Ultra-low oxygen and humility loadport and stocker system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9460949-B2
Application number	US-201314052231-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2013
Priority date	Oct 11, 2013
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

One or more apparatuses for adjusting at least one of an oxygen content or a water content in a pod and methods of their use are provided, where one or more semiconductor wafer are selectively stored within a storage chamber of the pod. The apparatus comprises the pod and a pipeline. The pod comprises the storage chamber and a port. The port comprises a receptacle having a first opening and a constraining ring proximate the first opening. The pipeline comprises a pipe, a diffuser attached to a first end of the pipe and a controller attached to a second end of the pipe.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a pod, comprising:
a storage chamber comprising a set of walls defining an interior region in which wafers are held, wherein a first wall of the set of walls defines a first opening;
a receptacle disposed within the interior region and defining a second opening overlying the first opening; and
a constraining ring disposed within the interior region and surrounding a portion of the receptacle defining the second opening and applying pressure on the receptacle to seal the second opening; and

a pipeline comprising:
a pipe;
a diffuser attached to a first end of the pipe and dimensioned for insertion into the storage chamber through the first opening and the second opening; and
a controller attached to a second end of the pipe.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the receptacle comprises silicon.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising an air filter disposed within the interior region, the receptacle disposed between the air filter and the first opening.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises at least one of:
a mass flow controller;
a vacuum controller;
an oxygen detector; or
a water detector.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a stopper surrounding the pipe.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the stopper seals the first opening upon being mated with the first wall.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pod is a front-opening unified pod (FOUP).

8. An apparatus comprising:
a pod, comprising:
a storage chamber comprising a set of walls defining an interior region in which wafers are held;
a receptacle disposed within the interior region and defining a first opening; and
a constraining ring disposed within the interior region and pinching the receptacle to seal the first opening; and

a pipeline comprising:
a pipe;
a diffuser attached to a first end of the pipe, the first opening dimensioned to accommodate the diffuser; and
a controller attached to a second end of the pipe.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the receptacle comprises silicon.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the controller comprises at least one of:
a mass flow controller;
a vacuum controller;
an oxygen detector; or
a water detector.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , comprising a stopper surrounding the pipe, the stopper dimensioned to form a seal with a first wall of the set of walls.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the constraining ring is expandable to enable the diffuser to selectively penetrate the first opening.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the pod is a front-opening unified pod (FOUP).

14. A method of adjusting at least one of oxygen content or water content in a pod comprising:
inserting a diffuser attached to a first end of a pipe of a pipeline into a first opening of a receptacle disposed within an interior region of the pod and overlying an opening defined within a wall of the pod, wherein the inserting causes a constraining ring disposed within the interior region to expand to create a seal between the receptacle and at least one of the pipe or the diffuser;
sensing at least one of a first oxygen content or a first water content in the pod using a first controller attached to a second end of the pipe; and
applying at least one of a vacuum purge or a nitrogen purge to adjust at least one of the first oxygen content or the first water content to obtain at least one of a second oxygen content or a second water content in the pod.

15. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
inserting a second diffuser attached to a first end of a second pipe of a second pipeline into a second opening of a second receptacle disposed within the interior region of the pod.

16. The method of claim 15 , comprising applying the nitrogen purge using the pipeline and applying the vacuum purge using the second pipeline.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the second oxygen content or the second water content is less than 1 ppm.

18. The method of claim 14 , comprising transferring the pod from a stocker to a loadport after obtaining at least one of the second oxygen content or the second water content in the pod.

19. The method of claim 18 , comprising adjusting at least one of the second oxygen content or the second water content to obtain at least one of a third oxygen content or a third water content in the pod based upon a communication from at least one of the stocker or the loadport to a manufacturing execution system (MES).

20. The method of 19 , wherein at least one of the third oxygen content or the third water content less than 1 ppm.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chou You-Hua
• Huang Chih-Wei
• Chuang Kuo-Sheng

Classifications

• H10P72/1926 Primary

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

• H01L21/67393 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic