Apparatus for vacuum treating two dimensionally extended substrates and method for manufacturing such substrates
AssigneeOc Oerlikon Balzers AG
InventorsRainer Ostermann, Arthur Buechel, Mustapha Elyaakoubi
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Abstract
A vacuum transport chamber has a transport robot arrangement. A processing arrangement has at least one processing station communicating by at least one workpiece pass-through opening with the vacuum transport chamber. A loadlock arrangement communicates by at least one workpiece pass-through opening with an atmosphere outside the vacuum transport chamber and the processing arrangement. One single loadlock and processing tower is formed by the processing arrangement and the loadlock arrangement being arranged vertically on upon the other.
Claims9
A method for manufacturing two-dimensionally extended vacuum treated substrates comprising the steps of:
- introducing a first horizontal substrate horizontally into a first loadlock chamber that is provided in a first loadlock and processing tower;
- introducing a second horizontal substrate horizontally into a second loadlock chamber that is provided in a second loadlock and processing tower;
- transporting each said first and second horizontal substrate horizontally from said first and second loadlock chambers, respectively, into a common vacuum transport chamber;
- controllably moving each said first and second horizontal substrate, respectively, vertically until each is aligned with a respective first processing chamber and second processing chamber provided, respectively, in said first loadlock and processing tower and said second loadlock and processing tower;
- horizontally introducing said first and second horizontal substrates into said first and second processing chambers, respectively;
- treating said first and second horizontal substrates in said first processing chamber and said second processing chamber, respectively;
- horizontally removing each of the first and second treated horizontal substrates, respectively, from the respective first and second processing chamber, back into said common vacuum transport chamber;
- vertically transporting each said first and second treated horizontal substrate within said common vacuum transport chamber until said first treated substrate is aligned with said first or a further loadlock chamber located in said first tower, and said second treated substrate is aligned with said second or a further loadlock chamber located in said second tower;
- horizontally transporting said first and second treated horizontal substrates from said common vacuum transport chamber into the respectively aligned loadlock chambers located in said first and second towers, respectively;
- removing each said first and second treated horizontal substrate horizontally from the respective loadlock chamber into the ambient environment;
- wherein analogous operations with respect to each of the first and second horizontal substrates are not necessarily carried out at the same time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.