Patent ID: 8303715

Claim:
A processing system for thermally treating a plurality of substrates, comprising: a thermal treatment chamber, wherein a thermal treatment chamber temperature of said thermal treatment chamber is controlled; one or more temperature controlled substrate holders mounted within said thermal treatment chamber and configured to support two or more substrates arranged substantially coplanar with one another on a support surface of said one or more temperature controlled substrate holders in a single process space, wherein said one or more temperature controlled substrate holders include a mechanism to elevate a thermal treatment substrate temperature of said two or more substrates in order to thermally treat chemically altered exposed surfaces layers thereon, and wherein said support surface of said one or more temperature controlled substrate holders is configured to receive said two or more substrates simultaneously; a substrate lifter assembly coupled to said thermal treatment chamber for vertically translating said two or more substrates between a transfer plane and said one or more temperature controlled substrate holders; a vacuum pumping system coupled to said thermal treatment chamber and configured to evacuate gaseous products of said thermal treatment; and a dedicated substrate handler configured to simultaneously transfer said two or more substrates arranged substantially coplanar with one another into said thermal treatment chamber when loading said two or more substrates onto said one or more temperature-controlled substrate holders and out of said thermal treatment chamber when unloading said two or more substrates from said one or more temperature-controlled substrate holders.