Vacuum treatment apparatus
AssigneeEvatec AG
InventorsBart Scholte Von Mast, Wolfgang Rietzler, Rogier Lodder, Rolf Bazlen, Daniel Rohrer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To reduce pumping time of a vacuum treatment chamber served by a transport arrangement in a transport chamber. The vacuum treatment chamber is split in a workpiece treatment compartment and in a pumping compartment in mutual free flow communication and arranged opposite each other with respect to a movement path of the transport arrangement serving the vacuum treatment chamber. The pumping compartment allows providing a pumping port of a flow cross-section area freely selectable independently from the geometry of the treatment compartment.
Claims17
A vacuum treatment apparatus comprising:
- a vacuum treatment chamber (13, 73) to perform a desired workpiece treatment of a workpiece and with a rigid wall;
- a vacuum transport chamber (1, 61);
- a handling opening common to said vacuum treatment chamber and to said vacuum transport chamber;
- a workpiece transport (5, 65) for handling a workpiece from said vacuum transport chamber through said handling opening and into said vacuum treatment chamber, said transport being drivingly movable along a movement path (S) extending from said vacuum transport chamber through said handling opening and in said vacuum treatment chamber, said vacuum treatment chamber (13, 73) comprising a workpiece treatment compartment (13T, 75T) for a workpiece to which a surface of a workpiece to be treated is exposed for treatment, said vacuum treatment compartment being located on one side of said movement path (S) in said vacuum treatment chamber and being equipped to perform the workpiece treatment and a pumping compartment (13P, 75P) opposite said workpiece treatment compartment (13T, 75T) with respect to said movement path (S) in said vacuum treatment chamber;
- a pumping port arrangement for said workpiece treatment compartment, said pumping port arrangement consisting of at least one pumping port in said pumping compartment;
- a controllable seal (17, 17a, 109, 79, 87, 83, 85) within said treatment chamber and controllably sealing off or freeing a first gas flow communication between said vacuum transport chamber (1, 61) and said pumping port (18, 101) through said handling opening and being constructed so that a pressure difference existing between the vacuum treatment chamber at a higher pressure and the transport chamber at lower pressure relative to the pressure in the treatment chamber provides for an increased sealing force upon sealing off said opening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.