[labnetwork] Digest of wafer transport and protection solutions

[Christopher Raum]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for all the helpful ideas and leads!

I completed a brief digest of the information from the discussion on
potential wafer transport and protection solutions. I learned that in
150mm/6in wafer format, the carrier is generally referred to as a SMIF
(standardized mechanical interface) pod. At the bottom of this post is my
original query (without attachments in case that directs the email to a
junk folder). I will note that the Entegris 150 mm SMIF Pod was the most
popular solution and came up independently four times. Also, in case anyone
is curious, the two fab labs I'm shuttling between are the storied
Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory and Prof. Irfan Siddiqi's
Quantum Nanoelectronics Laboratory (with a strong possibility of LBNL's
Molecular Foundry being a future destination).

Thanks again for the great round of brainstorming,

Chris Raum

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1) *Garry J. Bordonaro (Cornell NanoScale Facility)*
Pozzetta Products as a potential source for sealed SMIF boxes

2) *Tony Whipple (University of Minnesota)*
Also recommended the SMIF solution

3) *Travis Massey (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)*
Recommended a Model 675 smartVAC2 Bag Sealer from Accu-Seal as a fast
economical alternative.

This option definitely allows for inert gas fill (as well as vacuum). The
SMIF pod may not.

4*)* *Greg Owen (Glo Consulting)*
A portable desiccator (nitrogen purged).

5) *Andrea Batchelor (Valutek)*
The ongoing CS Mantech conference (Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing
Technology Conference) as a possible source for information on inert/vacuum
wafer transport.

6) *Michael Helmbrecht (Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory)*
Entegris has a 200 mm Wafer SMIF pod that can take 150 mm wafer cassettes
made by them.

7) *Carlos Gramajo (Shared Equipment Authority (SEA), Rice University)*
Vacuum box with optional addition of desiccants.

8) *Shannon Duff (NIST Quantum Sensors Division)*
a) Latched opaque wafer box without vacuum/inert environment
b) Entegris 150 mm SMIF pod

9) *Mark Weiler (Bertucci Nanotechnology Laboratory)*
Suggested working with Bricada Inc., a manufacturer of high vacuum
systems. *Mike
Ackeret of Bricada* suggested the possibility of creating a container that
can either be purged with clean dry nitrogen, or pumped down to some
reasonable vacuum level and sealed up. This would not necessarily be a SMIF
pod.

10) *Mark Weiler again*
AMAC Technologies with their thermoforming vacuum system (tabletop
industrial packaging).

11) *Daniel Mullany (Sitek Process Solutions, Inc.)*
Entegris 150 mm SMIF pod with possible custom development

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here is the original query, sans attachments.

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.

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
-- 
R&D Engineer 3
Experimental Cosmology Group
Radio Astronomy Lab
University of California, Berkeley
278 LeConte Hall
Berkeley, CA,
Email: craum at berkeley.edu
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