A method for fabricating monolithically-integrated photovoltaic modules comprising the steps of forming a film layer on a deposition area such that at least a portion of said film layer constitutes a photoactive layer, applying a patterning scheme for dividing said film layer into area sections and providing electrically interconnected components each comprising at least one of said area sections , wherein at least one compositional and/or structural property, material percentage composition and/or thickness, of said film layer is varied over said deposition area , and said patterning scheme is applied in such a way - that at least one of said film layer variations in at least one of said area sections is reduced with respect to the corresponding film layer variation over said deposition area for providing at least two of said area sections with substantially differing compositional and/or structural properties, and - that said deposition area is subdivided into area zones with different compositional and/or structural properties of said film layer, at least one of said area zones comprising area sections with essentially the same compositional and/or structural properties of said film layer, characterized in that at least one of said compositional and/or structural properties of said film layer is varied such that in a region comprising at least one of said area zones photovoltaic properties are generated that are degraded with respect to the photovoltaic properties of another area zone , for providing at least one bypass diode and/or resistor and/or Zener diode comprising at least a portion of said film layer on at least one of said area sections in said area zone of degraded photovoltaic properties after applying of said patterning scheme, such that at least two of said components including said bypass diode and/or resistor and/or Zener diode exhibit substantially differing current-voltage characteristics, a different diode threshold voltage and/or different reverse breakdown voltage, wherein said at least two components are interconnected in parallel, whereby said forming of a film layer comprises evaporating and depositing material on said deposition area from at least one material source provided with deposition controlling means in the form of screens, shields, or shadow masks, configured to be applied on said material source or sources to control at least one of said film layer variations such that degraded photovoltaic properties can be generated in at least one region of said film layer , wherein said deposition area is moved with respect to said material source and said varying of at least one compositional and/or structural property of said film layer is carried out transverse to the respective moving direction . - that at least one of said film layer variations in at least one of said area sections is reduced with respect to the corresponding film layer variation over said deposition area for providing at least two of said area sections with substantially differing compositional and/or structural properties, and - that said deposition area is subdivided into area zones with different compositional and/or structural properties of said film layer, at least one of said area zones comprising area sections with essentially the same compositional and/or structural properties of said film layer, <EOS>