Patent ID: RE39775

Claim:
A method of using a conveyor system for processing substrates in plural vacuum processing chamber installation portions, the conveyor system including: an atmospheric loader, having a location for positioning at least one cassette containing the substrates, the location having an upper region which is open to a cassette transferring path; a vacuum loader; and a lock chamber, having an atmospheric loader side and a vacuum loader side, and having a gate valve for said atmospheric loader side and another gate valve for said vacuum loader side, wherein said vacuum loader has (1) a transfer chamber connected to the lock chamber via the another gate valve, the method comprising the steps of: transferring substrates, to be processed, from a cassette at said location of said atmospheric loader, to said lock chamber; after transferring substrates to the lock chamber, providing a vacuum in said lock chamber; after providing a vacuum in said lock chamber, transferring substrates to be processed, from said lock chamber to said transfer chamber; thereafter, transferring processed substrates from said transfer chamber to said lock chamber; and transferring processed substrates from said lock chamber to said atmospheric loader from which the substrates had been transferred to the lock chamber wherein said gate valve and said another gate valve are opened and closed every carrying-in of a substrate, to be processed, to the lock chamber, and every carry-out a processed substrate from the lock chamber.