Miraial Co., Ltd.

Shin-Etsu Polymer Co., Ltd.

Kakizaki Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Mtraial Co., Ltd.

Chiaki Matsutori

Tadahiro Obayashi

Takaharu Oyama

Tsuyoshi Nagashima

Hiroki Yamagishi

Shuichi Inoue

Hiroyuki Shida

Kazumasa Ohnuki

Koichi Yanagihara

Yukihiro Hyobu

Kazunori Ozawa

Yuta Kanamori

Minoru Tomita

Kazumasa Onuki

Kouichi Nishizaka

The container main body includes a tubular wall portion having an opening circumferential portion provided at one end portion and the other end portion being closed, the opening circumferential portion having a container main body opening portion formed therein. The substrate storing space can store a substrate and communicates with the container main body opening portion. A central fixed member is provided to the wall portion of the container main body so as to be removably attached to the wall portion of the container main body. The central fixed member is configured to be locked and fixed to an alignment portion provided at a load port for conveying the substrate stored in the substrate storing space to a processing apparatus.

Substrate-accommodating container

A substrate storing container includes: a gas ejection nozzle unit having a plurality of apertures for supplying to the substrate storing space a gas that has flowed into the ventilation paths; and a gas flow rate equalizer capable of causing the gas to flow out from the plurality of apertures at an equalized flow rate. The gas flow rate equalizer includes a gas detention chamber, a pre-outflow gas retention chamber, and inter-chamber partitions defining an inter-chamber flow path that blocks straight-line communication between the gas detention chamber and the pre-outflow gas retention chamber but allows for communication between the gas detention chamber and the pre-outflow gas retention chamber.

Substrate storing container

A substrate storing container includes: a container main body; a lid body which is attachable to and detachable from a container main body opening portion, and which is able to block the container main body opening portion; and a component which is attached to the container main body or to the lid body. A connected part between the component and the container main body, the lid body or another component includes press-fit fixing portions, which are positioned by means of press fitting while being fixed to each other; and impulse welding portions which are formed by impulse welding, to maintain the positioning and fixing in the press-fit fixing portions.

Substrate storage container

A substrate storing container includes: a container main body including a tubular wall portion, the container main body having a substrate storing space which is formed by an inner face of the wall portion, is able to store a plurality of substrates, and communicates with the container main body opening portion; a lid body which is removably attached to the container main body opening portion and is able to close the container main body opening portion; a ventilation passage which allows the substrate storing space and an external space of the container main body to communicate with each other, wherein the ventilation passage is formed in a ventilation passage forming unit which is insert-molded with the container main body.

Provided is a substrate storing container in which a latching mechanism includes an engagement latch, an engagement latch lifting/lowering camthat causes the engagement latchto advance to and retreat from an engagement concave portion and causes the engagement latchin the engagement concave portion to move toward/away from the other end portion of a container main body by advancing and retreating in a direction in which the engagement latchadvances and retreats, and a rotating cam, and the engagement latch lifting/lowering camincludes an engagement latch connection portionthat causes the engagement latchto be engaged with the engagement concave portion and thereafter causes the engagement latchto approach the other end portion of the container main body by moving in a direction in which the engagement latchapproaches the engagement concave portion.

A container main body has a container main body opening portion in one end portion. The lid body is attachable to and detachable from the container main body opening portion and capable of blocking the container main body opening portion. The gas purge port is provided with a seal face provided in at least one of a ventilation path forming portion and a part of the gas purge port other than the ventilation path forming portion and the check valve member and coming into close contact with a gas injection port. The seal face is provided with a close contact pad constituted by an elastic body for preventing gas leakage between the gas injection port and the seal face.

Gas purge port

There is provided a method for molding a substrate storing containerincluding a container main body molding step of molding a container main bodyin a state where a direction Pperpendicular to a plane Ppassing through the entire periphery of an end edge of an opening circumferential portionof the container main bodyis inclined in a direction forming a predetermined angle a, with respect to a horizontal direction Lwhich is a movement direction of the movable die Mwith respect to the fixed die M, and a pullout step of pulling the container main bodymolded in the mold space Mout from the movable die Mby moving the movable die Mso as to retreat from the fixed die M

Method for molding substrate storing container, mold, and substrate storing container

A substrate storing container provided with a container main body, a lid body, a lateral substrate support portion, a lid body side substrate support portion, and a back side substrate support portion includes a casting-off portion that casts off a substrate in a state being supported by the back side substrate support portion and the lid body side substrate support portion from at least one of the back side substrate support portion or the lid body side substrate support portion. When the lid body is opened from the container main body opening portion from a state in which the container main body opening portion is closed by the lid body.

A substrate storing container includes a container main body, a lid body removably attached to a container main body opening portion and able to close the container main body opening portion, a ventilation passage which enables a substrate storing space and a space outside the container main body to communicate with each other, a gas ejecting nozzle portion having a plurality of opening portions through which a gas flowing into the ventilation passage is supplied into the substrate storing space, and a gas flow rate uniformizing unit which enables the gas to flow out through the plurality of opening portions at a uniform flow rate.

A substrate storing container includes a container main body, a lid body, and a lateral substrate support portion. The lateral substrate support portion of the substrate storing container includes substrate contact portions touching a substrate when supporting an edge portion of the substrate, and contact portion support portions supporting the substrate contact portions. The substrate contact portions are made of a material having a heat-resisting property with respect to temperature of the substrate touching the substrate contact portions. The contact portion support portions are made of a material having a lower heat-resisting property than that of the substrate contact portions and having a lower coefficient of moisture absorption than that of the substrate contact portions.

The lid body side wafer support parts allow flexibility to be exhibited and supports the wafers. If a closed state substrate is defined as being a wafer which is stored in the substrate storing space in a container main body in a state wherein the container main body opening portion is closed by the lid body, and a closed time center is defined as being the center of a closed state substrate, the back side substrate support portion, when a closed state substrate is viewed in the thickness direction, are disposed in a pair about a depth direction reference line and support the wafer. A center angle which the back side substrate support portion form toward the depth direction with respect to a left/right direction reference line when a closed state substrate is viewed in the thickness direction is 20-55&#xb0;.

The substrate storage container includes: a container body for storing a semiconductor wafer; a lid body for opening and closing a front of the container body; and a locking mechanism for locking the lid body that has closed the front of the container body. The lid body is formed of a lid main body to be fitted to the front of the container body and a cover plate for covering a front face of the lid main body. The locking mechanism includes a rotating operation portion that is pivotally supported by the lid main body and rotationally operated from an outside of the cover plate. A plurality of posture control members for the rotating operation portions are provided for, at least, the cover plate, among the cover plate and the rotating operation portion.

A substrate storing container is provided with a lid-body-side substrate support section that can support the edges of a plurality of substrates when a container main body opening is occluded by the lid body. The lid-body-side substrate support section is provided with: a lid-body-side substrate receiving section and a pair of lid-body-side leg sections respectively connected to one end and the other end of the lid-body-side substrate receiving section. One lid-body-side leg section of the pair of lid-body-side leg sections is fixed at the outside of a concavity for fixing a lid-body leg section, and the other lid-body-side leg section of the pair of lid-body-side leg sections is fixed within the concavity for fixing a lid-body leg section.

A substrate storing container includes: a container body for storing semiconductor wafers; a door that is fitted to the front of the container body; and a locking mechanism locking the door. The locking mechanism includes: a rotary driver that is supported by the door and operated from a cover plate side; and a locking bar that vertically slides as the rotary driver rotates to bring the distal end into, and out of, a locking hollow of the container body. The rotary driver is separated into first and second rotary drivers. The first and second rotary drivers are formed with first and second cam portions, respectively. The first and second cam portions are made to support the proximal end of the locking bar therebetween so that the locking bar can sway in the thickness direction of the door.

Wafer support shelves () are each provided with wafer support projections (A, B, B) on which parts of the outer margins of a semiconductor wafer (W) are to be placed. In each case, one of the support projections (A, B, B) is provided on the far side of the center position of the semiconductor wafer (W), and two of the support projections are provided on the near side of the center of the semiconductor wafer. By means of this structure, in a state in which a lid body () is not attached to a wafer extraction/insertion opening (), the flexure amount of the semiconductor wafers placed on the support projections of multiple locations in the wafer support shelves can be reduced with a minimal number of projections, so that a hindrance is not created to an operation such as extraction by a robot arm.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Chiaki Matsutori