Patent ID: 7783377

Claim:
An apparatus for automated loading and unloading of substrates in a vacuum environment, the apparatus comprising: a vacuum vessel in the form of an enclosure bounding a loading and unloading chamber and defining a transfer port in communication with the chamber and with an evacuated region outside the vacuum vessel; a substrate holder in the chamber, the substrate holder comprising a substrate support table for supporting a substrate, and locating means co-operable with the substrate support table for causing a substrate which is supported thereon to be pressed against and thereby located on the substrate support table; and release means in the chamber, the release means being adapted for withholding said co-operation of the locating means with the substrate support table and providing a temporary support of the substrate clear of the substrate support table so as to permit movement of the substrates to and from the substrate holder; wherein the loading and unloading chamber is hermetically sealed apart from the transfer port to allow for a vacuum environment to prevail in the loading and unloading chamber; and wherein the transfer port allows transfer of the substrate holder between the chamber and the evacuated region outside the vacuum vessel.