Compartments for Workpiece Stocker Emergency Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
In semiconductor fabrication facilities, stockers used for temporarily storing workpieces like wafers and reticles often fail due to equipment malfunctions, leading to isolation and disruption of the manufacturing process, as they are designed to be sealed off from the environment to maintain cleanliness, making it difficult to retrieve articles during emergencies without compromising their quality.
Innovation Solution
The development of compartmentable equipment with removable, open, and sealed compartments accessible by a robot handling system, allowing for emergency access and removal of workpieces without contaminating other items, using emergency access ports and a portable workpiece removal equipment to maintain cleanliness and continuity of the manufacturing process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the stocker storage area is sealed off from the outside environment to maintain cleanliness, then the articles are protected from contamination, but access to retrieve articles during emergencies becomes difficult or impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The stocker is divided into multiple isolated compartments, each with its own sealed environment. This allows the system to maintain overall cleanliness while enabling selective access to individual compartments during emergencies without compromising the sealed status of other compartments.
Solution Approach 2:
A portable workpiece removal equipment serves as an intermediary device that can be introduced into the sealed stocker environment during emergencies. This portable equipment acts as a bridge, allowing article retrieval without breaching the sealed environment of the main stocker.
2Productivity
If the stocker is designed as a single sealed unit, then cleanliness is maintained, but the system lacks flexibility for emergency responses and workpiece retrieval
Solution Approach 1:
The stocker is segmented into multiple independently sealed compartments. This segmentation provides both the cleanliness of sealed units and the flexibility of selective access, allowing the system to adapt to emergency situations while maintaining continuous processing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates dynamic elements including removable compartments and portable removal equipment that can be deployed as needed. This dynamic capability allows the system to transition from a static sealed state to an accessible state during emergencies, maintaining both productivity and adaptability.
3Ease of operation
If emergency access doors are added to the stocker, then workpiece retrieval during failures becomes possible, but the risk of contaminating other workpieces increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the stocker into isolated compartments, the system allows emergency access to one compartment without exposing other compartments to contamination risks. Each compartment's sealed environment protects its articles independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealed environment and contamination protection are applied locally to each individual compartment rather than requiring a single large sealed space. This local quality approach allows selective access while maintaining protection for all other compartments.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention discloses apparatuses and method for configuring a compartmentable equipment to accommodate emergency responses. An exemplary equipment comprises a plurality of removable compartments for storing workpieces so that in emergency events, such as power failure or equipment failure, the workpieces can be removed from the equipment for continuing processing without disrupting the flow of the fabrication facility. The compartmentable equipment can comprise emergency access ports, including mating interface to a portable workpiece removal equipment to allow accessing the individual compartments without compromising the quality, defects and yield of the workpieces stored in the stocker.