A substrate container including a casing, a rack, a casing holder, a casing lifting mechanism, a lid, and a lid holder. When holding of substrates with the rack shifts to holding of the substrates with the casing holder and the lid holder, the casing lifting mechanism moves the casing holder upward, whereby the casing holder moves the substrates upward. When the holding of the substrates with the casing holder and the lid holder shifts to the holding of the substrates with the rack, the casing lifting mechanism moves the casing holder downward, whereby the casing holder moves the substrates downward.

A wafer carrier for processing a plurality of wafers includes a carrier body which rotatable about a central axis, and a plurality of pockets formed in the carrier body. Each of the pockets has an access opening and an inner periphery surface extending from the access opening to terminate at a floor surface. A lower periphery region of the inner periphery surface has a most distal region which is most distal from the central axis. When the carrier body is rotated about the central axis, a corresponding one of the wafers is less likely to be damaged due to a centrifugal force applied to the corresponding one of the wafers.

A substrate container that utilizes a rocker linkage or a linear cam arrangement in latch mechanism that is actuated by a rotary cam. The rocker linkage or linear cam is mounted to an interior panel of a door of the substrate container and may be disposed proximate an edge portion of the interior panel. The rocker linkage or linear cam may be configured to exert an axial force component on a housing of the substrate container to seat the door against a seal member. The rocker linkage or linear cam also transfers the axial latching forces to the door to reduce transfer of forces to the cam. The rocker linkage or linear cam may be arranged to transfer axial forces in a radially outward direction when the latch mechanism is engaged, to prevent push back on the rotary cam.

A substrate storage container comprises a container body that stores substrates, a lid that closes an opening of the container body, locking mechanisms provided on the lid and locking with the locking portions of the container body, and packing interposed between the container body and the lid, wherein the packing includes a first packing attached to the container body and a second packing attached to the lid, and wherein the first packing and the second packing are located inside the container body from positions of the locking portions when viewed from the direction orthogonal to the closing direction of the lid. As a result, a substrate storage container with improved internal cleanliness can be provided while also improving the sealability with respect to internal negative pressure and positive pressure.

An anti-ejection apparatus for wafer units includes a lock bar and a guide pin. The lock bar alternately has a plurality of lock portions and a plurality of unlock portions. The lock portions are located at heights corresponding to those of insertion slots of a side plate of a cassette, and enable blocking of the insertion slots. The unlock portions enable unblocking of the insertion slots. The guide pin is connected to the lock bar and is disposed protruding downward from a bottom portion of the side plate of the cassette. When the guide pin is pressed upward at its lower end portion, the unlock portions and the insertion slots are communicated with each other. When the pressing of the lower end portion of the guide pin is cancelled, on the other hand, the insertion slots are blocked by lock portions.

A method includes receiving, by a first loadlock chamber of the loadlock system, a first object from a factory interface via a first opening. The first object is transferred into the first loadlock chamber via a first robot arm. The factory interface is at a first state. The first loadlock chamber is configured to receive different types of objects. The method further includes sealing a first loadlock door against the first opening to create a first sealed environment at the first state in the first loadlock chamber and causing the first sealed environment of the first loadlock chamber to be changed to a second state. The method further includes actuating a second loadlock door to provide a second opening between the first loadlock chamber and a transfer chamber. The first object is to be transferred from the first loadlock chamber to the transfer chamber via a second robot arm.

The present disclosure provides a magazine supporting equipment for supporting a magazine with multiple input ports. The magazine supporting equipment comprises a contact plate, a first sidewall plate, and a second sidewall plate. The contact plate is in contact with the magazine. The first sidewall plate extends vertically from one end of the contact plate. The second sidewall plate parallel is to the first sidewall plate and extends vertically from one end to the other end of the contact plate. The first sidewall plate extends along at least a part of a first sidewall of the magazine. The second sidewall plate extends along at least a part of a second sidewall of the magazine. The first sidewall plate and the second sidewall plate include control openings through which gas flows in and out.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing fume which includes, a wafer cassette for stacking wafers; and an exhaust for exhausting the fume of the wafers stacked in the wafer cassette, wherein the wafer cassette includes stacking shelves provided at both sides for stacking wafers; and a front opening for incoming and outgoing of the wafers which are being stacked in the stacking shelf, wherein the stacking shelves include multiple inclined ramp portions which are slanted towards the wafers stacked in the stacking shelves as they travel towards the front opening, wherein a purge gas outlet is provided in the inclined ramp portion for supplying purge gas for the wafers stacked in the stacking shelves. According to the present invention, the residual process gases on wafers can be removed efficiently.

A housing accommodates: a valve body capable of moving between a closing position and an opening position in an outer opening portion, the closing position closing the outer opening portion and the opening position opening the outer opening portion; a biased member having a tubular shape and connected to the valve body, the biased member supported by the housing so as to be movable in the housing and guiding the movement of the valve body so as to move integrally with the valve body; and a biasing member biasing the biased member so that the valve body moves to the closing position.

A wafer storage device includes a wafer cassette and a carrier plate. The wafer cassette includes a housing and a plurality pairs of retaining members disposed on lateral walls of the housing. The carrier plate is placed into the housing, is supported by one pair of the retaining members, and includes a plate body carrying the wafer thereon, and having a periphery formed with two slots extending respectively in two different radial directions of the wafer. Two positioning members respectively and radially correspond in position to the slots, and abut against an outer rim of the wafer.