Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Volker Gajewski

Hans-Peter Sperlich

A method for the treatment of objects, preferably wafers, in a corresponding apparatus. The apparatus having at least two or more process chambers for receiving and treating the objects as well as a handling apparatus, for example a robot arm, for loading and unloading the process chambers. To date, all the process chambers have been loaded with the objects directly in succession. Accordingly, the actual treatment begins virtually simultaneously in all the process chambers. Furthermore, the necessary cleaning processes in the process chambers are also carried out virtually simultaneously. In order to increase the throughput of objects to be treated and to prevent or to minimize the overlapping of the cleaning processes, the invention proposes that, at the program start, at the beginning of the treatment method, the loading of the objects into the first process chamber and beginning of the treatment of the objects are effected, and that, subsequently, temporally staggered initial loading of the objects into the second process chamber and beginning of the treatment of the objects are effected. The temporally staggered initial loading of the individual process chambers can be effected by manual or computer-aided control of the apparatus. Furthermore, a corresponding apparatus is described.

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Dresden, Germany

Volker Gajewski