Wafer Carrying Apparatus

Abstract

A wafer carrying apparatus or cassette is disclosed, which includes a binding or retention unit, so as to prevent wafers from being damaged by crash, inadvertent egress or exiting, and so on. The wafer carrying apparatus includes a main body provided with a plurality of wafer insertion grooves formed on inner sides and an opening formed on a front surface to take wafers in and out, a binding unit configured to move up and down on the front surface of the main body, its position relative to the insertion grooves being variable so as to close and open the insertion grooves, and a mechanism for varying the position of the binding unit relative to the insertion grooves, the mechanism being connected to the binding unit.

1 . A method for preventing damage to wafers, comprising the steps of:
 deflecting a wafer retention mechanism coupled to a wafer cassette having said wafers therein to secure said wafers within said wafer cassette; and   returning said wafer retention mechanism to a default position enabling said wafers unhindered ingress and egress from said wafer cassette.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further including the step of removing said wafer cassette from a pod. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said wafer retention mechanism is coupled to at least one wafer retention unit. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the step of deflecting said wafer retention handle includes moving said at least one wafer retention unit to be offset from protrusions supporting said wafers. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said wafer cassette comprises a plurality of said protrusions supporting a plurality of said wafers. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein each of said protrusions is separated from another protrusion by a groove. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said wafer retention unit is attached to an access side of said wafer cassette. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein an end of a spring is attached to a bottom of said wafer retention unit. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein an opposite end of said spring is attached to a bottom of said wafer cassette. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the spring is configured to enable the movement of said wafer retention unit when said wafer retention mechanism is deflected. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the spring is configured to maintain said wafer retention unit to a position substantially aligned with the grooves of said wafer protrusions when said wafer retention mechanism is not deflected. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the step of returning said wafer retention mechanism to a default position comprises aligning said wafer retention unit with said wafer protrusions. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an inner surface of said wafer protrusions is coated with a shock absorbing material. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the step of deflecting said wafer retention mechanism includes blocking an opening of the grooves of said wafer protrusions to block the access to said wafers. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of returning said wafer retention mechanism to the default position includes unblocking the opening of the grooves of said wafer protrusions to allow the access to said wafers. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the step of returning said wafer retention mechanism to the default position comprises moving a plurality of said wafer retention units to substantially align with a plurality of said wafer protrusions. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said wafer retention mechanism is coupled to said plurality of wafer retention units. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the step of deflecting said wafer retention mechanism comprises moving said plurality of wafer retention units to a position substantially offset with said plurality of wafer protrusions.