Entegris, Inc.

Martin L Forbes

Matthew A Fuller

John Burns

Mark Vincent Smith

Jeffery J King

James A Watson

Michael C Zabka

Jeffrey J King

A semiconductor wafer container assembly includes a container defining an exterior and defining an interior having a wafer storage area adapted to support one or more semiconductor wafers. The container also defines an opening in the container between the exterior and the interior. The container has a door and a latching mechanism to sealingly secure the door closed, and the door is openable for access to the wafer storage area. A passive getter module is removably secured with respect to the exterior of the container by substantially rigid connection structure that is a part of or extends from substantially rigid getter module housing. Getter material is disposed within the housing to decrease concentration of contaminants within the wafer storage area of the container via the access opening and the opening in the container.

Wafer container with external passive getter module

A wafer container utilizes a rigid polymer tubular tower with slots and a 'getter' therein for absorbing and filtering moisture and vapors within the wafer container. The tower preferably utilizes a purge grommet at the base of the container and may have a check valve therein to control the flow direction of gas (including air) into and out of the container and with respect to the tower. The tower is sealingly connected with the grommet. The tower may have a getter media piece rolled in an elongate circular fashion forming or shaped as a tube and disposed within the tower and may have axially extending. The media can provide active and/or passive filtration as well as having capabilities to be recharged. Front opening wafer containers for 300 mm sized wafers generally have a pair of recesses on each of the left and right side in the inside rear of the container portions. These recesses are preferably utilized for elongate towers, such towers extending substantially from a bottom wafer position to a top wafer position. In alternative embodiment, a tubular shape of getter material is exposed within the front opening container without containment of the getter other than at the ends. The tubular getter form is preferably supported at discrete locations to maximize exposure to the internal container environment. A blocker member can selectively close the apertures. An elastomeric cap can facilitate securement of the tubular component in the container portion.

Wafer container with tubular environmental control components

A container for holding a wafer includes an enclosure portion having a top, a bottom, a pair of opposing sides, a back and an opposing open front defined by a door frame. A door is sealingly engagable in the door frame to close the open front. The container further includes wafer restraint means in the enclosure including fixed wafer restraint means and operable wafer restraint means. The operable wafer restraint means is selectively positionable by engaging and disengaging the door from the door frame, and is positioned so to enable insertion or removal of a wafer from the container when the door is disengaged from the door frame and positioned so as to cooperate with the fixed wafer restraint means to restrain the wafer in the container when the door is engaged in the door frame.

Wafer container with door actuated wafer restraint

A substrate container and a bottom plate are connected with a mechanism for adjusting the distance between the container and bottom plate, by, e.g., a threaded connection between two members of the connector mechanism. Also provided are a duck-billed valve for venting the container and a dampener for minimizing damage due to shocks.

Front opening substrate container with bottom plate

An improved chemical mechanical polishing retaining ring. A representative embodiment comprises a base portion made from a wear-resistant plastic material, and an upper portion, or backbone portion, made from a stiffer and more wear resistant material. One of the base or backbone portion is preferably overmolded onto the other. The base portion can be generally defined by a flat pad-contacting surface, an outer surface, and an inner surface. The base portion can additionally include channels extending from the outer surface to the inner surface to facilitate transfer of slurry to and from the substrate to be polished during the process. One or both of the base portion or backbone portion further includes a plurality of circular ribs that serve to create additional bonding surface with the overmolded material. The retaining ring may additionally includes a plurality of bosses with threaded insert holes by which the retaining ring is attached to a chemical mechanical polishing system.

CMP retaining ring

A container for holding a plurality of wafers in an axially aligned, generally parallel spaced apart arrangement includes an enclosure portion having a top, a bottom, a pair of opposing sides, a back and an open front. At least one wafer support is provided in the enclosure along with a kinematic coupling on the bottom of the enclosure. The container has a door for sealingly closing the open front which includes a chassis and an operable latching mechanism on the chassis. The latching mechanism includes a cam selectively rotatable to shift the latching mechanism between a first favored position and a second favored position and at least one vibration dampener for dampening vibrations generated when the latching mechanism is shifted between the first and second favored positions.

Wafer container and door with vibration dampening latching mechanism

Wafer carrier door

A wafer container providing improved wafer restraint during physical shock events. In embodiments of the invention, a secondary wafer restraint structure defining a plurality of notches is interposed between opposing wafer restraint members on the door of the container. The notches may be defined by one or more converging edges or surfaces meeting at a junction. The junctions are positioned so as to align with the wafer receiving portions of each opposing pair of wafer restraint member so that when the door is fully sealingly engaged with the enclosure of the container, the edge of the wafer is contacting the junction. In this position, any vertical movement of the wafer due to shock imparted to the container causes the wafer to contact the converging surfaces or edges, thereby limiting such movement. The positioning of the secondary wafer restraint structure between and proximate opposing fingers of the primary wafer restraint limits deflection of the wafer between support points and thereby further inhibits the wafer from 'jumping' out of the supports and cross-slotting.

Wafer container with secondary wafer restraint system

A substrate kinematic coupling or guide plate for a substrate carrier having textured or patterned surfaces at the points of contact to reduce frictional forces generated between automated processing equipment and the kinematic coupling. The textured surface reduces the contact area between the processing equipment and the contact portion of the kinematic coupling, thereby reducing the resultant frictional force. By reducing the frictional force, the substrate carrier more readily settles on the mounting pins of the processing equipment, thus avoiding intolerable height and angular deviations during automated access to the substrates. Textures include, but are not limited to, a knurl pattern, ridges running laterally along the contact portions, and ridges running longitudinally along the contact portions. The textures may be formed by a blow molding, injection molding or in an overmolding process, or by a machining or imprinting process.

Kinematic coupling with textured contact surfaces

A carrier for transporting silicon semiconductor wafers during semiconductor wafer processing operations including an enclosure, a door and a flange structured to interface with a machine so that the carrier can be lifted by the machine. A lift saddle connects the flange to the container so that the load on the flange is transferred to a part of the enclosure other than the top of the enclosure to prevent distortion of the enclosure to maintaining seal integrity between the enclosure and the door.

Substrate carrier

A wafer carrier door having an inner door portion and an outer door portion. The inner door portion has a substantially continuous inner surface. The outer door portion extends over at least a portion of the inner door portion. The outer door portion has a plurality of apertures formed therein. The outer door portion is attached to the inner door portion.

Wafer carrier with apertured door for cleaning

A container for holding a single wafer includes a door with a latching mechanism having a cam with a pair of opposing wings extending laterally therefrom. The cam is selectively rotatably shiftable between a first favored position wherein the wings are completely within the door enclosure to enable the door to be engaged and disengaged from the door frame, and a second favored position wherein the wings extend laterally outward from the door enclosure so as to engage in the latch recesses in the door frame when the door is engaged in the door frame. The cam wings may include a ramped portion thereon for drawing the door into closer engagement in the door frame when the cam is rotated from the first favored position to the second favored position. Also, the latching mechanism may further include a spring disposed to provide a biasing force for urging the latching mechanism toward each of the first and second favored positions, and soft-stop dampening springs for decelerating the cam in a controlled fashion at the first and second favored positions and for absorbing vibrations resulting from the collision of the cam with a fixed stop on the door chassis.

Wafer container and door with cam latching mechanism

A substrate carrier to dissipate electrostatic charge has a conductive grid or network overmolded in a substantially integral container. The grid is electrically connected to an underlying and grounded saddle. The carrier may further include substantially transparent side walls and electrically conductive shelves to retain stored substrates in a generally axial alignment.

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Divide, CO, United States of America

Martin L Forbes