What is FOUP?
The full form of FOUP is Front Opening Universal Pod. FOUP is an exclusive plastic enclosure, which has the potential for handling silicon wafers in a secured environment. FOUP is also known as the Front Opening Unified Pod. The principal objective of FOUP is to allot the wafers in the machines to increase the processing performance. 300mm FOUP was developed in the mid-1990s as the wafer processing tool. FOUPS can be designed in different color combos, and their product sizes also differ as per the brand.
Apart from that, integrated circuit processing equipment and the FOUP can render the nitrogen ecosystem to boost the device productivity. Earlier, the engineers used to develop the 300mm FOUP with only the detachable cassette for placing the wafer in the apt position. Now, with the advancements in technology, 400 mm wafer FOUP load ports are also readily accessible from the robotics laboratory. It also allows the swapping of doors from front to bottom, which makes it easy for the robot mechanisms to access the wafer from the FOUP. In addition to that, the FOUP comprises many coupling plates, pins, holes that can be managed by the automatic material handling system and can locate over the load port.
Ways to Control Humidity with Front Opening Unified Pod in a Mini-Environment
With the help of the FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod), the wafer is placed when the production chain is in the waiting mode. It is the usual approach in order to remove the contamination in which the FOUP is cleaned with the gas, and the cleanliness level inside the machine is maintained. As per the researchers, the very first step is to supply the CDA (Clean dry air) to the air curtain, and the system is purified. After the flow of clean air gets transferred to the FOUP door, it automatically blocks the moisture from going inside. In the initial pre-purged FOUP, there is around 0% RH (relative humidity). However, the ratio of relative humidity in the mini-environment has been observed by 43%. Then, if the FOUP door is opened, it very quickly holds the moisture without using a purge system or air curtain. Apart from that, the CDA is very important to decrease the relative humidity, and it is possible with the huge diffuser panel purge processes. If you wish to protect the moisture in FOUP, then you have to be very sure, the CDA rate of panel-purge equipment should be around 250 L/min, and the air curtain flow rate should be of 150 L/min.
Advantages of Using the 300 mm FOUP Wafer Load Port
The 300mm FOUP load port is compatible with all SEMI standard FOUPs.
CE certification, The ROHS Compliant, and SEMI Complaint ensure top-level performance.
No door and plate alignment needed with the 300mm FOUP.
The repeatable precision movements can be performed with electro-mechanical servos, or the DSP operated pneumatic closed-loop.
It comes with bearings and lubrication-free screws.
The programmable buttons, lights, AMHS options, RFID, Barcode, Class 1 cleanliness, OCR scanning are some robust characteristics of 300mm FOUP.
Are you looking for the wafer front end and 300mm FOUP applied material solutions? Kensington Labs provide these solutions along with precision motion control stages for increasing the life of the equipment. Kensington Labs have qualified and skilled engineers who have a great amount of experience in robot repairing. The focus of Kensington is to provide the most reliable, innovative, outstanding wafer handling robots, end-effectors, ADOs, and aligners all at the most affordable price. Customers also get a lifetime warranty on all products of Kensington Labs.
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