Provided is a load port apparatus including: a mounting unit on which a pod housing a housed object is mounted; a frame portion provided to stand adjacent to the mounting unit and having a frame opening to which a main opening of the pod is connected; a door engageable with a lid for the main opening of the pod for opening and closing the frame opening and the main opening; a door drive mechanism which drives the door; an inner gas exhaust unit provided below an inner side of the frame opening to exhaust a gas from an inside of a mini environment connected to the pod through the main opening and the frame opening; and a corrosive gas detection sensor arranged between the frame opening and the inner gas exhaust unit or in an exhaust flow path of the inner gas exhaust unit.

There is provided a configuration that includes: an intake damper and an intake fan configured to communicate with an intake port that sucks air to a transfer chamber connected to a process chamber; a valve of an inert gas introduction pipe configured to supply an inert gas to the transfer chamber; an exhaust fan and a first exhaust valve installed in the transfer chamber; a switch configured to select one of an atmospheric mode in which an atmosphere of the transfer chamber is an air atmosphere and a purge mode in which the atmosphere of the transfer chamber is an inert gas atmosphere; and a controller configured to control each of the intake damper, the intake fan, the valve of the inert gas introduction pipe, the exhaust fan, and the first exhaust valve to execute one of the atmospheric mode and the purge mode.

A carrier spacer includes an annular main body, a first tapered part formed on an inner peripheral part of a front surface of the main body, a second tapered part formed on the inner peripheral part of a reverse surface of the main body, a flat surface formed on the outer peripheral side of the first tapered part on the front surface of the main body and holding the reverse surface of the outer peripheral part of a semiconductor wafer, a peripheral edge part formed on the outer peripheral side of the flat surface of the main body and provided with a step having a height position higher than a height position of the flat surface, an arcuate cutout part formed from the peripheral edge part to the flat surface of the main body, and a pair of handles protruding from the peripheral edge part toward the outer peripheral side.

A carrier tray includes a housing, an ingot accommodating recess that accommodates a semiconductor ingot, and a wafer accommodating recess that accommodates a wafer. The housing has an upper wall, a lower wall, a pair of side walls connecting the upper wall and the lower wall to each other, and a tunnel defined by the upper wall, the lower wall, and the pair of side walls. A plurality of levers each of which has a point of application projecting from a bottom surface of the ingot accommodating recess, a point of action projecting from a side surface of the ingot accommodating recess, and a fulcrum formed between the point of application and the point of action are each attached to the housing so as to be rotatable around the fulcrum.

A method is provided. The method includes detaching an upper shell of a reticle pod from a base. The method further includes while the upper shell is detached from the base, blocking an inlet flow of gas from entering an interior of the reticle pod between the upper shell and the base with a use of a fluid regulating module which is in a sealed state. In the sealed state of the fluid regulating module, an opening of the fluid regulating module is covered with a sealing film. The method also includes removing a reticle positioned on the base to a process tool. In addition, the method includes performing a lithography operation in the process tool with the use of the reticle.

A semiconductor substrate carrying container that includes one or more enlarged purge ports extending through the bottom wall. The purge port(s) permits a purge fluid conditioning element to be inserted into the interior space of the container by installing the purge fluid conditioning element from outside the container through the purge port. The purge port(s) is sized and positioned such that at least a portion of a rear wall of the container is positioned forwardly of a portion of the purge port(s). In addition, a portion of the rear wall is contiguous with a portion of the perimeter of the purge port(s).

Introduced here are carrier assemblies designed to address the limitations of conventional carrier trays. A carrier assembly can comprise a primary injection-molded component having a deck area for receiving semiconductor components and a secondary injection-molded component that is secured to the deck area of the primary injection-molded component. For example, the secondary injection-molded component may be overmolded on the deck area of the primary injection-molded component. The secondary injection-molded component may have a tacky upper surface that facilitates securement of the semiconductor components to the primary injection-molded component.

An alignment-control apparatus encompasses an alignment-assisting tray for aligning a plurality of elements in a batch with highly minute-and-precise configuration, a first transferring unit for collectively transporting the plurality of elements to the alignment-assisting tray, a driving unit for reallocating a convex-ridge of each of the elements toward an concave-ridge assigned to each of the concave cells defined in the alignment-assisting tray, and a second transferring unit for picking up the plurality of elements from the alignment-assisting tray and collectively transporting the plurality of elements.

There is provided a technique that includes forming a film on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including: (a) supplying a precursor gas to the substrate in a process container of a substrate processing apparatus via a first pipe made of metal; (b) supplying an oxygen-containing gas to the substrate in the process container via a second pipe made of metal, wherein a fluorine-containing layer is continuously formed on an inner surface of the second pipe; and (c) supplying a nitrogen-and-hydrogen-containing gas to the substrate in the process container via the second pipe.

The invention discloses a reticle storage device including a top lid, a bottom lid and a soft contact member. The top lid has a ceiling and a cover surrounding the ceiling. The bottom lid has a carrier and a peripheral structure surrounding the carrier. The soft contact member is configured to laterally extend in between the cover and the peripheral structure when the top lid and the bottom lid engage with each other, and to extend from an inside to an outside of the device in order to buffer the contact among the two lids.