The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 26, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 02, 1998
Tadashi Yotsumoto, Tokyo, JP;
Terumi Muguruma, Tokyo, JP;
Noriaki Yoshikawa, Tokyo, JP;
Yuichi Kuroda, Tokyo, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
Storage equipment simply and effectively maintains the cleanness of substrates stored therein. The substrates in the storage equipment are set in a pod. The storage equipment has removable covers, a unit for fitting the covers to pods, respectively, a unit for holding the pods with the covers, a gas supply unit for individually supplying gas into the pods through the covers, and an exhaust unit for individually discharging an atmosphere from the pods through the covers. Each pod is closed with the cover in the storage equipment, and the gas supply unit and exhaust unit periodically replace an atmosphere in each pod with inert gas or evacuate each pod, to control the storage conditions of each pod in the storage equipment.