High vacuum continuous cycle fabrication facility

Abstract

Disclosed is a semi-automatic processing system for the production of components requiring the deposition of metallization and assembly in an oil free ultra-high vacuum environment. The system is comprised of a plurality of interconnected tubular high vacuum chambers for separately performing ultra-violet cleaning, bake out, plating and sealing of, for example, quartz crystal resonator units, in an in-line configuration adapted for continuous cycle processing of components. The major elements of the system include: (a) a belt type transport which is adapted to convey one or more components through the respective chamber and into an adjoining chamber through an intermediate gate valve; (b) manipulators for handling the component parts inside the vacuum chambers; (c) long life highly directional evaporation sources for evaporated metal deposition on selected component parts; and (d) a sealing apparatus for hermetically sealing the components after evaporation without exposure to atmosphere. Each chamber accordingly is separated from all adjoining chambers by gate valves which make each chamber a self contained modular unit that, for ease of servicing, can be removed and/or inserted into the system without affecting the vacuum integrity of the other chambers.