Patent ID: 6974976

Claim:
A solar cell, comprising: a substrate; a conductive film disposed on a surface of the substrate, wherein the conductive film includes a plurality of discrete layers of conductive materials, wherein the discrete layers of conductive materials include: at least one metallic layer of material selected from one or more groups comprising copper, silver, aluminum, molybdenum, and niobium; and at least one barrier layer made substantially of a transition metal nitride material; at least one p-type semiconductor absorber layer disposed on the conductive film, wherein the p-type semiconductor absorber layer includes a copper indium diselenide (CIS) based alloy material; an n-type semiconductor layer disposed on the p-type semiconductor absorber layer, wherein the p-type semiconductor absorber layer and the n-type semiconductor layer form a p-n junction; and a transparent electrically conductive top contact layer on the n-type semiconductor layer.