Controlled environment enclosure and mechanical interface

摘要

A system for vacuum-processing objects such as electronic integrated circuit wafers comprises (a) a carrier for transporting the wafers under vacuum in a cassette, the cassette being supported on a movable wall that serves as a bottom cover member of the carrier; and (b) a processing machine having a transfer chamber that is also maintained under vacuum, the transfer chamber having a movable wall in the form of an elevatable stage that sealingly closes the transfer chamber in its outermost position. There is a small sealingly closed interface chamber extending between the movable walls when the cassette is mounted onto the machine. A vacuum pump evacuates the interface chamber in preparation for lowering of the cassette into the transfer chamber by an elevator mechanism.