For example, a vacuum loadlock cluster tool, such as illustrated in FIG. 8A and 8B, may be utilized to perform the pretreatment (block 12), such as an HF vapor clean in an HF vapor module 306, and then the wafers are transferred to an LPCVD module 302 for silicon nitride deposition by a wafer transfer module 308 without exposure to air to prevent native oxide formation.