The present invention provides a method of cleaning a storage case to be used for storing or transporting mask substrates such as photomasks and photomask blanks, semiconductor substrates such as semiconductor wafers, pellicles, or the like. The present invention: facilitates a regular cleaning operation, can be used also for a storage case of a complicated shape, does not require a large scale equipment or an expensive equipment to facilitate an environmental countermeasure, and provides high cleaning effect. The method of cleaning a storage case polluted by adhesion of a foreign substance of an organic material, an ionic foreign substances or an ionic crystal foreign substance physically absorbed, comprises a step of placing the storage case still in air flow of cleaned air or an inert gas in a temperature range from room temperature to 80°C for desorbing and removing the foreign substance adhered to the storage case.

The present invention corrects automatically the wrong orientation of a reticle-carrying container (11). The present invention includes a reticle-processing system having the reticle-carrying container (11), transfer means (4,5) for transferring the reticle-carrying container (11), a light exposure apparatus for printing a circuit pattern, and a reticle stocker (2) for keeping a plurality of reticles (12). The present invention also includes orientation change means (81) for detecting the orientation of the reticle-carrying container (11) and changing it appropriately in a path from the reticle stocker (2) to a printing position in the light exposure apparatus (1). The orientation change means (81) includes a rotation drive part (82) for rotating the reticle-carrying container (11), orientation detection means (83) for detecting the orientation of the reticle-carrying container (11), which is provided in some place in the path from the reticle stocker (2) to the printing position in the light exposure apparatus (1), and a control part (84) for, when the orientation detected by the orientation detection means (83) is shifted by 180 degrees, controlling the rotation drive part (82) so as to correct the orientation.

The present invention allows a reticle-carrying container (11) to be fastened in a reticle stocker (2) even if the reticle-carrying container (11) is wrongly oriented. The reticle-carrying container (11) includes an interior with an opening at one end for storing a reticle (12), a door (14) for covering and blocking the opening, and a seal material (15) for sealing the interior hermetically when the door (14) blocks the pod (13). The reticle-carrying container (11) is provided with two pairs of kinematic pin grooves (61) for positioning and fastening the reticle-carrying container (11), which are formed with a 180-degree turn from each other on the outer surface of the door (14). Receiving parts (22) for receiving and holding the kinematic pin grooves (61) are arranged in the positions corresponding to the kinematic pin grooves (61) on the outer surface of the pod (13) so that the two pairs of kinematic pin grooves (61) can be engaged with the pins in the both orientations.

The present invention supports a reticle (12) in a safe and secure manner. A reticle-carrying container (11) includes a pod (13) for storing the reticle (12), a door (14) and a seal (15) for blocking and sealing hermetically the pod (13). A pair of reticle retainers (25,45) is provided on the insides of the pod (13) and door (14). Each of the reticle retainers (25,45) includes an inclined plane (28) that contacts an upper corner (12A) or a lower corner (12B) of peripheral edge of the reticle (12) and supports the reticle (12) elastically. The inside of the inclined plane (28) is provided with concave portions (31,52) that enables a shock-absorbing function of allowing the deformation of the inclined plane (28), and supporting the reticle elastically, at the time of contact with the upper corner (12A) or the lower corner (12B) of peripheral edge of the reticle (12).

The present invention is directed to a wafer stepper library (110, 120) in which the reticle boxes (130, 140) are machine-scannable to allow automatic location of the desired reticle for a particular wafer lot operation. To accomplish this, the wafer stepper (100) includes a plurality of indicia reading devices (152, 162) aligned with at least some of the slots (112, 122) of the library (110, 120). Each reticle box (130, 140), in turn, may be provided with an indicia (132, 142) indicative of its reticle number.

A container (100) for storing and transporting fragile objects, comprising a pair of side walls (102), a top wall (104), a bottom wall (106), and a back wall (108), forming a box with one open side (110); a plurality of spaced apart partitions (116) between the side walls (102) for separating the objects; and means to maintain the objects in an angled orientation during storage and transport so that the objects rest against the partitions (116) and do not easily move.

A container for containing therein a plate-like article such as a reticle, includes a bottom member having a holding portion for holding the article in a substantially laid-down state; an upper member to be mated with the bottom member to define a space above the upper surface of the article; a pressing member for resiliently pressing in the space the article against the holding portion; a fixing portion having an engaging member being supported by the upper member and being engageable with an end portion of the bottom member, the engaging member being effective to prevent upward opening motion of the upper member due to a reaction force of the pressing member; and a releasing portion partially projectable into the fixing portion to press the same in a direction the same as the direction of opening motion the upper member, to thereby release the engaging member.

The present invention relates to a case for a photomask (10) prevent generation of dust, which attaches to and stain a photomask or the photomask pellicle (11). In a case for a photomask comprising a case main unit(1) with an upper opening for accommodating the photomask (10) and a lid (2) for the opening of the case main unit (1), cushion materials (41, 42) are provided on inner bottom of the case main unit (1) and on inner ceiling of the lid (2). The photomask (10) is elastically squeezed between the cushion materials when accommodated. Thus, shaking and rattling during transportation are prevented to minimize the generation of dust. As the cushion material (41, 42), a rubber material having smooth surface on one side and coarse surface on the other side is used.

A photomask blank substrate container which includes an inner member having an inner cassette and a retainer member, a container main body having a lower box and an upper lid, and a sealing tape, in which the container main body and the inner member include a polymer-based material in which when 0.1 g of a sample thereof is retained at 40°C for 60 minutes to release an outgas component, the total amount of the outgas detected by a gas chromatography mass spectrometer is 1.9x10³ ng or less in terms of n-tetradecane, and the sealing tape is a material in which when a size of 10 mm x 10 mm of a sample thereof is retained at 150°C for 10 minutes to release an outgas component, a total amount of the outgas detected by a gas chromatography mass spectrometer is 1.8×10³ ng or less in terms of n-tetradecane. This photomask blank substrate container allows storing and transporting the photomask blank substrate while suppressing influence on the resist pattern.