METHOD OF DEGASSING

According to the invention there is provided a method of degassing semiconductor substrates comprising: sequentially loading a plurality of semiconductor substrates into a degas apparatus; degassing the semiconductor substrates in parallel, the degassing of each semiconductor substrate commencing at a different time related to the time at which the semiconductor substrate was loaded into the degas apparatus; and unloading a semiconductor substrate from the degas apparatus when the semiconductor substrate has been degassed, while semiconductor substrates which were loaded later in the sequence are still being degassed; in which the degassing of the semiconductor substrates is performed at pressure of less than 10 -4 Torr, and the degas apparatus is pumped continuously during the degassing of the semiconductor substrates.