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:
Nov. 13, 2012
Filed:
Oct. 07, 2009
Keith Brian Porthouse, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Peter G. Borden, San Mateo, CA (US);
Tristan R. Holtam, Saratoga, CA (US);
Lisong Zhou, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ian Scott Latchford, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Derek Aqui, Portland, OR (US);
Vinay K. Shah, San Mateo, CA (US);
Keith Brian Porthouse, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Peter G. Borden, San Mateo, CA (US);
Tristan R. Holtam, Saratoga, CA (US);
Lisong Zhou, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ian Scott Latchford, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Derek Aqui, Portland, OR (US);
Vinay K. Shah, San Mateo, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention generally provides a batch substrate processing system, or cluster tool, for in-situ processing of a film stack used to form regions of a solar cell device. In one configuration, the film stack formed on each of the substrates in the batch contains one or more silicon-containing layers and one or more metal layers that are deposited and further processed within the various chambers contained in the substrate processing system. In one embodiment, a batch of solar cell substrates is simultaneously transferred in a vacuum or inert environment to prevent contamination from affecting the solar cell formation process.