NOVELTY - System (300) for depositing transparent conductive layers for manufacturing solar cells comprises moving mechanism for supplying continuous flexible workpiece (302) into system, including continuous conductive substrate having group IB/IIIA/VIA compound absorber layer; transparent conductive layer deposition sub-system located within process chamber to form transparent conductive layer; and treatment sub-system comprising material removing device located within process chamber to apply material removal process to remove surface film from back surface of continuous conductive substrate.    USE - For depositing transparent conductive layers for manufacturing solar cells based on group IB/IIIA/VIA thin film semiconductors.    ADVANTAGE - The apparatus enables cell sorting for metal foil based thin film solar cells and reduces the contact resistance and enhances the adhesion of contact leads such as copper ribbons attached to the back side of metallic foil substrates. This enhances device efficiency and manufacturability and long term reliability of the modules. Furthermore, the fresh back surface of the metallic foil substrate resulting from the treatment step provides a good surface to make well adhering low resistance ohmic contact when leads are attached to it during stringing.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - System (300) for depositing transparent conductive layers for manufacturing solar cells comprises a moving mechanism for supplying a continuous flexible workpiece (302) into the system, including a continuous conductive substrate having a group IB/IIIA/VIA compound absorber layer disposed over a front surface of the continuous conductive substrate; a transparent conductive layer deposition sub-system located within a process chamber to form a transparent conductive layer on the absorber layer using at least one material deposition device; and a treatment sub-system comprising at least one material removing device located within the process chamber to apply a material removal process to remove a surface film from a back surface of the continuous conductive substrate and obtain a treated back surface contact area as the transparent conductive layer is formed on the absorber layer.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows schematic view of the system.    System (300)    Continuous flexible workpiece (302)    Solar cell structure (303)    Feeding roll (310)    Receiving roll (311)    Loading compartment (350)    Process compartment (360)    Rotating drum (361)    Unloading compartment (370)