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.

An overhead transport vehicle system includes a travel rail, an overhead transport vehicle, and a gas supplier. The overhead transport vehicle travels on the travel rail to transport a FOUP, includes a tank to store inactive gas, and supplies the inactive gas into the FOUP from the tank during transport of the FOUP. The gas supplier is provided along the travel rail to supply inactive gas into the tank of the overhead transport vehicle.

According to various embodiments, a frame cassette includes a housing and a mounting structure within the housing. The mounting structure includes a plurality of tape-frame slots, each tape-frame slot configured to receive a tape-frame. The housing includes an opening configured to introduce a tape-frame into a tape-frame slot of the plurality of tape-frame slots, or to remove the tape frame from the tape-frame slot of the plurality of tape-frame slots. The housing also includes an electrostatic discharge protection. A corresponding automatic transportation system and method of automatic transportation of semiconductor wafers is also provided.

Electronic device processing systems including an equipment front end module with at least one side storage pod are described. The side storage pod has a chamber including a top substrate holder and a bottom substrate holder. In some embodiments, an exhaust port is located at a midpoint between the top substrate holder and the bottom substrate holder. Methods and systems in accordance with these and other embodiments are also disclosed.

The present invention provides a wafer container and a gas diffusion device applied in the wafer container. The wafer container includes a shell, and all components included and applied on the shell are made of thermal resistance materials. The gas diffusion device and the wafer container, when assembled together, utilize a coupling structure and a collar as a protection mechanism for the gas diffusion device. The gas diffusion device has a buffering chamber that provides a buffering tolerance and a communicating space for the gas before the gas enters an interior space of the wafer container.

An apparatus for semiconductor manufacturing includes an input port to receive a carrier, wherein the carrier includes a carrier body, a housing installed onto the carrier body, and a filter installed between the carrier body and the housing. The apparatus further includes a first robotic arm to uninstall the housing from the carrier and to reinstall the housing into the carrier; one or more second robotic arms to remove the filter from the carrier and to install a new filter into the carrier; and an output port to release the carrier to production.

A container storage includes a purger that supplies a purge gas into a stored container and an evacuator that is disposed near a lid of the container and evacuates an atmosphere around the lid.

A wafer processing method includes a wafer accommodating step of accommodating a wafer in a vacuum chamber, a protective sheet disposing step of disposing a protective sheet on a front surface of the wafer, a decompression step of decompressing the inside of the vacuum chamber, after the wafer accommodating step and the protective sheet disposing step, a press-fitting step of pressing the protective sheet against a peripheral marginal area of the wafer in the vacuum chamber to press-fit the protective sheet to the peripheral marginal area, after the decompression step, and a conveying-out step of opening the vacuum chamber to atmosphere to bring the protective sheet into close contact with the front surface of the wafer by atmospheric pressure and conveying out the wafer, after the press-fitting step.

A wafer carrier dry cleaner includes a receiver, a tool and a movable nozzle. The receiver includes a clean room. The clean room includes a port used to load a wafer carrier. The wafer carrier comprises a box and a door closing an opening of the box. The tool is located in the clean room and configured to separate the door from the box. The movable nozzle is located in the clean room. The movable nozzle is configured to purge clean gas towards the box and the door at a first position between the box and the door when the box and the door are separated.

A substrate storage container and a gas replacement unit capable of reducing variations in humidity or concentration of gas in a space above a substrate are provided. The substrate storage container comprises a container body having an opening and is capable of containing substrates, a lid, at least one intake valve for supplying gas to the inside of the container body, and at least one gas replacement unit which blows out the supplied gas wherein the at least one intake valve is attached to the back, bottom surface of the container body. The gas replacement unit includes a housing member and a cover member. The housing member has a plurality of first group blowout holes in the vertical direction, and the opening area of the top first group blowout hole is larger than the opening area of the second of the first group blowout holes.