A Detailed Study of FOUP, 300mm FOUP Load Port Wafer Handling Robot

What is FOUP?

The FOUP is defined as Front Opening Universal Pod, which is the exclusive plastic enclosure equipped for handling the silicon wafers in a safe environment. The other name of FOUP is the Front Opening Unified Pod. The primary purpose of this device is to allocate the wafers in the machines to increase the processing performance. In the mid-1990s, 3000mm FOUP was developed as the wafer processing tool. Many companies design their FOUPs in different color combos, and their product sizes also vary according to the brand.
In addition, IC processing equipment and the FOUP can provide the nitrogen ecosystem to boost the device productivity. Previously, the engineers may only develop the 300mm FOUP with the detachable cassette to place the wafer in the right position. But now, 400 mm wafer FOUP load ports are also easily accessible from the robotics laboratory. It may allow the swapping of doors from front to bottom so that robot mechanisms can access the wafer from the FOUP. Besides, the FOUP comprises many pins, holes, coupling plates that can be manipulated by the automatic material handling system and can locate over the load port.

How to Control Humidity With Front Opening Unified Pod in a Mini-Environment?

The placement of the wafer is done with the FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) when the production chain is on the waiting mode. It is the traditional approach for removing the contamination in which the FOUP is purified with the gas and maintains the cleanliness level inside the machine. According to the research, first of all, the CDA (Clean dry air) supplies the air curtain and purge system. Once the flow of clear air transfers in the FOUP door, it automatically prevents the moisture from going inside. There is around 0% RH (relative humidity) found in the initial pre-purged FOUP. However, the ratio of relative humidity in the mini-environment has been seen by 43%. So, if the door of FOUP is opened, it holds the moisture very quickly without using a purge system or air curtain. Apart from that, the CDA is ultra-essential to decrease the relative humidity, and it is possible with the massive diffuser panel purge processes. If you want to protect the moisture in FOUP, be 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 provides complete compatibility for all SEMI standard FOUPs.
• The ROHS Compliant, SEMI Complaint, and CE certification ensure top-level performance. 
• There is no door & plate alignment is needed with the 300mm FOUP.
• The repeatable precision movements can be achieved with the DSP operated pneumatic closed-loop or electro-mechanical servos.
• It comes with the bearings and lubrication-free screws.
• The programmable lights, buttons, AMHS options, RFID, Barcode, OCR scanning, Class 1 cleanliness are some robust characteristics of 300mm FOUP.

Are you looking for the wafer handling AMAT robot applied material solutions, 300mm FOUP load port wafer handling systems, and precision motion control stages for maximizing the life of equipment? Discover the Kensington Labs that have skillful engineers, which acquire a high level of experience in robot repairing. The mission of Kensington is to provide the most innovative, reliable, outstanding wafer handling robots, ADOs, end-effectors, and aligners at the most affordable price. When it comes to getting the product guarantee on the repair and spare services of robots, the company always creates a win-win statement for the customers.