Patent ID: 6499229
Filing Date: 2002-12-31
Classification: B01J,B41J,C23C,H01L,Y10S

Abstract:
A conveyor system for use in a vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:a cassette mount table for holding at least one cassette; a first conveyor structure for transferring a wafer from a cassette held on the cassette mount table; and at least one lock chamber disposed for loading the wafer from the first conveyor structure to a vacuum loader provided with a vacuum processing chamber, wherein: the cassette mount table, the first conveyor structure and the at least one lock chamber are arranged to have a row in tandem to transfer the wafer in a direction of a horizontal line, the cassette mount table and the cassette are exposed in the atmosphere, the first conveyor structure is exposed to the air, the at least one lock chamber is provided with a load lock chamber and an unload lock chamber, and each of the load lock chamber and the unload lock chamber is provided with both an inlet and an outlet located in a horizontal line and an interior space sufficient to store only one wafer.