TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRICAL POWER AND ENERGY - Preferred Device: The additional layer is a transparent layer, where the conductive layer includes the at least one of Ru, Os, and Ir, and the thin film solar cell is of a substrate type. The conductive layer further includes a compound of at least one of Ru, Os, and Ir. The compound of the conductive layer further includes the at least one of Ru, Os, and Ir reacted with a Group VIA material. The conductive layer includes several layers, with a lower conductive layer including one of Mo, Ru, Os and Ir, and an upper conductive layer including the compound of at least one of Ru, Os and Ir, and the upper conductive layer is sandwiched between the absorber and the lower conductive layer. The compound of at least one of Ru, Os and Ir is at least one of Ru-sulfide and Ru-selenide. The compound of at least one of Ru, Os and Ir is one of a sulfide and a selenide of Ru, Os and Ir. The at least one of Ru, Os and Ir in the conductive layer includes at least some of a pure elemental form of the at least one of Ru, Os, and Ir. The substrate is a conductive sheet (preferably stainless steel or aluminum sheet). Or the substrate is an insulating sheet (preferably a glass). The absorber layer includes a dopant. The dopant is at least one of Na, K, and Li. The Group (IB) to Group (IIIA) molar ratio of the absorber layer is less than or equal to 1.0. The transparent layer comprises cadmium sulfide, zinc oxide and/or indium zinc oxide. The transparent layer is a CdS/ZnO stack or a CdS/In-Zn-O (IZO) stack. The substrate and the conductive layer are both transparent, where the additional layer includes the at least one of Ru, Os, and Ir, and the thin film solar cell is of a superstrate type. The additional layer further includes a compound of at least one of Ru, Os, and Ir. The compound includes at least one of selenide, sulfide and oxide of at least one of Ru, Os, and Ir. The absorber layer is a Group IIB/VIA or Group IB/IIIA/VIA compound layer. The substrate is glass and the conductive layer comprises at least one of cadmium sulfide and a transparent conductive oxide. Preferred Method: In producing the solar cell, the step of forming the additional layer forms a transparent layer as the additional layer and the step of forming the conductive layer includes at least one of Ru, Ir, and Os in the conductive layer, and the conductive layer provides for microscale uniformities of the absorber layer. The step of depositing the set of distinct layers deposits them in the order Cu/In/Cu/Ga or Cu/Ga/Cu/In, such that the pair of non-adjacent layers is Cu. The depositing is performed with electrodeposition. The depositing includes the step of depositing a Group VIA material, and where the step of treating causes the Group VIA material to react with Cu, In and Ga and the conductive layer. The step of treating forms an interface layer between the conductive layer and the absorber layer, the interface layer comprising a compound of at least one of Ru, Ir, and Os with the Group VIA material. The interface layer comprises all of the at least one of Ru, Ir, and Os and the base comprises a conductive surface. The conductive surface includes Mo. At least one of Ru, Ir, and Os used in the step of forming the conductive layer and includes at least some of a pure elemental form of the at least one of Ru, Ir, and Os. The step of treating is performed at greater than or equal to 575degreesC, performed in less than 20 minutes. The sheet shaped base is transparent, where the step of forming the conductive layer forms a transparent conductive layer, and forming the additional layer includes at least one of Ru, Ir, and Os in the additional layer. The absorber layer is a semiconductor absorber layer formed over the surface of the conductive layer. The Group IB/IIIA/VIA absorber layer is formed while a compound interface layer forms on the surface of the conductive layer, the compound interface layer includes at least one of a sulfide and a selenide of at least one of Ru, Ir and Os. The surface of the conductive layer comprises an alloy of at least one of Ru, Ir and Os with another metal. The surface of the conductive layer comprises an oxide of at least one of Ru, Ir and Os. The step of forming the semiconductor absorber layer is carried out using electrodeposition, evaporation, sputtering and/or nano-particle deposition. The Group IB/IIIA/VIA compound layer is a Cu(In, Ga)(Se, S)2 layer formed by first electrodepositing discrete layers of Cu, In and Ga over the conductive layer to form a precursor stack and then reacting the precursor stack with at least one of Se and S. The semiconductor absorber layer is a Group IIB/VIA compound layer. The Group IIB/VIA compound layer is a CdTe layer. The semiconductor absorber layer is a Cu(In, Ga)(Se, S)2 layer formed using electrodeposition, evaporation, sputtering and/or nano-particle deposition. In forming the Cu(In, Ga)(Se, S)2 absorber layer, the conductive layer comprises at least one of Ru, Ir and Os and the step of electrodepositing is carried out with the sequence selected from Ga/Cu/In, Ga/Cu/In/Ga, Ga/Cu/In/Cu, In/Cu/Ga, In/Cu/Ga/In, In/Cu/Ga/Cu, In/Ga/Cu, In/Ga/Cu/In, In/Ga/Cu/Ga, Ga/In/Cu, Ga/In/Cu/In, and Ga/In/Cu/Ga; or with the sequence selected from Cu/Ga/Cu/In, Cu/Ga/Cu/In/Ga, Cu/Ga/Cu/In/Cu, Cu/In/Cu/Ga, Cu/In/Cu/Ga/In, Cu/In/Cu/Ga/Cu, Cu/In/Ga/Cu, Cu/In/Ga/Cu/In, Cu/In/Ga/Cu/Ga, Cu/Ga/In/Cu, Cu/Ga/In/Cu/In, and Cu/Ga/In/Cu/Ga. The Cu/(In+Ga) molar ratio of the precursor stack is less than or equal to 1.0. The Cu electrolyte comprises a Cu complexing agent. The Cu complexing agent is selected from triethylamine (TEA), ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), tartaric acid, citrate and/or acetate. The pH of the Cu electrolyte is above 3.0 and Cu electroplating is carried out at a current density in the range of 0.1 - 30 mA/cm2. The precursor stack is reacted with both Se and S. The step of applying a conductive layer is by electroplating or electroless plating. The base comprises a conductive foil. The conductive foil is an aluminum foil or a stainless steel foil. The step of reacting the precursor stack involves heating the precursor stack in a gas containing at least one of Se and S. The step of reacting involves depositing at least one of Se and S on the precursor stack and heating. EXAMPLE - A Cu/Ga/Cu/In precursor stack for the absorber layer of a solar cell was prepared. Mo was sputter deposited on a glass sheet to a thickness of (700 nm) to obtain a glass/Mo base. The SOLCu (RTM: copper deposition solution of copper sulfate-penta hydrate (0.1M), trisodium citrate (0.5M), and pH 11) was employed to electroplate (150 nm) thick Cu sub-layer over the Mo surface at a current density of 5 mA/cm2. The resulting Cu sub-layer was uniform and smooth with 3 - 5 nm surface roughness. A 100 nm thick Ga layer was deposited on the Cu sub-layer using SOLGa (RTM: gallium chloride in glycerol (1 M) and pH of 2) at a current density of 10 mA/cm2. A smooth and shiny silver-colored layer was obtained. SOLCu solution was utilized again to deposit 50 nm thick Cu sub-layer over the Ga layer at a current density of 5 mA/cm2. No Ga was lost into the SOLCu during Cu plating since the plating potential of Cu with respect to a calomel electrode placed into the solution was in the range of (-1 to -2 V). After the formation of the 50 nm thick Cu sub-layer over the 100 nm thick Ga layer, SOLIn (RTM: indium sulfamate solution) was used at 15 mA/cm2 current density to form a 400 nm thick In layer to obtain the Cu/Ga/Cu/In stack.