Patent ID: 7682481

Claim:
A vacuum processing apparatus restable upon a floor, comprising: a processing chamber for processing a substrate in a vacuum atmosphere, wherein the processing chamber includes an upward-facing opening, substantially parallel to the floor, a carrying-in-and-out chamber that is connectable to the processing chamber at a position above the processing chamber such that the substrate is transferable between the carrying-in-and-out chamber and the processing chamber without being exposed to the external atmosphere, and wherein the substrate is transferable to the carrying-in-and-out chamber from an external atmosphere, wherein the carrying-in-and-out chamber includes a downward-facing opening, substantially parallel to the floor, in close contact with the upward-facing opening of the processing chamber, a support member that fixes the carrying-in-and-out chamber above the floor in a first position even during movement of other elements, a vertical moving mechanism, wherein the processing chamber is separable from the carrying-in-and-out chamber by the vertical moving mechanism so as to move in a vertically downward direction while maintaining a vertical positional alignment between the processing chamber and the carrying-in-and-out chamber; and wherein the processing chamber is attachable to the carrying-in-and-out chamber by the vertical moving mechanism moving the processing chamber in a vertically upward direction while maintaining the vertical positional alignment between the processing chamber and the carrying-in-and-out chamber, a horizontal conveying mechanism that is mechanically connected to the processing chamber such that the horizontal conveying mechanism remains connected to the processing chamber even in a state in which the processing chamber is connected to the carrying-in-and-out chamber, and wherein the horizontal conveying mechanism detaches from the vertical moving mechanism and horizontally conveys the processing chamber that has been removed from the carrying-in-and-out chamber, and that has been moved in the vertically downward direction, over the floor in contact therewith.