Patent ID: 7638173

Claim:
A method for the operation of an in-line coating installation having an inward transfer chamber, an adjoining buffer chamber, a process chamber adjoining thereon, a further buffer chamber adjoining it and an outward transfer chamber adjoining it, with gates provided between the chambers, which can be opened and closed, and where the inward transfer chamber, the buffer chamber and the outward transfer chamber are developed as modules having identical dimensions and for receiving substrates selected from the group consisting of flat architectural glass, a metal plate, an Si wafer, a synthetic material plate and the like up to a specified maximum size, wherein for the coating of the substrates, which are greater than the modules, the gate between the inward transfer chamber and the buffer chamber as well as the gate between the buffer chamber and the outward transfer chamber are opened and the pressure conditions of the buffer chambers and of the inward transfer or outward transfer chamber are adapted to one another.