Method and apparatus for minimizing semiconductor wafer contamination

摘要

A method and apparatus for minimizing the surface contamination of semiconductor wafers (11) during the semiconductor device manufacturing process. Semiconductor wafers (11) are stored in a storage cassette (12) with their face sides (17) facing downward and their back sides (16) facing upward. Particulate contamination present on the back sides of the wafers is thereby secured to the wafers by the force of gravity, and the faces of the wafers are shielded from falling debris. An automated wafer handling device (19) is provided with a rotary joint (22) to accomplish the wafer flipping motion before inserting a wafer into a cassette and after removing the wafer from the cassette.