Abstract:
A substrate carrier to dissipate electrostatic charge has a conductive grid or network overmolded in a substantially integral container. The grid is electrically connected to an underlying and grounded saddle. The carrier may further include substantially transparent side walls and electrically conductive shelves to retain stored substrates in a generally axial alignment.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to, and hereby incorporates by reference, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/518,188, filed 7 Nov. 2003. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to devices for confining, silicon wafers, memory disks and the like for transport, storage and processing. More particularly, this invention relates to a substrate container with electrostatic protective features.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     Substrate carriers are utilized for holding, transporting and storing substrates, before during and after processing. Examples of such substrates are wafers for use in fabrication of semiconductor devices, magnetic storage disk substrates, substrates for liquid-crystal display panels and the like. Before they can be transformed into the end product, these delicate and valuable substrates are subjected to repeated processing, storage and transport. It is well known that semiconductor wafers are highly susceptible to damage from environmental influences, such as, particulates, electrostatic discharges, jarring and gaseous containments.  
         [0004]     Contaminants in the form of dust and other particulates from the ambient atmosphere can irretrievably compromise a substrate should they adhere to it. As the size of an integrated circuitry has continued to shrink, the size of particles which can contaminate an integrated circuit has also become smaller, thereby making minimization of contaminants all the more critical. The semiconductor industry employs elaborate measures such as clean rooms to prevent just such an occurrence. Contamination is accepted as the single biggest cause of yield loss in the semiconductor industry.  
         [0005]     Contaminants in the form of particles may be generated by abrasion, such as rubbing or scraping the carrier with the wafers or disks, with the carrier covers or enclosures, with storage racks, with other carriers, or with the processing equipment. A most desirable characteristic of a carrier is therefore a resistance to particle generation upon abrasion, rubbing, or scraping of the plastic molded material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,780,127 discusses various characteristics of plastics which are pertinent to the suitability of such materials for wafer carriers. Said patent is hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0006]     In light of the above, the necessity to protect substrates at each step of the fabrication process becomes obvious. One purpose of a wafer carrier is to provide this protection. An example of a wafer carrier is a Front Opening Unified Pod system (FOUP), such as the F300 Wafer Carrier manufactured by Entegris. A FOUP provides a protective enclosure to shield the wafers from dust particles in the atmosphere or from chemical contamination during fabrication, transfer, transport or storage.  
         [0007]     A second purpose of a wafer carrier is to securely hold the wafer disks during transport. Carriers are generally configured to axially arrange the wafers or disks in slots and to support the wafers or disks by or near their peripheral edges. The wafers or disks are conventionally removable from the carriers in a radial direction upwardly or laterally. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,729 discloses a wafer carrier configured as a process enhancement carrier provide with wafer support shelves. This patent is hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0008]     Additionally, because processing wafer disks is generally automated, it is necessary for disks to be precisely positioned relative to the processing equipment for the robotic removal and insertion of the wafers. Prior art wafer carriers, such as those utilizing multiple component parts, can have undesirable variations in critical dimensions caused by the stacking of tolerances of the component plastic parts. In order to overcome the difficulty in producing wafer carriers with acceptable tolerances between the wafer planes and external processing equipment interfaces, monolithic wafer carriers have been employed in the art.  
         [0009]     The material used for the carrier shell must be such that the carrier maintains its dimensional stability during its product life cycle despite the repeated process and transport induced stresses on the carrier. Dimensional stability is necessary to prevent damage to the wafers or disks and to minimize movement of the wafers or disks within the carrier. The tolerances of the slots holding wafers and disks are typically quite small and any deformation of the carrier can directly damage the highly brittle wafers or can increase the abrasion and thus the particle generation when the wafers or disks are moved into, out of, or within the carrier. Dimensional stability is also extremely important when the carrier is loaded in some direction such as when the carriers are stacked during shipment or when the carriers integrate with processing equipment. The carrier material should also maintain its dimensional stability under elevated temperatures which may be encountered during storage or cleaning.  
         [0010]     In handling and processing semiconductor wafers, static electricity is a continuing concern. Conventional carriers used in the semiconductor industry may develop and retain static charges. When a charged plastic part comes into contact with an electronic device or processing equipment, it may discharge in the damaging phenomena of electrostatic discharge (ESD). Therefore, it is desirable to have a carrier with static dissipation characteristics to eliminate ESD as well as to avoid attracting particles. Wafer carriers have been manufactured with conventional static dissipative materials such as carbon filled polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and carbon filled polycarbonate (PC).  
         [0011]     Visibility of wafers within closed containers is highly desirable and may be required by end users. Transparent plastics, such as polycarbonates, have been employed for this purpose because such plastics are low in cost. However, they do not have desirable static dissipative characteristics or desirable abrasion resistance.  
         [0012]     Carriers are typically formed of injection molded plastics such as polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), perfluoroalkoxy (PFA), and polyetheretherketone (PEEK). It must be recognized that a material that is ideal for one carrier function is typically not the ideal material for a different function of the same carrier. For example, PEEK is a material that has ideal abrasion resistance characteristics for wafer contact portions, but is difficult to mold and cost prohibitive relative to other plastics.  
         [0013]     Fillers may also be added to injection molded plastics for static dissipation. Such fillers include carbon powder or fiber, metal fibers, metal coated graphite, and organic (amine-based) additives. U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,729 teaches composite substrate carriers, especially wafer carriers formed from at least two different melt processible plastic materials in which the two plastic materials are strategically positioned for optimal performance.  
         [0014]     It should be stressed that one of the important considerations in designing a wafer carrier is the cost of the materials used in the construction of the carrier and the ease of molding the material.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]     A substrate carrier is disclosed that includes a container portion with an internal cavity for protective containment of substrates during processing, transport and support. The container portion has a unique means for protecting the carrier from building up static charges as well as combinations of materials providing optimal performance characteristics. In a preferred embodiment, the wafers are supported on side support columns extending from the walls of the container portion and integrally molded such as by overmolding. Visible access to wafers within the closed pod is facilitated by transparent portions which can essentially be the entire shell or by windows formed by overmolding into the container. Pathways configured as arrays of conductive materials are created using the overmolding process which may span the windows or transparent portions of the shell, the side wafer support columns as well as the pod shell. The conductive materials may form physical barriers protruding from the transparent portions to prevent or minimize physical contact with transparent portions by handlers or objects.  
         [0016]     In preferred embodiments, an advantage and feature is that a series of spaced conductive pathways are formed on the exterior of a wafer container shell. The series can be arranged as an array including a grid to effectively cover particular transparent portions, especially those that are amenable to contact with objects that might have a static charge or that might create a charge by said contact. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a container portion of a wafer carrier of the instant invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of wafer support columns.  
         [0019]      FIG. 3  is a view of a portion of the wafer carrier depicting a conductive tab on the side wall of the wafer carrier.  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a container portion of a wafer carrier of the instant invention.  
         [0021]      FIG. 5  is a detail of the connection of the conductive views in the wafer supports with the handles.  
         [0022]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a wafer container of the instant invention.  
         [0023]      FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of a window portion with an array of ribbing protruding therefrom of the instant invention.  
         [0024]      FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of a window portion with a grid of conductive material molded therein of the instant invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0025]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a container module or FOUP for wafers generally designated with the numeral  20 , has a container portion  25  with a lift-saddle  27 , and a door  28  closing the container  25  ( FIG. 6 ) and secured therein by a latch mechanism  29 .  
         [0026]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the FOUP shell generally designated with the numeral  20  is principally comprised of a pod shell  30  with a front  35 , a back  40 , a top wall  42 , side walls  45 ,  46 , and a bottom  50 . The pod shell is supported on a conductive, grounded plate  55 , the bottom  50  being in contact relationship with grounded plate  55 . In a preferred embodiment, the conductive plate  55  is electrically grounded and is designed with three interface structures, configured as grooves  56 , that comprise a kinematic coupling  57  illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The side walls  45 ,  46  are continuous and solid.  FIGS. 1 and 2  show the open interior  65  of the container. Integral with the side walls  45 ,  46  are a pair of wafer side columns  70 , each of which comprise a plurality of shelves  75  and define a wafter receiving region  80 , each shelf having wafer engagement portions  85 . In a preferred embodiment, the top wall  42  is provided with guide ribs  110  suitable for slidably receiving a robotic-flange  115  for grasping and hoisting the pod by means of an overhead hoist transfer section (OHT) (not shown).  
         [0027]     In a preferred embodiment, the pod shell  30  is preferably injection molded from polycarbonate or polyetherimide or the like. Generally, if the pod is fabricated from an opaque material, a sight window  120  is desirably molded into the pod shell  30 . The window  120  is preferably comprised of a substantially transparent or translucent material. Generally, each side wall  45 ,  46  may be provided with a substantially transparent window which allows visual access to the wafers inside the opaque pod shell  30 .  
         [0028]     In another preferred embodiment, the side columns  70  are integrally injection molded with the pod shell so that the pod shell and the side columns comprise a monolithic body. The side columns  70  may have overmolded conductive artery portions  125  of a static dissipative material (SDM) such as carbon filled PEEK as exemplified in  FIG. 2 . The artery portions, as is depicted in  FIG. 2 , form an electrically conductive pathway connecting the top wall  42  to the bottom  50  and the conductive, grounded plate  55 . In another embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 , the conductive artery may be electrically coupled with conductive pads  135  molded into and protruding from the side walls  45 ,  46  at locations  140 ,  141  which form points of attachment of a load-distributing lift-saddle  27  to the side wall. The conductive pathways are arranged in an array which can include a grid with repeating pathways separated by the transparent material of the shell. It is believed that separation of the conductive pathways by about ½ of an inch to about an inch and ½. The lift-saddle  27  is articulated with the robotic-flange  115  and serves to distribute the load from the robotic-flange  115  to the side walls  45 ,  46 . The interconnection of the lift-saddle with the conductive pads  135  effectively provides an electrical pathway to ground electrostatic charges that might accumulate on the robotic-flange  115  during operation.  
         [0029]     “Conductive” herein means the component or vein or material is at least static dissipative and can discharge a static buildup as is typically seen in the context of wafer containers. Generally be static dissipative the material has a surface resistivity in the range of 10 5  to 10 12  ohms per square. For a material to provide a conductive path to ground, resistance less than this may be appropriate.  
         [0030]     In an alternate embodiment, the window  120  as well as the side columns  70  may have an overmolded conductive rib array  170  having conductive ribs  190 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . The conductive rib array  170  may be ideally formed by overmolding from carbon filled PEEK or similar materials which provide a static dissipative feature. However, because the rib array spans a much larger extent of the area of the side walls  45 ,  46 , it provides a means to ground electrostatic charges over an extended area of the pod shell  30  by using a minimum amount of cost-prohibitive SDM material such as PEEK. Moreover, in preferred embodiments the rib array may provide a physical barrier to contact the window or other critical portion of the carrier. The arrays described herein can be flush with the outwardly facing transparent surface, embedded below the surface, or protruding outwardly from the outwardly facing transparent surface. The protruding configuration provides the physical barrier.  
         [0031]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , in another alternate embodiment, a conductive grid network  180  is overmolded over substantially all of the transparent pod shell  30 . The array or grid includes conductive material  185  and may be adapted to provide a path-to-ground for electrostatic charges at any desired portion of the pod. It will be appreciated that the reticulation of the array or grid may be non-uniform, with a finer mesh or with a more dense distribution of mesh on areas of the pod more susceptible to electrostatic charge accumulation. The array or grid may include a repetitive series of conductive lines optionally exposed on the exterior of the shell. The grid  180 , e.g., may be a rectilinear or non-rectilinear or curvilinear or noncurvilinear shell  30  and may be molded first and then placed back into an injection mold to mold a PEEK grid  170  over it. In this process the mold temperature is ideally kept below the glass transition temperature of polycarbonate which is approximately 149° C. to prevent distortion of the polycarbonate base portion.  FIGS. 7 and 8  show the conductive material  185  in side wall cross section at the ribbing and a window, respectively.  
         [0032]     In particular applications, it may be suitable to have the first injection molded portion, i.e. the grid portion, to be relatively smaller volumetrically than the second, overmolded portion, the pod shell. In other applications, a first material, comprising, for example, a conductive grid, may be deposited at critical positions in a mold—for example, the wafer contact areas and the window areas—the material is allowed to solidify, and a second portion, such as the polycarbonate comprising the material of the pod shell, is overmolded onto the first material without changing molds.  
         [0033]     In other particular applications, the second material does not have to be allowed to solidify, the two materials may join while both are molten. This coinjection molding may not offer the precision in locating the interface between the first portion and the second portion; it does, however, eliminate the need for the extra mold and the steps of allowing the first portion to solidify, removing the portion from the mold, and placement of the first portion in a second mold.  
         [0034]     The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.