Patent ID: 7399154

Claim:
A vacuum processing system comprising: a vacuum chamber for defining an inner space capable of being evacuated, the vacuum chamber having an opening on a bottom wall thereof; a first load-lock mechanism comprising a lift table, an atmospheric side partition lid, and a vacuum side partition lid, wherein the lift table is capable of holding thereon and being raised or lowered through the opening to transfer a process object into and out of the vacuum chamber in a state that the vacuum chamber is maintained vacuum, the opening is closed from an outside of the vacuum chamber by the atmospheric side partition lid when the lift table is disposed in the vacuum chamber, and the opening is closed from an inner side of the vacuum chamber by the vacuum side partition lid when the lift table is out of the vacuum chamber; a holding mechanism disposed in the vacuum chamber, the holding mechanism being capable of holding a process object and moving the process object from a process position where the process object is processed to a load position and from the load position to the process position; an internal arm capable of exchanging a process object at the load position with another process object held by the first load-lock mechanism, while the holding mechanism is capable of holding a process object at the load position; and a controller for controlling the internal arm to exchange a process object held on the lift table of the first load-lock mechanism with another process object held by the holding mechanism at the load position, wherein the internal arm includes a first arm and a second arm both capable of swinging independently, the first and second arms are supported at different positions in a swing axial direction, the first arm is capable of swinging in a first swing direction and is capable of moving a process object at the load position to the lift table of the first load-lock mechanism, and at the same time the second arm is capable of swinging in a second swing direction reverse to the first swing direction and is capable of moving another process object held on the lift table of the first load-lock mechanism to the load position.