Substrate preparation chamber with substrate position adjustment function

Abstract

As the size standards of display panels become larger, the space available for manufacturing equipment becomes limited, and methods for optimizing the footprint of manufacturing equipment are required. [Solution] Described herein is a substrate preparation chamber comprising a housing, a rotatable substrate support disposed within the housing, and an atmospheric displacement system coupled to the housing. The substrate preparation chamber may be used in an inkjet printing system, where the substrate preparation chamber is coupled to a printing housing, and a door is operable to place the substrate preparation chamber housing in fluid communication with the printing housing.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 260,111, filed August 10, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The embodiments described herein relate to substrate handling for industrial inkjet printers. In particular, described herein are apparatus and methods for redirecting a substrate to be processed and transporting multiple substrates simultaneously for individual processing in an inkjet printing system. [Background technology]

[0003] Industrial inkjet printers are used to apply materials to large substrates to form various devices. The substrates can be hard or soft, thick or thin, and made of a variety of materials. The most typical types of substrates used in this way include substrates made of various types of glass, which are processed to produce electronic displays such as televisions and displays for smartphones.

[0004] Such displays are typically formed by mapping many devices onto a large sheet of glass. Creating multiple devices in a single process allows economies of scale, lowering the unit cost of each individual device. There is a continuing need for large-scale process formats for display manufacturing, as well as process formats that can be adapted to manufacture other electronic devices using other substrates.

[0005] As display panel dimensions become larger, space for manufacturing equipment becomes limited, and manufacturers are looking for ways to optimize the footprint of such equipment. Improving flexibility in substrate handling can be beneficial. Summary of the Invention

[0006] According to embodiments described herein, a substrate preparation chamber is provided that includes a housing, a rotatable substrate support disposed within the housing, and an atmospheric displacement system coupled to the housing.

[0007] According to other embodiments described herein, there is provided an inkjet printing system including an inkjet printer disposed within a printing housing; a substrate preparation chamber coupled to the printing housing, the substrate preparation chamber including a preparation housing having two or more doors, a rotatable substrate support disposed within the preparation housing, and an atmospheric displacement system coupled to the preparation housing, at least one of the two or more doors operable to fluidly connect the preparation housing to the printing housing.

[0008] According to other embodiments described herein, there is provided a method of processing a substrate, the method including: placing the substrate on a rotatable substrate support in a substrate preparation chamber; replacing an atmosphere in the substrate preparation chamber with an inert atmosphere; rotating and orienting the substrate in the substrate preparation chamber for discharge; and transporting the substrate to a printing system using a substrate handler. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a printing system according to an embodiment.

[0010] [Figure 2A] 1 is an operational diagram illustrating the operation of a substrate preparation chamber having substrate rotation and horizontal movement capabilities according to one embodiment. [Figure 2B] 1 is an operational diagram illustrating the operation of a substrate preparation chamber having substrate rotation and horizontal movement capabilities according to one embodiment. [Figure 2C] 1 is an operational diagram illustrating the operation of a substrate preparation chamber having substrate rotation and horizontal movement capabilities according to one embodiment. [Figure 2D] 1 is an operational diagram illustrating the operation of a substrate preparation chamber having substrate rotation and horizontal movement capabilities according to one embodiment.

[0011] [Figure 2E] FIG. 2E is a plan view of a substrate support of the substrate preparation chamber of FIGS. 2A-2D, according to one embodiment.

[0012] [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic elevation view of a substrate preparation chamber according to one embodiment.

[0013] [Figure 4] 1 is a flow chart outlining a method according to one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Described herein is a load lock chamber having substrate positioning capabilities, including rotation and optionally horizontal translation capabilities, as well as an inkjet printing system using the load lock chamber and methods that may be implemented by such a system.

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an inkjet printing system 100 according to one embodiment. The inkjet printing system 100 includes at least one inkjet printer 102. In this example, two inkjet printers 102A, 102B. The inkjet printing system 100 further includes at least one processing chamber 104. In this example, two processing chambers 104A, 104B. The inkjet printer 102 deposits a material on a substrate. The processing chamber 104 subjects the deposited material to a process. In this example, the processing chambers 104A, 104B are UV chambers for irradiating the deposited material, but one or more of the processing chambers may be thermal, cooling, or other processing chambers. The processing chambers 104 may be different from each other. For example, the processing chamber 104A may be a UV processing chamber and the processing chamber 104B may be a thermal processing chamber. The substrate handling chamber 106 is coupled to the inkjet printer 102 and the processing chambers 104, in this example, two inkjet printers 102A, 102B and two processing chambers 104A, 104B. The substrate handling chamber 106 has a substrate handler for moving substrates between the processing chambers 104A, 104B and the printers 102A, 102B. The substrate handler is movably mounted on a track by a rotatable support within the substrate handling chamber 106 for linear movement. The rotatable support can rotate the substrate handler so that it is oriented to enter either of the chambers 102A, 102B, 104A, 104B.

[0016] The substrate preparation chamber 108 is coupled to the substrate handling chamber 106. The substrate preparation chamber 108 is capable of rotating the substrate so that the substrate is in a desired orientation (e.g., portrait or landscape). The rotation is performed within the substrate preparation chamber 108. The substrate preparation chamber 108 is also optionally capable of translating the substrate within the substrate preparation chamber 108 so that the substrate is in position for pick-up by one or more substrate handlers. Although not shown in the plan view of this example, two substrate preparation chambers 108 are stacked to allow for loading and unloading operations to and from the printing system 100. The rotatable substrate support that couples the substrate handler to the track within the substrate handling chamber 106 can have z-direction movement, such as a telescopic stand. This allows access to the two substrate preparation chambers 108 stacked together to load and unload the substrate. Typically, the substrate preparation chamber 108 (or both substrate preparation chambers 108) are coupled to a substrate transport chamber 110. The substrate transfer chamber 110 transfers the substrate to the substrate preparation chamber 108 (i.e., one of the substrate preparation chambers 108) and removes the substrate from one or more of the substrate preparation chambers 108. The substrate preparation chamber 108 has the ability to rotate the substrate therein, allowing the substrate transfer chamber 110 to manipulate the substrate in a different orientation than the printing system 100, if necessary. The substrate preparation chamber 108 (or the chambers 108, if there are multiple chambers 108) is coupled with atmosphere displacement hardware. The atmosphere displacement hardware (not shown) generally includes one or more vacuum pumps that remove a first atmosphere from the interior of the chamber 108 and a source of a second atmosphere that provides a second atmosphere to the chamber 108. In one example, the substrate is prepared for processing in the printing system 100 by removing the air atmosphere and replacing it with an inert atmosphere, or other non-reactive atmosphere. In another example, an atmosphere containing chemicals resulting from the substrate processing step in the printing system 100 is removed and replaced with a clean atmosphere. This avoids the inflow of process gases into the substrate transfer chamber 110 .

[0017] In an alternative example, rather than locating two stacked substrate preparation chambers 108 at one location in the system 100 for both loading and unloading substrates, one substrate preparation chamber 108 can be located at an input location of the system 100 (as shown in the schematic plan view of FIG. 1 ) and the other substrate preparation chamber 108 can be located at an output location of the system 100 (e.g., at an end of the substrate handling chamber 106 in FIG. 1 opposite the end to which the one substrate preparation chamber 108 is coupled). Such a configuration can be useful for improving throughput of the processing system. In another example, the above configuration can be used to directly transfer paired substrates from a first processing system to a second processing system with a substrate handler. The substrate handler is configured to remove the paired substrates from the substrate preparation chamber (e.g., chamber 108).

[0018] As described above, the substrate preparation chamber 108 has the function of rotating the substrate in order to feed the substrate to the printing system 100 in a desired orientation. In one example, the substrate transport chamber 110 has a substrate handler capable of transporting two or more substrates at a time in a horizontal orientation. Meanwhile, the substrate handling chamber 106 has a substrate handler capable of removing only one substrate at a time in a vertical orientation. FIG. 2A is an operational diagram showing the loading of a substrate into the substrate preparation chamber 108. In this figure, the substrate preparation chamber 108 is in a substrate receiving arrangement 202. In the substrate receiving arrangement 202, a substrate support 210 is arranged to receive one or more substrates (two substrates in this example) side-by-side on the substrate support 210. The substrate support 210 has two substrate areas on which two substrates 211 can be placed at the same time in a vertical orientation. The first door 212 of the substrate preparation chamber 108 is open to allow the substrate to pass through. Since the substrate is transported horizontally in this example, the size of the first door 212 is set to allow the substrate to pass horizontally. In the figure, the substrate handler 213 is positioned to transport two side-by-side oriented substrates to the substrate preparation chamber 108 in the substrate receiving arrangement 202. The substrate support 210 is configured with edge contact members that support the substrates along their edges while allowing movement of the substrate handler 213 in the z direction.

[0019] FIG. 2B is an operational diagram showing the substrate 211 after loading into the substrate preparation chamber 108. The substrate support 210 is attached to a rotational support (not shown) that rotates the substrate support 210. In this figure, the substrate 211 is in a rotational configuration 204, in which the substrate support 210 has been rotated 90 degrees, as indicated by rotational arrow 2. The substrate preparation chamber 108 is shaped to allow the substrate to rotate and translate freely therein. To safely operate the substrate positioning function of the substrate preparation chamber 108, the first door 212 is closed. In this operation, the substrate is vertically oriented for removal from the second door 214. The second door 214 is closed in the rotational configuration 204.

[0020] FIG. 2C is an operational diagram showing the substrate preparation chamber 108 in preparation for removal of a substrate 211 for processing.

[0021] In this view, the substrate support 210 is in a first translational configuration 206. In the first translational configuration 206, the substrate support 210 has moved, as indicated by left-right arrow 217, to a first side 216 of the substrate preparation chamber 108, where one of the substrates mounted on the substrate support 210 is accessible. To allow access to the substrate, a second door 214 is open. The second door 214 is narrower than the first door 212 because the first door 212 allows substrates to pass laterally, and then the second door 214 allows accessible substrates to pass vertically.

[0022] FIG. 2D is an operational diagram showing the substrate preparation chamber 108 during removal of a substrate to be processed. In this figure, the substrate support 210 is in the second translational configuration 208. A first substrate supported by the substrate handler 215 is shown in dashed lines. The substrate handler 215 is configured to manipulate the substrate in a vertical orientation. The substrate handler 215 was removing the first substrate when the substrate support 210 was in the first translational configuration 206 shown in FIG. 2C. The substrate handler 215 may be located in the substrate handling chamber 106 of FIG. 1. When the substrate handler 215 is housed in the substrate handling chamber 106, the substrate handler 215 translates along a track within the substrate handling chamber 106 until it reaches a position where it can access the substrate preparation chamber 108. The substrate handler 215 further rotates to the orientation shown in this example and enters the substrate preparation chamber 108.

[0023] In the illustrated second translation configuration 208, the substrate support 210 has been moved, as indicated by left and right arrow 217, to a second side 218 of the substrate preparation chamber 108, allowing access to a second substrate placed on the substrate support 210. In both the first and second translation configurations, the substrate handler 215 is in a position to access the interior of the substrate preparation chamber 108 to remove a substrate. The horizontal movement of the substrate support 210 allows the substrate handler 215 to access one or the other substrate placed on the substrate support 210.

[0024] The rotation and, optionally, translation capabilities of the substrate preparation chamber 108 can be used to properly orient the substrate for loading and unloading. At the same time, the atmosphere in the substrate preparation chamber can be adjusted without affecting another atmosphere in an adjacent chamber coupled to the substrate preparation chamber. While the substrate is moved, rotated, or translated in the substrate preparation chamber, a vacuum pump can be used to remove the first atmosphere, and a source of a second atmosphere can be used to replace the first atmosphere with a second atmosphere. In some cases, the movement, use of the vacuum pump, and supply of the second atmosphere are performed simultaneously.

[0025] FIG. 2E is a plan view of the substrate support 210 of FIGS. 2A to 2D. The substrate support 210 has a central portion 252 and a plurality of arms 254 extending horizontally outward from the central portion 252. In this figure, the central portion 252 is generally rectangular. There are six arms 254 extending horizontally outward. Two of the arms 254 are provided along the central axis of the short side of the central portion 252, and four of the arms 254 extend from the corners of the central portion 252 at angles set to generally correspond to the desired substrate size. The substrate support 210 can carry two substrates side by side. The central portion 252 has a plurality of a-bodies 256 (round pins or pillar members). Each arm has an edge contact 258. Four of the edge contacts 258 are contacts 258A with one tip angle. The contacts 258A with one tip angle are inclined protrusions attached to the tips of the arms 254 extending from each corner of the central portion 252. Two of the edge contacts 258 are contacts 258B with two tip angles. The contacts 258B with two tip angles are attached to the tips of the arms 254 extending along the central axis of the central portion 252 in the short direction. The edge contacts 258 of the substrate support 210 can fix the substrate in the vertical direction by supporting the substrate in the direction opposite to the direction of gravity. The edge contacts 258 also support the substrate in the horizontal direction by capturing the substrate along the outer edge. This can prevent the substrate from shifting on the substrate support 210 when the substrate support 210 is moved according to the present specification.

[0026] 3 is a schematic elevation view of a substrate preparation chamber 300 according to one embodiment. The substrate preparation chamber 300 includes a housing 302 that defines an interior 304 of the substrate preparation chamber 300. The housing 302 separates the atmosphere of the interior 304 from the atmosphere outside the housing 302. One or more vacuum pumps 306 (e.g., roughing pumps and / or turbo pumps) are coupled to the housing 302 on the exterior of the housing 302. One or more ports (not shown) are provided to fluidly connect the one or more vacuum pumps to the interior 304 of the housing 302. A source 308 of atmospheric gas is fluidly coupled to the interior 304 to provide a displacement atmosphere thereto. The source 308 may include an inert gas (e.g., a noble gas) or a non-reactive gas (e.g., nitrogen, hydrogen, etc.) that does not react with the substrate and the deposited material, a pressure control, and a temperature control to control the atmosphere in the interior 304.

[0027] The one or more vacuum pumps 306 and sources 308 may be operated simultaneously to provide a gas flow to the interior 304 (e.g., a purge operation) and / or sequentially to replace the atmosphere in the interior 304 as quickly as possible. In one method, the vacuum pump 306 is operated to reduce the pressure in the interior 304. The pressure in the interior 304 is monitored, and when the pressure reaches a target, a gas flow is enabled from the source 308 to allow the gas of the second atmosphere to flow into the interior 304. At this point, or thereafter, the vacuum pump 306 can be stopped or a bypass (not shown) can be enabled to disconnect the vacuum pump 306 from the interior 304 and allow the gas from the source 308 to flow into the interior 304. This increases the pressure in the interior 304 and dilutes the gas of the first atmosphere. When the pressure reaches a second target, the gas flow from the source 308 can be stopped and the vacuum pump 306 can be reactivated or recoupled to the interior 304 to reduce the pressure. By continuing this periodic interaction of the vacuum pump 306 and the source 308, the concentration of the first ambient gas in the interior 304 can be reduced to an acceptable target level before the interior 304 can be fluidly coupled to another environment.

[0028] The interior 304 is provided with a substrate support 310. The substrate support 310 has a substrate support surface 312 that generally contacts a substrate placed on the substrate support 310. The substrate support surface 312 in this example includes a plurality of substrate contact members 314. The substrate contact members 314 extend in a direction away from the substrate support surface 312, and can support the substrate with minimal contact. There are two types of substrate contact members 314 in this example: a central contact member 314A and an outer contact member 314B. The central contact member 314A is a column member with a rounded tip that contacts the lower surface of the substrate. The outer contact member 314B is a column member having an edge capture portion or a corner capture portion that contacts the edge or corner of the substrate. The column member may be made of any suitable material that can reliably support the substrate. Ceramics, plastics, and metals may be used. The rounded tip of the central contact member 314A and the catch of the outer contact member 314B are generally made of a material suitable for contacting a substrate. For example, they may be configured for frictional contact to prevent the substrate from shifting as the substrate support 310 moves. In one example, the rounded tip is made of a polymeric material such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK). If more secure support is required, a contact pad with a vacuum hole may be provided at the tip of the post to provide suction between the post and the substrate. The vacuum hole may be fluidly connected to a point of suction by a conduit (not shown) in the post. In another example, the substrate contact member 314 may be a spherical protrusion or a flat pad rather than a post.

[0029] The substrate contacting member 314 is mounted on a support body 316 mounted on a rotary actuator 318. The rotary actuator 318 may include ball bearings, roller bearing tracks, or other rotary bearings, and a drive to provide the rotational force. With one or more substrates resting on the substrate contacting member 314, the rotary actuator 318 may be actuated to move the support body 316 and thereby rotate the substrates in the interior 304 of the substrate preparation chamber 300. The rotary actuator 318 may be coupled to the support body 316 using any suitable coupling. For example, a circular or linear gear may be used to couple to teeth on the side or bottom surface of the support body 316.

[0030] To achieve translational functionality within the substrate preparation chamber 300, a linear motion system 322 may be optionally coupled to the substrate support 310. In this example, the linear motion system 322 is coupled to the support body 316, and the rotary actuator 318 is configured to rotate the linear motion system 322 together with the substrate support 310. The coupling may be reversed; that is, the rotary actuator 318 coupled to the support body 316 may be supported on the linear motion system 322. The linear motion system 322 may include any suitable linear actuator, such as a screw actuator or a gear actuator. The rotary actuator 318 and the linear motion system 322 may be operated simultaneously or sequentially to perform a complex linear rotational motion of the support body 316. The rotational and translational functionality of the substrate preparation chamber 300 allows for flexible adjustment of the position and orientation of the substrate when transferring the substrate to or from a processing system (e.g., the printing system 100 of FIG. 1). For example, if space constraints require the processing equipment to have a particular orientation and configuration, the rotational and linear positioning features in the substrate preparation chamber 300 can be used to adjust the position and orientation of the substrate to allow the substrate handler to access the substrate at an angle. When the substrate handler enters the substrate preparation chamber 300 at an angle, the substrate support can rotate the substrate to match the angle of the substrate handler and precisely position the substrate for smooth engagement with the substrate handler.

[0031] The substrate preparation chamber 300 can move the substrate in both the rotational and horizontal directions in a single operation. Therefore, multiple such chambers can be stacked and operated independently of each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, two such chambers can be stacked on top of each other, and the substrate can be independently loaded and unloaded from the printing system 100 using these chambers. The rotational and translational positions of one chamber can be set at one position, and the rotational and translational positions of the other chamber can be set at another position. The substrate supports in the two chambers can be moved independently. That is, one can be moved in a first manner at a first time, and the other can be moved in a second manner at a second time.

[0032] FIG. 4 is a flow chart outlining a method 400 according to an embodiment. The method 400 is a method of manipulating a substrate in a processing system. In 402, a substrate is placed in a first orientation on a substrate support inside a substrate preparation chamber. Typically, the substrate is placed on the substrate support using a substrate handler (e.g., a robot having an end effector). The end effector is configured to access the chamber interior and to project away from the support body of the substrate support to fit between spaced apart substrate contacts of the substrate support. Typically, the end effector fits between the substrate contacts to place the substrate on the substrate contacts and then retracts away from the substrate. Two or more substrates may be placed side-by-side on the substrate support simultaneously in a single operation using a substrate handler.

[0033] At 404, the substrate (or substrates, if more than one) is rotated by rotating the substrate support in the substrate preparation chamber. Rotating the substrate support rotates the substrate from a first orientation (the orientation in which the substrate was initially placed on the substrate support) to a second orientation different from the first orientation. For example, the first orientation may be "portrait" and the second orientation may be "landscape" or vice versa. Rotating the substrate allows different substrate handlers to access the substrate in different orientations. For example, a first substrate handler may be configured to interact with a portrait orientation substrate and a second substrate handler may be configured to interact with a landscape orientation substrate. Rotating the substrate in the substrate preparation chamber allows a single substrate preparation chamber to interact with substrate handlers in two different orientations (two orthogonal orientations in this example).

[0034] At 406, optionally, the substrate support is moved horizontally within the substrate preparation chamber. The substrate support is moved horizontally to align the substrate (or substrates, if more than one substrate is arranged on the substrate support) with the substrate handler, allowing the substrate handler to access the substrate. For example, if the substrate is misaligned with an access doorway of the substrate preparation chamber, the substrate support can be moved horizontally to align the substrate with the access doorway. If more than one substrate is placed on the substrate support, the substrate support can be moved horizontally to align a first substrate with the access doorway. Then, after the first substrate is removed from the substrate preparation chamber, the second substrate can be aligned with the access doorway, and the second substrate can be removed using the same substrate handler. In this regard, the substrate support can be moved horizontally any number of times, thereby providing access to multiple substrates in various positions. If only one substrate is placed in the substrate preparation chamber, the substrate support can be moved horizontally to position the substrate support in an optimal position for receiving the incoming substrate and transporting the outgoing substrate.

[0035] At 408, the atmosphere in the substrate preparation chamber is adjusted to remove the substrate. A mixed gas is flowed into the substrate preparation chamber to adjust the atmosphere. The interior of the substrate preparation chamber may also be pumped to remove unwanted atmosphere from the chamber. The flow of the mixed gas and the pumping of the chamber may be performed in any order or combination to optimize the time required for adjusting the atmosphere. The adjustment of the atmosphere may be performed before, during, or after any of the rotation and horizontal movement of the substrate support.

[0036] At 410, the substrate is removed from the substrate preparation chamber in a second orientation. Because the atmosphere within the substrate preparation chamber has been conditioned in preparation for removing the substrate, the atmosphere released from within the chamber does not affect the adjacent or surrounding environment when the substrate preparation chamber is opened to remove the substrate. Method 400 may be used in connection with providing a substrate to be processed to a processing system and removing the substrate from the processing system after processing.

[0037] The methods and apparatus described herein allow a substrate to be transported to a processing system in a first orientation, processed in a second orientation different from the first orientation, and transported and removed after processing in the first orientation. The first and second orientations may be orthogonal or at any angle. Such functionality may be used, for example, when a positioning robot transports one or more substrates in a landscape orientation to an inkjet printing system, and the inkjet printing system processes the substrates in a portrait orientation. The substrate preparation chamber described herein may receive one or more landscape substrates at a time and rotate the substrates to a portrait orientation for transport to the printing system. The substrates may then be accessed by a portrait robot to remove the substrates (one at a time if there is more than one substrate in the substrate preparation chamber). The substrates may then be transported to the printing system for processing. After processing, the portrait robot may remove the substrate from the printing system and transport the substrates to a substrate preparation chamber in a portrait orientation. The substrate preparation chamber may rotate the substrates to a landscape orientation for transport to the positioning robot.

[0038] While embodiments in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention have been described above, other embodiments not specifically described in this disclosure may be devised without departing from the basic scope of the disclosure, which scope is defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. The housing and a rotatable substrate support disposed within the housing, the rotatable substrate support having two substrate regions and a plurality of edge contacts; atmosphere displacement hardware coupled to the enclosure; a substrate preparation chamber comprising:

2. The substrate preparation chamber of claim 1 , further comprising a linear actuator coupled to the rotatable substrate support.

3. 10. The substrate preparation chamber of claim 1, wherein the rotatable substrate support includes a plurality of central substrate contact members that form a first portion of the plurality of edge contacts and a plurality of outer substrate contact members that form a second portion of the plurality of edge contacts.

4. The substrate preparation chamber of claim 3 , wherein the central substrate contact member and the outer substrate contact members protrude from a support body coupled to a rotary actuator.

5. an inkjet printer provided in a printing housing; a substrate preparation chamber coupled to the printing enclosure, the substrate preparation chamber comprising: a preparation enclosure having two or more doors; a rotatable substrate support disposed within the preparation housing; atmosphere displacement hardware coupled to the preparation enclosure; Equipped with an inkjet printing system, wherein at least one of the two or more doors is operable to fluidly connect the preparation housing to the printing housing;

6. The inkjet printing system of claim 5 , wherein the substrate preparation chamber further comprises a linear actuator coupled to the rotatable substrate support.

7. the substrate preparation chamber is a first substrate preparation chamber; further comprising a second substrate preparation chamber coupled to the printing enclosure, the second substrate preparation chamber comprising: a preparation enclosure having two or more doors; a rotatable substrate support disposed within the preparation housing; The inkjet printing system of claim 6 , comprising:

8. The inkjet printing system of claim 7 , wherein the second substrate preparation chamber is stacked above the first substrate preparation chamber.

9. The inkjet printing system of claim 8 , wherein the preparation housing of the second substrate preparation chamber is coupled to the atmosphere displacement hardware.

10. an inkjet printer provided in the printing housing; a substrate handler disposed within the printing enclosure; The inkjet printing system of claim 6 , wherein the substrate handler includes a linear actuator and a rotary actuator and is configured to remove a substrate from the substrate preparation chamber.

11. The inkjet printing system of claim 10 further comprising a substrate transfer chamber configured to simultaneously transfer two substrates to the substrate preparation chamber.

12. the substrate transfer chamber is configured to transfer a substrate to the substrate preparation chamber in a first orientation; The inkjet printing system of claim 11 , wherein the substrate handler is configured to remove the substrate from the substrate preparation chamber in a second orientation different from the first orientation.

13. The inkjet printing system of claim 6 , wherein the substrate support is configured to translate and rotate simultaneously.

14. 1. A method of treating a substrate, comprising: placing the substrate on a rotatable substrate support in a substrate preparation chamber; replacing the atmosphere in the substrate preparation chamber with an inert atmosphere; rotating the substrate within the substrate preparation chamber to orient it for discharge; transporting the substrate to a printing system using a substrate handler; A method comprising:

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising horizontally moving the substrate within the substrate preparation chamber.

16. the substrate preparation chamber is a first substrate preparation chamber; The method of claim 14 , further comprising transferring the substrate from the printing system to a second substrate preparation chamber using the substrate handler.

17. Two or more substrates are simultaneously placed on the rotatable substrate support; The method of claim 14 , wherein the substrate handler transports one substrate at a time to the printing system.

18. 20. The method of claim 17, further comprising using a handler in a substrate transport chamber to simultaneously load two or more substrates onto the rotatable substrate support.

19. 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the substrate handler picks up a first substrate and a second substrate simultaneously mounted on the rotatable substrate support, and the substrate handler transports the first substrate to a first inkjet printer of the printing system and transports the second substrate to a second inkjet printer of the printing system.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second substrate preparation chamber is stacked above the first substrate preparation chamber.

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