Entegris, Inc.

Eric A Kirkland

Jason T Steffens

Barry Lee Gregerson

Russ V Raschke

Eric S Olson

Christian Andersen

Ryan Mushel

Russell V Raschke

Karen Anderson

Wafer support ring

A wafer shipper utilizing wafer support rings for supporting individual wafers therein. The wafer support rings can support wafers of various thicknesses without affecting the height of the stack, and provide containment of the resident wafers within the rings during an impact event. The wafers and the rings cooperate to define voids between the wafers that act as cushions in an impact event for dampening the shock imparted on the wafers during an impact event. Likewise, some embodiments include structure that defines enclosed gas pockets between the uppermost and the lowermost wafers of the stack for dampening the effects of an impact. Various embodiments include structure that prevents wafers from 'jumping' out of the wafer support rings during an impact event. Some embodiments include structure for supporting wafer flats.

Wafer shipper with stacked support rings

Apparatuses and methods providing a ballast system for adjusting the center of gravity of a standardized front opening wafer container. Various embodiments of the disclosure present ballast systems that are low profile, do not require modifications to the shell of the wafer container, and can be retrofit to existing wafer carriers. In some embodiments, these capabilities are accomplished by a ballast that mounts to a kinematic coupling plate of the wafer container. In one embodiment, the ballasting can also provide sufficient counter force to the lifting forces associated with purging of the wafer container, thereby preventing 'lift off' of the wafer container during purging operations. The ballasts can be removed for shipping of the wafer container, thereby decreasing shipping costs.

Front opening wafer container with weight ballast

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Colorado Springs, CO, United States of America

Eric A Kirkland