Abstract: A stocker for semiconductor substrates comprises a container that is for containing the semiconductor substrates and composed of a casing having an open side and a removable lid for sealing the casing at the open side, an atmosphere control unit having a cavity through which a clean gas is passed to keep the inside pressure higher than the outside atmospheric pressure and a gas supply system for supplying the gas to the cavity, and a loadport for connecting the cavity with the container to prevent outside air from entering into the inside of the container. The loadport comprises a port door and a lid placement/removing unit. The lid placement/removing unit is configured to remove the lid from the container into communication between the cavity and the container, thereby allowing the inside of the container to have the same atmosphere as the cavity.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for forming planar sheets into containers for containing a flowable food or like product. The container-forming apparatus has an apparatus frame with a plurality of treating stations including a planar sheet feed station. The apparatus also has a rotary body having radial mandrels which are rotatable so as to stop at each of the plurality of treating stations. A holding device is provided on each of the mandrels for holding the planar sheets to the mandrel, and a feeder, preferably having suction cups, is provided for feeding the planar sheet to the holding device at the sheet feed station. The various treating stations along the path of movement of the mandrels are for forming the sheet into a tube and closing one end of the tube to form a bottom of the container.