NOVELTY - The method involves providing a substrate (110) e.g. silicon-based substrate, into a processing chamber. A passivation layer stack is formed on the substrate. The passivation layer stack is subjected to a series of pulsed laser beams having wavelength of about 300 nanometers to 700 nanometers and pulse width of between 80 picoseconds and 50 nanoseconds to remove materials of the passivation layer stack at desired regions. Contact openings are formed in the passivation layer stack such that each opening extends through the passivation layer stack to a back surface (106) of the substrate.    USE - Method for manufacturing a photovoltaic solar cell device utilized for converting sunlight into electrical power.    ADVANTAGE - The method enables making a laser ablation process less selective by lowering refractive index of a silicon nitride layer capping by an aluminum oxide layer in the passivation layer stack to less than 2.1 such that the silicon nitride layer in the passivation layer stack absorbs less laser energy, so that a great deal of laser energy is absorbed by the silicon nitride by the underlying aluminum oxide or silicon dioxide layer while the silicon nitride layer is being ablated, thus allowing each desired region of the passivation layer stack to be removed in a single pass of pulsed laser energy without causing damage or cracking to the neighborhood of the passivation layer stack if an intense UV or green laser is used, and hence increasing production throughput and improving electrical performance of the solar cell device.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - The regions are base regions (101), emitter regions (102) and p-n junction regions (103). The processing chamber is a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition chamber. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for a solar cell device.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a solar cell device during different stages in a processing sequence.    Base regions (101)    Emitter regions (102)    P-n junction regions (103)    Back surface (106)    Substrate (110)