Patent ID: 6880264
Filing Date: 2005-04-19
Classification: B01J,B41J,C23C,H01L,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising: a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for processing substrates; at least one cassette mount table in an atmosphere, for mounting cassettes each storing at least one substrate to be processed or which has been processed; an atmospheric transfer device for transferring substrates in an atmosphere, being capable of moving at least vertically and of being controlled such that substrates to be processed can be taken out of any location in said cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table; and control means (a) for transferring substrates to be processed from any location in any one of the cassettes mounted on the at least one cassette mount table in the atmosphere to at least one of the vacuum processing chambers via said atmospheric transfer device, and (b) for transferring processed substrates from said vacuum processing chambers to respective original positions within original cassettes, in which the substrates were stored prior to processing, via said atmospheric transfer device.