Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Wei-Yao Chien

Ying-Hsiang Chen

Yung-Mao Hsu

Deh-Hsiung Peng

An apparatus for venting hazardous effluents from process equipment used in the manufacture of semiconductors, which is part of a larger ventilating system, is a 'see-thru' transparent chamber which performs the function of a hood, and can be mounted on any one of the conventional semiconductor processing equipment. Because it is transparent, the operator can easily determine when to clean the hood. This is important from the point of view of not exposing the work piece in the processing equipment to effluent contaminants. Usually, the effluents are hazardous to health. Hence, the apparatus is equipped with a pair of gloves which are an integral part of an access door to the hood, and is used to manipulate remotely cleaning tools that are kept inside said hood: remote in the sense that the operator is never exposed to the hazardous effluents inside the chamber hood, and yet is easily capable of using the cleaning tools inside the hood by means of the pair gloves that are an integral part of the hood. The throughput of the manufacturing line is favorably affected since cleaning can be accomplished without stopping the process taking place in the semiconductor manufacturing line.

Growing community of inventors

Nan Tou, Taiwan

Wei-Yao Chien