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. The processing chambers may be, for example,
physical vapor deposition (PVD) or
sputtering chambers,
plasma enhanced
chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) chambers, low pressure
chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) chambers, hot wire
chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) chambers,
plasma nitridation (DPN) chambers,
ion implant /
doping chambers,
atomic layer deposition (ALD) chambers,
plasma etching chambers, annealing chambers, rapid
thermal oxidation (RTO) chambers,
rapid thermal annealing (RTA) chambers, substrate reorientation chambers,
laser annealing chambers, and / or
plasma cleaning stations. 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.