FOUP purge shield

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10784136-B2
Application number	US-201816048200-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2018
Priority date	Jul 27, 2018
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

A load port for loading wafers to and unloading wafers from a front opening unified pod (FOUP) includes a shield member that covers and provides a seal over an opening of the FOUP. The shield member includes a narrow wafer slot that is sized to allow a single wafer to be loaded to or unloaded from the FOUP but otherwise minimize loss of the purge environment within the FOUP. The shield member is movable so that the wafer slot may be moved vertically to provide a wafer transfer robot access to any desired wafer position within the FOUP. The shield member, for example, may be a flexible sheet that is held taut and is rolled onto and off of at least one roller to vertically position the wafer slot. The shield member may alternatively be one or more rigid members that slide on rails to vertically position the wafer slot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A load port for loading wafers to and unloading wafers from a front opening unified pod (FOUP), the load port comprising:
a table upon which a FOUP is detachably mounted;
a shield member that covers and provides a seal over an opening of the FOUP when the FOUP is mounted on the table, the shield member having a wafer slot that is sized to allow a wafer to be loaded to or unloaded from the FOUP, the shield member being movable to move the wafer slot vertically to provide access to any desired wafer position within the FOUP;
a first roller and a second roller, wherein the shield member is a flexible sheet that extends between and is rolled onto the first roller and the second roller; and
a motor that is coupled to the first roller to rotate at least the first roller to roll the shield member onto or off of the first roller and the second roller to move the wafer slot vertically;
wherein the flexible sheet forms a continuous loop around the first roller and the second roller, the continuous loop of the flexible sheet having a first side with the wafer slot and a second side having an elongated opening, the first side and the second side of the flexible sheet are on opposite sides of the first roller and the second roller and the elongated opening is opposite the wafer slot when the wafer slot is positioned at any desired wafer position within the FOUP.

2. The load port of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one of a belt rotatably coupled between the first roller and the second roller, wherein the belt causes the second roller to rotate when the motor rotates the first roller or a spring return coupled to the second roller to provide tension on the shield member.

3. The load port of claim 1 , wherein the shield member is movable to move the wafer slot vertically by the flexible sheet being simultaneously rolled onto the first roller and unrolled from the second roller and by being simultaneously unrolled from the first roller and rolled onto the second roller.

4. The load port of claim 1 , wherein the wafer slot in the shield member has a rectangular shape and includes a cut-out portion that is sized to allow an end-effector of a wafer transfer robot to pass through the shield member with the wafer when the wafer is loaded to or unloaded from the FOUP.

5. The load port of claim 1 , further comprising at least one purge port that is fluidically coupled to the FOUP when the FOUP is mounted on the table, the at least one purge port configured to provide purging gas or air into the FOUP.

6. A load port, for loading wafers to and unloading wafers from a front opening unified pod (FOUP), the load port comprising:
a table upon which a FOUP is detachably mounted;
a shield member that covers and provides a seal over an opening of the FOUP when the FOUP is mounted on the table, the shield member having a wafer slot that is sized to allow a wafer to be loaded to or unloaded from the FOUP, the shield member being movable to move the wafer slot vertically to provide access to any desired wafer position within the FOUP;
at least one roller, wherein the shield member is a flexible sheet that extends from and is rolled onto the at least one roller; and
a motor that drives the at least one roller to rotate to roll the shield member onto or off of the at least one roller to move the wafer slot vertically;
wherein the shield member is coupled to a door of the load port, and wherein the at least one roller comprises one roller having a pretensioned assembly to rotate the roller to hold the shield member taut between the roller and the door, wherein the motor is coupled to the door and causes the door to move vertically thereby causing the shield member to roll onto or off of the roller to move the wafer slot vertically.

7. The load port of claim 6 , wherein the pretensioned assembly comprises at least one of a pretensioned spring return or a second motor.

8. A load port for loading wafers to and unloading wafers from a front opening unified pod (FOUP), the load port comprising:
a table upon which a FOUP is detachably mounted;
a shield member that covers and provides a seal over an opening of the FOUP when the FOUP is mounted on the table, the shield member having a wafer slot that is sized to allow a wafer to be loaded to or unloaded from the FOUP, the shield member being movable to move the wafer slot vertically to provide access to any desired wafer position within the FOUP;
at least one roller, wherein the shield member is a flexible sheet that extends from and is rolled onto the at least one roller; and
a motor that drives the at least one roller to rotate to roll the shield member onto or off of the at least one roller to move the wafer slot vertically;
an enclosure for each roller in the at least one roller and further comprising an evacuation system that is coupled to the enclosure for each roller to evacuate purge gas or air from the enclosure for each roller.

9. A load port, for loading wafers to and unloading wafers from a front opening unified pod (FOUP), the load port comprising:
a table upon which a FOUP is detachably mounted;
a shield member that covers and provides a seal over an opening of the FOUP when the FOUP is mounted on the table, the shield member having a wafer slot that is sized to allow a wafer to be loaded to or unloaded from the FOUP, the shield member being movable to move the wafer slot vertically to provide access to any desired wafer position within the FOUP, wherein the shield member is at least one rigid member;
a pair of parallel rails having a vertical orientation, wherein the at least one rigid member is slidably coupled to the pair of parallel rails to move the wafer slot vertically to provide access to any desired wafer position within the FOUP.

10. The load port of claim 9 , wherein the at least one rigid member comprises a first rigid member and a second rigid member, wherein the wafer slot is formed by a separation between the first rigid member and the second rigid member.

11. The load port of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the first rigid member and the second rigid member is movable relative to the other to close the separation between the first rigid member and the second rigid member.

12. A method of loading or unloading wafers from a front opening unified pod (FOUP), the method comprising:
sealing an opening of the FOUP that is detachably mounted to a load port with a shield member that covers the opening of the FOUP, wherein the shield member has a wafer slot that is sized to allow a wafer to be loaded to or unloaded from the FOUP;
moving the shield member to a first position to place the wafer slot at a first vertical position relative to the FOUP to provide access to a first wafer position within the FOUP, wherein a first wafer is loaded to or unloaded from the first wafer position within the FOUP through the wafer slot while the wafer slot is at the first vertical position;
moving the shield member to a second position to place the wafer slot at a second vertical position relative to the FOUP to provide access to a second wafer position within the FOUP, wherein the second wafer position is different than the first wafer position, wherein a second wafer is loaded to or unloaded from the second wafer position within the FOUP through the wafer slot while the wafer slot is at the second vertical position;
wherein the shield member is a flexible sheet, wherein moving the shield member to the first position and moving the shield member to the second position comprises rolling the shield member onto or off of at least one roller;
wherein the at least one roller comprises a first roller and a second roller and

Assignees

• Onto Innovation Inc

Inventors

• Doyle Paul A
• Crouch Morgan A

Classifications

• H10P72/0441

  Apparatus for sealing, encapsulating, glassing, decapsulating or the like · CPC title

• H10P72/0402 Primary

  Apparatus for fluid treatment (H10P72/0441, H10P72/0448 take precedence) · CPC title

• H10P72/1926 Primary

  characterised by the presence of atmosphere modifying elements inside or attached to the closed carrier · CPC title

• H10P72/3408

  Docking arrangements · CPC title

• H10P72/3406

  involving removal of lid, door or cover · CPC title