This paper presents the design process for an innovative latch mechanism in a standard mechanical interfaced (SMIFed) wafer container, in which the manufactured integrated circuits are stored. An innovative latch mechanism is proposed and applied to the wafer container, such that the container door can be latched and air-tightly sealed during storage or transportation. The design process is divided into two stages. In the first stage, an output slot-cam is designed in order to generate decoupled fine motions of the output link. The issue is formulated as an optimization problem where the output link dimensions are optimized to minimize the resultant pin forces subject to an adequate transmission angle. In the second stage, the input slot-cam is designed to achieve that kinetic energy of the elastic gasket on the container lid is absorbed at a uniform rate. Finally, a numerical example and computer simulations are given to demonstrate the results of design process. It is believed that this work could aid in enhancing the performance and reliability of the latch mechanism in the SMIF environment.
