Patent ID: 8192132

Claim:
Transfer chamber of a vacuum processing installation for treating substrates, the transfer chamber being located in front of an entrance to an initial treatment chamber or behind an exit of a final treatment chamber of the installation, the transfer chamber comprising a housing with a transfer area and a passing band area, a transport device operating at a feed speed arranged in the transfer area of the housing, the transport device including a first arrangement of transport rollers, a passing band arranged in the passing band area of the housing, the passing band including a second arrangement of transport rollers, separately driven from the first arrangement of transport rollers and serving to adjust a transport speed of the substrates in the passing band area between the feed speed and a different process speed in the initial treatment chamber or the final treatment chamber, and wherein the housing, throughout the passing band area, includes a horizontal wall arranged above the passing band, the horizontal wall dividing and fully separating the passing band area into a substrate transport space beneath the wall and a separate evacuated pump space above the wall, and the pump space has at least one vacuum connection and/or a vacuum pump evacuating the separate evacuated pump space without directly evacuating the substrate transport space.