Vacuum processing apparatus

A vacuum processing apparatus for performing predetermined vacuum processing on a processing surface of a to-be-processed substrate, the vacuum processing apparatus comprising:

• a vacuum chamber having disposed therein the to-be-processed substrate and, provided that a direction in which the to-be-processed surface looks is defined as an upper side, having formed on an upper wall of the vacuum chamber a mounting opening facing the processing surface where a direction in which the processing surface looks is defined as an upper side;
• a processing unit disposed above the vacuum chamber, the process unit for performing therein vacuum processing;
• a communication pipe having a predetermined length and being interposed and connected between an upper wall of the vacuum chamber and a lower surface of a supporting body for the processing unit such that predetermined processing is performed, through the communication pipe, on the to-be-processed substrate inside the vacuum chamber in vacuum atmosphere,
• wherein the processing unit further comprises an engaging means to which is coupled a swing arm to swing about a rotary shaft extending perpendicularly to a vertical direction for selectively engaging the vacuum chamber and the communication pipe or the processing unit and the communication pipe.