Inline system for coating individual substrates or groups of substrates and method for coating individual substrates or substrate groups in an inline coating system

An inline system for coating individual substrates or groups of substrates, which has several chambers arranged one behind the other and evacuatable via pumps, namely a feed chamber, a waiting chamber, at least one process chamber, a further waiting chamber and a discharge chamber, through which the substrates or substrate groups pass in succession and which can each be closed by valves, wherein

• the feed chamber and the discharge chamber each have a capacity for simultaneously receiving n substrates or substrate groups arranged behind or next to one another, where n is a natural number>1, and in that the waiting chamber arranged between the feed chamber and the process chamber as well as between the discharge chamber and the process chamber has a capacity for receiving (n−1) substrates or substrate groups, whereas the capacity of the treatment chambers is limited to receiving one substrate or one substrate group in each case.