PROCESSING SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the vacuum systems for vacuum processing systems and methods of operating a vacuum system. Particularly, embodiments relate to vacuum systems for volume pumping and/or for regeneration of high vacuum pumps, for example, cryo-pumps. Embodiments particularly relate to a vacuum system for volume pumping of a plurality of vacuum areas, a vacuum system for regeneration of a plurality of high vacuum pumps corresponding to a plurality of vacuum areas, a vacuum system for evacuating a plurality of vacuum areas, a vacuum processing system, and a method of evacuating a processing system.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Vacuum systems for substrate processing, particularly in the field of display manufacturing having large area substrates, may include a plurality of vacuum chambers with a large chamber size. Particularly for optoelectronic devices having organic materials, for example, OLED displays, it is beneficial to manufacture a layer stack having a plurality of layers, e.g. the complete layer stack, in one vacuum processing system in light of the sensitivity of the organic materials to contamination. Accordingly, manufacturing an entire layer stack in one system and including encapsulation of the layer stack can be beneficial.

[0003] Opto-electronic devices that make use of organic materials are becoming increasingly popular for a number of reasons. Many of the materials used to make such devices are relatively inexpensive, so organic opto-electronic devices have the potential for cost advantages over inorganic devices. The inherent properties of organic materials, such as their flexibility, may be advantageous for applications such as for deposition on flexible or inflexible substrates. Examples of organic opto-electronic devices include organic light emitting devices, organic displays, organic phototransistors, organic photovoltaic cells, and organic photodetectors.

[0004] The organic materials of OLED devices may have performance advantages over conventional materials. For example, the wavelength at which an organic emissive layer emits light may be readily tuned with appropriate dopants. OLED devices make use of thin organic films that emit light when a voltage is applied across the device. OLED devices are becoming an increasingly interesting technology for use in applications such as flat panel displays, illumination, and backlighting.

[0005] In light of the above, a vacuum processing system, for example, for OLED manufacturing, may include a large number of vacuum chambers or vacuum areas for example, 20 or more chambers or even 50 or more chambers. Equipment for evacuating the plurality of vacuum chambers may significantly increase the cost of ownership and may also increase energy consumption of the vacuum processing system.

[0006] Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide improved vacuum systems, particularly for vacuum processing of large area substrates, improved vacuum processing systems, and improved methods of evacuating vacuum processing systems.

SUMMARY

[0007] In light of the above, a vacuum system for volume pumping of a plurality of vacuum areas, a vacuum system for regeneration of a plurality of high vacuum pumps corresponding to a plurality of vacuum areas, a vacuum system for evacuating a plurality of vacuum areas, a vacuum processing system, and a method of evacuating a vacuum processing system are provided. Further aspects, advantages, features and embodiments of the present disclosure can be combined with such an aspect. [0008] According to one aspect, a vacuum system for volume pumping a plurality of vacuum areas is provided. The vacuum system includes a first vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas and a second vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas. A first plurality of valves connecting the first vacuum manifold to the plurality of vacuum areas is provided, each valve of the first plurality of valves corresponding to a vacuum area of the plurality of vacuum areas. A second plurality of valves connecting the second vacuum manifold to the plurality of vacuum areas is provided, each valve of the second plurality of valves corresponding to the vacuum area of the plurality of vacuum areas. The vacuum system further includes a first pump stack assembly including one or more first pump stacks connected to the first vacuum manifold with a first connection pipe via a first connection valve and a second pump stack assembly including one or more second pump stacks connected to a second vacuum manifold with the second connection pipe via a second connection valve.

[0009] According to one aspect, a vacuum system for regeneration and/or evacuation of a plurality of high vacuum pumps corresponding to a plurality of vacuum areas is provided. The vacuum system includes a first regeneration manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas and a second regeneration manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas. A first plurality of regeneration valves connecting the first regeneration manifold to the plurality of high vacuum pumps is provided, each valve of the first plurality of regeneration valves corresponding to a high vacuum pump of the plurality of high vacuum pumps. A second plurality of regeneration valves connecting the second regeneration manifold to the plurality of high vacuum pumps is provided, each valve of the second plurality of regeneration valves corresponding to the high vacuum pump of the plurality of high vacuum pumps. The vacuum system further includes a first regeneration pump stack assembly connected to the first regeneration manifold via a first regeneration connection valve and a second regeneration pump stack assembly connected to the second regeneration manifold via a second regeneration connection valve.

[0010] According to one aspect, vacuum system for evacuating a plurality of vacuum areas. The vacuum system includes a vacuum system for volume evacuation according to any of the embodiments of the present disclosure and a vacuum system for regeneration and/or evacuation of a plurality of high vacuum pumps, for example, a vacuum system for regeneration and/or evacuation according to any of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0011] According to one aspect, a method of evacuating a vacuum processing system is provided. The method includes pumping a first group of vacuum areas of a plurality of vacuum areas through a first vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas and pumping a second group of vacuum areas of the plurality of vacuum areas through a second vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the present disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments. The accompanying drawings relate to embodiments of the disclosure and are described in the following. Typical embodiments are depicted in the drawings and are detailed in the description which follows.

[0013] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a vacuum processing system having a vacuum system for volume pumping according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 2A is a schematic view illustrating a vacuum system for volume evacuation of a plurality of vacuum areas according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 2B is a schematic view illustrating another vacuum system for volume evacuation of a plurality of vacuum areas according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a vacuum system for regeneration and/or evacuation of a plurality of high vacuum pumps according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a vacuum system combining various aspects described herein according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0018] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of evacuating a vacuum system according to embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Reference will now be made in detail to the various embodiments, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the figures. Each example is provided by way of explanation and is not meant as a limitation. For example, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used on or in conjunction with any other embodiment to yield yet a further embodiment. It is intended that the present disclosure includes such modifications and variations.

[0020] Within the following description of the drawings, same reference numbers refer to the same or to similar components. Generally, only the differences with respect to the individual embodiments are described. Unless specified otherwise, the description of a part or aspect in one embodiment applies to a corresponding part or aspect in another embodiment as well.

[0021] OLED devices, such as OLED flat panel displays, may include a plurality of layers. For example, a combination of five or more, or even 10 or more layers may be provided. Typically, organic layers and metallic layers are deposited on a backplane, wherein the backplane may include a TFT structure. Particularly the organic layers may be sensitive to a gas environment (for example atmosphere) before encapsulation. Accordingly, it is beneficial to produce an entire layer stack within a vacuum processing system. A vacuum processing system, particularly for OLED device manufacturing, may include a large plurality of vacuum chambers or vacuum areas, respectively. For example, 20 or more chambers or even 50 or more chambers may be provided. For example, a common vacuum system for such a processing system may include 50 or more standard two-stage dry pump stacks, each including a dry pump and a roots blower. With respect to cost of ownership, the dry pump is generally the most expensive part of the pump stack, particularly as compared to a blower.

[0022] Further, the increasing demand for OLED displays, such as for mobile devices, results in an increasing demand for high throughput and high yield of a vacuum processing system. The throughput is inter alia defined by the time used for maintenance. The overall throughput can be increased by shortening the time for maintenance, particularly including the time to evacuate the vacuum processing system or individual chambers of the vacuum processing system after maintenance.

[0023] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide vacuum systems with one or more pump stack assemblies. The pump stacks may be centralized, i.e. with one or more pump stack assemblies utilized for a plurality of vacuum areas, particularly for all or most of the vacuum areas. For example, the one or more pump stack assemblies may be centralized in the middle of the vacuum processing system.

[0024] Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide vacuum systems with the “double-manifold” vacuum system. For example, two pump stack assemblies and two “manifold” vacuum pipes can be provided. A vacuum manifold or pumping manifold as referred to herein refers to the vacuum pipe extending along a plurality of vacuum areas, for example, all or most of the vacuum areas in a vacuum system. The manifold is a vacuum pipe that is provided for a plurality of vacuum areas. The“manifold” vacuum pipe or vacuum manifold is connected to each of the vacuum areas. The plurality of vacuum areas may be evacuated via the vacuum manifold, particularly, selectively based on a vacuum connection with a valve for each of the vacuum areas.

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a vacuum processing system 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. A plurality of processing chambers 120 is provided. The processing chambers 120 can be connected to vacuum rotation chambers 130. The vacuum rotation chambers 130 are provided in an in-line arrangement. The vacuum rotation chambers 130 can rotate substrates to be moved into and out of processing chambers 120. The combination of a cluster arrangement and an in-line arrangement can be considered a hybrid arrangement. The vacuum rotation chambers 130 can be provided in an in-line arrangement in the hybrid arrangement.

[0026] A vacuum rotation chamber or a rotation module (also referred to herein as “routing module” or “routing chamber”) may be understood as a vacuum chamber configured for changing the transport direction of the one or more carriers. The transportation direction may be changed by rotating one or more carriers located on tracks in the rotation module. For example, the vacuum rotation chamber may include a rotation device configured for rotating tracks configured for supporting carriers around a rotation axis, e.g. a vertical rotation axis. In some embodiments, the rotation module includes at least two tracks which may be rotated around a rotation axis. A first track, particularly a first substrate carrier track, may be arranged on a first side of the rotation axis, and a second track, particularly a second substrate carrier track, may be arranged on a second side of the rotation axis. In some embodiments, the rotation module includes four tracks, particularly two mask carrier tracks and two substrate carrier tracks which may be rotated around the rotation axis.

[0027] When a rotation module rotates by an angle of x°, e.g. 90°, a transport direction of one or more carriers arranged on the tracks may be changed by an angle of x°, e.g. 90°. A rotation of the rotation module by an angle of 180° may correspond to a track switch, i.e. the position of the first substrate carrier track of the rotation module and the position of the second substrate carrier track of the rotation module may be exchanged or swapped and/or the position of the first mask carrier track of the rotation module and the position of the second mask carrier track of the rotation module may be exchanged or swapped. According to some embodiments, the rotation module may include a rotor on which a substrate can be rotated.

[0028] A substrate enters the vacuum processing system 100, for example, at a vacuum swing module 110, e.g. on the left hand side in FIG. 1. According to further modifications, a load lock chamber may be connected to the vacuum swing module for loading and unloading substrates into the vacuum processing system. The vacuum swing module typically receives the substrate directly or via a load lock chamber from an interface of the device manufacturing factory. Typically, the interface provides the substrate, for example, a large area substrate, in a horizontal orientation. The vacuum swing module moves the substrate from the orientation provided by the factory interface to an essentially vertical orientation. The essentially vertical orientation of the substrate is maintained during processing of the substrate in the vacuum processing system 100 until the substrate is moved, for example, back to a horizontal orientation. Swinging is to be understood as changing the substrate orientation, e.g. to move the substrate by an angle, e.g. from a horizontal orientation to a vertical orientation. Accordingly, in the present disclosure, the vacuum swing module may also be referred to as a vacuum chamber for moving a substrate by an angle, particularly between a non-vertical orientation and a non-horizontal orientation.

[0029] The substrate is moved through a buffer chamber 112 (see FIG. 1). The substrate is further moved through a cluster chamber, such as a vacuum rotation chamber 130 into a processing chamber 120. Some or each of the processing chambers may include a deposition source 180, for example, an evaporation source, particularly a line-source evaporating, for example, organic material. A deposition source 180 may be moved past the substrate, may be rotated to face an opposing substrate and may subsequently be moved past the opposing substrate. The substrate can be routed from one processing chamber to the next processing chamber, e.g. via a vacuum rotation chamber 130 and transfer chamber 182.

[0030] For the example of an OLED mobile display, a common metal mask (CMM) is provided in some processing chambers 120. The CMM provides an edge exclusion mask for each mobile display. Each mobile display is masked with one opening and areas on the substrate corresponding to areas between displays are mainly covered by the CMM. A fine metal mask (FFM) may be provided on other processing chambers 120. The fine metal mask has a plurality of openings, for example, sized in the micron range. The plurality of fine openings corresponds to a pixel of the mobile display or the color of a pixel of the mobile display. Accordingly, the FFM and the substrate need to be highly accurately aligned with respect to each other to have an alignment of the pixels on the display in a micron range.

[0031] Subsequently, the substrate is moved out of one processing chamber 120 into the adjacent cluster chamber, for example, vacuum rotation chamber 130, through a transfer chamber 182, through a further cluster chamber, and into the next processing chamber 120. Accordingly, a substrate can be moved from one processing chamber to a further processing chamber until the entire layer stack is deposited on the substrate.

[0032] The substrate traffic described above for one substrate is similar for a plurality of substrates, which are simultaneously processed in the vacuum processing system 100. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a tact time of the system, i.e. a time period, can be 180 seconds or below, e.g. from 60 seconds to 180 seconds. Accordingly, the substrate is processed within this time period, i.e. a first exemplary time period T. In the processing chambers, one substrate is processed within the first time period T, another substrate that has just been processed is moved out of the processing chamber within the first time period T, and a yet further substrate to be processed is moved into the processing chamber within the first time period T. One substrate can be processed in each of the processing chambers while two further substrates participate in substrate traffic with respect to this processing chamber, i.e. one further substrate is unloaded from the respective processing chamber and one substrate is loaded into the respective processing chamber during the first time period T.

[0033] According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, substrates can be routed in one row or one part of the vacuum processing system from one end of the in-line arrangement of cluster chambers to the opposing end of the in-line arrangement of cluster chambers of the vacuum processing system. At the opposing end of the in-line arrangement, for example, the vacuum rotation chamber 130 on the right hand side in FIG. 1, the substrate is transferred to the other row or the other part of the vacuum processing system. On the other row or in the other part of the vacuum processing system, the substrate is processed in subsequent processing chambers while moving from the opposing end of the in-line arrangement of cluster chambers to the one end, i.e. the starting end, of the in-line arrangement of cluster chambers.

[0034] After a final processing operation, a substrate can be moved via a buffer chamber 112 to a vacuum swing module 110, i.e. a substrate repositioning chamber. In the vacuum swing module, the substrate is moved from the processing orientation, i.e. an essentially vertical orientation, to a substrate orientation corresponding to the interface with the factory, for example, a horizontal orientation.

[0035] Another embodiment, as shown exemplarily in FIG. 1, a second vacuum swing module 110, i.e. a second substrate repositioning chamber, can be provided at a side of the vacuum processing system 100 opposing the other vacuum swing module 110. This can be the right hand side in FIG. 1. Further, a second buffer chamber 112 between a cluster chamber and the vacuum swing module can be provided. Accordingly, an exemplary substrate can be routed from one end of the in-line arrangement of cluster chambers to an opposing end of the in-line arrangement of cluster chambers. For example, the substrate can be loaded into the vacuum swing module 110 on the left hand side and can be routed within the system essentially from one end, i.e. the left-hand side in FIG. 1, to the opposing end, i.e. the right hand side in FIG. 1. The substrate may be unloaded out of the vacuum processing system through vacuum swing module 110, i.e. the vacuum swing module at the opposing end. According to some embodiments, the substrate traffic may switch between one row of processing chambers to the other row of processing chambers when transported from one processing chamber to the subsequent processing chamber.

[0036] For exemplary embodiments as described herein, a substrate may be loaded and unloaded in a non-vertical orientation, for example, a horizontal orientation and may be processed in a non-horizontal orientation, for example, an essentially vertical orientation. An“essentially vertical orientation” as used herein may be understood as an orientation with a deviation of 15° or less, 10° or less, particularly 5° or less from a vertical orientation, i.e. from the gravity vector. For example, an angle between a main surface of a substrate (or mask device) and the gravity vector may be between +10° and -10°, particularly between 0° and -5°. In some embodiments, the orientation of the substrate (or mask device) may not be exactly vertical during transport and/or during deposition, but slightly inclined with respect to the vertical axis, e.g. by an inclination angle between 0° and -5°, particularly between -1° and -5°. A negative angle refers to an orientation of the substrate (or mask device) wherein the substrate (or mask device) is inclined downward. A deviation of the substrate orientation from the gravity vector during deposition may be beneficial and might result in a more stable deposition process, or a facing down orientation might be suitable for reducing particles on the substrate during deposition. However, also an exactly vertical orientation during transport and/or during deposition is possible.

[0037] For increasing substrate sizes of large area substrates, wherein substrate sizes may typically increase in generations (GEN), a vertical orientation is beneficial as compared to a horizontal orientation due to the reduced footprint of a vacuum processing system. An essentially vertical orientation of a deposition process on a large area substrate with a fine metal mask (FFM) is further unexpected in the sense that gravity acts along the surface of the fine metal mask in a vertical orientation. A pixel positioning and alignment in the micron range is more complicated for a vertical orientation as compared to a horizontal orientation. Accordingly, concepts developed for horizontal vacuum deposition systems may not be transferable to vertical vacuum deposition systems for large area systems, particularly vacuum deposition systems utilizing a FFM.

[0038] The embodiments described herein can be utilized for inspecting large area coated substrates, e.g., for manufactured displays. The substrates or substrate receiving areas for which the apparatuses and methods described herein are configured can be large area substrates having a size of e.g. 1 m ² or above. For example, a large area substrate or carrier can be GEN 4.5, which corresponds to about 0.67 m ² substrates (0.73 m x 0.92 m), GEN 5, which corresponds to about 1.4 m ² substrates (1.1 m x 1.3 m), GEN 7.5, which corresponds to about 4.29 m ² substrates (1.95 m x 2.2 m), GEN 8.5, which corresponds to about 5.7m ² substrates (2.2 m x 2.5 m), or even GEN 10, which corresponds to about 8.7 m ² substrates (2.85 m x 3.05 m). Even larger generations such as GEN 11 and GEN 12 and corresponding substrate areas can similarly be implemented. For example, for OLED display manufacturing, half sizes of the above mentioned substrate generations, including GEN 6, can be coated by evaporation by an apparatus for evaporating material. The half sizes of the substrate generation may result from some processes running on a full substrate size, and subsequent processes running on half of a substrate previously processed.

[0039] A vacuum processing system 100 may further include one or more mask exchange modules 160. The mask exchange module can be configured to exchange masks, particularly FFM, for which frequent cleaning is beneficial. Additionally or alternatively, a vacuum processing system may include a substrate carrier buffer 150 providing a magazine for substrate carriers.

[0040] As described above, a plurality of substrates are routed within a vacuum processing system. For high throughput and, thus, reduced cost of ownership of the vacuum processing system, inter alia maintenance and also the time for evacuating the vacuum chambers after maintenance is a consideration. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a plurality of high vacuum pumps 170 can be provided. For example, a high vacuum pump 170 can be provided per vacuum area. According to embodiments described herein, a vacuum area can be a vacuum chamber, a combination of vacuum chambers, or a portion of the vacuum chamber. For example, a combination of vacuum chambers may be a vacuum area including the vacuum rotation module 130 and the transfer chamber 182. As another example, a vacuum area may include a processing chamber 120 and an adjacent vacuum chamber, such as a vacuum rotation module 130. A vacuum area may be provided by other combinations of vacuum chambers, typically adjacent vacuum chambers that may be evacuated together.

[0041] As described above, and as exemplarily shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of vacuum areas are included in a vacuum processing system 100. For example, 20 or more vacuum areas or even 50 or more vacuum areas can be provided in a vacuum processing system 100.

[0042] Even though vacuum systems described herein are described for a vacuum processing system, which is exemplarily a display manufacturing for OLED displays, the vacuum systems according to embodiments of the present disclosure may equally be provided for other vacuum processing systems, such as other display manufacturing systems processing large area substrates. Embodiments may be particularly beneficial for a vacuum processing system including a plurality of vacuum areas.

[0043] For a vacuum processing system, e.g. each vacuum area may be equipped with a high vacuum pump, for example, a high vacuum pump as shown in FIG. 1. Commonly, a pumps stack is provided for each vacuum area. A pump stack may be a two stage pump stack and may include a dry pump and a roots blower. Accordingly, having, for example, 50 vacuum areas, 50 dry pumps and 50 roots blowers would be provided for a decentralized, local vacuum processing system.

[0044] According to some embodiments, and as exemplarily shown in FIG. 1, a vacuum system may include high vacuum pumps 170. Further, a vacuum system may include a volume pumping vacuum system 200. The vacuum system 200 configured for volume pumping includes a first vacuum manifold 202 and a second vacuum manifold 204. The first vacuum manifold and the second vacuum manifold extend along the plurality of vacuum areas in the vacuum processing system. The first vacuum manifold is in fluid communication with the plurality of vacuum areas of the vacuum processing system via first vacuum area pipes 207. The second vacuum manifold is in fluid communication with the plurality of vacuum areas of the vacuum processing system via second vacuum area pipes 206. The first vacuum manifold 202 and the second vacuum manifold 204 each provide a common vacuum pipe for the plurality of vacuum areas and are configured for “manifold” pumping or fore vacuum pumping.

[0045] According to some embodiments, and as exemplarily shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum system 200 includes two pump set groups or two pump stack assemblies. For example, a first pump stack assembly 210 is provided and a second pump stack assembly 220 is provided. The first pump stack assembly includes one or more first pump stacks connected to the first pipe 202 with a first connection pipe 211 via a first connection valve 212. The second pump stack assembly includes one or more second pump stacks connected to the second pipe 204 with a second connection pipe 221 via a second connection valve 222. Accordingly, the plurality of vacuum areas can be evacuated by the first pump stack assembly 210 with the first vacuum manifold 202, i.e. with a first manifold pumping concept. Further, the plurality of vacuum areas can be evacuated by the second pump stack assembly 220 with the second vacuum manifold 204, i.e. with the second manifold pumping concept. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a switching valve 208 is provided between the first connection pipe 211 and the second connection pipe 221. The switching valve 208 is configured to switch the first pump stack assembly to the second vacuum manifold 204 and/or to switch the second pump stack assembly to the first vacuum manifold 202. As described in more detail with respect to FIG. 2A, a vacuum system for volume pumping can be provided having a plurality of advantages including, but not limited to, reduced hardware costs, faster volume pumping, flexible volume pumping, and reduced power consumption, which is beneficial also from an environmental point of view.

[0046] FIG. 2A illustrates some embodiments of a vacuum system for volume pumping of the present disclosure. A plurality of vacuum areas 181 is shown. FIG. 2A shows area 1 to area n. The number n of vacuum areas may be 10 or above, such as 30 or above or even 50 or above. A high vacuum pump can be provided for each of the vacuum areas (not shown in FIG. 2A). A first pump stack assembly includes pump stacks 215 and a second pump stack assembly 220 includes pump stacks 225. A first plurality of vacuum area valves 232 connects the first vacuum manifold to the plurality of vacuum areas 181, each valve of the first plurality of vacuum area valves corresponding to a vacuum area of the plurality of vacuum areas. For example, the first vacuum manifold can be connected via first vacuum area pipes 207. A second plurality of vacuum area valves 234 connects the second vacuum manifold to the plurality of vacuum areas, each valve of the second plurality of vacuum area valves corresponding to the vacuum area of the plurality of vacuum areas. For example, the second vacuum manifold can be connected via second vacuum area pipes.

[0047] Each of the pump stacks of the first pump stack assembly is connected with a valve 216 to the first connection pipe 211. Each of the pump stacks of the second pump stack assembly is connected via a valve 226 to the second connection pipe 221. The first pump stack assembly is connected via a first connection valve 212 to a first vacuum manifold 202. The second pump stack assembly 220 is connected via a second connection valve 222 to a second vacuum manifold 204. Accordingly, two separate manifold vacuum systems configured to evacuate one or more of the vacuum areas 181, and particularly to evacuate all of the vacuum areas 181, are provided. The first vacuum manifold 202 is connected to each of the plurality of vacuum areas via a first plurality of valves and the second vacuum manifold 204 is connected to each of the plurality of vacuum areas via a second plurality of valves. The switching valve 208 is provided between the first connection pipe 211 and the second connection pipe 221. The switching valve has the advantage to individually connect pumping power of the first pump stack assembly and the second pump stack assembly.

[0048] As exemplarily shown in FIG. 2A, the first pump stack assembly may include five first pump stacks 215 and the second pump stack assembly may include five pump stacks 225. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a pump stack assembly may include one or more pump stacks. Particularly, a pump stack may include three or more pump stacks. As compared to the vacuum system for volume pumping, for which each vacuum area includes an individual pump stack, the number of pump stacks can be reduced. The two pump stack assemblies can be centralized, for example at the center of the first vacuum manifold and the second vacuum manifold. Alternatively, the two pump stacks can be centralized, i.e. common to the vacuum areas, and one pump stack assembly may be provided closer to a first end of the first vacuum manifold and the second vacuum manifold and the other pump stack assembly may be provided closer to the opposing end of the first vacuum manifold and the second vacuum manifold.

[0049] For example, the first vacuum manifold and the second vacuum manifold may have a length of 20 m or above, such as 50 m or above, or even 100 m or above. According to one embodiment, as exemplarily shown in FIG. 2A, both pump stack assemblies may be provided at the center or close to the center, e.g. at around 50 m of a 100 m vacuum manifold. Alternatively, a first pump stack assembly may be provided at around 30 m or 25 m from one end of the 100 m vacuum manifold, and a second pump stack assembly may be provided at around 70 m or 75 m from the one end of the 100 m vacuum manifold. Similar ratios may be provided for vacuum manifold having different lengths.

[0050] FIG. 2B illustrates yet further embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein. Particularly for embodiments, wherein the first pump stack assembly 210, i.e. a first centralized pump stack assembly, and the second pump stack assembly 220, i.e. a second centralized pump stack assembly, are locally separated from each other, further embodiments that may be combined with other embodiments described herein can be provided. FIG. 2B shows the first vacuum manifold 202 and the second vacuum manifold 204. As already described with respect to FIG. 2A, the first pump stack assembly 210 is connected via the first connection valve 212 to the first vacuum manifold 202 and the second pump stack assembly 220 is connected to the second vacuum manifold 204 via the second connection valve 222. For example, in a situation illustrated in FIG. 2B, wherein the first pump stack assembly and the second pump stack assembly are distant from each other, the first pump stack assembly 210 can be connected to the second vacuum manifold 204 with the third connection valve 212b. Further, the second pump stack assembly 220 can be connected to the first vacuum manifold 202 with a fourth connection valve 222b. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the third connection valve can be provided in a third connection line and the fourth connection valve can be provided in the fourth connection line. Accordingly, a switching valve 208 as shown in FIG. 2A can be replaced by two further connection valves connecting the respective pump stack assembly to a vacuum manifold. According to yet further embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the concept of such an embodiments may also be provided if the first pump stack assembly and the second pump stack assembly are located adjacent to each other.

[0051] In light of the reduced number of pump stacks, it is beneficial if the pump stacks include three or more stages. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, ten 3-stage pump stacks can be provided. This example may be suitable for a substrate processing system with 60 or more vacuum areas. For smaller processing systems, the concept can be downscaled. The first stage may include one dry pump, a second stage may be a middle roots blower, and the third stage may be a top roots blower. The middle roots blower may be smaller than the top roots blower, i.e. the volume pumped per hour may be smaller for the middle roots blower as compared to the top roots blower. According to some embodiments, a ratio of nominal pumping speed will be 1 :2 to 1 :8. The roots blower stages may also be referred to as booster stages.

[0052] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a roots blower or roots pump of a multi-stage pump stack may also be referred to as a double rotor gas displacement pump. In a roots blower, two synchronously counter-rotating rotors may rotate contactlessly in a housing. The rotors may have a figure-eight configuration and are separated from one another and from the stator by a narrow gap.

[0053] According to some further additional or alternative embodiments, a dry pump may be of a screw type, a multi-roots type, or claw pump type. Particularly, the dry pump may be a screw type pump.

[0054] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a high vacuum pump may be, for example, a cryopump. A cryopump or a "cryogenic pump" is a vacuum pump that traps gases and vapors by condensing them on a cold surface and/or charcoal. [0055] According to yet further embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a fore vacuum can be provide with a fore pump, e.g. a roots blower, such as a pre-admittance cooled roots blowers. A high vacuum may additionally be provided with a turbo molecular pump, or a polycold, i.e. actively cooled cold surfaces. [0056] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a first vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas and a second vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas are provided. A double-manifold pumping concept is provided, e.g. for volume pumping of the plurality of vacuum areas. Further, a switching valve 208 is provided. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the switching valve connects the first pump stack assembly 210 with the second connection pipe 221 and connects the second pump stack assembly 220 with the first connection pipe 211. Particularly, the first pump stack assembly 210 is connected to the second connection pipe 221 between the second pump stack assembly 220 and the second connection valve 222. The second pump stack assembly 220 is connected to the first connection pipe 211 between the first pump stack assembly 210 and the first connection valve 212. Accordingly, a variety of methods of evacuating and/or volume pumping of a plurality of vacuum areas can be provided, and may particularly be flexibly provided.

[0057] According to one embodiment, all or essentially all vacuum areas 181 can be pumped with all pump stacks, for example, 10 pump stacks in FIG. 2A. According to another embodiment, a first group of vacuum areas can be pumped with one or more first pump stacks, for example, one to five pump stacks 215 in FIG. 2A. Further, a second group of vacuum areas can be pumped with one or more second pump stacks, for example, one to five pump stacks 225 in FIG. 2A. Particularly, the first group of vacuum areas and the second group of vacuum areas can be pumped at the same time.

[0058] Considering that volume pumping of different vacuum areas with a common vacuum manifold extending along the vacuum areas is provided at the same pressure of the different vacuum areas, the dual manifold concept allows for increased flexibility. For example, the first vacuum manifold 202 can pump one or more vacuum areas at the first pressure and the second vacuum manifold 204 can pump one or more different vacuum areas at the second pressure, wherein the second pressure is different from the first pressure. This can provide the advantage that volume pumping can be started for vacuum areas, for which maintenance has been completed, while maintenance continues in other vacuum areas such that the pump down time can be reduced. [0059] Yet further, additionally or alternatively, the first vacuum manifold and the second vacuum manifold may act at different pressure ranges. For example, the first vacuum manifold 202 may pump vacuum areas from atmosphere (ATM) to 20 mbar and the second vacuum manifold 204 may pump vacuum areas from 20 mbar to a crossover pressure, at which high vacuum pumps result in further evacuation of the vacuum areas, for example, about 5E-2 mbar.

[0060] According to yet further embodiments, one or pump stacks of the first pump stack assembly or the second pump stack assembly can be additionally used for faster evacuation of one or vacuum areas. Further, one or more pump stack of the first pump stack assembly or the second pump stump assembly can be disconnected from the vacuum area and may be utilized for evacuating of one or further vacuum areas.

[0061] According to yet further embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, two or more pump stacks, for example, five or more pump stacks, or even all pump stacks (10 pump stacks in FIG. 2A) can be utilized to evacuate a single vacuum area or a small number of vacuum areas, for example two or three vacuum areas. If maintenance or repair is conducted in a single vacuum area or a small number of vacuum areas, an increased volume pump rate can be provided by combining a plurality of pump stacks. In the example shown in FIG. 2A, more than five pump stacks can be utilized by operation of the switching valve 208. Accordingly, a single vacuum area or a small number of vacuum areas can be pumped to a crossover pressure much faster to reduce the downtime of the substrate processing system.

[0062] According to yet further embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a failure of a pump stack can be compensated by other pump stacks. A defective pump stack can be separated and shut off for maintenance with minimum influence on the performance of the total pumping system.

[0063] According to yet further embodiments, during high vacuum operation, e.g. while the vacuum areas are evacuated by high vacuum pumps, one or more of the pump stacks can be stopped or operated in a standby mode. Energy consumption can be reduced. For example, the pump stacks of a first pump stack assembly can be stopped or operated in a standby mode and most of the pump stacks of a second pump stack assembly, e.g. all pump stacks of the second pump stack assembly except for one or two pump stacks, can be stopped or operated in a standby mode. The remaining operating pump stacks may serve as a backup in the event pumping is desired. Accordingly, the number of operating pump stacks can be reduced to reduce energy consumption of the substrate processing system.

[0064] As described above, the first pump stack assembly and the second pump stack assembly may be provided adjacent to a center of the vacuum manifold extending along the vacuum areas. Shorter piping length may be realized by having a first pump stack assembly closer to the first end of the vacuum manifold and a second pump stack assembly closer to a second end of the vacuum manifold, wherein the second end is opposite the first end. According to yet further embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a third vacuum manifold extending along the vacuum areas and optionally even a fourth vacuum manifold extending along the vacuum areas may be provided. For example, in addition to the double manifold pumping concept shown in FIG. 2A, a quad manifold pumping concept may be provided.

[0065] According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a vacuum manifold as described herein can have a diameter being at least as twice as large as a diameter of other vacuum pipes. For example, a manifold diameter for vacuum pumping can be 300 mm or above. A manifold diameter for regeneration can be 100 mm or above.

[0066] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart illustrating one or more methods of evacuating a vacuum processing system. As for example shown by operation 502, a first group of vacuum areas of a plurality of vacuum areas is pumped through a first vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas. Simultaneously or subsequently, a second group of vacuum areas of the plurality of vacuum areas is pumped through a second vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas, as indicated by operation 504. As a yet further optional modification, the first group of vacuum areas can be pumped at a first pressure and the second group of vacuum areas can be pumped at a second pressure. Yet further, additionally or alternatively, according to some embodiments, the switching valve may be operated as indicated by operation 506 to combine one or more first pump stacks of a first pump stack assembly and one or more second pump stacks of a second pump stack assembly. The combined pump stacks may evacuate one or more vacuum areas through the first vacuum manifold and/or through the second vacuum manifold. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, more than 50% of the pump stacks in the first pump stack assembly and the second pump stack assembly can be switched off during an operational mode, at which the plurality of vacuum areas are evacuated by a high vacuum pump. This is indicated by operation 508.

[0067] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a vacuum system for volume pumping a plurality of vacuum areas is provided. The vacuum system includes a first vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas; a second vacuum manifold extending along the plurality of vacuum areas; a first plurality of valves connecting the first vacuum manifold to the plurality of vacuum areas, each valve of the first plurality of valves corresponding to a vacuum area of the plurality of vacuum areas; a second plurality of valves connecting the second vacuum manifold to the plurality of vacuum areas, each valve of the second plurality of valves corresponding to the vacuum area of the plurality of vacuum areas; a first pump stack assembly including one or more first pump stacks connected to the first vacuum manifold with a first connection pipe via a first connection valve; a second pump stack assembly including one or more second pump stacks connected to the second vacuum manifold with the second connection pipe via a second connection valve; and the switching valve connecting the first pump stack assembly with the second connection pipe and the second pump stack assembly with the first connection pipe.

[0068] According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, regeneration and/or evacuation of a plurality of high vacuum pumps corresponding to the plurality of vacuum areas may be provided by one or more pump stacks of the vacuum system for high volume pumping. Additionally or alternatively, as described with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4, an additional double-manifold pumping system for regeneration and/or evacuation of the plurality of high vacuum pumps can be provided. Some embodiments relating to methods and apparatuses of the present disclosure refer to regeneration of high vacuum pumps. Such embodiments may similarly refer to evacuation of high vacuum pumps, such that high vacuum pumps can be regenerated and/or evacuated according to embodiments described herein. It is to be understood that the features, details, aspects, modifications and embodiments referring to regenerating or regeneration additionally also refer to evacuation of high vacuum pumps. For example, in addition to regeneration of a cryo pump, the cryo pump is also evacuated before activation of the cooling of the cryo pump.

[0069] As described above, the vacuum system for high volume pumping may further include a first plurality of regeneration connection pipes connecting the first vacuum manifold to a plurality of high vacuum pumps corresponding to the plurality of vacuum areas; a first plurality of regeneration valves configured to switch on or switch off regeneration of the plurality of high vacuum pumps; a second plurality of regeneration connection pipes connecting the second vacuum manifold to the plurality of high vacuum pumps corresponding to the plurality of vacuum areas; and a second plurality of regeneration valves configured to switch on or switch off regeneration of the plurality of high vacuum pumps. For example, as schematically shown in FIG. 1, the first vacuum manifold 202 and the second vacuum manifold 204 can be connected to the high vacuum pumps 170 via the first plurality of regeneration connection pipes and the second plurality of regeneration connection pipes. The regeneration valves can be utilized to switch on or switch off the regeneration pumping. During operation at which the high vacuum pumps are evacuated with the high vacuum pumps, a few pump stacks, for example one, two, or three pump stacks of the first pump stack assembly or the second pump stack assembly may be operated for regeneration of the high vacuum pumps, for example, cryo pumps.

[0070] According to one embodiment, and as exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 3, a vacuum system for regeneration of a plurality of high vacuum pumps corresponding to a plurality of vacuum areas can be provided. For example, the vacuum system for regeneration can be independent from the vacuum system for high volume pumping. The vacuum system for regeneration includes a first regeneration manifold 302 extending along the plurality of vacuum areas and a second regeneration manifold 304 extending along the plurality of vacuum areas. A first plurality of regeneration valves 332 connects the first regeneration manifold to the plurality of high vacuum pumps 170, each valve of the first plurality of regeneration valves corresponding to a high vacuum pump of the plurality of high vacuum pumps. For example, the first regeneration manifold can be connected via first vacuum pump pipes 307. A second plurality of regeneration valves 334 connects the second regeneration manifold to the plurality of high vacuum pumps, each valve of the second plurality of regeneration valves corresponding to the high vacuum pump of the plurality of high vacuum pumps. For example, the second regeneration manifold can be connected via second vacuum pump pipes 306. Further, a first regeneration pump stack assembly 310 connected to the first regeneration manifold 302 with a first regeneration connecting valve 312 is provided and a second regeneration pump stack assembly 320 connected to the second regeneration manifold via a second regeneration connection valve 323 is provided. A regeneration switching valve 308 connects the first regeneration pump stack assembly to the second regeneration pump stack assembly.

[0071] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, features, details, aspects, and modifications that are described with respect to the vacuum system for volume pumping, for example, with respect to FIG. 2A, may be correspondingly provided to the vacuum system for regeneration of high vacuum pumps as shown in FIG. 3.

[0072] According to yet further embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a vacuum system for volume pumping as exemplarily shown in FIG. 2A and a vacuum system for regeneration of a plurality of high vacuum pumps as exemplarily shown in FIG. 3 can be combined with each other. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment having a first vacuum manifold 202 extending along the plurality of vacuum areas and a second vacuum manifold 204 extending along the plurality of vacuum areas. Further, a first regeneration manifold 302 extending along the plurality of vacuum areas, i.e. along the plurality of high vacuum pumps, and a second regeneration manifold 304 extending along the plurality of vacuum areas, i.e. along the plurality of high vacuum pumps can be provided. The first pump stack assembly 210 and a second pump stack assembly 220 are provided. Further, the first regeneration pump stack assembly 310 and a second regeneration pump stack assembly 320 are provided. Flexible switching between areas and between operation modes can be enabled by the switching valve 208 and/or the regeneration switching valve 308.

[0073] As described above, a vacuum system for regeneration can be provided by an additional double-manifold pumping system for regeneration of high vacuum pumps, for example, cryo pumps. For example, two mid-sized pump stacks can be provided for regeneration of high vacuum pumps, i.e. after volume pumping up to a crossover pressure. The two mid-size pump stacks can each be a two-stage pump stack including a dry pump as a first stage and a roots lower as a second stage and. In light of the above, most or all of the high vacuum pumps, for example, cryo pumps, can be pumped, e.g. regenerated by one or two pump stacks. Yet further, additionally or alternatively two groups of cryo pumps can be pumped independently with a first pump stack at the first manifold, i.e. the first regeneration manifold 302, and with the second pump stack at the second manifold, i.e. the second regeneration manifold 304. For example, the first regeneration manifold 302 and the second regeneration manifold 304 can be operated at different pressures or in different pressure ranges. For example, one of the two manifolds may be used for regeneration of the high vacuum pumps and one of the manifolds may be used for evacuating the high vacuum pumps, particularly before cooling of the high vacuum pumps for high vacuum generation.

[0074] In the case of a pump failure of a regeneration pump stack, each pump stack may be separated and shut off for maintenance with an acceptable influence on the performance of the total system.

[0075] Embodiments of the present disclosure enable significant costs savings with respect to the number of vacuum pumps for a vacuum processing system. Further, due to the flexibility, the pump performance can be improved, for example, may be increased by a factor of five or more. The above-described flexibility also increases reliability. As pump stacks can be variably utilized, the pumping system is close to or at 100% uptime (“never die” concept) and maintenance in the pumping system can be provided during operation of the pumping system. The maintenance is also improved by the reduced number of vacuum pumps, and the above-described standby options reduce energy costs. A dynamic increase or decrease of the total pumping speed can be provided and/or the footprint of the pumping system is reduced due to the reduced number of pumps. A centralized localization of pump stack assemblies further improves installation and maintenance. For example, the one or more pumping systems can be independent from the vacuum volume area division. The one or more pumping systems can be provided in a separate zone in the fabrication hall. The number of pumps per vacuum zone can be varied. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a helium leak check can be provided centrally. This may increase the efficiency, wherein a helium leak check is switchable to the vacuum areas as desired. Connecting a helium leak check detector, e.g. in the fore vacuum manifold system or the regeneration vacuum system, for example, at one or both of the respective two manifolds, allows for a switchable leak check with optimized response time and sensitivity. According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, a centralized leak check can be provided. [0076] According to some embodiments, which can be combined with other embodiments described herein, the volume pumping system with a first pump stack assembly and the second pump stack assembly may be combined with individual pump stacks for load lock chambers, i.e. chambers through which the substrates are loaded into the system or loaded out of the system. For the load lock chambers, the short piping length may be an advantage over the flexibility of the centralized manifold vacuum systems. Yet, manifold pumping systems and local pump stacks for load lock chambers may be combined as understood by a person skilled in the art.

[0077] While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the disclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow.