Patent ID: 8347915

Claim:
A method of exhausting a gas in a chamber of a load-lock system having (i) a first valve defining an opening for supplying a gas, (ii) a second valve defining an opening for conveyance of an article into the chamber from an outside atmosphere, and (iii) a fan for feeding the gas from outside of the chamber into the chamber, said method comprising: a gas supplying step for supplying a gas that is heated by a heater into the chamber through the first valve, while the first valve and the second valve are kept open, to cause the heated gas to flow through the chamber toward the second valve by the fan, wherein the gas being supplied in the gas supplying step is the gas being fed from outside of the chamber by the fan, and being heated by the heater; a conveying step, carried out after said gas supplying step is executed, for conveying the article into the chamber, while the second valve is kept open, and the heater and the fan are at rest, thus not feeding the gas heated by the heater into the chamber; and an exhausting step, carried out after (i) said gas supplying step and said conveying step are executed and (ii) the first and second valves are closed, for exhausting the gas inside the chamber, while the first valve and the second valve are kept closed.