NOVELTY - Thin film deposition apparatus comprises: (a) a deposition chamber operable at vacuum; (b) a source container for containing deposition material and including an outlet into the deposition chamber; and (c) a shutter assembly including a planar shutter body and a sample carrier receiver extending from an end of the shutter body.    USE - The thin film deposition apparatus is useful for dry deposition of thin films of CdTe and other material layers required for a photovoltaic device.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Thin film deposition apparatus comprises: (a) a deposition chamber operable at vacuum; (b) a source container for containing deposition material and including an outlet into the deposition chamber; and (c) a shutter assembly including a planar shutter body and a sample carrier receiver extending from an end of the shutter body, where the carrier receiver is configured for receiving a sample carrier and includes an opening for exposing a surface of a sample positioned in the received sample carrier and where the shutter assembly is selectively positionable within the deposition chamber to first cover the outlet of the source container with the shutter body and to a second position in the received sample carrier over the outlet of the source container with the sample surface exposed to the deposition material through the opening in the carrier receiver. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) a deposition cluster assembly for use in fabricating a device with a thin film of cadmium telluride (CdTe) or other material on a substrate, comprising: (a) a sample transfer chamber maintained under vacuum; (b) a post-deposition tool connected to the sample transfer chamber, where the post-deposition tool comprises a chamber for selectively exposing the thin film on the substrate to vapor cadmium chloride when the device is transferred from the sample transfer chamber to the dry post-deposition tool; and (c) a dry contact tool connected to the sample transfer chamber, where the dry contact tool comprises a chamber containing one or more components for sputtering a back contact onto the thin film; and    (2) a deposition cluster tool for non-wet chemical processing of a sample or device such as a photovoltaic, thin film device, comprising: (a) a sample transfer chamber maintained at vacuum and containing a sample transfer robot for selectively positioning a carrier containing a sample including a substrate; (b) a first tool comprising a chamber accessible via the sample transfer chamber, where the first tool comprises at least one sputtering component in the chamber for sputtering a front contact onto the substrate; (c) a second tool comprising a close spaced sublimation chamber accessible via the sample transfer chamber, where the second tool comprises a deposition source and a shutter with a planar body and a carrier receiver for receiving the carrier and where the shutter is selectively positionable in the chamber to position the planar body over an opening to the deposition source and to position the carrier receiver over the opening to expose the front contact layer to the deposition source, where a thin film is deposited upon the front contact layer; and (d) a third tool comprising a close spaced sublimation chamber accessible via the sample transfer chamber, where the third tool comprises a post-deposition processing source and a shutter with a planar body and a carrier receiver for receiving the carrier and where the shutter is selectively positionable in the chamber to position the planar body over an opening to the post-deposition processing source and to position the carrier receiver over the opening to expose the thin film to the post-deposition processing source.