Patent ID: 7703609

Claim:
A wafer carrier positioning structure, comprising: a carrier body including a bottom face, a pair of parallel guide components formed on the bottom face, and a reinforcement rib formed on the pair of parallel guide components, the carrier body being configured to house a wafer parallel to the bottom face, the pair of parallel guide components being provided on the bottom face along a radial direction of the housed wafer, and the pair of parallel guide components provided on the bottom face to project from the reinforcement rib in a direction away from the bottom face; a guide member detachably attached to the bottom face of the carrier body; and a guide groove provided in the guide member, the guide groove engages a positioning pin projecting from a mounting face when the carrier body is mounted to the mounting face, such that the guide groove guides the carrier body to a regular mounting position, wherein the guide groove includes: an elongated hole portion for engaging the pair of parallel guide components, the elongated hole portion having a circumferential end portion, which is in contact with the reinforcement rib when the elongated hole portion is engaged with the pair of parallel guide components; and a guide face portion provided underneath the elongated hole portion to engage the positioning pin, such that the guide face portion is arranged between the elongated hole portion and the positioning pin when the guide face portion is engaged with the positioning pin, the guide face portion controlling a distance between the positioning pin and the carrier body by forming a space between a leading end portion of the positioning pin and leading end portions of the pair of parallel guide components projecting in the direction away from the bottom face, wherein a projection distance of the pair of parallel guide components beyond the reinforcement rib is smaller than a distance between (a) a leading end portion of the positioning pin engaged with the guide face portion, and (b) the circumferential end portion of the elongated hole portion.