Nested Tray Transport Box for Semiconductor Substrates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current transport boxes for semiconductor substrates are bulky and heavy, limiting their capacity and efficiency in clean room storage and handling, while also increasing the risk of substrate contamination during transfer and storage.
Innovation Solution
A transport box design featuring a basket composed of nested, movable trays that can be closely stacked to minimize volume and maximize substrate capacity, with a door-integrated basket mechanism for easy transfer and a sealed interface for reduced contamination risk, allowing for efficient handling and reduced space requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If substrates are stacked close together in a one-piece rack, then the transport box capacity increases, but the robot arm cannot pass under the substrates to lift and transfer them
Solution Approach 1:
The basket is divided into multiple separable trays instead of a solid one-piece structure. Each tray can be independently moved away from adjacent trays, creating space for robot arm passage while maintaining close stacking when trays are together. This segmentation allows the system to achieve both high capacity and operational accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The trays are designed to be movable relative to each other along the vertical axis. During storage, trays are stacked closely to maximize capacity. During transfer operations, trays can be dynamically separated to allow robot arm passage and substrate lifting. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between static capacity and operational accessibility.
2Reliability
If the transport box is designed to maintain reduced pressure or vacuum atmosphere, then substrate protection from contamination improves, but the box weight increases due to reinforced walls
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses flexible sealing elements and thin film barriers to maintain reduced pressure atmospheres without requiring heavy reinforced walls. The sealing door and flexible membranes provide the necessary pressure containment while keeping the overall structure lightweight and easy to handle.
3Volume of stationary object
If the transport box volume is reduced to optimize clean room space, then space efficiency improves, but the number of substrates that can be stored decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple trays are nested vertically within a compact box structure, with each tray holding substrates in close proximity. The nested arrangement allows maximum substrate capacity within a minimized external volume, optimizing space utilization in clean rooms while maintaining high storage capacity.
4Ease of operation
If the basket is designed with fixed spacing between substrates for robot arm passage, then ease of transfer improves, but the transport box becomes bulky and cannot contain many substrates
Solution Approach 1:
The spacing between substrates is dynamic rather than fixed. During storage, trays are stacked closely with minimal spacing to maximize capacity. During transfer operations, the selected tray is moved away from adjacent trays, dynamically creating the necessary space for robot arm passage and substrate manipulation. This eliminates the need for permanently bulky design.
Data Source
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Figure 4
AI summary
According to the invention, a transport box (1) may be connected to an interface (2), and contain a basket (3) in which the substrates (4) may be placed. The basket (3) consists of a set of plates (3a-3f), stacked one after the other and individually replaceable. The basket (3) is entirely shifted to the interior of the interface (2), then the means of movement isolating a selected plate by moving the adjacent plates, allowing the robot (5) to come and extract the selected substrate. When in a transport position, the plates (3a-3f) are in contact with each other, therefore reducing the amount of space taken up by the substrates (4).