Front opening wafer container with robotic flange

Abstract

A front opening wafer container suitable, for large diameter wafers, 300 mm and above, utilizes a removable robotic flange that attaches vertically, without separate fasteners, using detents having resilient bending members that extend vertically to attach to an upwardly extending flange on the top wall of the container portion. A multiplicity of upwardly and outwardly extending strengthening ribs extend upwardly from the top wall of the container portion and extend along the top wall toward the left and right sides and the back side of the container portion, and each of all four sides of the attachment flange. A further locking piece or core may be inserted and retained at the neck of the robotic flange to lock the resilient deflectable portions in their retention position. The locking piece further may be secured in place with a detent mechanism formed by part of the core and flanges.

1 . A front opening wafer container for 450 mm diameter wafers, comprising:
 a container portion having a top wall, bottom wall, right side wall, left side wall,   rear wall and door frame defining a front opening;   an upwardly extending flange on the top wall having a plurality of sides for connection to an attachment flange;   an attachment flange operably attached to the upwardly extending flange;   four parallel ribs integral with and extending from one of the sides of the upwardly extending flange, the four parallel ribs extending toward the left side wall extending around a top corner between the left side wall and the top wall and continuous down the left side wall; and   four parallel ribs integral with and extending from one of the sides of the upwardly extending flange, the four parallel ribs extending toward the right side wall extending around a top corner between the right side wall and the top wall and continuous down the right side wall.   
     
     
         2 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 1 , wherein the attachment flange includes a frame portion having four sides, with each side having at least one detent mechanism that actuates to capture the attachment flange with a downward placement of the frame portion of the robotic flange to engage the upwardly extending flange and to deflect resilient deflectable portions of the detent mechanisms horizontally from a retention position to a deflected position where the attachment flange may be installed and removed. 
     
     
         3 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 2 , further including an interlocking core piece to insert and be retained by at the frame portion of the attachment flange to lock the resilient deflectable portions in their retention position. 
     
     
         4 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 1 , further comprising four extending in parallel spaced-apart fashion from and connected to the upwardly extending flange towards the rear wall. 
     
     
         5 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 1 , wherein four ribs extend around the circumference of the container around the top wall, right side wall, left side wall and bottom wall. 
     
     
         6 - 7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 5 , wherein the multiplicity of ribs includes 7 to 10 ribs extending around the circumference of the container. 
     
     
         9 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 1 , wherein each of the multiplicity of ribs have an average thickness of between 2.2 mm and 3.9 mm. 
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 - 12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 10 , wherein the container includes an exoskeleton configured as a plate extending along, parallel to and transversing each of the side walls for distortion minimization. 
     
     
         14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . A front opening wafer container for large diameter wafers, comprising:
 a container portion having a top wall, bottom wall, right side wall, left side wall, rear wall and front opening;   an attachment flange with four sides, operably attached to the top wall; and   a multiplicity of upwardly and outwardly extending strengthening ribs extending from the top wall of the container portion integral with two opposing sides of the attachment flange, the ribs aligned normally to each of the two sides of the attachment flange and further extend continuously from the attachment flange to the top side down the right and left side walls towards the bottom of the container portion and connect to each of a pair of conveyor rails on the side walls.   
     
     
         16 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 15 , wherein the ribs are disposed such that adjacent ribs extend parallel to one another. 
     
     
         17 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 15 , wherein a plurality of the ribs extend across the top wall, right side wall, bottom wall, and left side wall in a continuous fashion so as to extend around the entire perimeter of the container from the sides of the attachment flange. 
     
     
         18 . The front opening wafer container of  claim 15 , wherein there are 4 to 6 ribs, evenly-spaced, adjacent each of the four sides of the attachment flange. 
     
     
         19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . A robotic flange, comprising
 a frame portion adapted to engage in vertical attachment to a top port on the top of a substrate container with a plurality of vertically-disposed cantilevered snaps and further contains a plurality of flexible spring members in its interior; and   an internal portion that includes detents that engage with the flexible spring members on the interior of the frame portion to secure the internal portion into place.   
     
     
         21 . The robotic flange of  claim 20 , wherein the frame portion includes four spaced apart spring members. 
     
     
         22 . The robotic flange of  claim 21 , wherein the internal portion includes eight vertically-disposed cantilevered snaps. 
     
     
         23 - 34 . (canceled)