The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 24, 2012
Filed:
Aug. 29, 2008
Robert Z. Bachrach, Burlingame, CA (US);
Yong-kee Chae, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Soo Young Choi, Fremont, CA (US);
Nicholas G. J. DE Vries, Alameda, CA (US);
Yacov Elgar, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Eric A. Englhardt, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Michel R. Frei, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Charles Gay, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Parris Hawkins, Los Altos, CA (US);
Choi (Gene) Ho, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
James Craig Hunter, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Penchala N. Kankanala, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Liwei LI, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Wing Hoo (Hendrick) Lo, San Francisco, CA (US);
Danny Cam Toan LU, San Francisco, CA (US);
Fang Mei, Foster City, CA (US);
Stephen P. Murphy, Perrysburg, OH (US);
Srujal (Steve) Patel, San Jose, CA (US);
Matthew J. B. Saunders, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Asaf Schlezinger, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Shuran Sheng, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Tzay-fa (Jeff) Su, San Jose, CA (US);
Jeffrey S. Sullivan, Castro Valley, CA (US);
David Tanner, San Jose, CA (US);
Teresa Trowbridge, Los Altos, CA (US);
Brice Walker, Bautista, CA (US);
John M. White, Hayward, CA (US);
Tae K. Won, San Jose, CA (US);
Robert Z. Bachrach, Burlingame, CA (US);
Yong-Kee Chae, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Soo Young Choi, Fremont, CA (US);
Nicholas G. J. De Vries, Alameda, CA (US);
Yacov Elgar, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Eric A. Englhardt, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Michel R. Frei, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Charles Gay, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Parris Hawkins, Los Altos, CA (US);
Choi (Gene) Ho, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
James Craig Hunter, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Penchala N. Kankanala, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Liwei Li, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Wing Hoo (Hendrick) Lo, San Francisco, CA (US);
Danny Cam Toan Lu, San Francisco, CA (US);
Fang Mei, Foster City, CA (US);
Stephen P. Murphy, Perrysburg, OH (US);
Srujal (Steve) Patel, San Jose, CA (US);
Matthew J. B. Saunders, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Asaf Schlezinger, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Shuran Sheng, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Tzay-Fa (Jeff) Su, San Jose, CA (US);
Jeffrey S. Sullivan, Castro Valley, CA (US);
David Tanner, San Jose, CA (US);
Teresa Trowbridge, Los Altos, CA (US);
Brice Walker, Bautista, CA (US);
John M. White, Hayward, CA (US);
Tae K. Won, San Jose, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention generally relates to a system that can be used to form a photovoltaic device, or solar cell, using processing modules that are adapted to perform one or more steps in the solar cell formation process. The automated solar cell fab is generally an arrangement of automated processing modules and automation equipment that is used to form solar cell devices. The automated solar fab will thus generally comprise a substrate receiving module that is adapted to receive a substrate, one or more absorbing layer deposition cluster tools having at least one processing chamber that is adapted to deposit a silicon-containing layer on a surface of the substrate, one or more back contact deposition chambers, one or more material removal chambers, a solar cell encapsulation device, an autoclave module, an automated junction box attaching module, and one or more quality assurance modules that are adapted to test and qualify the completely formed solar cell device.