Intermolecular, Inc.

Merlin Solar Technologies, Inc.

Kent Riley Child

Hong Sheng Yang

Shouqian Shao

Tony P Chiang

Chi-I Lang

Venkatesan Murali

Rajesh Kelekar

James Tsung

Gopal Prabhu

Peter Satitpunwaycha

Brian K Hatcher

Arvind Chari

Adam Brailove

Arthur Rudin

Jesse Dam

Owen Ho Yin Fong

A bonding apparatus includes a heat source, a first plate, a second plate, and an actuation mechanism. The first plate is coupled to the heat source. The first and second plates are thermally conductive and configured to cover an entire solar cell. The actuation mechanism moves the bonding apparatus between an open position and a closed position. In the closed position, the first plate and the second plate contact opposite surfaces of the solar cell. The second plate is configured to dissipate heat such that the second plate has a lower temperature than the first plate when in the closed position. The first plate and the second plate apply a force to the solar cell, the force at a first end of the solar cell being different than at a second end of the solar cell when the bonding apparatus is in or moving to the closed position.

Solar cell bonding

In one aspect of the invention, a process chamber is provided. The chamber includes a plurality of sputter guns with a target affixed to one end of each of the sputter guns. Each of the plurality of sputter guns is coupled to a first power source. The first power source is operable to provide a pulsed power supply to each of the plurality of sputter guns. The pulsed power supply has a duty cycle that is less than 30%. A substrate support disposed at a distance from the plurality of sputter guns is included. The substrate support is coupled to a second power source. The second power source is operable to bias a substrate disposed on the substrate support, wherein the duty cycle of the second power source is synchronized with a duty cycle of the first power source. A method of performing a deposition process is also included.

High metal ionization sputter gun

A gas distribution structure for supplying reactant gases and purge gases to independent process cells to deposit thin films on separate regions of a substrate is described. Each process cell has an associated ring purge and exhaust manifold to prevent reactive gases from forming deposits on the surface of the wafer between the isolated regions. Each process cell has an associated showerhead for conveying the reactive gases to the substrate. The showerheads can be independently rotated to simulate the rotation parameter for the deposition process.

System for multi-region processing

A sputter source is provided. The sputter source includes a shaft extending through a central region of the sputter source. A first end of the shaft is coupled to a drive and a second end of the shaft is coupled to a bottom plate. A first plate having a ramped surface is included where the first plate is stationary. A second plate having a ramped surface is provided where the second plate is disposed above the first plate such that portions of the ramped surfaces contact each other. The second plate is coupled to the shaft, wherein the second plate is operable to rotate and move axially as the shaft rotates in a first direction and wherein the second plate is operable to remain stationary as the shaft rotates in a second direction.

Sputter gun having variable magnetic strength

Induction heating systems and methods for combinatorial heating of a substrate are disclosed. The induction heating system includes a susceptor segmented into multiple regions (e.g., two to 20 regions) that are separated from one another by a reflective channel that is purged with a liquid (e.g., gas or liquid). The induction heating system includes multiple induction coils, each induction coil corresponding to one of the susceptor regions or segments. The distance between each induction coil and the susceptor region can be varied using an independent lift for each region. The relative distance between the coils and the corresponding susceptor regions is used to vary the temperature of a substrate so that different regions of the substrate can be independently heated to different temperatures.

Combinatorial heating of substrates by an inductive process and combinatorial independent heating

In some embodiments of the present invention, a shield is provided wherein the shield comprises a ceramic insulation material. The ceramic insulation material fills the space between the shield and the substrate surface and maintains a gap of less than about 2 mm and advantageously, less than about 1 mm. The shield may further be connected to ground through a low-pass filter operable to prevent the loss of high frequency RF power through the shield to ground but allow the dissipation of charge from the shield to ground through a low frequency or DC signal. In some embodiments, the ceramic insulating material further comprises a removable ceramic insert. The ceramic insert may be used to select the size of the aperture. The ceramic insert further comprises a slot operable to isolate the bottom lip of the ceramic insert from the upper portion for a PVD deposition.

Combinatorial RF bias method for PVD

A system and method for combinatorial processing of substrates in a processing chamber. The system includes a plurality of generators for supplying power into the processing chamber. A plurality of sputter guns provides power to different regions of a substrate. A switchbox switches power from a generator to a sputter gun via a plurality of coaxial switches. A controller positioned within the switchbox automatically distributes power from a specific generator to a specific sputter gun under programmable logic control.

Combinatorial high power coaxial switching matrix

An inductively coupled heating system having a segmented susceptor is disclosed. The segmented susceptor includes two or more segments, each segment having a side edge that is mateable with a side edge of another segment. The two mated side edges form an interface, increasing eddy currents near the interface. An inductively coupled heating system having a susceptor with multiple doped regions is also disclosed.

Segmented susceptor for temperature uniformity correction and optimization in an inductive heating system

A protective chuck is magnetically levitated on a substrate with a gas layer between the bottom surface of the protective chuck and the substrate surface. The gas layer protects a surface region of the substrate against a fluid layer covering the remaining of the substrate surface without contacting the substrate, reducing or eliminating potential damage to the substrate surface. The magnetically levitated protective chuck can enable combinatorial processing of a substrate, providing multiple isolated processing regions on a single substrate with different material and processing conditions.

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Dublin, CA, United States of America

Kent Riley Child