Patent ID: 6919001
Filing Date: 2005-07-19
Classification: C23C,G11B,H01L

Abstract:
1. A substrate processing system for the processing of substrates into magnetic disks comprising: an entryway to feed substrates in cassettes into the processing system and into a vacuum environment; a lifter to raise substrates one by one from said cassettes; processing stations aligned adjacent with one another to process substrates individually while substrates are maintained in a vertical orientation; disk carriers to carry substrates into processing stations and to hold substrates in a vertical position as individual substrates are processed and move through said processing stations and from station to station; a transfer device to transfer substrates in position on said lifter into disk carriers; transport paths and drives to move disk carriers from processing station to processing station and to an unload zone, said unload zone having a lifter to remove processed disks from said disk carrier after disk processing and to remove the processed disks back to a cassette to be transported out of said system; said processing stations being positioned in a stacked relationship with at least a second layer of processing stations positioned above a first layer of processing stations so that the footprint for two process stations is substantially not greater than the footprint for one process station and less than the footprint of two process stations positioned one following the other lengthwise.