主权项 |
1. A front opening wafer carrier comprising:
a container portion with a door frame and a door receivable in the door frame to sealingly close the wafer carrier; the container portion comprising a plurality of columns of wafer shelves arranged for receiving a plurality of wafers; the door having an inside facing surface, an outside facing surface, and a periphery, the door comprising a latching mechanism with latching portions for engaging with the door frame for securing the door in the door frame at a seated position, and a wafer retainer attached at the inside facing surface of the door; the wafer retainer comprising a framework and a pair of columns of cantilevered fingers, each cantilevered finger comprising a fixed end portion that is substantially flat and of uniform thickness and extends directly laterally and contiguously from a flat portion of the framework that is of uniform thickness to the fixed end portion, an intermediate portion attached to the fixed end portion, and a distal portion attached to the intermediate portion, the distal portion having a distal tip, each pair of adjacent cantilevered fingers defining a slot therebetween, the slot terminating at the fixed end portions of the cantilevered fingers so that the entirety of each cantilevered finer is cantilevered from the framework, each cantilevered finger having an upper edge portion, a lower edge portion, a middle portion extending intermediate the upper edge portion and lower edge portion, and a wafer receiving groove portion that extends from the distal tip to the intermediate portion, the wafer receiving groove portion having a groove apex that is positioned more proximate to the upper edge portion than the middle portion at the distal tip and extends to a position more proximate the middle portion than the upper edge portion at the intermediate portion of each cantilevered finger, each wafer receiving groove extending a distance at least more than half of the length of the respective cantilevered finger and wherein each slot defined by adjacent airs of cantilevered fingers extends the entirety of the lengths of the wafer receiving grooves of the respective cantilevered fingers. |