| 摘要 |
<p>A method and apparatus for transferring articles from a transportable container (18), for example, a SMIF pod, to a second container, for example, a processing station (8) having a port (24) which provides access to the interior region (15) of the processing station. A non-contact seal (92) or an isolation cover (110) or skirt (130) seals the port so that the interior region (21) of the container can be purged of contaminants prior to exposing the interior environment of the processing station to the environment within the container. The purging of the container may be a multistep process in which the container door (32) is moved between several intermediate positions so that the container door itself is purged prior to the purging of the environment within the container.</p> |
