Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Hidehiro Oomae

Shoji Okiguchi

Kenji Nakata

Tooru Ueno

Takeshi Oono

Yoshitaka Kai

Shigeharu Minami

A vacuum processing apparatus includes vacuum processing chambers for subjecting a sample to vacuum processing, a vacuum carriage, a switchable chamber, a cassette support for supporting a plurality of cassettes capable of housing samples, and a waiting cassette support for supporting a waiting cassette that differs from the cassettes supported on the cassette support and capable of having a number of samples. An atmospheric carriage enables carrying a sample among a given cassette of the plurality of cassettes or the waiting cassette. A controller effects control for carrying unprocessed and processed samples among the given cassette, the waiting cassette and the vacuum processing chamber, so that a mixture of both processed and unprocessed samples does not exist in the given cassette or the waiting cassette.

Vacuum processing apparatus

A vacuum processing apparatus and method in which the apparatus includes vacuum processing chambers for subjecting a sample to vacuum processing, a vacuum carriage, a switchable chamber, a cassette support for supporting a plurality of cassettes capable of housing samples, and a waiting cassette support for supporting a waiting cassette that differs from the cassettes supported on the cassette support and capable of having a number of samples. An atmospheric carriage enables carrying a sample among a given cassette of the plurality of cassettes or the waiting cassette. A controller effects control for carrying unprocessed and processed samples among the given cassette, the waiting cassette and the vacuum processing chamber, so that a mixture of both processed and unprocessed samples does not exist in the given cassette or the waiting cassette.

Vacuum processing apparatus and vacuum processing method

A vacuum processing apparatus and method includes at least one vacuum processing chamber, at least one carriage for carrying the sample from a given cassette into and out of the vacuum processing chamber. A controller performs carriage control for carrying the sample taken out of the given cassette into the vacuum processing chamber, and for carrying the processed sample out of the vacuum processing chamber. A waiting cassette support supports a waiting cassette in which an unprocessed sample from the given cassette or a processed sample from the given cassette after vacuum processing is placed so as to prevent the processed and unprocessed sample from being mixed with each other.

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Hikari, Japan

Hidehiro Oomae