Patent ID: 8870513

Claim:
A vacuum treatment apparatus comprising: a vacuum treatment recipient comprising a bi-directional load lock for substrate transfer between an interior of said recipient and an exterior of said recipient, said load lock comprising an external valve arrangement between a compartment of said load lock and said exterior and an internal valve arrangement between said compartment and said interior; and a first transport arrangement in said exterior for bi-directionally transporting substrates towards and from said load lock comprising: a first substrate handler, swivelable about a first axis, comprising at least two first substrate carriers equally radially spaced from said first axis; and a second substrate handler, swivelable about a second axis, comprising at least four second substrate carriers equally radially spaced from said second axis, wherein said first substrate carriers are configured to swivel along a first swiveling trajectory path, wherein said path comprises a first position and a second position, wherein when one of said first substrate carriers is in said first position, another of said first substrate carriers is in said second position, wherein each of said first substrate carriers is configured to be aligned with one of said second substrate carriers when in said first position, and wherein each of said first substrate carriers is configured to be aligned with said load lock when in said second position, wherein, when in said second position, each of said first substrate carriers is further configured to be movable towards and from said vacuum treatment recipient once aligned with said load lock to seal off said compartment from said exterior, thereby forming said external valve arrangement.