US Patent:
20110008947, Jan 13, 2011
Inventors:
KEVIN LAUGHTON CUNNINGHAM - Mountain View CA, US
Carl Treadwell - Menlo Park CA, US
Tzay-Fa Su - San Jose CA, US
Uday Mahajan - Santa Clara CA, US
Sarin Sundar Jainnagar Kuppuswamy - Hyderabad, IN
Assignee:
APPLIED MATERIALS, INC. - Santa Clara CA
International Classification:
H01L 21/78
B23K 26/00
US Classification:
438463, 21912168, 257E21599
Abstract:
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a system used to form solar cell devices using processing modules adapted to perform one or more processes in the formation of the solar cell devices. In one embodiment, the system is adapted to form thin film solar cell devices by accepting a large unprocessed substrate and performing multiple deposition, material removal, cleaning, bonding, testing, and sectioning processes to form one or more complete, functional, and tested solar cell devices in custom sizes and/or shapes that can then be shipped to an end user for installation in a desired location to generate electricity. In one embodiment, the system is adapted to form one or more BIPV panels in custom sizes and/or shapes from a single large substrate for shipment to an end user.