Installation for charging and discharging substrates out of a vacuum tank

Abstract

In apparatus for charging and discharging substrates, substrates are disposed in a magazine or substance store and into the pre-chamber of a high-vacuum-processing-chamber which is made as a vacuum chamber, the magazine being pushed into a housing, which at its lower side provides an opening. The housing can be deposited with the magazine onto the upper part of the wall of the lower box, an air lock plate held below an opening in the upper part of the wall taking the magazine and lowering it into a lower position by means of a pair of lifting cylinders. After this the air lock plate with the magazine and the pair of lifting cylinders are movable laterally on a conveying-slide-carriage, until the air lock plate is positioned below the passage of opening in the bottom part of the vacuum chamber. Eventually the air lock plate can be moved so far up in a vertical direction, until the magazine is disposed in the pre-chamber and until the air lock plate, which is a little bigger, closes the opening of passage.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.