Apparatus for the vacuum treatment of substrates

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for the vacuum treatment of substrates (130), comprising a vacuum chamber (1) having a plasma device (160) of a process chamber (110) and a holding device (135) for substrates (130), which is arranged in the process chamber (110), underneath the plasma device, wherein the process chamber (110) comprises an upper subsection (105a) having a side wall (106a) and a lower subsection (105b) having a side wall (106b), and the upper subsection (105a) and the lower subsection (105b) can be moved vertically relative to each other. According to the invention between the side wall (106a) of the upper subsection (105a) and the side wall (106b) of the lower subsection (105b), a lower flow path (105c) extends between the inner region (140) of the process chamber (110) and the inner region (1a) of the vacuum chamber (1) that is arranged outside the upper subsection (105a). Furthermore, between an upper edge region (107) of the upper subsection (105a) and a sealing element (109) arranged in an upper part of the inner region (1a) of the vacuum chamber (1), an upper flow path (190) is provided between the inner region (140) of the process chamber (110) and the inner region (1a) of the vacuum chamber (1) that is arranged outside the upper subsection (105a), wherein the upper subsection (105a) can be moved relative to the vacuum chamber (1) into a lower position, in which the upper flow path (190) is opened, the upper subsection (105a) can be moved relative to the vacuum chamber (1) into an upper position, in which the upper flow path (190) is closed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.