporting grooves, the retainer includes a rectangular supporting frame and a plurality of elastic members, which is provided in two sides of the supporting frame positioned in the side of each of the side plates of the container body, and is disposed at an interval substantially equal to an interval between each of the wafer supporting grooves each other along each of the two sides, each of the elastic members includes an extension portion, which extends from each of the two sides of the supporting frame toward each of the wafers contained in the container body, and a contact portion, which extends from a leading end of the extension portion toward the opposing side and is contactable to a front edge portion of each of the wafers positioned in the opening portion side of the container body, so as to retain each of the wafers contained in the container body, a holding groove, which receives the front edge portion of the wafer in a state that the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body, is formed in the contact portion corresponding to each of the wafer supporting grooves, and a pair of side planes facing each other in the width direction of each of the holding grooves and retaining grooves is formed such that an each other's interval is gradually reduced toward the bottom plane of each of the holding grooves and each of the retaining grooves, so as to guide the front edge portion and the back edge portion of the wafer toward a central portion of the width direction of each of the holding grooves and the retaining grooves, respectively, when the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body.
(5) The retaining member is integrally formed in the container body,
(6) The supporting frame of the retainer is provided with inner two sides disposed parallel to each other between the two sides, each of the inner two sides is provided with a plurality of elastic members, which extends from the inner two sides toward the wafers to press the wafers and is disposed corresponding to each of the elastic members, and a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members is set to be smaller than a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members provided in the two sides of the supporting frame.
According to one preferred embodiment of above-described waver transportable container of the second aspect of the present invention, the supporting frame is provided with inner two sides parallel to each other between the two sides, each having the elastic member, an elastic member is provided to each of the inner two sides, and the elastic members is formed of a substantially J-shape in its entire, which represents an arc-shaped curved line in the direction approaching each other after coming down from the supporting frame toward the bottom portion of the container body at an angle inwardly inclined at 2° or more relative to the vertical line, and comes into a leading end portion having a contact with the wafer through a horizontal straight portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a waver transportable container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a schematic view explaining an opened state of a waver transportable container body.

FIG. 2B is a schematic view explaining a closed state of a waver transportable container body.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a semiconductor wafer retainer to be attached to an underside of a door body.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section view obtained along II-II line shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a semiconductor waver transportable container according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-section view obtained along V-V line shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a door body of a waver transportable container.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a container body of a waver transportable container.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of clamps which clamp a door body.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of positioning ribs and clamp mounting portions of a container body.

FIG. 11A is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of a clamp mounting portion and spindle.

FIG. 11B is a view showing an opening portion of a clamp mounting portion.

FIG. 12 is a function view illustrating a state that a door body is installed to a container body.

FIG. 13 is a function view of guide ribs, positioning ribs, clamp and the like in the installation location of door body in FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a function view showing a state that the door body in FIG. 12 is further pushed to the container body.

FIG. 15 is a function view of guide ribs, positioning ribs, clamp and the like in the installation location of the door body in FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a waver transportable container after the door body is installed to the container body.

FIG. 17 is a cross:section view illustrating a conventional semiconductor wafer retainer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of a waver transportable container 1. In the present embodiment, it will be explained about a semiconductor wafer 33 as an example of a wafer. The above waver transportable container 1 comprises a substantially boxing-shaped container body 2, which is capable of housing a plurality of semiconductor wafers 33, and a door body 3, which opens and closes an opening portion 2 a of the container body 2. The container body 2 is disposed such that the opening portion 2 a opens to the side as shown in FIG. 1.
Each of back sides of right and left side plates 4, 5 in the container body 2 is formed with a plurality of wafer supporting grooves 6, which retains the semiconductor wafer 33. Each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 extends parallel to each other from the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2 to a back plate 35 positioned in the back side of the container body 2.
A lower plane 6 a, which locates on the downside in a pair of side planes facing each other in the width direction of each of the wafer supporting grooves 6, is formed with a protrusion portion 36, which projects in each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 from the lower plane as shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B. Each of the protrusion potions 36 is formed in the end portion of the lower plane 6 a, which is positioned in the opening portion 2 a side over the weighted center of the wafer 33. The height of protrusion portion 36 is about 0.3 mm, and the width of the protrusion portion 36 is about 2 mm.
The back plate 35 of the container body 2 is provided with a retaining member 37 which supports each of the wafers 33 contained in the container body 2. The retaining member 37 is integrally formed with the back plate 35 of the container body 2 in the example shown in the figures, and sandwiches the wafer 33 in combination with the after-mentioned wafer retainer 7. As just described, if the wafer 33 is horizontally retained by the protrusion portions 36, the contact area with the wafer 33 is reduced. Therefore, the wafer 33 is not caught in the container body when storing and removing the wafer 33.
A plurality of retaining grooves 38, which receives each of the wafers 33, is formed in the inner surface of the internal side of the container body 2 of the retaining member 37. Each of the retaining grooves 38 extends parallel to each other in the light and left direction of the container body 2, and is formed such that each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 corresponding to each of the retaining grooves 38 is located in the extended line of each of the retaining grooves 38. Therefore, when the edge portions of both sides of each of the wafers 33 is guided toward the back plate 35 in each of the wafer supporting grooves 6, the back edge portion of each of the wafers 33 is received in each of the retaining grooves 38 of the retaining member 37.
A pair of side planes 38 a, 38 a facing each other in the width direction of each of the retaining grooves 38 are formed such that an each other's interval is gradually reduced toward the bottom plane 38 b of each of the retaining grooves 38. Each of the side planes comprises an inclined surface which inclines toward the central portion of the bottom plane 38 b of each of the retaining grooves 38. Each of the bottom planes 38 b is positioned lower than the central portion such that each of the wafers 33 easily falls in each of the retaining grooves without being caught, when the position of the container body is changed from longitudinal to lateral, and the container body is opened.
The above mentioned wafer retainer 7 is attached to the underside of the door body 3. Moreover, a gasket 9, which maintains air leakage efficiency of the waver transportable container 1, is attached to the underside of the door body 3.
The wafer retainer 7 comprises a rectangular supporting frame 30 as shown in FIG. 3. The supporting frame 30 is formed with various thermoplastic elastomer such as polyester system, olefin system and styrene system or thermoplastic resin in addition to elastomer such as PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) and PEEK (polyether ether keton). The supporting frame 30 includes a pair of short sides 30 a, 30 a and a pair of long sides 30 b, 30 b. A pair of inner sides 30 c, 30 c parallel to each other is formed between a pair of short sides 30 a, 30 a of the two sides facing each other.
The elastic members 31 a, 31 b, which extend toward one side of the supporting frame 30, are formed in a pair of inner sides 30 c, 30 c and a pair of long sides 30 b, 30 b located outside thereof, i.e., the outer sides 30 b, 30 b, respectively. Each of the elastic members 31 a, 31 b is integrally formed with the supporting frame 30. Each of the outer sides 30 b is provided with a plurality of elastic members 31 a in line in the longitudinal direction of each of the outer sides 30 b, and each of the inner sides 30 c is provided with a plurality of elastic members 31 b in line in the longitudinal direction of each of the inner side 30 c corresponding to the elastic members 31 a of the outer side 30 b.
As shown in FIG. 4, each of the elastic members 31 a, 31 a provided in a pair of outer sides 30 b comprises an inclined portion 32 a, which integrally extends in one side of the supporting frame 30 from the outer side 30 b of the supporting frame 30 at an inclined angle having θ1 inward to a vertical line L1 orthogonal to the short side 30 a, a circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b along a circular curved line, which continues to the inclined portion and curves in the direction approaching each other, a horizontal straight portion 32 c, where extends from the leading end of the circular arc-shaped curved portion along a straight line in the direction approaching each other and a rising portion 32 d, which rises obliquely upward at θ2 to the horizontal straight portion 32 d to approach each other from the leading end of the horizontal straight portion. The inclined portion 32 a, circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b, horizontal straight portion 32 c and raising portion 32 d are formed of J-shaped in its entirety.
In the no-load state of the supporting frame 30 that the upper edge of the semiconductor wafer 33 shown by the virtual line in FIG. 4 is not pushed by the supporting frame 30, the angle θ1 between the vertical line L1 and the inclined portion 32 d is set to 2° or more. This angle θ1 is set to facilitate the removal of the supporting frame 30 from a die in the resin molding of the supporting frame 30 using the die. Therefore, in order to facilitate the removal, it is preferable to have a large angle of θ1, but it is preferable to have 2-10°, so as to suitably push the after-mentioned semiconductor wafer. It is more preferable to have 2-5°.
The inclined angle θ2 of the rising portion 32 d is set to 20-45° in the above no-load state. When the rising portion 32 d engages with the semiconductor wafer 33 to apply the downward elastic suppress strength in the figure to the semiconductor wafer 33 by the elastic member 31 a by setting the inclined angle θ2 to 20-45°, overall expanse deformation in the direction that a pair of elastic members 31 a, 31 a get away each other is controlled. Therefore, the elastic force of each of the elastic members 31 a, 31 a can be effectively used as the downward pushing force in the figure.
Moreover, the horizontal straight portion 32 c formed between the rising portion 32 d of the leading end portion and the circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b of each of the elastic members 31 a includes measurement of 5-20 mm, when the diameter of the semiconductor wafer 33 is about 300 mm. Since the horizontal straight portion 32 c is formed between the circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b and the rising portion 32 d of the leading end portion, the measurement from the circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b to the leading end portion of the contact portion to the semiconductor wafer 33, i.e., the rising portion 32 d is set larger than the conventional measurement. Accordingly, the outer elastic member 31 a can be sufficiently elastically deformed by the circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b and the horizontal straight portion 32 c. Therefore, a creep phenomenon in the outer elastic member 31 a caused by the concentration of stress can be prevented, and appropriate holding power can be maintained.
Furthermore, a plurality of holding grooves 39, which receives the front edge portion of each of the wafers 33 positioned in the opening portion 2 a side in a state that the door body 3 is fitted to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2, is formed in the rising portion 32 d of the contact portion to the front edge portion of each of the wafers 33. Each of the holding grooves 39 is formed to extend along the front edge portion of each of the wafers 33 and to locate each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 corresponding to each of the holding grooves 39 on each of the extended lines thereof.
A pair of side planes 39 a, 39 a facing each other in the width direction of each of the holding grooves 39 is formed such that the each other's interval is gradually reduced toward the bottom plane 39 b of each of the holding grooves 39. Each of the side planes 39 acomprises an inclined plane, which inclines toward the central portion of the bottom plane 39 b of each of the holding grooves 39 in the example shown in the figures.
The inner elastic member 31 b formed in each of the inner sides 30 c, similar to the outer elastic member 31 a, includes an inclined portion 34 a, which extends from the inner side 30 c to one side of the supporting frame 30 at an angle θ1, a circular arc-shaped curved portion 34 b, which continues to the inclined portion 34 a and curves to the direction approaching each other, and a horizontal straight portion 34 c, which extends along the straight line in the direction approaching each other from the leading end of the circular arc-shaped curved portion 34 b. The inner elastic member 31 b is formed of a substantially J-shape in its entirety. The lower surface of leading end of the horizontal straight portion 34 c is provided with a contact portion 34 d, which engages with the semiconductor wafer 33. Since the circular arc-shaped curved portion 34 b and the horizontal straight portion 34 c are formed between the inclined portion 34 a and the contact portion 34 d of the inner elastic member 31 b, each of the inner elastic portions 31 b can be sufficiently elastically deformed by the circular arc-shaped curved portion 34 b and the horizontal straight portion 34 c. Therefore, a creep phenomenon in the inner elastic member 31 b caused by the concentration of stress can be prevented, and appropriate holding power can be maintained.
Moreover, a holding groove (not shown) similar to the holding groove formed in the rising portion 32 d of each of the outer elastic members 31 a is formed in the contact portion 34 d of each of the inner elastic members 31 b. Each of the side planes of the holding groove comprises an inclined surface similar to each of the outer elastic members 31 a.
Furthermore, in the example shown in the figure, the wafer holding strength of each of the outer elastic members 31 a is set larger than the wafer holding strength of each of the inner elastic members 31 b. More particularly, the ratio of holding strength of the inner elastic member and the outer elastic member is 2:8-1:9.
The wafer retainer 7 is disposed in the lower surface of the door body 3, such that the supporting frame 30 cuts across the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2, as shown in FIG. 5. The wafer retainer 7 is sandwiched between the opening end portion 2 a of the container body 2 and the door body 3, such that a large number of semiconductor wafers 33, each having the edge portions received in the wafer supporting grooves 6 formed in the back sides of the side plates 4, 5 of the container body 2, is pressed toward the back plate 35 of the container body 2 by the outer elastic member 31 a and the inner elastic member 31 b formed in the supporting frame 30.
The semiconductor wafer 33 contained in the waver transportable container 1 is provided with an orientation flat or notch for showing a crystal orientation of the wafer 33. The notch or orientation flat is engagable with the contact portion 34 d provided in the inner elastic member 31 b. The rotation in the circumferential direction of the semiconductor wafer 33 can be prevented by the engagement of the contact portion 34 d.
In the waver transportable container 1 according to the present invention, each of the outer elastic members 31 a and each of the inner elastic members 31 b of the supporting frame 30 to be disposed in the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2 engage with the upper edge portion of the semiconductor wafer 33, and the elastic suppress strength toward the back plate 35 of the container body 1 is applied to the semiconductor wafer 33. Therefore, each of the semiconductor wafers 33 is absolutely held in the wafer supporting grooves 6 formed in the inner walls of the container body 1.
In the outer elastic member 31 a of the supporting frame 30, which applies the elastic suppress strength to the semiconductor wafer 33, the horizontal straight portion 32 c is formed between the circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b continuing to the inclined portion 32 a and the rising portion 32 d of the leading end portion, and the measurement from the circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b to the leading end portion of the contact portion to the semiconductor wafer 33, i.e., the rising portion 32 d is set larger than the conventional measurement. Therefore, conventional large stress is not regionally applied to the circular arc-shaped curved portion 32 b even in the pressed state. Accordingly, the outer elastic member 31 a does not loose the elasticity by the creep phenomenon even in the long storage within the waver transportable container 1.
In addition, since in the inner elastic member 31 b, the circular arc-shaped curved portion 34 b and the horizontal straight portion 34 c are formed between the inclined portion 34 a and the contact portion 34 d, and the measurement from the circular arc-shaped curved portion 34 b to the leading end portion of the contact portion to the semiconductor wafer 33, i.e., the contact portion 34 d is set larger than the conventional measurement, conventional large stress is not regionally applied to the inner elastic portion 31 b even in the pressed state of the semiconductor wafer 33. Therefore, even in long storage within the waver transportable container 1, the inner elastic member 31 b does not loose the elasticity by the creep phenomenon.
Therefore, according to the waver transportable container 1 of the present invention, the deterioration in the holding power associated with the generation of creep phenomenon of the outer elastic member 31 a and the inner elastic member 31 b can be prevented, and also the contamination of semiconductor wafer during transport after the long storage caused by the deterioration in the holding power, the miss-catching by the falling of waver transportable container 1 and the damage of semiconductor wafer 33 by the miss-catching can be prevented.
An underside of a bottom plate 11 of the container body 2 is provided with an installation portion (not shown). The container body 2 is absolutely fastened to a predetermined position by mounting the installation portion on a plurality of positioning pins 12 provided in a bottom plate 10. By fastening the container body 2 with the laterally-facing (open front) opening portion 2 a of the container body 2, the opening operation of the door body 3, the storage operation of the semiconductor wafer 33 to the container body 2 and the closing operation of the door body 3 can be automatically conducted by means of an automatic machine (not shown).
In FIG. 7, each of inner sides of right and left side plates (outer portions) 14, 15 of the door body 3 is provided with locking portions 16 that the after-mentioned clamp is locked.
The outside of the side plate 15 is provided with two guide ribs 17, 17 for the positioning of the door body 3 relative to the container body 2, and the other left side plate 14 is also provided with guide ribs (not shown). The guide ribs 17, 17 are disposed to extend such that the leading end portions face the backside, and the both side edges 18, 18 facing each other are formed parallel to each other.
In FIGS. 8, 10, an outside portion 21 in the vicinity of the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2 is provided with a pair of positioning ribs 22 parallel to each other. Each of the positioning ribs 22 is disposed along the depth direction of the container body 2. The positioning ribs 22 conduct the positioning by controlling the guide ribs 17 as described below. Those positioning ribs 22 are also provided in an outside portion 20 in the side facing to the outside portion 21.
A pair of clamp mounting portions 24, each having a channel shape (U-shape) in the front vision, is disposed in the vicinity of the backside of the positioning ribs 22. The opening portions of the clamp mounting portions 24 are disposed to face each other. Those clamp mounting portions 24 are also provided in the outside portion 20 of the left side plate 4.
The clamp mounting portions 24 are for mounting each of clamps 25 shown in FIG. 9. This clamp 25 is locked to the locking portions 16 shown in FIG. 7 to clamp the door body 3 to the container body 2. The base portion of the clamp 25 is fastened to a supporting shaft 26, and a pair of contact portions 27, 27 is fastened to two positions of the supporting shaft 26.
More particularly, the clamp 25 includes the contact portions 27, and the claim 25 and contact portions 27 may be integrally formed as long as they can rotate together without fastening to the supporting shaft 26 as shown in the embodiment.
In addition, as a material such as the container body 2, door body 3 and clamp 25, PC (polycarbonate) is used, but PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) and PEEK (polyether ether ketone) may be used.
The supporting shaft 26 is rotatably mounted on the clamp mounting portions 24 as described in FIGS. 10, 11A, 11B. The up and down contact portions 27 are disposed in positions, which have contact with the guide ribs 17 (reference to FIG. 7) of the door body 3, respectively, when installing the door body 3 to the container body 2.
More particularly, the guide ribs 17 have contact with the contact portions 27 to press and rotate the contact portions 27. Thereby, the clamp 25 integrated with the contact portions 27 rotates in the locking direction.
FIG. 11A illustrates a part of the under side of the clamp mounting portion 24 shown in FIG. 10, and FIG. 11B illustrates the clamp mounting portion 24 seen from the opening portion side. A holding concave portion (holding groove) 28 is formed by both of wall plates 24 a, 24 b and a bottom plate 24 c of the clamp mounting portion 24. In addition, the holding concave portion 28 is also formed in the upper side of clamp mounting portion 24.
The supporting shaft 26 is rotatably supported by fitting the clamp supporting shaft 26 to the holding concave portion 28. In order to mount the supporting shaft 26 to the clamp mounting portions 24, the supporting shaft 26 can be easily detachably mounted by simply dropping and pushing the supporting shaft 26 from the front sides of the up and down clamp mounting portions 24.
The clamping operation of the door body 3 to the container body 2 can be easily conducted as described later by the rotatable clamp 25.

[Operation]

Next, it will be explained about the operation of opening and closing mechanism of the door body of the waver transportable container as constructed above. At first, the installation (closing) operation of the door body 3 to the container body 2 will be described.
In FIGS. 12, 13, if the door body 3 is moved with respect to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2 in the arrow direction 30 by the hand operation of worker, the lateral movement of the guide ribs 17 of the right and left sides of the door body 3 is controlled by the outside portions 20, 21 of the container body 2. In addition, the side edges 18 of the guide ribs 17 are guided by the side portions of the positioning ribs 22, and the longitudinal movement of the guide ribs 17 is controlled, as shown in FIG. 13.
More particularly, the movement in the lateral direction (X direction) and the movement in the longitudinal direction (Z direction) with respect to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2 is previously controlled by the positioning ribs 22 and the outside portions 20, 21, so the door body 3 can be easily installed to the container body 2 in a prescribed position without specifically considering the position of the door body 3.
Since the door body 3 can be easily installed to the container body 2 in an appropriate position, the wafer retainer 7 of the door body 3 can be absolutely and easily attached to the semiconductor wafer 33 of prescribed position within the container body 2. The miss-operation in the matching of the wafer retainer 7 and the semiconductor wafer 33, which has been conventionally dependent on sense of a worker, the miss-catching relative to the semiconductor wafer 33 caused by the miss-operation can be certainly prevented.
FIGS. 14, 15 illustrate a state just before the end of the installation that the door body 3 shown in FIG. 12 is further pushed. As shown in FIG. 15, the guide ribs 17 have contact with the contact portions 27 of the clamp 25 to press and rotate the contact portions 27 in the middle of pushing (closing) the door body 3 from the state shown in FIG. 12.
In other word, the clamp 25 integrated with the contact portions 27 is automatically rotated in the locking direction of the state shown in FIGS. 14, 15 from the state shown in FIGS. 12, 13, in conjugation with the closing of the door body 3.
If the door body 3 is completely closed to the container body 2 as shown in FIG. 16, the clamp 25 is automatically locked to the locking portions 16 of the door body 3. As just described, the clamping operation of the door body 3 by the clamp 25 can be simultaneously conducted in conjugation with the installation operation of door body 3 to the container body 2.
Since the clamping and clamp releasing operation to the locking portions 16 is performed by the rotating operation of the clamp 25, and a component, which causes elastic deformation to a locking tool of the container body 2 and the door body 3 as used in the conventional waver transportable container, is not used, the clamping of the door body 3 can be easily conducted by the clamp 25.
Moreover, when fitting the door body 3 to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2, as shown in FIG. 2B, the front edge portion of each of the wafers 33 is received in each of the holding grooves 39 formed in each of the elastic members 31 a, 31 b of the wafer retainer 7 provided in the door body 3. In this case, each of the side planes 39 a of each of the holding grooves 39 comprises an inclined plane, which inclines toward the central portion of each of the holding grooves 39, as described above, so the front edge portion of each of the wafers 33 is guided to each of the side planes 39 a toward the central portion of each of the holding grooves 39, as moving the door body 3 toward the container body 2. Furthermore, if the door body 3 is further pushed to the inward of the container body 2, the back edge portion of each of the wafers 33 is inserted into each of the retaining grooves 38 of the retaining member 37 provided in the back plate 35 by the pressing force toward the back plate 35 of the container body 2 that each of the wafers 33 receives from the wafer retainer 7. In this case, since each of the side planes 38 a of each of the retaining grooves 38 comprises the inclined plane, which inclines toward the central portion of each of the retaining grooves 38 as described above, the back edge portion of each of the wafers 33 inserted into each of the retaining grooves 38 is guided to each of the side planes 38 a toward the central portion of each of the retaining grooves 38. Therefore, each of the wafers 33 is sandwiched between the wafer 7 and the retaining member 37 in a state which separates from the lower plane 6 a of each of the wafer supporting grooves 6, in a closed state that the door body 3 is fitted to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2.
The above described closing method of the door body opening and closing mechanism has three advantages.
The first advantage is that the positioning of the door body 3 and the container body 2 and the rotation operation in the locking direction of the clamp 25 can be simultaneously conducted when closing the door body 3 to the container body 2. The second advantage is that the contact position of the wafer retainer 7 and the semiconductor wafer 33 is automatically decided. The third advantage is that the clamp 25 is installed to the case body 2 without deforming, so the installation operation of the door body 3 can be easily performed.
Next, it will be explained about the operation for removing (opening) the door body 3 from the container body 2.
When the door body 3 is removed from the container body 2, the clamp 25 is rotated to the outside of the container body 2 (in the releasing direction) while removing the clamp 25 from the locking portions 16 by hand operation. In this case, if the clamp 25 starts rotating, the guide ribs 17, which have contact with the contact portions 27 of the clamp 25, is pushed forward, and the door body 3 uniformly comes up (separate) from the container body 2. Therefore, the door body 3 can be easily removed from the container body 2.
In the state that the door body 3 is removed from the container body 2, each of the wafers 33 is moved downward by the front edge portion dislodged from each of the retaining grooves 39 of the wafer retainer 7. In this case, since the lower plane 6 a of each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 is provided with the protrusion portion 36, as described above, each of the both side edge portions of each of the wafers 33 has contact with the protrusion portion 36, and supported by the protrusion portion. Thereby, each of the wafers 33 is supported by the protrusion portions 36 and the retaining member 37 in the both side edge portions and the back edge portion, in the opened state of the container body 2. Accordingly, the major part of each of the wafers 33 is housed in the container body without having contact with the constructional elements of the waver transportable container.
The above opening method of the lid opening and closing mechanism has two advantages. The first advantage is that the holding of the door body 3 is not required because the relative position of the door body 3 and the container body 2 is decided by the guide ribs 17 of the door body 3 and the positioning ribs 22 of the container body 2, when each of the clamps 25 is removed from the locking portions 16 of the container body 2. The second advantage is that the excessive contact of the semiconductor wafer 33 and the wafer retainer 7 and the negative effect by the excessive contact can be avoidable because the door body 3 uniformly comes up from the container body 2.
In addition, the locking and releasing operation of each of the clamps 25 relative to the locking members 16 can be conducted with small operation force, so the door body opening and closing mechanism can be easily applied to an automatic machine which automatically conducts the attachment and removal of the door body 3 to the container body 2. Each of the clamps 25 rotatably provided in the container body 2 can be easily mounted on the clamp mounting portions 24 without separately disposing a special shaft bearing and the like.
According to the present invention, as described above, the waver transportable container 1 comprises the container body 2, which is capable of storing a plurality of wafers 33 and has one end the opening portion 2 a, and the door body 3 capable of fitting to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2 in a detachable manner. In the waver transportable container 1, the guide ribs 17 for positioning are provided in the outside portion 14, 15 of the door body 3, and the positioning ribs 22, which engage with the guide ribs 17 to position the door body 3, are provided in the outside portions 20, 21 of the container body 2, so if the door body 3 is fitted to the container body 2 so as to install the door body 3 to the container body 2, the movement of the guide ribs 17 of the door body 3 is controlled by the positioning ribs 22 of the side planes of the container body 2 to be fitted while being positioned.
Accordingly, the door body 3 can be easily closed in a state that the relative position of the longitudinal direction and lateral direction with respect to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2 is decided. Therefore, the wafer retainer 7 can be easily attached to the wafer 33 of prescribed position in the container body 2 after the door body 3 is closed, and the working efficiency of the opening and closing of the door body can be improved.
Moreover, as described above, since the clamp mounting portions are provided in the outside portions 20, 21 of the container body 2, and the rotatable clamps 25, which are locked and are released to the locking portions 16 provided in the door body 3, are attached to the clamp mounting portions 24 in a detachable manner and a rotatable manner, the clamps 25 can be easily attached to the container body 2 in a rotatable manner and also the elastic deformation of the clamps 25 is not required when clamping the door body 3 to the container body 2 by means of the rotatable clamps 25. Accordingly, the camping of the door body 3 can be easily conducted.
Furthermore, as described above, the clamp 25 includes the contact portions 27, which the guide ribs 17 are contactable and rotate together with the clamp, and the clamp is provided such that the clamp is locked to the locking portions 16 by pressing and rotating the contact portions 27 with the guide ribs 17 in conjunction with the operation for closing the door body 3 to the container body 2, and the door body 3 is uniformly separated from the container body 2 by pushing out the guide ribs 17 with the contact portions 27, in conjunction with the operation for removing the clamp from the locking portions 16 for opening the door body 3, so if the door body is fitted to the container body 2 to install the door body 3 to the container body 2, the guide ribs 17 push and rotate the contact portions 27 of the clamp 25. Therefore, the clamp 25 integrated with the contact portions 27 can automatically clamp the door body 3 by rotating in the direction clamping the door body 3 in conjugation with the closing operation of the door body 3, and also the door body 3 can be easily removed.
More particularly, by closing the door body 3, the clamping operation, which clamps the door body, can be conducted in conjugation with the closing operation without being conducted by a worker, and also since each of the clamps 25 is rotatable, the clamping of the door body 3 by the clamps 25 can be performed with a small operation force without elastically deforming the clamp.
In addition, the outer elastic member 31 a is formed of a substantially J-shape in its entire, having the curved portion 32 b, the horizontal straight portion 32 c continued to the curved portion and the leading end portion 32 d, which extends inward and upward from the leading end of the straight portion, so the distance from the curved portion 32 b of the elastic member 31 a to the leading end portion of the contact portion 32 d to the semiconductor wafer 33 can be set larger than the conventional distance. Thereby, the outer elastic member 31 a can easily bend, so the conventional large stress applied to the outer elastic member can be prevented. Accordingly, the generation of creep phenomenon caused by the large stress of the outer elastic member 31 a can be prevented, and the deterioration in the holding power by the creep phenomenon of the outer elastic member 31 a can be prevented. Therefore, the contamination of semiconductor wafer by the deterioration in the holding power, the miss-catching of the semiconductor wafer and the damage of the semiconductor wafer by the miss-catching can be prevented.
Further, since the inner elastic member 31 b is formed of J-shape including the horizontal straight portion 34 c, similar to the elastic member 31 a disposed outside, the distance from the base portion to the wafer contact portion 34 d can be set larger than the conventional distance. Accordingly, the inner elastic member 31 b can easily bend, so the generation of creep phenomenon by the large stress of the inner elastic member 31 b can be prevented. Therefore, the deterioration in the holding power by the creep phenomenon of the inner elastic member 31 b can be prevented. Consequently, the miss-catching and the damage of the semiconductor wafer 33 by the miss-catching can be absolutely prevented.
A plurality of wafer supporting grooves 6, which holds each of the wafers, is formed in the inner plane of each of the right and left side plates of the container body 2, and a plurality of retaining grooves 38, which receives the back edge portion of the wafer is formed in the retaining member 37 provided in the back plate 35 of the container body 2 corresponding to each of the wafer supporting grooves 6, and the protrusion portion 36 which projects in each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 is formed in the side plane of at least the lower side of each of the wafer supporting grooves 6, so in the state that the opening portion 2 a is opened without fitting the door body 3 to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2, the wafer contained in the container body 2 is supported by the retaining groove 38 of the retaining member 37 in the back end portion thereof, and the both end portions of the wafer are supported by the protrusion portions 36 of the wafer supporting grooves 6. Therefore, in the container body 2 opened state, each of the wafers can be stored in the container body 2 such that the major portion of each of the wafers 33 does not have contact with the constructional element of the waver transportable container 1.
Furthermore, since a plurality of holding grooves, which receives the front edge portion of the wafer 33 in the state that the door body 3 is fitted to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2, is formed in the wafer retainer 7 provided in the door body 3, and a pair of side planes facing each other in the width direction of each of the holding grooves 39 and the retaining grooves 38 are inclined toward the central portion in the width direction of each of the holding grooves 39 and the retaining grooves 38, the front edge portion and back edge portion of the wafer 33 is guided to each of the side planes toward the central portion of the holding grooves 39 and the retaining grooves 38, when being inserted into each of the holding grooves 39 and the retaining grooves 38 in case that the door body 3 is fitted to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2. Therefore, in the closed state that the door body 3 is fitted to the opening portion 2 a of the container body 2, each of the wafers 33 is sandwiched between the wafer retainer 7 and the retaining member 37 in the state separated from each of the side planes of each of the wafer supporting grooves 6, so when each of the wafers 33 is vibrated by the falling of the waver transportable container 1, for example, the damage of each of the wafers by the contact to each of the side planes of each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 caused by the vibration can be absolutely prevented.
In addition, since the retaining member 37 is integrally formed with the container body 2, each of the retaining grooves 38 can be formed continuously with each of the wafer supporting grooves 6, for example, so the consistency of each of the retaining grooves 38 relative to each of the wafer supporting grooves 6 can be certainly improved. Therefore, compared with the case that the retaining member 37 is formed separately from the container body 2, the accuracy of retaining position of each of the wafers 33 can be absolutely improved. If the retaining member 37 is formed separately from the container body 2, the positioning is required such that each of the retaining grooves 38 formed in the retaining member 37 conforms to each of the wafer supporting grooves 38, when incorporating the retaining member 37 to the container body 2. Therefore, the operation of incorporating the retaining member 37 to the container body 2 can be complicated.
Moreover, the magnitude of elastic force of each of the inner elastic members 31 b provided in each of the inner two sides of the supporting frame 30 is set smaller than the magnitude of elastic force of each of the outer elastic members 31 a provided in each of the outer two sides of the supporting frame, so the efficiency, which absorbs the impact on each of the wafers 33 by each of the elastic members, can be further improved.
In addition, in the above embodiment, the example that the guide ribs 17 are disposed in the side planes of the door body 3 and the positioning ribs 22 and the clamp mounting portions 24 are disposed in the side planes of the container body 2 was explained. However, the positioning ribs 22 and the clamp mounting portions 24 can be disposed in the side planes of the door body 3 and the guide ribs 17 can be disposed in the side planes of the container body 2, so as to obtain the same effect. But, considering the mold construction of the container body 2 and the door body 3 and the usage status of the waver transportable container 1, it is preferable to dispose the guide ribs 17, positioning ribs 22 and clamp mounting portions 24 as described in the above embodiment.
In the above embodiment, the positioning ribs 22 of the container body 2 are positioned between the side edges 18 of the guide ribs 17 of the door body 3, but the positioning ribs 22 can be positioned in the outsides of the guide ribs 17 to guide the guide ribs.
Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the positioning ribs 22 are disposed in the side planes of the container body 2, but an opening portion, notch or the like, which can control the guide ribs for positioning, can be disposed instead of using the positioning ribs 22.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or sprit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A waver transportable container, comprising:

a container body, which is capable of storing a plurality of wafers and has one end an opening portion; and

a door body capable of fitting to the opening portion of the container body in a detachable manner, wherein

a guide rib for positioning is provided in an outside portion of the door body, and

a positioning rib, which engages with the guide rib to position the door body, is provided in an outside portion of the container body.

2. The waver transportable container according to claim 1, wherein a clamp mounting portion is provided in the outside portion of the container body, and a rotatable clamp, which is locked and is unlocked to a locking portion provided in the door body, is attached to the clamp mounting portion in a detachable manner and a rotatable manner.

3. The waver transportable container according to claim 2, wherein the clamp includes a contact portion, which the guide rib is contactable and rotates together with the clamp, and the clamp is provided such that the clamp is locked to the locking portion by pressing and rotating the contact portion with the guide rib in conjunction with an operation for closing the door body to the container body, and the door body is uniformly separated from the container body by pushing out the guide rib with the contact portion, in conjunction with an operation for removing the clamp from the locking portion for opening the door body.

4. A waver transportable container, comprising:

a container body having an opening portion; and

a door body capable of installing to the opening portion of the container body, wherein

the door body is provided with a retainer for a wafer contained in the container body,

the retainer includes a rectangular supporting frame and an elastic member provided in each of opposing two sides of the supporting frame, and

the elastic member is formed of a substantially J-shape in its entire, which represents an arc-shaped line in the direction approaching each other after coming down from the supporting frame toward a bottom portion of the container body at an angle inwardly inclined at 2° or more relative to a vertical line, and comes up inward at a slop of 20°-45° through a horizontal straight portion of 5-20 mm.

5. The waver transportable container according to claim 4, wherein the supporting frame is provided with inner two sides parallel to each other between the two sides, each having the elastic member, an elastic member is provided to each of the inner two sides, and the elastic members is formed of a substantially J-shape in its entire, which represents an arc-shaped curved line in the direction approaching each other after coming down from the supporting frame toward the bottom portion of the container body at an angle inwardly inclined at 2° or more relative to the vertical line, and comes into a leading end portion having a contact with the wafer through a horizontal straight portion.

6. The waver transportable container according to claim 1, wherein the container body is disposed such that the opening portion opens to a side, a plurality of wafer supporting grooves, which holds each of the wafers, is formed in an inner plan of each of right and left side plates of the container body, so as to extend from the opening portion toward a back plate of the container body, the back plate of the container body is provided with a retaining member, which retains the wafer, the door body is provided with a retainer, which sandwiches the wafer in combination with the retaining member by pushing the wafer toward the retaining member in a state that the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body, and

a side plane of at least a lower side of each of the wafer supporting grooves is provided with a protrusion portion, which projects in each of the wafer supporting grooves from the side plane to support each of the wafers inserted into each of the wafer supporting grooves in a state that the opening portion is opened without fitting the door body to the opening portion.

7. The waver transportable container according to claim 1, wherein the container body is disposed such that the opening portion opens to a side, a plurality of wafer supporting grooves, which holds each of the wafers, is formed in an inner plane of each of right and left side plates of the container body, so as to extend from the opening portion toward a back plate of the container body, the back plate of the container body is provided with a retaining member, which retains the wafer, the door body is provided with a retainer, which sandwiches the wafer in combination with the retaining member by pushing the wafer toward the retaining member in a state that the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body,

a plurality of retaining grooves, which receives a back edge portion of the wafer, is formed in the retaining member corresponding to each of the wafer supporting grooves,

the retainer includes a rectangular supporting frame and a plurality of elastic members, which is provided in two sides of the supporting frame positioned in the side of each of the side plates of the container body, and is disposed at an interval substantially equal to an interval between each of the wafer supporting grooves each other along each of the two sides, each of the elastic members includes an extension portion, which extends from each of the two sides of the supporting frame toward each of the wafers contained in the container body, and a contact portion, which extends from a leading end of the extension portion toward the opposing side and is contactable to a front edge portion of each of the wafers positioned in the opening portion side of the container body, so as to retain each of the wafers contained in the container body, a holding groove, which receives the front edge portion of the wafer in a state that the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body, is formed in the contact portion corresponding to each of the wafer supporting grooves, and

a pair of side planes facing each other in the width direction of each of the holding grooves and retaining grooves is formed such that an each other's interval is gradually reduced toward the bottom plane of each of the holding grooves and each of the retaining grooves, so as to guide the front edge portion and the back edge portion of the wafer toward a central portion of the width direction of each of the holding grooves and the retaining grooves, respectively, when the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body.

8. The waver transportable container according to claim 6, wherein container body is disposed such that the opening portion opens to a side, a plurality of wafer supporting grooves, which holds each of the wafers, is formed in an inner plane of each of right and left side plates of the container body, so as to extend from the opening portion toward a back plate of the container body, the back plate of the container body is provided with a retaining member, which retains the wafer, the door body is provided with a retainer, which sandwiches the wafer in combination with the retaining member by pushing the wafer toward the retaining member in a state that the door body is fitted to the opening portion of the container body,

9. The waver transportable container according to claim 6, wherein the retaining member is integrally formed in the container body.

10. The waver transportable container according to claim 7, wherein the retaining member is integrally formed in the container body.

11. The waver transportable container according to claim 8, wherein the retaining member is integrally formed in the container body.

12. The waver transportable container according to claim 5, wherein the supporting frame of the retainer is provided with inner two sides disposed parallel to each other between the two sides, each of the inner two sides is provided with a plurality of elastic members, which extends from the inner two sides toward the wafers to press the wafers and is disposed corresponding to each of the elastic members, and a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members is set to be smaller than a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members provided in the two sides of the supporting frame.

13. The waver transportable container according to claim 7, wherein the supporting frame of the retainer is provided with inner two sides disposed parallel to each other between the two sides, each of the inner two sides is provided with a plurality of elastic members, which extends from the inner two sides toward the wafers to press the wafers and is disposed corresponding to each of the elastic members, and a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members is set to be smaller than a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members provided in the two sides of the supporting frame.

14. The waver transportable container according to claim 8, wherein the supporting frame of the retainer is provided with inner two sides disposed parallel to each other between the two sides, each of the inner two sides is provided with a plurality of elastic members, which extends from the inner two sides toward the wafers to press the wafers and is disposed corresponding to each of the elastic members, and a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members is set to be smaller than a magnitude of an elastic force of each of the elastic members provided in the two sides of the supporting frame.