Shin-etsu Polymer Co., Ltd.

Miraial Co., Ltd.

Hiroyuki Shida

Chiaki Matsutori

Tsuyoshi Nagashima

Takaharu Oyama

Hiroki Yamagishi

Shuichi Inoue

Kazumasa Ohnuki

Satoshi Odashima

Kazumasa Onuki

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;.

Substrate storing container

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.

Substrate storage container

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.

Wafer storing container

A separate supporting body for supporting semiconductor wafers of &#x3c6;450 mm is attached to the inner surface of either side wall of a container body. Each supporting body is formed of a front supporting piece that is projected laterally from a frame and horizontally retains the wafer on, at least, the side part in the front peripheral edge; and a rear supporting piece that is projected laterally from frame and horizontally retains the wafer on, at least, the side part in the rear peripheral edge. Front supporting piece is formed of a projected part that extends from the front of frame toward the front peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer and a curved part that extends rearwards from projected part along the peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Hiroyuki Shida