JP4370186B2 - Thin film solar cell manufacturing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a manufacturing system for manufacturing a thin film solar cell such as an amorphous silicon solar cell or a tandem solar cell with microcrystalline silicon, and more particularly to a clean room configuration.

For example, in the case of an amorphous solar cell, a thin film solar cell forms a transparent electrode on a glass substrate, and forms an amorphous silicon film and a back electrode thereon. After each film formation, a cut cell is connected in series by laser etching to form a solar cell module, which is made into a panel to obtain a solar cell panel.
Similar to the manufacturing process of this solar cell, a process represented by TFT manufacturing for liquid crystal is being established in a manufacturing method for forming a thin film on a glass substrate. In this TFT manufacturing for liquid crystal and general semiconductor thin film formability, manufacturing is performed in a clean room of class 1000 or lower, and locally class 100 or lower for improving the yield. In such a clean room, the equipment cost and the running cost are high in order to create a high flow HEPA circulation flow.
JP-A-6-310424 JP 2002-228220 A

  In the manufacture of thin film solar cells, by reducing the amount of suspended dust in the atmosphere taken into the film below a certain reference level, it is possible to suppress a significant decrease in power generation capability such as defects and internal short circuits. Therefore, such a high cleanliness as in the conventional semiconductor factory is unnecessary. Therefore, if the cleanliness is lowered, the cost can be reduced, but a desirable cleanliness standard has not been established. Therefore, there is a demand for technology development that does not reduce the quality and yield of solar cells and that reduces costs.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a clean room for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell that can reduce the installation cost and the running cost while ensuring the quality of the solar cell.

In the present invention, the following means are adopted in order to solve the above problems.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of process devices are provided on a substrate transport path for transporting a substrate having a size exceeding 1 m square, and a thin film is formed on the substrate through these process devices. In the thin film solar cell manufacturing system, a part of the plurality of process devices is installed in a clean room and the other is installed in a general atmosphere outside the clean room. As the process device, a transparent electrode is manufactured outside the clean room. An apparatus is installed, and downstream of the transparent electrode manufacturing apparatus, in the clean room, there are a substrate cleaning apparatus, a laser etching apparatus, a plasma CVD apparatus, a sputtering or ion plating apparatus, a power generation inspection apparatus, and a substrate loading / unloading apparatus. Substrate transporter, substrate cassette and buffer for temporary storage of substrates, and their accompanying In addition, the downstream process equipment is installed outside the clean room, the cleanliness in the clean room is designed with a class of 100,000, and the substrate cassette is placed in the clean room in the clean room. It is characterized in that an overhead crane is provided for transporting inside .

In the present invention, only devices that require cleanliness are installed in a clean room, and other devices are installed in a general atmosphere .
In the present invention, the process equipment installed in the clean room is limited to an apparatus in which yield reduction due to dust adhering to the substrate film surface is a problem and the front and rear apparatuses. Thereby, the installation area of an expensive clean room can be reduced to the minimum.
Since the transparent electrode manufacturing apparatus generally uses an atmospheric pressure type thermal CVD apparatus, particles are likely to be emitted from the substrate carry-out portion of this apparatus, so that the clean room is installed outside so as not to contaminate the clean room.
In the present invention, by designing the clean room as a class 100,000, the cost can be suppressed while sufficiently ensuring the quality of the solar cell.
Here, the class 100,000 means that there are 100,000 / ft ³ or less suspended matter of 0.3 μm or more .
By installing a substrate cassette that allows insertion and removal of substrates at the entrance and exit of process equipment as needed, it is possible to absorb differences in tact time due to the operating status of the equipment and to respond to lots with changed substrate processing contents in the process make it easier. Moreover, the mass of a large substrate exceeding 1 m square exceeds 10 kg, and a substrate cassette for storing 10 or more substrates exceeds 100 kg when the substrate is stored, but it can be easily transported by an overhead crane. In addition, overhead cranes can be used for maintenance when removing and installing heavy components such as large film-forming equipment, which significantly improves maintenance efficiency.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to the first aspect, the substrate is carried in / out through a gap window provided in a partition wall between the clean room and a general atmosphere. And

By transferring the substrate into and out of the clean room through the gap, the cleanliness of the clean room is ensured.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the thin film solar cell manufacturing system according to the first or second aspect, the size of the gap window provided in the partition is within + 20% of the width of the substrate, and the height is It is within + 500% of the height including the amount of deflection when the substrate is horizontally supported.

  In the present invention, the clearance window is suppressed to a minimum within a range that does not hinder the substrate conveyance, thereby suppressing the inflow of dust from the general atmosphere and ensuring the cleanliness of the clean room.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the differential pressure for the general atmosphere of the clean room is greater than 20Pa or less 0.

  In the present invention, the inflow of dust from the general atmosphere to the clean room is suppressed by the differential pressure between the clean room and the general atmosphere.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the plasma CVD apparatus is provided at a folding position of the substrate transport path.

  The plasma CVD apparatus requires maintenance to periodically open the film forming chamber, take out the internal film forming unit, and clean it. In the present invention, since the plasma CVD apparatus is located at the end of the clean room, the space around the apparatus can be effectively used to facilitate maintenance, and the plasma CVD apparatus can be enlarged by increasing the substrate size. However, since the entrance / exit of the substrate can be provided on the same side, the production status can be easily monitored.

Invention of Claim 6 is a thin film solar cell manufacturing system in any one of Claims 1-5 WHEREIN: Among the process equipment installed in the said clean room, it is a process equipment which requires higher cleanliness. Is characterized in that a clean booth for increasing the cleanliness is provided at the entrance / exit of the process equipment .

  In the present invention, a device requiring further cleanliness, such as a plasma CVD apparatus, can easily obtain a cleanliness of class 1000 or less, for example, by providing a clean booth locally.

The invention described in claim 7 is the thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, among the installed process equipment in the clean room, step equipment requiring the overhead crane is It is characterized by being arranged in a specific area in a clean room.

  The place where the substrate needs to be inserted / extracted is limited to a region centered around the plasma CVD apparatus. Therefore, for example, if the plasma CVD apparatus is provided at the folding position of the substrate transport path, the devices that require the substrate cassette are arranged in a U-shape, so that the substrate transport path is along a straight line. Compared to, the movable area of the overhead crane can be combined in one place. For example, if the plasma CVD apparatus is located at the right end of the clean room, the movable region of the overhead crane may be provided only on the right side of the clean room.

The invention according to claim 8 is the thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the transport path line height of the substrate is 1 m ± 0.2 m.

  This height of the pass line is the height at which handling of a large-sized substrate is easiest, and wasteful operations of workers are suppressed. Therefore, generation | occurrence | production of excess dust and a yield fall are suppressed.

The invention according to claim 9 is the thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 , further comprising a substrate transporter that transports the substrate between the process devices. A material is provided with a conveyance roller made of high-density polyethylene.

  Conveying rollers made of high-density polyethylene (UPE) are less expensive and less dusty than those made of Teflon (registered trademark) used in general semiconductor factories. Since the total number of transport rollers used is very large, the reduction in material cost greatly affects the equipment cost.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is the thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, wherein a substrate cleaner is provided as the process equipment in the clean room, and the substrate cleaner has an outlet at the outlet. It is characterized in that a static eliminator is provided to remove static electricity generated by the transport roller.

  At the exit of the substrate cleaner, static electricity may be generated due to the friction of the substrate sometimes by the UPE roller, and dust may adhere firmly to the substrate. In the present invention, the static electricity removing device is provided at the location, thereby preventing dust from adhering to the substrate.

In the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
The clean room is separated from the general atmosphere, and the substrate is transferred by a gap window. Furthermore, the cleanliness of the clean room is designed with a class 100,000 suitable for solar cell production, the devices installed in the clean room are limited, and other devices are installed in a general atmosphere. As a result, the area of the clean room can be reduced to the minimum, the facility cost and the running cost can be greatly reduced, and the quality of the solar cell can be ensured.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a thin film solar cell manufacturing factory (thin film solar cell manufacturing system) according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a manufacturing process.
First, the main manufacturing process at the time of amorphous silicon solar cell manufacture among thin film solar cells is listed in order using the schematic diagram of FIG.
(1) Accept glass substrate
(2) Forming transparent electrode on glass substrate
(3) Laser etching of transparent electrodes
(4) Amorphous silicon film is formed by plasma CVD equipment
(5) Etching the amorphous silicon film
(6) Back electrode is formed by sputtering or ion plating equipment
(7) Etching back electrode and amorphous silicon film
(8) Connect them in series to complete the module
(9) Module power generation inspection
(10) Remove peripheral film
(11) Cover sheet adhesion
(12) Terminal box mounting
(13) Injection of sealing material
(14) Power generation inspection
(15) Battery panel completed

A factory that manufactures thin-film solar cells including amorphous silicon solar cells through such a manufacturing process provides a plurality of process devices in series on the substrate transport path, and forms a thin film on the substrate through these process devices. A thin film solar cell panel is used. FIG. 1 shows a layout of each process device particularly suitable for processing a large substrate exceeding 1 m. Below, arrangement | positioning of each process apparatus at the time of an amorphous silicon solar cell manufacture is demonstrated along the flow of a board | substrate.
The glass substrate received by the substrate carry-in device 1 in the general atmosphere 31 is cleaned by the receiving substrate cleaning device 2, and then a transparent electrode is formed in the transparent electrode film-forming device 4 through the management device 3. After the transparent electrode is formed, the substrate is cleaned by the substrate cleaner 5, and is then transferred into the clean room 30 by the substrate transfer device 6 and is carried into the laser etching apparatus 7. After the transparent electrode is laser etched by the laser etching device 7 and separated into strips, it is cleaned by the substrate cleaning device 8 before forming the amorphous silicon film, and the amorphous silicon film forming device (plasma CVD device) 10 by the substrate transfer device 9. It is carried in. An amorphous silicon film is formed by the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10, and then carried into the laser etching apparatus 12 by the substrate transfer device 11. The amorphous silicon film is etched in a strip shape at a position slightly shifted from the etching position of the transparent electrode. Is done. Subsequently, a back electrode is formed into a film by the back electrode film forming apparatus (sputtering apparatus) 13, transported to the substrate cleaner 15 before back laser etching by the substrate transport device 14, and cleaned. Thereafter, the back surface laser etching apparatus 16 further shifts the etching position to etch the back surface electrode and the amorphous silicon film in a strip shape, and also performs insulation etching around the module. It is carried into the power generation inspection device 18 by the substrate transporter 17 and a power generation inspection is performed. Next, the substrate is transferred to the general atmosphere 32 by the substrate transfer device 19, the peripheral film is removed by the film polishing device 20, the substrate is cleaned by the substrate cleaning device 21, and the cover sheet is bonded by the layup device 22, laminator device 23, and paneling device 24. The terminal box is mounted and enclosed by the terminal block mounting device 25. And it is conveyed by the board | substrate conveyance device 26 to the power generation inspection apparatus 27, and after a power generation inspection is performed here, it sorts into the sorting storage 28 according to performance.

As shown in the figure, the process devices are arranged in an S-shaped snake line, and a part thereof is installed in the clean room 30. Reference numerals 31 and 32 indicate areas of a general atmosphere.
The equipment installed in the clean room 30 includes substrate cleaners 8 and 15, laser etching apparatuses 7, 12 and 16, an amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10, a back electrode film forming apparatus 13, a power generation inspection apparatus 18, and a substrate for these. It is limited to the transporters 6, 9, 11, 14, 17, the substrate cassette 40, the substrate buffer devices 46, 47, 48, and the inspection device (the power generation inspection device 18 in the figure) associated with these devices. In other words, the apparatus is limited to an apparatus in which yield reduction due to dust adhering to the substrate film surface is a problem, and the front and rear apparatuses.
The transparent electrode film forming apparatus 4 is installed outside the clean room 30. Since the transparent electrode film forming apparatus 4 generally uses an atmospheric pressure type thermal CVD apparatus, particles grown in the gas phase are discharged from the substrate carry-out portion in a state of being placed on the substrate. Therefore, dust tends to fly outside. For this reason, it installs in a general atmosphere so that the clean room 30 may not be contaminated. This substrate is cleaned by the substrate cleaner 5 and then transferred into the clean room 30.

  The amorphous silicon film forming apparatus (plasma CVD apparatus) 10 is positioned in the folding process at the end of the clean room 30 as shown in the figure. This apparatus requires maintenance that periodically opens the film forming chamber, removes the internal film forming unit, and cleans and removes the excess adhered film and the like. That is, since the maintenance area can be widened at the end of the clean room 30, easy maintenance is possible. Further, even in a large apparatus that processes a large substrate exceeding 1 square meter, since the entrance / exit of the substrate is provided on the same side of the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10, the production status can be easily monitored.

The partition walls of the clean room 30 are provided with gap windows 33 and 34 so that the substrates can be carried in and out through the substrate transporters 6 and 19.
FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the gap window 33. The configuration of the substrate transfer device 6 will be described as an example. Reference numeral 30a denotes a partition wall of the clean room 30, reference numeral 35 denotes a transfer table, reference numeral 36 denotes a transfer roller provided on the transfer table 35, and reference numeral 37 denotes a substrate. The height of the transport table 35 is set so that the transport path line height of the substrate 37 is 1 m ± 0.2 m above the floor. The gap window 34 has the same configuration.
The size of the gap window 33 is determined by the size of the substrate 37. The width is within + 20% of the width of the substrate 37, and the height is within 500% of the height of the substrate 37 including substrate deflection due to substrate vibration. When the substrate width is 1100 mm, the gap window 33 has a width of 1300 mm and a height of 50 mm.
In the figure, the back right side of the drawing is the inside of the clean room 30, and the arrow A indicates the flow of air. This is caused by differential pressure management of the clean room 30 described later so that dust does not flow into the clean room 30.
Note that the opening of the gap window 33 may be covered with a curtain-like object that does not hinder the conveyance of the substrate to further suppress the inflow of dust.

  As the material of the transport roller 36, UPE (high density polyethylene) is used. FIG. 4 shows the result of comparative examination of each material. In general semiconductor manufacturing plants, Teflon (registered trademark) is often used in consideration of chemical resistance and heat resistance, but it is not necessary to consider chemical resistance in the solar cell manufacturing process. UPE with less dust was used. However, at the exits of the substrate cleaners 8 and 15, static electricity is sometimes generated on the substrate by the UPE roller, and dusts may adhere firmly to the substrate. Therefore, a static eliminator (ionizer) is provided at the exit of the substrate cleaners 8 and 15.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 40 denotes a substrate cassette that allows a substrate to be inserted into and removed from a required entrance of the apparatus. The transparent electrode film forming apparatus 4, the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10, and the back electrode film forming apparatus 13 need to be periodically stopped and maintained. However, by using the substrate cassette 40, the operation status of the apparatus and periodic inspection are performed. It is possible to absorb the tact time difference due to the substrate processing for substrate and the substrate processing stop period. Further, by transporting the substrate cassette 40 as necessary, it is possible to deal with special recipe processing, processing without some processing steps, and production of a laminated tandem solar cell.

  FIG. 5 shows a method for transporting the substrate cassette 40. An overhead crane 45 that is movable in the XY directions is installed on the ceiling of the right half region of the clean room 30 in FIG. A large substrate that exceeds 1 square meter and has a thickness t of 4 mm or more has a mass of 10 kg or more. Therefore, the substrate cassette 40 that accommodates the large substrate exceeds 100 kg in the case of a set of 10 sheets. By using the crane 45, it can be easily transported. Since the overhead crane 45 is at a high position (for example, 4 m), the airflow in the clean room 30 is not disturbed and the cleanliness is not lowered. Since oil and dust may fall from the overhead crane 45, it is desirable to provide a pad for receiving them below.

  The installation area of the overhead crane 45 is the right half area of the clean room 30 in FIG. The process requiring the substrate cassette 40 is limited to the front and back of the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10 (from the laser etching apparatus 7 to the back electrode film forming apparatus 13). Therefore, if the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10 is provided at the folding position of the substrate transfer path as in the present embodiment, the laser etching apparatus 7 to the back electrode film forming apparatus 13 are arranged in a U-shape in a compact manner. . Since the movable region of the overhead crane 45 can be gathered in one place (the right half of the clean room 30 in the figure) compared to the case where the substrate transfer path is along a straight line, the area in the left half of the clean room 30 in the figure has a ceiling. There is no need to provide the crane 45.

Further, in FIG. 1, reference numerals 46 to 48 denote substrate buffer devices that temporarily store substrates. Amorphous silicon film deposition apparatus (plasma CVD apparatus) 10 suspends substrate processing in one deposition chamber and performs self-cleaning in order to periodically remove excess film adhered to the deposition unit in the deposition chamber. It is necessary to perform cleaning maintenance for opening the film forming chamber or replacing the film forming unit with a cleaned one. For this reason, the tact time is often delayed as compared with the front and rear devices. For this reason, substrate buffer devices 46 and 47 are provided on the front and rear sides, thereby realizing an operating state centered on the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10 as much as possible.
Further, the substrate buffer device 48 temporarily stores the substrate in the clean room 30 before it is put into the general atmosphere when it is necessary to adjust the process of the downstream paneling process after the power generation inspection device 18 determines the quality of the product. Is for. As a result, even if there is a difference in the processing time of the panel process due to setup / switching work and maintenance accompanying the change in the production panel size in the downstream panel process, the processed substrate is temporarily stored in a clean room with high cleanliness. Therefore, module performance degradation can be suppressed.

  Further, the region 50 on one side with respect to each component device is used as a main access surface and a worker's passage for each device.

For the manufacture of thin-film solar cells, including amorphous silicon solar cells, it is desirable to minimize the amount of airborne dust trapped in the film, but by reducing it below a certain reference level, defects and A significant decrease in power generation capability such as internal short circuit and film peeling can be suppressed. Therefore, it was found from the results of various continuous film-forming treatment tests that the cleanliness of the clean room 30 required is class 100,000, but that the performance and yield can be secured without problems even if it is class 1000 or less at the plasma CVD apparatus entrance.
The clean room 30 is designed with a cleanliness class of 100,000. The pressure difference from the general atmosphere is controlled to be higher than 0 and 20 Pa or less (preferably 10 Pa) with a pressure damper so that dust from the general atmosphere does not enter the clean room 30 and the circulating air in the clean room 30 is reduced. Exhaust 10%. As a specific example, the configuration is as shown in FIG. In the figure, the outside of the clean room 30 is a general atmosphere. Reference numeral 60 denotes an intake device, reference numeral 61 denotes a circulation device, and reference numeral 62 denotes a pressure damper. The intake device 60 includes a pre-filter 63, a fan 64, a salt removal filter 65, and a HEPA filter 66, and cleans the air in a general atmosphere and sucks it into the clean room 30. The circulation device 61 includes a fan 67 that sucks air in the clean room 30 and a HEPA filter 68 that cleans the air sucked by the fan 67 before being exhausted into the clean room 30 again. The pressure damper 62 can easily set the differential pressure by the weight of the disk and exhausts the air in the clean room 30 to the outside.

  Since the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus (plasma CVD apparatus) 10 forms a silicon-based thin film that greatly affects the power generation performance, the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus (plasma CVD apparatus) 10 is further further than other devices in the clean room 30 in order to suppress short-circuit defects and film peeling. Requires high cleanliness. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, a clean booth 70 that achieves a cleanness of class 1000 or less is installed at the entrance of the apparatus. Reference numeral 71 denotes a fan provided with a HEPA filter, which sucks in air in the clean room and supplies air with further increased cleanliness into the booth 70. A clearance 72 of about 50 mm is provided between the lower edge of the clean booth 70 and the floor surface, and air A is blown out from the clearance 72 and the substrate entrance 73 provided on the front surface. This ensures the cleanliness of the substrate film-forming surface on the loader side, and prevents dust from entering the apparatus on the unloader side.

In this embodiment, since it is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.
The cleanliness of the clean room 30 is designed with a class of 100,000 and does not require a high cleanliness unlike a general semiconductor manufacturing factory, so the cost can be reduced. For the following reasons, the actual cleanliness can be managed as a class of 1000 to 10,000, and the yield reduction factor can be suppressed with a margin.
The clearance windows 33 and 34 provided in the partition wall of the clean room 30 are sufficiently small, and about 10% of the circulating air in the clean room 30 is exhausted while the clean room 30 is managed higher than the general atmosphere by the pressure damper 62. . Therefore, the dust from the general atmosphere is prevented from entering the clean room 30.
Moreover, since the clean booth 70 is provided in the device that requires further cleanliness like the amorphous silicon film forming apparatus 10, the clean room 30 as a whole does not require high cleanliness.
By transporting the substrate cassette 40 using the overhead crane 45, air turbulence does not occur, and a reduction in cleanliness of the clean room 30 can be prevented.
Moreover, since the height of the pass line for carrying the substrate is set to be easy to handle, unnecessary operations of workers can be suppressed, and generation of dust can be suppressed.
By employing UPE as the transport roller 36 for transporting the substrate, dust generation can be suppressed. Further, by providing the static electricity removing device at the exits of the substrate cleaners 8 and 15, static electricity by the UPE roller can be removed, dust can be prevented from adhering to the substrate, and the yield can be improved.

In addition, the devices installed in the clean room 30 are limited to an apparatus in which a decrease in yield due to dust adhering to the substrate film surface is a problem, and the front and rear apparatuses. Therefore, the area of the clean room 30 can be minimized, and installation costs and running costs can be reduced. For example, when the clean room is 40% of the whole factory and the construction unit price is 1.5 times the general atmosphere, the installation cost can be reduced by 20% compared to the whole clean room.
Furthermore, since the cleanliness of the clean room 30 is lower than that of the semiconductor factory, the downflow in the entire clean room using the grating floor is unnecessary, and a normal low dust generation floor can be obtained. Therefore, it is easy to install processing equipment for each process that has become a heavy load for handling a large substrate, and the level of the floor surface does not change like a grating floor, so that the level position management becomes easy.

  As described above, according to the thin film solar cell manufacturing system of the present embodiment, the installation cost and the running cost can be reduced while ensuring the quality of the solar cell, and a manufacturing system suitable for low-cost solar cell manufacturing is provided. be able to.

It is to be noted that the apparatus providing the clean booth 70 is not limited to the amorphous silicon film casting apparatus 10, the may be provided on other equipment required, as a matter of course.

It is a block diagram of the thin film solar cell manufacturing factory shown as one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic diagram shown about the manufacturing process of a thin film solar cell. It is the perspective view shown about the clearance gap window provided in the partition of a clean room. It is the table | surface shown about the selection test result of a conveyance roller. It is the perspective view which showed a part of overhead crane which conveys a board | substrate cassette. It is the figure shown about schematic structure of the differential pressure management of a clean room. It is the perspective view shown about the structure of the clean booth.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate carrying-in apparatus 2 Reception board washing | cleaning device 3 Manager 4 Transparent electrode film-forming apparatus (atmospheric pressure type thermal CVD apparatus)
5 Substrate cleaning device 6 Substrate transport device 7 Laser etching device 8 Substrate cleaning device before amorphous silicon film deposition 9 Substrate transport device 10 Amorphous silicon film deposition device (plasma CVD device)
11 Substrate Transporter 12 Laser Etching Device 13 Back Electrode Filming Device (Sputtering Device or Ion Plating Device)
14 Substrate transporter 15 Substrate cleaning device 16 before back surface laser etching 16 Back surface laser etching device 17 Substrate transport device 18 Power generation inspection device 19 Substrate transport device 20 Film polishing device 21 Substrate cleaning device 22 Layup device 23 Laminator device 24 Paneling device 25 Terminal Base mounting device 26 Substrate transport device 27 Power generation inspection device 28 Sorting storage 30 according to performance Clean room 31, 32 General atmosphere 33, 34 Clearance window 36 Transport roller 37 Substrate 40 Substrate cassette 45 Overhead crane 46-48 Substrate buffer device 70 Clean booth

Claims (10)

In a thin film solar cell manufacturing system in which a plurality of process devices are provided on a substrate transport path for transporting a substrate having a size exceeding 1 m square, and a thin film is formed on the substrate through these process devices to form a thin film solar cell panel,
Among the plurality of process equipment, some are installed in a clean room and others are installed in a general atmosphere outside the clean room,
As the process equipment, a transparent electrode manufacturing apparatus is installed outside the clean room, and downstream of the transparent electrode manufacturing apparatus, a substrate cleaning apparatus, a laser etching apparatus, a plasma CVD apparatus, a sputtering or ion plating apparatus is installed in the clean room. , A power generation inspection device, a substrate transporter for carrying in and out of the substrate, a substrate cassette and a buffer for temporarily storing the substrate, and an inspection device associated therewith, and further downstream process equipment includes the clean room Installed outside,
The cleanliness in the clean room is designed with a class of 100,000,
A thin film solar cell manufacturing system , wherein an overhead crane for transporting the substrate cassette in the clean room is provided in the clean room . The thin-film solar cell manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is carried in and out through a gap window provided in a partition wall between the clean room and a general atmosphere .   3. The thin film according to claim 1, wherein the gap window provided in the partition wall has a width within + 20% of the substrate width and a height within + 500% of the substrate height. Solar cell manufacturing system. The thin film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein a differential pressure with respect to a general atmosphere in the clean room is greater than 0 and 20 Pa or less. The thin film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the plasma CVD apparatus is provided at a folding position of a substrate transfer path. 2. A process booth installed in the clean room is provided with a clean booth at an entrance of the process equipment for a process equipment that requires higher cleanliness. To 5. The thin film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of 5 to 5 . Among the installed process equipment in the clean room, step equipment requiring the overhead crane is in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it is arranged are summarized in a specific area of the clean room The thin film solar cell manufacturing system described. The thin film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein a height of a transport path line of the substrate is 1 m ± 0.2 m. Substrate transporter is provided for transporting the substrate among the process apparatuses, the substrate transporter is claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the material is provided with a conveying roller by a high density polyethylene 8 Thin film solar cell manufacturing system . Substrate cleaning apparatus is provided as the process equipment in the clean room, from claim 1 to the substrate cleaning outlet, characterized in that the static eliminator is provided to remove the static electricity generated by the transport roller 9 The thin film solar cell manufacturing system according to any one of the above.

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