[labnetwork] An R&D FOUP

[Michael Helmbrecht]

Hi Chris,

Entegris has 200 mm Wafer SMIF pods that can take 150 mm wafer cassettes
made by them.

--
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*Michael Helmbrecht, Ph.D.* (he, him, his)
Executive Director
Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory
520 Sutardja Dai Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 809-8620
https://nanolab.berkeley.edu/
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On Tue, May 20, 2025 at 5:00 PM Massey, Travis <massey21 at llnl.gov> wrote:

> Hi Chris,
>
>
>
> Good to hear!  LLNL picked up one of these Accu-Seal systems within the
> last year.  It’s basically a heat-sealed bagging system with options for
> either vacuum or inert gas fill (N2, Ar, your choice).
>
> https://accu-seal.com/model-675-smartvac2-bag-sealer-impulse-heat/
>
>
>
> This might be a faster and more economical alternative to a FOUP.  If you
> want to try it first, perhaps to quantify native oxide regrowth after
> bagging, we can make that happen.  I’m only 45 minutes away.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Travis Massey, PhD
>
> Operations Manager | Center for Micro and Nano Technology (CMNT)
>
> Staff Scientist | Center for Bioengineering, Implantable Microsystems Group
>
> Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
>
> 7000 East Avenue, L-222
>
> Livermore, CA 94550
>
> 925-495-7103 (cell/text) | 925-422-9509 (desk/vm)
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> *On Behalf Of *Christopher
> Raum
> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 20, 2025 11:56 AM
> *To:* labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
> *Subject:* [labnetwork] An R&D FOUP
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I work between two fabs at UC Berkeley and part of my process flow
> involves shuttling wafers between those two fabs to their respective tools.
>
>
>
> Currently I use a wafer box and double bag to ensure the wafers aren't
> contaminated by the environment outside the two fab labs. This is generally
> standard practice for transporting wafers outside a cleanroom.
>
>
>
> But there are more complicated concerns. For example one fab lab has a
> wetbench used to remove native oxide from wafers, and when the next tool in
> the flow is in the same fab, I can minimize the regrowth of native oxide -
> but when I need to transfer between fabs regrowth can become an issue.
>
>
>
> In industry they use a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) to move wafers
> around while controlling the environment the wafers sees. The pods can be
> purged with nitrogen (and perhaps placed under vacuum?) and I think they
> can also be light tight to allow PR coated wafers to be transported in
> unfiltered light.
>
>
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOUP
> <https://urldefense.us/v3/__https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOUP__;!!G2kpM7uM-TzIFchu!xXYGIqBlgS7Le4Za8tr2ifZ0wMGkbtkwRUOajwOg1qxuMwRsl6mbszS3s2hyUoD3V4Lfx9-UORxTvIkz$>
>
>
>
> Since it's the industry that uses FOUPs, all the systems are for 12" and
> above wafers. I know I could never be so lucky, but I'll ask anyway - does
> anyone know of any FOUP systems that are fitted for six inch wafers?
>
>
>
> Outside that possibility, my ask for the community is: Is there an
> interest in developing such a system? Some sort of crowdsourcing? There are
> many members of industry in this mailing list and I'm sure there would be
> quite a few academic and research customers if someone wanted to develop
> and fabricate such a wafer transportation system.
>
>
>
> I hope this post stimulates some interesting discussion.
>
>
>
> -Chris
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