According to the present disclosure, a flexible substrate coating apparatus is provided. The flexible substrate coating apparatus includes a vacuum process chamber for processing a flexible substrate. The vacuum process chamber includes one or more deposition units and a cleaning unit positioned directly downstream of the one or more deposition units. In another aspect, a method for depositing a thin-film on a flexible substrate is provided. The method for depositing a thin-film on a flexible substrate includes vacuum coating of the flexible substrate, thereby depositing one or more layers on the flexible substrate, and cleaning the flexible substrate directly downstream of the coating.