Abstract: An apparatus is provided for opening a Standardized Mechanical Interface transport box and facilitating access to the articles within the transport box by mechanisms inside a pressurized, isolated, controlled environment while maintaining isolated, controlled environment conditions, the apparatus comprising: a base for opening the transport box and supporting the box port and articles within, a platform for lifting the remainder of the transport box, a mechanism for lifting the platform, a flexible seal between the base and platform with devices for controlling contamination by use of the controlled environment pressurization and a pocket-style door providing isolation to the controlled environment when the transport box is either closed or not present. The apparatus further includes a base extender slidably movable into the controlled environment and devices for sensing mispositioned articles following return of the articles from the controlled environment to the base of the transport box.

Abstract: The present invention is an improved container and interface for transporting or otherwise handling contamination-sensitive materials, such as semi-conductor wafers during processing. The container of the present invention employs a door-within-a-door design, allowing the container to connect with different interfaces on a single side. Employing a container of the present invention, manufacturers may connect a single container to different tools or mini-environments employing incompatible interfaces without the need to use different containers or to access the contents of a single container from different directions. The present invention is particularly useful in instances where a single interface standard, e.g., SEMI Standard SMIF interfaces, has not been uniformly adopted in a facility.