Patent ID: 7331751

Claim:
A vacuum processing method comprising: an atmospheric transfer step of transferring a wafer in atmospheric air to a vacuum transfer chamber using atmospheric transfer equipment disposed in atmospheric air; a vacuum transfer step of transferring said wafer received from said atmospheric transfer equipment to a position for a predetermined treatment within a vacuum processing chamber using vacuum transfer equipment disposed within said vacuum transfer chamber connecting said atmospheric transfer equipment and said vacuum processing chamber; a step of detecting the displacement of said wafer in a transverse direction with respect to a traveling direction near an ingress path of said wafer to said vacuum processing chamber by comparing a correct position of the wafer passing a line which is predetermined in advance with an actual position of said wafer being transferred by said vacuum transfer equipment; and a step of correcting the displacement of said wafer by moving an arm of said vacuum transfer equipment in the transverse direction with respect to the traveling direction based on the result of detection performed by a wafer position sensor; wherein initial positioning of said wafer is performed in atmospheric air, and the displacement of said wafer in the transverse direction with respect to the traveling direction near the ingress path of said wafer to said vacuum processing chamber is detected directly just prior to the predetermined treatment within said vacuum processing chamber.