Granted Patent B2

US 7,325,698 · App. 11/108,620 · Granted Feb 5, 2008

Abstract

Claims (51)

1. A sealable container for holding a plurality of wafers in an axially aligned spaced apart relation, the container comprising:

an enclosure portion defining an interior space and having a door frame defining an access for inserting and removing the wafers from the enclosure portion;

a door sealably fittable in the door frame to close the access, the door including a plurality of walls and a transparent panel defining an open interior of the door, the transparent panel having an inside facing surface and at least one operable latch mechanism disposed in the door for securing the door in place in the door frame, the at least one operable latch mechanism accessible and operable from exterior of the door through an opening in the transparent panel; and

a textured region that captures particles, the textured region being defined on the inside facing surface of the transparent panel of the door and having a texturing discrete and isolated from areas of the inside facing surface that are outside the textured region, the textured region being_proximate the at least one operable latch mechanism and disposed around the opening in the transparent panel on the inside surface, the texturing of the textured region including at least one of an irregular and a repeating geometry.

2. The container of claim 1 , wherein the texturing is_selected from the group consisting of:

concentric ribbing;

v-notched linear ribbing;

u-notched linear ribbing;

square-notched linear ribbing;

crosshatched ribbing;

random geometry ribbing; and

any combination thereof.

3. The container of claim 1 , wherein the textured_region comprises a film disposed on the inside facing surface of the transparent panel.

4. The container of claim 1 , wherein the textured region comprises an adhesive.

5. The container of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of textured regions disposed on the transparent panel, each of the textured regions having texturing discrete from areas of the inside facing surface that are outside the plurality of textured regions.

6. A method of abating particulate contamination within a substrate container, the method comprising:

providing an enclosure having an access opening for inserting and removing substrates into an interior of the enclosure and a door for closing the access opening, the door including a chassis and a latch mechanism on the chassis for retaining the door in the access opening;

detachably coupling a transparent panel having an inner surface thereon to the chassis, such that the inner surface and chassis define a chassis enclosure; and

disposing a texturing on the inner surface of the transparent panel that defines a particle capture region in the chassis enclosure proximate the latch mechanism so that particles generated by operation of the latch mechanism are captured within the particle capture region, the texturing being discrete from areas on the inner surface that are outside the particle capture region.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising detaching the transparent panel from the chassis to remove any particles captured therein.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising selecting the texturing from the group consisting of:

concentric ribbing;

v-notched linear ribbing;

u-notched linear ribbing;

square-notched linear ribbing;

crosshatched ribbing;

random geometry ribbing; and

any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

providing a film that includes the texturing;

detaching the transparent panel from the chassis to remove the film and any particles captured thereon; and

replacing the film with a second film, the second film having a texturing discrete from areas on the inner surface that are outside the particle capture region.

10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

detaching the transparent panel from the chassis to remove the adhesive and any particles captured thereon; and

replacing the adhesive with a second adhesive having a texturing, the texturing being discrete from areas on the inner surface that are outside the particle capture region,

wherein the step of disposing a texturing on the inner surface of the transparent panel includes providing an adhesive on the particle capture region.

11. A method of making a substrate container comprising:

providing an enclosure having an access opening for inserting and removing substrates into an interior of the enclosure;

providing a door for selectively closing the access opening, the door including a door chassis and a latch mechanism operatively coupled with the door chassis;

coupling a panel having an inner surface thereon to the door chassis such that the inner surface and chassis define a chassis enclosure; and

etching a particle capture region on the inner surface of the panel such that the particle capture region can capture particles generated by the latch mechanism, the particle capture region having a texturing discrete from areas on the inner surface that are outside the particle capture region, wherein the step of providing a particle capture region comprises etching the texturing into the inner surface.

12. A method of making a substrate container comprising:

providing an enclosure having an access opening for inserting and removing substrates into an interior of the enclosure;

providing a door for selectively closing the access opening, the door including a door chassis and a latch mechanism operatively coupled with the door chassis;

coupling a panel having an inner surface thereon to the door chassis such that the inner surface and chassis define a chassis enclosure; and

etching a particle capture region on the inner surface of the panel such that the particle capture region can capture particles generated by the latch mechanism, the particle capture region having a texturing discrete from areas on the inner surface that are outside the particle capture region, wherein the step of providing a particle capture region comprises laser machining the texturing into the inner surface.

13. A method of making a substrate container comprising:

providing an enclosure having an access opening for inserting and removing substrates into an interior of the enclosure;

providing a door for selectively closing the access opening, the door including a door chassis and a latch mechanism operatively coupled with the door chassis;

coupling a panel having an inner surface thereon to the door chassis such that the inner surface and chassis define a chassis enclosure; and

etching a particle capture region on the inner surface of the panel such that the particle capture region can capture particles generated by the latch mechanism, the particle capture region having a texturing discrete from areas on the inner surface that are outside the particle capture region, wherein the step of providing a particle capture region comprises randomly forming the texturing on the inner surface.

Assignments (8)