A method of degassing semiconductor substrates includes sequentially loading a plurality of semiconductor substrates into a degas apparatus, and 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. The method further includes 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. 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.