Patent ID: 6012235
Filing Date: 2000-01-11
Classification: B01J,B41J,C23C,H01L,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of operating a vacuum processing apparatus, the vacuum processing apparatus including:an atmospheric loader, exposed to the air;a vacuum loader; anda lock chamber for connecting said atmospheric loader and said vacuum loader, whereinsaid atmospheric loader includes a cassette mount unit located outside of said lock chamber,said cassette mount unit has a cassette positioning plane which is a substantially horizontal plane in which all cassettes, containing samples to be processed, exposed to the air, are positioned in a row in front of a front wall of said lock chamber, andsaid cassette positioning plane is oriented such that a cassette is placed on and removed from said cassette positioning plane so as to maintain a surface sample to be processed, of a sample in said cassette, substantially horizontal when the cassette containing the sample is on the cassette positioning plane,wherein the method comprises the steps of:carrying in a sample, disposed under atmospheric pressure, from a cassette, exposed to the air, in said cassette positioning plane, into a vacuum processing chamber of said vacuum processing apparatus, using said lock chamber;processing said sample in said vacuum processing chamber; andcarrying out said sample, processed in said vacuum processing chamber, into said atmospheric pressure, using said lock chamber.