Substrate Storage Container Positioning Members
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional substrate storage containers for semiconductor wafers face challenges in achieving high positioning precision and efficient production due to thick positioning members, which lead to sink marks, increased production costs, and reduced throughput, as well as difficulties in resin-molding processes such as gas assist molding and insert molding.
Innovation Solution
The substrate storage container features positioning members with a housing and a plate-like member, where the plate-like member closes the opening of the housing, and the container body is formed with a uniform wall thickness, allowing for integral fixation during insert molding, preventing sink marks and improving resin flow, thus enhancing positioning precision and production efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the positioning member is made with great wall thickness to ensure mechanical strength and absorption of mounting errors, then the positioning precision is improved, but the production time increases due to long cooling time required in resin-molding
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning member is divided into two parts: a housing with slope faces for positioning and a plate-like member for closing the opening. This segmentation allows the housing to have sufficient thickness for strength while the overall structure can be optimized for faster cooling and production.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing is designed with localized thickness distribution - thicker at the slope faces where positioning contact occurs to ensure precision and strength, while other portions can be thinner to reduce cooling time and improve production efficiency.
2Manufacturing precision
If the positioning member is produced in a separate resin-molding process with insert molding, then the positioning precision is improved, but the production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing and plate-like member are combined into a single integrated positioning member structure that can be molded as one piece, eliminating the need for separate molding processes and reducing production costs while maintaining positioning precision.
3Productivity
If gas assist molding is used to reduce wall thickness while maintaining strength, then the production efficiency is improved, but the positioning precision may be compromised due to potential bias in cavity formation
Solution Approach 1:
The plate-like member is extracted as a separate component that closes the opening of the housing, allowing the housing to be optimized for gas assist molding to improve production efficiency while the positioning function is preserved through the slope faces.
Data Source
AI summary
A substrate storage container that can be highly accurately positioned and produced at increased productivity, and a method of producing the substrate storage container are provided. The substrate container (10) comprises a container body (11) having an opening through which a substrate can be taken in and out thereof and a plurality of positioning members (16) arranged at a bottom of the container body (11). Each positioning member (16) includes a housing (17) and a plate-like member (18), the housing (17) having on one side thereof a pair of positioning slope faces (17c, 17d) and an opening on the other side thereof, the plate-like member (18) closing the opening. The container body (11) is insert-molded with the positioning members (16) used as inserts, and the positioning members (16) are integrally fixed to the container body (11).