US 5,628,121 AGranted

Method and apparatus for maintaining sensitive articles in a contaminant-free environment

AssigneeConvey, LLC

InventorsRay G. Brooks, Timothy W. Brooks

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Abstract

An apparatus and method for maintaining sensitive articles such as IC wafers or the like contaminant-free including a base member having a removable cover defining a sealed unit having an interior in which a plurality of sensitive articles are supported and through which a particle-free ionizing gas from a source on a wheeled table is continuously passed, the sealed unit being movable from a storage position on the table to an access position on associated processing without interruption of the ionized gas flow and at which the cover is removed and the supported articles continuously bathed with a particle-free, ionized gas to permit the articles to be sequentially moved to a fabricating position in the processing equipment and back to the access position while being continuously bathed with a particle-free ionized gas for subsequent assembly of the cover and base member and return of the sealed unit to the storage position.

Claims12

Dependent claims

An apparatus for processing contaminant-sensitive substrate wafers comprising:

a base member for supporting one or more substrate wafers,
a cover member removably supported on said base member,
a sealed unit formed by said base member in a sealing relationship to said removably supporting cover member,
a means for continuously passing a particle-free, ionized gas through said sealed unit for bathing said substrate wafers supported therein,
a table capable of receiving said sealed unit in a latched position,
a purger means on said table for continuously passing a particle-free, ionized gas through said base member while in a latched position and after said cover is removed from said sealed unit,
a wand adjacent said table for removing a single substrate wafer from said base member, said wand having a means of continuously passing a particle-free, ionized gas over said single substrate wafer,
said wand replacing said single substrate to said base member while continuously passing a particle-free, ionized gas over said single substrate wafer,
a means for replacing said cover to said base unit and continuously passing a particle-free, ionized gas over said base and then continuously passing a particle-free, ionized gas through said sealed unit such that the ionized gas flow to the substrate wafers is uninterrupted.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.