Patent ID: 8267633

Claim:
A Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) opening/closing device to open or close a door of an opening of an FOUP, comprising: a housing in which a mounting table for mounting the FOUP thereon is disposed; an FOUP loading opening formed on a front surface of the housing and configured to be opened or closed by a shutter, wherein the housing receives the FOUP through the FOUP loading opening such that the FOUP can be disposed inside the housing; a delivery opening formed on a side surface of the housing, substrates being transferred into and from the FOUP through the delivery opening; a door opening/closing unit disposed in the housing at a position of a rear surface of the housing and that opens and closes the door of the FOUP and holds the door stationary at the rear surface of the housing, the rear surface being orthogonal to the side surface; a rotator that rotates the mounting table about a vertical axis between a first position and a second position, wherein the opening of the FOUP faces the rear surface at the first position and the opening of the FOUP faces the side surface at the second position; a mover that moves the FOUP or the door opening/closing unit in a reciprocating manner, so as to allow the FOUP and the door opening/closing unit to be connected to or separated from each other; and a controller programmed to output control signals for moving the FOUP or the door opening/closing unit via operation of the mover so as to mount the door of the FOUP to the door opening/closing unit, separating the door from the FOUP, moving the FOUP or the door opening/closing unit to make the FOUP and the door opening/closing unit separated from each other, and rotating the mounting table to make the FOUP face the delivery opening.