阅读说明：本技术 一种光罩盒及其作动方法 (Photomask box and actuating method thereof ) 是由 潘咏晋 钟承恩 于 2018-10-22 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供了一种光罩盒及其作动方法,所述光罩盒主要包括一上盖、一定位模块以及一下盖。其中,所述定位模块主要包括一本体、一杠杆部、一致动部以及一推动部。本发明透过所述本体、杠杆部、致动部以及推动部的连动原理,配合第一止挡部的限制,可轻易的达到在光罩盒中定位光罩的功效。(The invention provides a mask box and an actuating method thereof. The positioning module mainly comprises a body, a lever part, an actuating part and a pushing part. The invention can easily achieve the effect of positioning the photomask in the photomask box by matching the limitation of the first stopping part through the linkage principle of the body, the lever part, the actuating part and the pushing part.)

1. A reticle pod comprising:

an upper cover having an inner surface;

a positioning module disposed on the inner surface, the positioning module comprising:

a body including a first stopper portion;

a lever part rotatably connected with the body;

the actuating part is connected with the lever part;

the pushing part is connected with the lever part; and

the lower cover is covered with the upper cover;

the actuating part is arranged on one side close to the lower cover and can be separately contacted with the lower cover, and the first stopping part limits the rotation of the actuating part.

2. The reticle pod of claim 1, wherein the lever portion, the actuation portion, and the push portion are integrally formed.

3. The reticle pod of claim 2, wherein the lever portion, the actuation portion, and the push portion collectively comprise an S-shaped sheet structure.

4. The mask cartridge of claim 1 wherein the actuating portion further comprises a curved channel structure.

5. The mask box of claim 1, wherein the body is further connected to at least one extension.

6. The mask box of claim 5, wherein each of the at least one extension is further disposed on the inner surface of the upper cover through a fixing member.

7. The mask box of claim 1, wherein the body further comprises two holes, and the lever portion is inserted through the two holes to rotatably connect the lever portion to the body.

8. The mask case of claim 7, wherein a V-shaped recess is formed at each of the left and right ends of the lever portion, and the V-shaped recess passes through the two holes.

9. The mask box of claim 1, wherein the body further comprises a second stop portion, the second stop portion limiting the rotation of the pushing portion.

10. The mask cartridge of claim 1 wherein the pushing portion is an arc shaped spring.

11. The mask box of claim 1 wherein the inner surface is further provided with an antistatic element.

12. The reticle pod of claim 11, wherein the body is integrally formed with the cover and the body is disposed through the metal liner.

13. A method of actuating a reticle pod, comprising:

(a) providing the reticle pod of claim 1;

(b) the lower cover covers the upper cover, so that the lower cover pushes the actuating part; and

(c) the actuating part drives the lever part to rotate, so that the pushing part pushes a photomask and positions the photomask.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

(d) separating the upper cover from the lower cover; and

(e) the rotation of the actuating part is limited to return by the first stopping part.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a mask box and an actuating method thereof, in particular to a mask box which has a special actuating structure and can push and position a mask and an actuating method thereof.

Background

In the semiconductor transportation industry, the storage or transportation of various semiconductor devices or semiconductor semi-finished products has become a very important issue. In the case of the conventional automated machines, it is necessary to test the properties of the carrier, such as the reduction of particle generation, the anti-static property, and the air-tightness, in order to transport the required materials or semiconductor devices to the required places.

Semiconductor devices that are often required to be stored or transported include wafers, substrates, or masks. In particular, since the size of the mask used in different semiconductor processes is different, carriers with different sizes are derived.

Among them, Reticle Pod (Reticle Pod) is a commonly used monolithic Reticle storage or transport carrier. The photomask is a device used in the semiconductor process involving photolithography and etching for extremely precise processes. Therefore, carriers for transporting or storing photomasks are often required to have antistatic, anti-particle generation, and stable, positioning and storing photomasks therein to avoid damage to photomasks due to collisions.

Particularly, for the mask positioning part, the operation of the mask box is mostly operated by an automatic robot. In order to prevent external equipment from directly touching the precise photomask, a mechanism design for automatically positioning the photomask due to opening and closing of the box cover is mostly designed in the photomask box.

Conventionally, the positioning mask mechanisms are divided into active and passive positioning modes. Passive techniques typically utilize a simple bevel geometry design to achieve the effect of pushing against the mask. The active mechanism needs to be achieved through a complicated mechanism such as a connecting rod, a spring or a spring plate. Among them, the active mechanism often has the disadvantages of complex structure design, easy generation of micro particles due to friction, high cost, etc.

In view of the above, there is a need for a structurally efficient and simple mask box that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

To solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, the present invention provides a reticle pod and an actuating method thereof. The mask box comprises an upper cover, a positioning module and a lower cover. The positioning module mainly comprises a body, a lever part, an actuating part and a pushing part.

The upper cover is provided with an inner surface, and the positioning module is arranged on the inner surface. The body comprises a first stopping part, and the lever part is rotatably connected with the body. The actuating portion is connected with the lever portion, and the pushing portion is connected with the lever portion. And the lower cover is covered with the upper cover. The actuating part is arranged on one side close to the lower cover and can be separately contacted with the lower cover, and the first stopping part limits the rotation of the actuating part.

The invention also provides an actuating method of the photomask box, which mainly comprises three steps. Firstly, step (a) is executed to provide the mask box. And (c) driving the lever part to rotate by the actuating part, so that the pushing part pushes a photomask and is positioned.

The foregoing summary of the invention is provided to introduce a basic description of several aspects and features of the present invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention, but to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a top cover configuration of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a positioning module before starting according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a positioning module according to an embodiment of the present invention after being started;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reticle pod after activation of a positioning module in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an actuation method implemented by the present invention.

Description of the symbols:

light shield box 10

Upper cover 101

Inner surface 1011

Antistatic element 102

Lower cover 103

Positioning module 200

Body 201

First stopper 2011

Lever part 202

Actuator 203

Curved trench structure 2031

Push part 204

Extension 205

Fixing element 206

V-shaped recess 207

Hole 208

Second stopping part 209

Photomask R

Detailed Description

In order to understand the technical features and practical effects of the present invention and to implement the invention according to the content of the specification, the preferred embodiment as shown in the drawings is further described in detail as follows:

first, referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a mask box after a positioning module is started according to an embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment of fig. 4, the reticle pod 10 of the present embodiment is explicitly shown to include an upper cover 101, a positioning module 200, and a lower cover 103. The positioning module 200 mainly includes a body 201, a lever portion 202, an actuating portion 203, and a pushing portion 204.

As can be seen from the embodiment of fig. 4, the upper cover 101 has an inner surface 1011. In this embodiment, the inner surface 1011 may be not only a simple inner structure, but also a metal cover or a metal liner or other antistatic elements 102 may be disposed thereon and may be fittingly installed in the upper lid 101, and the invention is not limited thereto. And the positioning module 200 is disposed on the inner surface 1011.

In this example, the positioning module 200 may actually be disposed on the upper cover 101 after passing through the anti-static element 102 (metal lining). However, in other possible embodiments, the body 201 of the positioning module 200 may be integrally formed with the upper cover 101 and disposed through the antistatic element 102 on the inner surface 1011, and the invention is not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an upper cover structure according to an embodiment of the present invention; fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a positioning module before starting according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, compared to the state of fig. 4 in which the upper lid 101 is closed with the lower lid 103, fig. 1 and 2 show the case when the upper lid 101 is separated from the lower lid 103.

In fig. 2, it is obvious that in the positioning module 200 of the present embodiment, the body 201 further includes a first stopper 2011. And the lever portion 202 is rotatably connected with the body 201. The actuating portion 203 is connected to the lever portion 202, and the pushing portion 204 is connected to the lever portion 202. Further, the lever portion 202, the actuating portion 203 and the pushing portion 204 in this embodiment are integrally formed, and are formed as an S-shaped sheet structure. Through the design of the S-shaped sheet structure, the use of parts can be greatly reduced, and the effect of pushing the positioning of the photomask R can be achieved.

As can be understood from the disclosure of fig. 1, 2 and 4, since the lower cover 103 needs to be covered with the upper cover 101, the actuating portion 203 needs to be disposed at a side close to the lower cover 103, and can be separately touched with the lower cover 103, and the first stopping portion 2011 restricts the rotation of the actuating portion 203, so as to achieve the effect of effectively and actively pushing the mask R to a specific position.

In this embodiment, the actuating portion 203 is further provided with a curved groove structure 2031. The curved groove structure 2031 is mainly provided to reduce the contact area between the sheet-shaped actuator 203 and the lower cover 103, so as to effectively prevent or reduce the risk of generation of fine particles due to excessive contact area between the actuator 203 and the lower cover 103 when the upper cover 101 is closed.

Referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a positioning module according to an embodiment of the present invention after being started; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a reticle pod after activation of a positioning module in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, and referring to the cross-sectional views of fig. 1 and 4, it is known that in the present embodiment, the pushing portion 204 is an arc-shaped elastic sheet. In particular, in the sectional views of fig. 1 and 4, it can be seen that the pushing portion 204 is slightly bent toward the upper cover 101 to form the arc-shaped resilient piece. Through the shape design of the arc-shaped elastic sheet, the lever acting force generated when the upper cover 101 is pressed downwards can be effectively absorbed. To avoid the damage of the mask R caused by the pushing part 204 unable to absorb part of the excessive force when the force is suddenly increased.

As can be seen from fig. 2 and 3, in the present embodiment, the main body 201 is further connected to at least one extending portion 205. And more precisely on both sides, an extension 205. The extension 205 is shaped like a water drop in this embodiment, and functions to adjust the distance between the fixing positions of the main body 201 when the main body is mounted on the top lid 101. In addition, the shape of the light shield case has the effect of stabilizing the body 201 against shaking from the left and right sides, and further reduces various shaking, collision or friction problems generated during the operation of the light shield case 10 of the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the extension 205 is further disposed on the inner surface 1011 of the upper cover 101 through the fixing element 206. In some embodiments, the fixing element may fix the extension portion 205 to the inner surface 1011 (or the antistatic element 102 thereon), or may be directly fixed to the upper cover 101 after passing through the antistatic element 102, which is not limited in the present invention.

As shown in fig. 2-3, the lever portion 202 of the present embodiment further has two holes 208, so that the lever portion 202 can be disposed through the two holes 208, and the lever portion 202 can be rotatably connected to the body 201. Further, in this embodiment, the lever portion 202 is provided with V-shaped recesses 207 at the left and right ends, and the V-shaped recesses 207 pass through the holes 208 to rotatably fix the lever portion 202 to the body 201.

Inevitably, when the first stopper 2011 of the present embodiment is damaged, the S-shaped sheet structure in the positioning module 200 is turned over. Therefore, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 3-4, the second stopping portion 209 is further disposed on the body 201 near the inner surface 1011 of the upper cover 101, so as to limit the rotation of the pushing portion 204. Further, when the upper cover 101 is far away from the lower cover 103, the pushing portion 204 is not limited by the second stopping portion 209 substantially in general, so as to reduce additional friction and further avoid the risk of generating micro particles.

In the present embodiment, the second stopping portion 209 can play a role of safety only when the first stopping portion 2011 is damaged, and the S-shaped sheet structure in the positioning module 200 is continuously turned over. When the first stopping portion 2011 is damaged, the responsibility for limiting the turning of the S-shaped sheet structure is changed from the first stopping portion 2011 and the actuating portion 203 to the second stopping portion 209 and the pushing portion 204, so as to further ensure the operation of the present embodiment until a user finds a problem and performs maintenance or replacement.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flow chart of an operation method implemented by the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, fig. 5 shows an operation flow of the mask box 10 according to the present embodiment. Further, the operation of the reticle pod 10 of the present embodiment includes five steps. First, step (a) is performed, providing a reticle pod 10 shown in fig. 1-4.

Next, step (b) is performed, the lower cover 103 is closed on the upper cover 103, and the lower cover 103 pushes the actuator 203. Then, step (c) is executed, the lever portion 202 is driven to rotate by the actuating portion 203, so that the pushing portion 204 pushes the mask R to position. Further, when the mask box 10 is to be opened, step (d) is performed to separate the upper cover 101 from the lower cover 103, and then step (e) is performed to restrict and return the rotation of the actuating portion 203 by the first stopper 2011.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and not intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims and the description of the invention.