Pinhole and deaeration failure inspection method for bag body in which sealed storage container is hermetically packaged, and pinhole and deaeration failure inspection device for bag body in which sealed storage container is hermetically packaged

Abstract

The present invention is a pinhole and deaeration failure inspection method for a bag body in which a sealed storage container is hermetically packaged, the method inspecting for the presence or absence of a pinhole or deaeration failure in the bag body in a state in which the sealed storage container accommodating a semiconductor wafer is hermetically packaged in the bag, made of resin or having aluminum vapor deposition, in a degasified state so as not to contact the outside air, the method characterized by comprising: a pressurization step for pressurizing, with a pad, at least one side surface part of the bag body having the sealed storage container hermetically packaged therein, after a predetermined time or longer has elapsed after the hermetic packaging; a measurement step for measuring, using a sensor provided above an upper end part of the bag body having the sealed storage container hermetically packaged therein, the distance between the upper end part and the sensor in a pressurized state achieved by the pressurization step; and a determination step for determining the presence or absence of a pinhole and the presence or absence of deaeration failure in the bag body on the basis of the distance measured in the measurement step. Thus, an inspection method is provided with which it is possible to determine the presence or absence of a pinhole and the presence or absence of deaeration failure in a bag body in which a sealed storage container is hermetically packaged, by a simple method regardless of the inspector.

Description

Method for inspecting pinholes and poor deaeration in bags sealed with sealed storage containers, and device for inspecting pinholes and poor deaeration in bags sealed with sealed storage containers

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for inspecting a bag body hermetically packed with a sealed storage container for pinholes and poor deaeration, and to an inspection device for inspecting a bag body hermetically packed with a sealed storage container for pinholes and poor deaeration.

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, semiconductor devices have become increasingly highly integrated and miniaturized, and contamination control of substrates such as wafers (hereinafter referred to as "wafers"), including prevention of particle adhesion to the substrates, has become increasingly strict.

[0003] For example, when transporting semiconductor wafers such as silicon wafers, the wafers are stored in sealed storage containers such as front opening shipping boxes (FOSBs) or front opening unified pods (FOUPs), and these sealed storage containers are then sealed and packaged in a resin bag or an aluminum-deposited bag before transport.

[0004] Resin bags and bags with aluminum vapor deposition are moisture-proof bags intended to prevent contact with dust-laden atmosphere during transportation and to prevent condensation on the surface of semiconductor wafers stored in sealed storage containers due to humidity. Various types of sealed packaging are known, not just for wafers (Patent Documents 1 to 3).

[0005] JP 2003-004580 A JP 2015-194362 A JP 11-316169 A

[0006] A problem with conventional sealed packaging is that the bag may be accidentally scratched, torn, or punctured during the packaging process. While larger holes and ruptures are relatively easy to detect through inspection, it is extremely difficult for inspectors to find small holes of 1 mm or less in diameter (hereinafter sometimes referred to as pinholes) through visual inspection.

[0007] Furthermore, when inspectors inspect the sealed packaging of sealed storage containers containing semiconductor wafers, they lift the container with both hands and visually inspect the top and bottom two surfaces and the four sides in turn.The total weight of a FOSB containing 25 300 mm diameter wafers is over 8 kg, making this a heavy workload for the inspectors.

[0008] In addition, in order to minimize the volume during transportation and to prevent damage to the packaging material, the sealed container is evacuated and sealed to eliminate as much air as possible between the sealed container and the packaging material. For this reason, it is preferable to be able to inspect whether there are any problems with the evacuated state in addition to the pinhole inspection.

[0009] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide an inspection method that can determine the presence or absence of pinholes or poor deaeration in a bag body that hermetically packages a sealed storage container in a simple manner without the need for an inspector.

[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide an inspection device that can easily determine whether or not a bag containing a sealed storage container has pinholes or poor deaeration without the need for an inspector.

[0011] The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and provides a method for inspecting for pinholes and poor degassing in a bag body hermetically packaged with a sealed storage container, in which the sealed storage container containing semiconductor wafers is sealed and packaged in a resin or aluminum-coated bag body in a degassed state to prevent exposure to the outside air, and the bag body is inspected for pinholes and poor degassing in the bag body, the method comprising: a pressurizing step in which, after a certain period of time has passed since the sealing and packaging, a pad is used to pressurize at least one side of the bag body hermetically packaged with the sealed storage container; a measuring step in which a sensor provided above the upper end of the bag body hermetically packaged with the sealed storage container is used to measure the distance between the upper end and the sensor in a pressurized state in the pressurizing step; and a determining step in which the presence of pinholes and poor degassing in the bag body is determined based on the distance measured in the measuring step.

[0012] According to this inspection method, by applying pressure to the side of the bag, if there is a pinhole or if degassing is insufficient, the air between the bag and the side of the sealed storage container is moved to the upper end of the bag, changing the distance between the upper end and the sensor, and the presence or absence of a pinhole or degassing is detected by measuring this distance.

[0013] This means that pinhole inspections in sealed packages, which were previously performed by workers, can now be done automatically by applying pressure and measuring distance. This means that inspectors will no longer miss pinholes as they did in the past, and it will also be possible to simultaneously inspect for poor deaeration, increasing the number of inspections processed per hour and significantly reducing inspection costs.

[0014] In this case, the predetermined time period can be set to 10 minutes.

[0015] This allows the bag body to be pressurized after sufficient time has passed for air to flow into the bag body through the pinhole, if a pinhole is present, thereby improving the accuracy of detecting whether or not a pinhole is present.

[0016] In this case, the method further includes a pre-pressure measurement step of measuring the distance between the upper end and the sensor using the sensor after the sealed packaging and before the pressurization step, and the determination step can determine that a pinhole is present when the displacement, which is the difference between the distance measured in the pre-pressure measurement step and the distance measured in the measurement step, is 1 mm or more.

[0017] This makes it possible to further improve the accuracy of detecting the presence or absence of a pinhole.

[0018] The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and provides an inspection device for pinholes and poor degassing in bags sealed with sealed storage containers, which inspects the presence or absence of pinholes and poor degassing in bags sealed with sealed storage containers, when the sealed storage containers containing semiconductor wafers are sealed and packaged in a resin or aluminum-coated bag in a degassed state to prevent them from coming into contact with the outside air, the inspection device comprising: a pad that applies pressure to at least one side of the bag in which the sealed storage container is sealed and packaged after a certain period of time has passed since the sealing and packaging; and a sensor that is provided above the upper end of the bag in which the sealed storage container is sealed and packaged, and that measures the distance to the upper end when pressed by the pad, and the device determines the presence or absence of pinholes and poor degassing in the bag based on the measured distance.

[0019] With this type of inspection device, by applying pressure to the side of the bag, if there is a pinhole or if degassing is poor, the air between the bag and the side of the sealed storage container is moved to the upper end of the bag, changing the distance between the upper end and the sensor, and the presence or absence of a pinhole or poor degassing can be detected by measuring this distance.

[0020] This means that pinhole inspections of sealed packages, which were previously performed by workers, can now be performed automatically by applying pressure and measuring distance. This means that inspectors will no longer miss pinholes as they did in the past, and it will also be possible to simultaneously inspect for poor deaeration, increasing the number of inspections processed per hour and significantly reducing inspection costs.

[0021] As described above, the inspection method of the present invention makes it possible to determine the presence or absence of pinholes or poor deaeration in the bag body that hermetically packages the sealed storage container in a simple manner without relying on an inspector.

[0022] Furthermore, the inspection device of the present invention makes it possible to easily determine whether or not there are pinholes or poor deaeration in the bag that hermetically packages the sealed storage container, without relying on an inspector.

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a sealed storage container (FOSB). FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a sealed storage container (FOSB) sealed and packaged in packaging material. FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of an example of using a distance measurement sensor to measure the distance to the top end of the packaging material in which the sealed storage container (FOSB) is sealed. FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an example of using a pressure pad to pressurize the side of the packaging material in which the sealed storage container (FOSB) is sealed, and using a distance measurement sensor to measure the distance to the top end of the packaging material in which the storage container (FOSB) is sealed. FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an example of using a distance measurement sensor to measure the distance to the top end of the packaging material in which the sealed storage container (FOSB) has a pinhole. FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of an example of using a pressure pad to pressurize the side of the packaging material in which the sealed storage container (FOSB) is sealed, and using a distance measurement sensor to measure the distance to the top end of the packaging material in which the pinhole has opened.

[0024] The present invention will be described in detail below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0025] As described above, there has been a demand for an inspection method that can easily determine whether or not a bag containing a sealed storage container has pinholes or poor deaeration, without relying on an inspector.

[0026] As a result of extensive research into the above-mentioned problems, the inventors have discovered a method for inspecting for pinholes and poor degassing in a bag made of a sealed storage container, in which a sealed storage container containing a semiconductor wafer is sealed and packaged in a resin or aluminum-coated bag in a degassed state to prevent exposure to the outside air, and the bag is inspected for pinholes and poor degassing in the bag, the method comprising: a pressurizing step in which, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the sealing and packaging, a pad is used to pressurize at least one side of the bag made of a sealed storage container; a measuring step in which, using a sensor provided above the upper end of the bag made of a sealed storage container, the bag is pressurized in the pressurizing step and the sensor measures the distance between the upper end and the sensor in the pressurized state; and a determining step in which the presence of pinholes and poor degassing in the bag based on the distance measured in the measuring step is determined, thereby discovering that the method for inspecting for pinholes and poor degassing in a bag made of a sealed storage container can be easily performed without the need for an inspector, and have completed the present invention.

[0027] As described above, there has been a demand for an inspection device that can easily determine whether or not a bag containing a sealed storage container has pinholes or poor deaeration without relying on an inspector.

[0028] As a result of extensive research into the above-mentioned problems, the inventors have discovered an inspection device for pinholes and poor degassing in bags sealed with sealed storage containers, which inspects the presence or absence of pinholes and poor degassing in bags sealed with sealed storage containers when the bags are sealed with resin or aluminum-coated bags in a evacuated state to prevent the sealed storage containers from coming into contact with the outside air, the inspection device comprising: a pad that applies pressure to at least one side of the bag sealed with the sealed storage container after a certain period of time has elapsed after the sealing and packaging; and a sensor that is provided above the upper end of the bag sealed with the sealed storage container and measures the distance to the upper end in a state pressurized by the pad, and the device determines the presence or absence of pinholes and poor degassing in the bag based on the measured distance, and has thus completed the present invention.

[0029] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a method and an apparatus for inspecting pinholes and poor deaeration in a bag body hermetically packaging a sealed storage container according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0030] First, the configuration of a sealed storage container that is hermetically packaged in a bag that is the subject of inspection in the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 1, a sealed storage container (FOSB) 10 is composed of a housing 11 and a lid 12. The housing 11 is a box-shaped member with one open side, and a comb-shaped holder for holding semiconductor wafers W is provided on the bottom surface opposite the open side. The lid 12 is a plate-shaped cover that closes the open side of the housing 11, and has a lid-side holder on the inside of the lid that holds the wafers W. The sealed storage container 10 typically stores 25 wafers W in the housing 11, and is shipped from the wafer W manufacturer with the open side closed by the lid 12.

[0031] [Packaging] Next, the sealed and packaged state of the sealed storage container 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 2, the sealed storage container 10 is transported in the state of a package 101 (hereinafter also referred to as the sealed and packaged sealed storage container 10) in which the sealed storage container 10 is packaged in a packaging material 15, which is a bag, in order to cope with environmental changes such as temperature, air pressure, and vibration during transportation by airplane, ship, or truck.

[0032] These packaging methods are effective in preventing condensation on the wafer surface due to temperature and air pressure changes, and in preventing contamination such as an increase in particles caused by outside air entering through gaps in the lid 12 due to vibration.

[0033] As the packaging material 15, a laminate packaging material in which a transparent resin or the like is formed into a sheet and a layer having a moisture-proof effect is laminated, or an aluminum packaging material in which aluminum is vapor-deposited on the surface of a sheet-like resin to give it a moisture-proof effect, or the like is used.

[0034] When the sealed storage container 10 is not only shipped but also transported, it is packaged in the aforementioned laminate packaging or aluminum packaging, or in a state where it is packaged in aluminum packaging after being laminated.

[0035] Furthermore, in order to minimize the volume of the package 101 (sealed storage container 10) during transportation and to prevent damage to the packaging material 15, the package 101 is packaged in a state where as much air as possible is removed from between the sealed storage container 10 and the packaging material 15 so that the sealed storage container 10 is not exposed to the outside air. Specifically, the sealed storage container 10 is placed in the packaging material 15, and the inside of the packaging material 15 is depressurized with a vacuum pump and sealed in a degassed state, thereby creating an airtight state with as much air removed as possible from inside the packaging material 15.

[0036] [Method for inspecting pinholes and defective deaeration] Next, a method and device for inspecting the packaging material 15 of the sealed storage container 10 for pinholes and defective deaeration will be described with reference to Figures 3 to 6. First, the configuration of the inspection device 1 will be described with reference to Figures 3 and 4.

[0037] The inspection device 1 shown in Fig. 3 is a device for inspecting the packaging material 15 used to hermetically package the sealed storage container 10 for pinholes and poor deaeration, and is equipped with a pressure pad 16 and a distance measurement sensor 14. The pressure pad 16 is a member that applies pressure to the packaging material 15 used to hermetically package the sealed storage container 10 after a certain period of time has elapsed since the container was hermetically packaged, and is placed on the side of the packaging material 15.

[0038] 3 shows a configuration in which two pressure pads 16 are arranged on the left and right side surfaces of the packaging material 15 in which the sealed storage container 10 is packaged, so that the pressure pads 16 can pressurize two side surfaces of the packaging material 15, but it is sufficient that the pressure pads 16 can pressurize at least one side surface of the packaging material 15 in which the sealed storage container 10 is packaged. There is no particular limit to the upper limit on the number of side surfaces to be pressed, but considering that the top and bottom surfaces can also become side surfaces by changing the orientation, the number of sides can be six or less in the case of a rectangular parallelepiped or cube, for example. There are also no particular limits on the specific pressure structure of the pressure pad 16, but an example is a structure that uses gas pressure, like an airbag.

[0039] Distance measuring sensor 14 is a sensor provided above packaging material 15 in which sealed storage container 10 is hermetically packaged, and is capable of measuring distance D1 from upper end 18 of packaging material 15 in which sealed storage container 10 is hermetically packaged. It is also possible to measure distance D2 from upper end 18 of packaging material 15 in a state in which at least one side surface of sealed packaging material 15 is pressed by pressure pad 16, as shown in Fig. 4. The specific distance detection method of distance measuring sensor 14 is not particularly limited, but examples include those using laser or ultrasonic waves.

[0040] Next, the procedure for inspecting pinholes and defective degassing using the inspection device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0041] First, the sealed storage container 10 is sealed and packaged in the aforementioned packaging material 15, and then, as shown in FIG. 3, is placed on a support stand 20 and left to stand for a certain period of time. The reason for this is that, in the present invention, the presence or absence of a pinhole is determined by using air that has flowed into the space between the packaging material 15 and the sealed storage container 10 through the pinhole, but even if a pinhole is formed, it takes a certain period of time for air to flow into the packaging material 15 through the pinhole. The certain period of time is not particularly limited, but can be, for example, 10 minutes or more. The upper limit of the certain period of time is not particularly limited, but can be, for example, 1 hour or less.

[0042] Next, if necessary, after the sealed packaging, before the pressurization process described below, the distance D1 between the sealed storage container 10 and the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 in which the sealed storage container 10 is sealed is measured using a distance measuring sensor 14 provided above the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 in which the sealed storage container 10 is sealed, as shown in Figure 3 (pre-pressurization measurement process).

[0043] Next, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the sealed packaging, at least one side surface of the packaging material 15 in which the sealed storage container 10 is sealed, two side surfaces in FIG. 4, are pressed with a pressure pad 16 (pressure step).

[0044] Next, as shown in Figure 4, a distance measuring sensor 14 is provided above the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 that hermetically packages the sealed storage container 10, and the distance D2 between the upper end 18 and the distance measuring sensor 14 is measured while the container is pressurized in the pressurization process (measurement process).

[0045] Here, if there are no pinholes, which are holes with a diameter of 1 mm or less, in the packaging material 15, air will not flow in through these pinholes, and if there is no poor degassing, there will be almost no air between the packaging material 15 and the sealed storage container 10.As a result, even if pressure is applied to the two left and right sides of the packaging material 15 of the sealed, packaged sealed storage container 10 as shown in Figure 4, the distance D2 between the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 of the packaged sealed storage container 10 and the distance measuring sensor 14 will not change from the distance D1 before pressure, as shown in Figure 3.

[0046] However, as shown in Figure 5, if there is a pinhole 17 in the packaging material 15, after the sealed storage container 10 is packaged in the packaging material 15, if a certain amount of time has passed, air will flow between the packaging material 15 and the sealed storage container 10, and as shown in Figure 5, air will flow between the sealed storage container 10 and the packaging material 15 through the pinhole 17.

[0047] With air flowing between the sealed storage container 10 and the packaging material 15 in this manner, when the packaging material 15 of the sealed and packaged sealed storage container 10 is pressed from both the left and right sides with a pressure pad 16, the air present between the sealed storage container 10 and the side portion of the packaging material 15 is pressurized and moves to the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15, pushing the upper end 18 upward.

[0048] When the upper end 18 is pushed upward, as shown in Fig. 6, the distance D2 between the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 of the packaged sealed storage container 10 and the distance measuring sensor 14 changes from the distance D1 before pressurization shown in Fig. 5. Based on the distance D2 measured in this way, it is determined whether or not a pinhole 17 is present at any position in the packaging material 15 of the packaged sealed storage container 10 (determination step). Specifically, the presence or absence of a pinhole 17 or poor deaeration can be determined from the amount of displacement, which is the difference between the distance D1 before pressurization and the distance D2 after pressurization.

[0049] Specifically, the amount of displacement that determines whether a pinhole exists can be determined by, for example, determining the amount of displacement that would occur if a pinhole were present in advance through a preliminary test or the like and comparing this with the actual measured value of the amount of displacement. For example, a pinhole can be determined to exist when the amount of displacement is 1 mm or more. The upper limit of the amount of displacement is not particularly limited, but can be, for example, 10 mm or less.

[0050] In the case of general inspection using images from a camera or the like, a large-scale holding and rotating mechanism is required to inspect the underside, etc. of a sealed and packaged sealed storage container 10, and in order to inspect the underside (bottom) of the packaged sealed storage container 10, however, according to the method of the present invention, even if a pinhole 17 is present on the underside, etc. of the packaged sealed storage container 10, it is unlikely that the pinhole 17 will be completely blocked by the support table 20. Even if it is blocked, when leaving it to stand, after a certain period of time, the bottom surface that comes into contact with the support table 20 can be placed on a surface other than the surface that comes into contact with the support table 20, and then a certain period of time can be allowed to pass, or the area of ​​the support surface 20 that comes into contact with the sealed storage container can be reduced, thereby eliminating the need for these expensive, large-scale, and complex mechanisms. Therefore, the inspection mechanism for a device for inspecting pinholes 17 can be simplified and the device size can be reduced.

[0051] Furthermore, by applying pressure to the four side surfaces of the packaging material 15 that seals and packages the sealed storage container 10 with the pressure pad 16, even if an extremely small pinhole 17 is present, it is possible to accurately measure the presence or absence of the pinhole 17 from the change in distance between the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 of the packaged sealed storage container 10 and the distance measuring sensor 14.

[0052] As mentioned above, the sealed storage container 10 is sealed and packaged in a degassed state, but if this degassing is insufficient and the sealed storage container is packaged without fully removing the air between the sealed storage container 10 and the packaging material 15, the product will be defectively degassed. When pressure is applied to the side of the packaging material 15 of the packaged sealed storage container 10 in the same manner as in the pinhole inspection, the air that was not removed during degassing and remains between the sealed storage container 10 and the side of the packaging material 15 moves to the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 and pushes up the upper end 18. The resulting change in distance D2 between the upper end 18 and the distance measuring sensor 14 from distance D1 makes it possible to accurately measure whether or not there is a degassing problem.

[0053] Furthermore, by configuring multiple distance measuring sensors 14 to be placed above the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 of the packaged sealed storage container 10, the changing distance D2 can be measured with even greater accuracy, making it possible to detect even extremely small pinholes 17 or poor degassing due to trace amounts of residual air.

[0054] The present invention will be specifically explained below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[0055] Example 1 Twenty-five silicon wafers, each 300 mm in diameter, were stored in a sealed storage container 10, which was then wrapped in aluminum packaging material 15. The container was then degassed and sealed to prepare three sealed packages. A pinhole 17 with a diameter of 1.0 mm was intentionally formed in one location on the side of the packaging material 15 of each sealed storage container 10, and the container was left to stand for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 30 minutes, respectively.

[0056] (Example 2) As in Example 1, 25 silicon wafers each having a diameter of 300 mm were stored in a sealed storage container 10, and the sealed storage container 10 was packaged in aluminum packaging material as packaging material 15. The container was then degassed and sealed to prepare three sealed packages. A pinhole 17 having a diameter of 3.0 mm was intentionally formed in one location on the side of packaging material 15 of the sealed storage container 10, and the container was left for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 30 minutes, respectively. In other words, the diameter of the pinhole 17 was larger than that of Example 1.

[0057] (Example 3) As in Example 1, 25 silicon wafers each having a diameter of 300 mm were stored in a sealed storage container 10, and the sealed storage container 10 was packaged in aluminum packaging material 15. The container was then degassed and sealed to prepare three sealed packages. A pinhole 17 having a diameter of 5.0 mm was intentionally formed in one location on the side of the packaging material 15 of the sealed storage container 10, and the container was left for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 30 minutes, respectively. In other words, the diameter of the pinhole 17 was larger than in Examples 1 and 2.

[0058] (Example 4) As in Example 1, 25 silicon wafers each having a diameter of 300 mm were stored in the sealed storage container 10, and the sealed storage container 10 was packaged in an aluminum packaging material as the packaging material 15. The sealed storage container 10 was then sealed while being degassed, to prepare three sealed packages. The sealed storage containers 10 were left to stand for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 30 minutes, respectively, without forming pinholes 17 in the packaging material 15.

[0059] [Pinhole Inspection] Pinhole inspection was carried out using the inspection method of the present invention on the packaging materials 15 in which the sealed storage containers 10 produced in Examples 1 to 4 were hermetically packaged. Specifically, pressure was applied to the left and right sides of the packaging material 15 with airbag-type pressure pads 16, and the distances D1 and D2 between the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 of the packaged sealed storage container 10 and the distance measuring sensor 14 were measured before and after pressure application, and the difference between the distances D1 and D2 was calculated as the amount of displacement. Table 1 shows these results.

[0060]

[0061] As shown in Table 1, Examples 1 to 3 in which pinhole 17 was formed had a larger displacement amount than Example 4 in which pinhole 17 was not formed, and therefore, the presence of pinhole 17 in packaging material 15 of sealed storage container 10 could be confirmed from the displacement amount.

[0062] On the other hand, as shown in Table 1, in Example 1, when left for 5 minutes, the displacement was 0.25 mm, when left for 10 minutes, the displacement was 1.15 mm, and when left for 30 minutes, the displacement was 1.74 mm. It was found that it is preferable to leave it for 10 minutes or more to obtain a displacement sufficient to determine that a pinhole has been opened.

[0063] In Examples 2 and 3, the displacement was 1.0 mm or more when left for 5, 10, and 30 minutes, which was sufficient to determine that a pinhole had been formed.

[0064] In Example 4, the displacement was 0 mm when the sample was left for 5, 10, or 30 minutes, and it was determined that no pinholes had formed.

[0065] As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a pressure pad 16 is used to pressurize at least one side of a sealed sealed storage container 10, and a distance measuring sensor 14 is used to measure the distance between the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 of the sealed sealed storage container 10.When at least one side of the sealed storage container 10 is pressed by the pressure pad 16, the distance D2 between the upper end 18 of the packaging material 15 of the sealed storage container 10 is measured, and if there is a change in distance D2 compared to the distance D1 before pressurization, it is possible to perform an inspection to determine that a pinhole 17 has opened.

[0066] In the embodiment of the present invention, an example is shown in which there are two pressure pads 16 and one distance measuring sensor 14, but the above effect is also effective when there is pressure from one pressure pad 16 or three or more pressure pads 16. Furthermore, although not shown, it is possible to detect defective degassing products from the variation (amount of displacement) of distance D2 relative to distance D1, as in the case of embodiments 1 to 3.

[0067] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. The above-described embodiments are merely examples, and anything that has substantially the same configuration as the technical idea described in the claims of the present invention and that exhibits similar effects is included within the technical scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for inspecting for pinholes and degassing defects in a bag in which a semiconductor wafer is stored and sealed and packaged in a resin or aluminum-evaporated bag in a degassed state to prevent the sealed container from coming into contact with the outside air, the method comprising the steps of: a pressurizing step in which, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the sealing and packaging, a pad is used to pressurize at least one side of the bag in which the sealed container is sealed and packaged; a measuring step in which a sensor is used above the upper end of the bag in which the sealed container is sealed and packaged to measure the distance between the upper end and the sensor in a pressurized state in the pressurizing step; and a judging step in which the presence or absence of pinholes and degassing defects in the bag is judged based on the distance measured in the measuring step.

2. A method for inspecting pinholes and poor deaeration in a bag in which a sealed storage container is sealed as described in claim 1, characterized in that the certain period of time is 10 minutes.

3. A method for inspecting pinholes and poor deaeration in a bag body obtained by hermetically packaging a sealed storage container as described in claims 1 or 2, characterized in that it further includes a pre-pressure measurement process in which, after hermetically packaging and before the pressurization process, the sensor is used to measure the distance between the upper end and the sensor, and the judgment process determines that a pinhole is present when the amount of displacement, which is the difference between the distance measured in the pre-pressure measurement process and the measurement process, is 1.0 mm or more.

4. An inspection device for pinholes and degassing defects in a bag in which a sealed storage container is packaged, which inspects the presence or absence of pinholes and degassing defects in a bag in which a semiconductor wafer is stored and sealed and packaged in a resin or aluminum-evaporated bag in a degassed state to prevent the sealed storage container from coming into contact with the outside air, the inspection device comprising: a pad that applies pressure to at least one side of the bag in which the sealed storage container is packaged after a certain period of time has passed since the sealed packaging; and a sensor that is provided above the upper end of the bag in which the sealed storage container is packaged, and measures the distance to the upper end in a state pressurized by the pad, and the inspection device for pinholes and degassing defects in a bag in which a sealed storage container is packaged is characterized in that it determines the presence or absence of pinholes and degassing defects in the bag based on the measured distance.

Images