Appeal No. 2004-1123
Application No. 09/933,503
Appellants' Background portion of the specification
continues by noting (page 5) that the SMIF pod is used not only
for transporting wafer cassettes between various processing
stations, but also in the storage of wafer cassettes waiting to
be processed. In that context, it is indicated that the SMIF
pods will generally have contained therein an atmosphere the same
as the atmosphere of a processing "clean room," i.e., among other
things, having a regulated amount of moisture in the range of
between about 30% to about 50% relative humidity. However, as
noted on page 6 of the specification, it has also been recognized
by those skilled in the art that such a humidity level in the
SMIF pod can have an adverse effect on wafers stored in the wafer
cassette contained in the SMIF pod, e.g., causing film stress
variations and/or corrosion of metal film layers on the wafers.
On page 7 of the specification, appellants note that the moisture
absorption problem incurred in the conventional SMIF pod has lead
IC process engineers to propose various solutions to that
problem. Appellants characterize some of those solutions as
being difficult to carry out and/or cumbersome to carry out in an
IC fabrication facility.
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