Semiconductor Wafer Transfer Container With Auxiliary Wall Guidance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing containers for transporting semiconductor wafers, made of synthetic resin, face issues with body side walls shrinking during molding, leading to wafers coming into contact with the walls and potential damage. Additionally, designing larger inner diameters to prevent contact results in gaps that allow wafers to move horizontally, further risking damage.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring body side walls with an arc shape and auxiliary walls that are folded toward the back surface, serving as guide elements to maintain concentricity between the container body and cover. This configuration prevents the body side walls from leaning inward and ensures the wafers are securely housed without horizontal movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the inner diameter of the housing is designed to be large to prevent contact between body side walls and wafers, then wafer damage from wall contact is prevented, but gaps are generated between wafers and body side walls allowing horizontal movement of wafers
Solution Approach 1:
The body side wall is segmented into multiple functional zones: the main cylindrical portion provides the housing structure, while auxiliary walls extend from the bottom face to create guide surfaces. This segmentation allows different portions of the same wall to serve contrasting functions - the main wall provides spacing while the auxiliary walls provide guidance and prevention of horizontal movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The auxiliary walls act as intermediary elements between the main body side wall and the wafer. They provide a transition zone that guides the wafer during insertion and extraction while preventing direct contact between the wafer and the main body side wall, thus mediating the interaction to prevent both damage and horizontal movement.
2Manufacturing precision
If the body side walls are molded with shrinkage consideration, then wafer damage from wall contact is prevented, but the body side walls lean toward the inner side causing wafer contact and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The auxiliary walls are designed to counteract the shrinkage effect before it causes problems. By extending these walls from the bottom face, they create a preliminary guide structure that prevents the body side wall from leaning inward during wafer insertion and extraction, thus preemptively counteracting the shrinkage-induced deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The auxiliary walls perform the guiding function in advance during wafer insertion and extraction operations. By establishing the guide surfaces beforehand, they ensure that wafers are properly positioned before they could potentially contact the main body side walls, preventing damage before it can occur.
3Ease of manufacture
If the body side walls are made cylindrical to fit wafer outer diameters, then wafer housing is simplified, but the walls lean inward during shrinkage causing wafer damage
Solution Approach 1:
The body side wall structure is segmented into the main cylindrical portion for easy molding and the auxiliary walls for functional performance. This segmentation allows the majority of the wall to maintain the simple cylindrical shape while adding localized auxiliary structures that prevent shrinkage-related problems without complicating the overall manufacturing process.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A container (1) for transporting a semiconductor wafer includes: a container body (10) having one end provided with an opening (11) and the other end provided with a mounter (12) that faces the opening (11) and on which stacked wafers are housed; and a cover (20) that closes the opening (11). The container body (10) includes: body side walls (14) having an arc shape, disposed upright on the mounter (12), sectioning a housing (13) that houses the wafers; and auxiliary walls (14a) that are disposed upright and folded toward a back surface on both edges of the body side walls (14).