TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The group IIIA elements include indium or gallium. The group IB element is copper. The chalcogen particles are particles of selenium, sulfur or tellurium. The precursor layer is substantially oxygen-free. The substrate is an aluminum foil substrate. The group IB-IIIA-chalcogenide compound is of the form CuzIn(1-x)GaxS2(1-y)Se2y. At least one set of the particles in the dispersion is in the form of nanoglobules comprising of a group IIIA element in elemental form. The inter-metallic material is a binary or ternary material. The inter-metallic material comprises CuIn2, a composition in delta phase of CuIn2, a composition in between delta phase of CuIn2 and a phase defined by Cu16In9, CuGa2, Cu68Ga38, Cu70Ga30, Cu75Ga25, a composition of Cu-Ga of a phase in between the terminal solid-solution and an intermediate solid-solution next to it, a composition of Cu-Ga in gamma1 phase (about 31.8-39.8 wt.% Ga), a composition of Cu-Ga in gamma2 phase (about 36.0-39.9 wt.% Ga), a composition of Cu-Ga in gamma3 (about 39.7-44.9 wt.% Ga), a composition of Cu-Ga in a theta phase (about 66.7-68.7 wt.% Ga), a composition of Cu-Ga in a phase between gamma2 and gamma3, a composition of Cu-Ga in a phase between the terminal solid solution and gamma1, or Cu-rich Cu-Ga. Gallium is incorporated as a group IIIA element in the form of a suspension of nanoglobules. The film includes a group IB-IIIA-VIA compound. The particles are doped with inorganic materials chosen from aluminum (Al), sulfur (S), sodium (Na), potassium (K), or lithium (Li).z=0.5-1.5;x, y=0-1.0.Preferred Method: The heating step includes heating the substrate and precursor layer from an ambient temperature to a plateau temperature range of 200-600degreesC, maintaining a temperature of the substrate and precursor layer in the plateau range for a fraction of a second to 60 minutes, and subsequently reducing the temperature of the substrate and precursor layer. The nanoglobules of gallium are formed by creating an emulsion of liquid gallium in a solution. The method further comprises adding a mixture of one or more elemental particles selected from aluminum, tellurium, or sulfur. The suitable atmosphere contains selenium, sulfur, tellurium, H2, CO, H2Se, H2S, Ar, and/or N2. The particles are formed from a feedstock having an inter-metallic phase. The nanoparticles are formed by milling, electroexplosive wire (EEW) processing, evaporation condensation (EC), and/or pulsed plasma processing.