Vacuum processing apparatus and semiconductor manufacturing line using the same

A vacuum processing apparatus comprising a plurality of vacuum processing blocks and a support means arranged at a front part of said plurality of vacuum processing blocks, wherein

• said support means is capable of mounting a plurality of cassettes storing samples to be processed, each cassette functionally associated with a vacuum processing block,
• a first sample transfer means for transferring samples from said cassettes in an atmosphere,
• each of said plurality of vacuum processing blocks contains a load lock chamber, a vacuum processing chamber for processing samples and a second sample transfer means for transferring samples between said vacuum processing chamber and said load lock chamber,
• said first sample transfer means being a common transfer means for transferring a sample between its position in a cassette and the load lock chamber of the vacuum processing block associated with said cassette, wherein samples from said plurality of cassettes are transferred by said common transfer means into said plurality of vacuum processing blocks, and processed samples from said vacuum processing blocks are returned back to their original positions of their original cassettes.

A processing apparatus comprising a first load lock chamber for isolating from atmosphere or vacuum environment, a first vacuum processing chamber for processing a sample in a vacuum, a first sample transfer means for transferring said sample between said first load lock chamber and said first vacuum processing chamber, a second load lock chamber for isolating from atmosphere or vacuum environment, a second vacuum processing chamber for processing a sample in a vacuum, a second sample transfer means for transferring said sample between said second load lock chamber and said second vacuum processing chamber, receiving means for mounting in an atmosphere a plurality of cassettes storing sample, an atmosphere sample transfer means for transferring said samples in an atmosphere, said atmosphere sample transfer means is a common transfer means for transferring samples from said plurality of cassettes to said first and second load lock chambers, whereby a sample is taken out of one of said plurality of cassettes by said atmosphere sample transfer means, transferred into said first processing chamber via said first load lock chamber and said first sample transfer means, or transferred into said second processing chamber via said second load lock chamber and said second sample transfer means, and processed samples from said first vacuum processing chamber or said second vacuum processing chamber are returned back to respective original positions within original cassettes in which the samples were respectively stored prior to transfer by said atmosphere sample transfer means.