TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRONICS - Preferred Apparatus: The apparatus further comprises a preheat station in the deposition chamber adjacent the source container, where the shutter assembly is configured for concurrently positioning the received sample carrier in the preheat station during the first positioning with the shutter body covering the outlet of the source container. It also comprises a source heater for heating the deposition material in the source container to a deposition temperature and where the preheat station comprises at least one heater for, during the first positioning, heating the sample in the sample carrier to a preheat temperature within 50 degrees C of the deposition temperature. The sample comprises a substrate or superstrate formed of a material selected from glass, metal, polymer, or ceramic, where the deposition material comprises cadmium telluride, and where the deposition temperature is 500 degrees C. The apparatus further comprises a shutter heater positioned in the deposition chamber and operable to heat the shutter body to a temperature of a temperature of the source container. The sample carrier receiver comprises sidewalls forming a receiving surface for the sample carrier and defining the opening for exposing the surface of the sample and where the sidewalls are positioned proximate to an upper edge of the source container during the second positioning of the shutter assembly. It further comprises a load and unload chamber connected to the deposition chamber via an access valve, where the load and unload chamber is configured for receiving the sample carrier and preheating the sample to an initial preheat temperature and where the shutter assembly is selectively positionable with the sample carrier receiver within the load and unload chamber to retrieve the sample carrier, the shutter body extending over the outlet of the source container during the retrieval of the sample carrier. Preferred Assembly: The assembly further comprises a close spaced sublimation (CSS) tool connected to the sample transfer chamber, where the CSS tool comprises a chamber with a preheater and a CdTe source and an integral shutter with a planar body and a carrier receiver, where the integral shutter is configured for selectively positioning the carrier receiver near the preheater to preheat the device positioned in a carrier while the planar body covers an opening to the CdTe source and then positioning the carrier receiver over the opening to the CdTe to expose the substrate of the device to the CdTe source. The dry post-deposition tool chamber comprises a source container and a preheater adjacent the source container and further comprises an integral shutter with a planar body and a carrier receiver, the integral shutter is configured for selectively positioning the carrier receiver near, the preheater to preheat the device positioned in the carrier while the planar body covers an opening to the source container and then positioning the carrier receiver over the opening to the source container to expose the thin film deposited by the CSS tool to the vapor cadmium chloride. The temperature of the substrate of the device is heated in the CSS tool preheater and the dry post-deposition tool preheater to temperatures within 50 degrees C of a temperature of the CdTe source and a temperature of the source container, respectively. The assembly further comprises an additional processing tool comprising a chamber connected to the sample transfer chamber configured for dry processing of the substrate of the device to sputter on a front contact layer onto a surface of the substrate. It further comprises mechanisms for providing thermal management of the device in the cluster assembly, where thermal shock experienced by the substrate of the device is less than 50 degrees C in the assembly. The sample transfer chamber comprises a sample transfer robot operable to move the device in a carrier from the dry post-deposition tool to the dry contact tool. Preferred Tool: The deposition source contains a CdTe source maintained at a temperature at or above a dormancy temperature of 500 degrees C and where the post-deposition processing source contains a cadmium chloride (CdCl2) source. The CSS chamber of the second tool further comprises a preheat station operable to heat the substrate to a preheat temperature of 300 degrees C while the planar body of the second tool shutter is over the opening to the CdTe source. The tool further comprises a fourth tool comprising a chamber accessible via the sample transfer chamber, where the first tool comprises at least one sputtering component for sputtering a back contact onto the thin film. It also comprises a fifth tool comprising a chamber accessible via the sample transfer chamber, the chamber configured for chemical vapor deposition of a transparent conducting oxide layer on the substrate prior to sputtering of the front contact by the first tool. The substrate is a glass substrate or glass superstrate and the tool further comprises thermal management mechanisms operable to maintain a temperature of the glass substrate within 50 degrees C of a next process in the tool, where a transfer temperature is maintained throughout the tool.