300 mm microenvironment pod with door on side

Abstract

A container for creating a microenvironment is disclosed. The container includes a shell, a door and a plurality of supports having a unique design which are used to securely retain items, such as silicon wafers, in a spaced apart parallel relationship. The supports are removable. An electrical path is provided to ground the supports. Kinematic coupling structures are also provided for positioning the container on a surface so as to, for example, properly align the door with the port of a wafer processing tool.

Description

[0001]Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,194. The reissue applications are application Ser. No. 10 / 310,069 (the present application), which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09 / 943,098, now issued as U.S. Reissue Pat. No. RE38,221, and application Ser. No. 11 / 351,214, which is a continuation of the present application, all of which are reissues of U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,194.<?insert-end id="INS-S-00001" ?>BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]I. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates generally to a package for an item. More particularly, the present invention relates to a package specifically designed to isolate from contamination materials used in the manufacture of electronic semiconductor components and circuits. Such packages are particularly well suited for substrates, wafers, memory disks, photomasks, flat panel displays, liquid crystal displays, and the like.[0004]II. Description of the Prio...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides an isolation container for protecting wafers, photomasks, memory disks, liquid crystal display panels, and flat panel displays from contamination, damage, and shock. The container has a shell with an opening for inserting and removing items, a door for effective sealing, and a plurality of item-retaining structures that securely hold the items in spaced apart relation from each other. The container is designed to be light weight, minimize tolerance build-up, reduce static electricity, be wet-cleaned with or without disassembly, and be easily handled, manipulated, and transported by humans. The invention also provides a better understanding of the design criteria for such containers and how they can be used in automated processing or handling equipment."

Problems solved by technology

This combination of problems makes designing a suitable package very difficult.

Such problems are only compounded by the environment in which such packages are typically used.

Suitable packaging for use in connection with the storage and transport of wafers, memory disks, photomasks, liquid crystal display panels and flat panel displays tend to be very expensive.

While such package designs have proven to be highly effective in conjunction with smaller items, the designs, for a variety of reasons, are not suitable for storage and transport of items having outside dimensions in the range of 300 mm or more.

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