Carrier transport system, vacuum processing apparatus, and method of transportation of a carrier in a vacuum chamber

A carrier for a substrate to be processed in an apparatus for vacuum processing of the substrate, comprising:

• a first carrier passive magnetic unit provided at a first vertical carrier coordinate;
• a second carrier passive magnetic unit provided at a second vertical carrier coordinate;
• a third carrier passive magnetic unit provided at a third vertical carrier coordinate, wherein a first vertical carrier distance between the first vertical carrier coordinate and the second vertical carrier coordinate is larger than a second carrier distance between the second vertical carrier coordinate and the third vertical carrier coordinate;
• a first rail configured to be in contact with a top surface of at least one of a plurality of rollers of a roller transportation track;
• and
• a second rail configured to be in contact with a bottom of the at least one of the plurality of rollers.

An apparatus for vacuum processing of a substrate, comprising:

• a vacuum chamber;
• and
• a carrier transport system comprising:
• a track assembly extending in a transport direction, the track assembly comprising:
• a first passive magnetic unit provided at a first vertical coordinate and extending in the transport direction,
• a second passive magnetic unit provided at a second vertical coordinate and extending in the transport direction, wherein the first passive magnetic unit and the second passive magnetic unit are configured to counteract a weight of a carrier;
• the second passive magnetic unit is configured to be on a side of the carrier and configured to couple with a second carrier passive magnetic unit, wherein the first passive magnetic unit and the second magnetic passive magnetic unit include permanent magnets;
• and
• a roller transportation track provided at a third vertical coordinate and comprising a plurality of rollers configured to support partial weight of the carrier,
• wherein a first vertical distance between the first vertical coordinate and the second vertical coordinate is larger than a second distance between the second vertical coordinate and the third vertical coordinate.

A method for transportation of a carrier within a vacuum chamber, comprising:

• transporting the carrier on a track assembly with partial counteraction of a weight of the carrier by first passive magnetic units;
• transporting the carrier on the track assembly with partial counteraction of the weight of the carrier by second passive magnet units, wherein a second passive magnetic unit of the track assembly is configured to be on a side of the carrier and configured to couple with a second carrier passive magnetic unit;
• and
• transporting the carrier on the track assembly with partial weight of the carrier on at least one of a plurality of rollers.