Patent ID: 6554980
Filing Date: 2003-04-29
Classification: C23C

Abstract:
A vacuum treatment apparatus for simultaneously depositing thin layers on at least two three-dimensional substrates, said apparatus comprising:a vacuum chamber having a generally circular cylindrical vacuum chamber wall; an inner cylinder inside said vacuum chamber wall, said inner cylinder supporting substrate chambers for rotation relative to said vacuum chamber wall; said vacuum chamber wall having openings therein with which the substrate chambers can be aligned and through which a three-dimensional substrate in the substrate chamber can be accessed; the vacuum chamber supporting treatment stations and airlock stations tangential to and extending radially outwardly from the vacuum chamber wall, said stations each being associated with a respective opening in said vacuum chamber wall and being configured to communicate with the substrate chamber when aligned therewith; said airlock stations being arranged diametrically opposite each other on the vacuum chamber wall; substrate transport conveyors each operatively associated with a respective airlock station, said conveyors each alternating between transferring a three-dimensional substrate to the associated airlock station and transferring a three-dimensional substrate in the associated airlock station away therefrom, said transferring being performed dependent on turns of the inner cylinder; said inner cylinder, when rotated a first turn, moving the substrate chamber communicating with the airlock stations to positions aligned with the openings communicating with the treatment stations, so that at least two three-dimensional substrates in said substrate chambers are simultaneously acted upon by treatment agents at the treatment stations, and, when said inner cylinder is rotated a further turn, said three-dimensional substrates and substrate chambers are moved to positions communicating with said airlock stations.