NOVELTY - Forming a sputtering target, comprises: forming a sputtering layer comprising a first material which comprises an alkali-containing transition metal directly on a second material of a support structure, where: the second material does not negatively impact a performance of a copper indium selenide (CIS) based semiconductor absorber layer of a solar cell.    USE - The methods are useful for forming a sputtering target; and for making a solar cell (all claimed).    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Forming a sputtering target, comprises: forming a sputtering layer comprising a first material which comprises an alkali-containing transition metal directly on a second material of a support structure, where: the second material does not negatively impact a performance of a copper indium selenide (CIS) based semiconductor absorber layer of a solar cell; the support structure comprises a barrier layer comprising the second material formed on a backing structure of a third material that is different from the second material; the first material comprises a transition metal selected from molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W), tantalum (Ta), vanadium (V), titanium (Ti), niobium (Nb), zirconium (Zr) and alloys, and an alkali metal selected from lithium (Li), sodium (Na), and potassium (K); the second material is selected from Mo, W, Ta, V, Ti, Nb, Zr, alloys and nitrides; the backing structure comprises stainless steel; and the barrier layer is capable of blocking diffusion of at least one of iron (Fe), nickel (Ni) or chromium (Cr) atoms which negatively impact the performance of the CIS based semiconductor absorber layer from the stainless steel toward the sputtering layer. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is a method of making a solar cell comprising a substrate, a first electrode, at least one p-type semiconductor absorber layer comprising a CIS based alloy material, an n-type semiconductor layer and a second electrode, the method comprising: sputtering the first electrode comprising an alkali-containing transition metal layer from a target comprising: a sputtering layer comprising a first material which comprises an alkali-containing transition metal sputtering layer; and a support structure comprising a second material, where the sputtering layer of the target directly contacts the second material; where the second material is selected such that atoms which negatively impact a performance of the CIS based alloy material are not incorporated into the p-type semiconductor absorber layer from the alkali containing transition metal layer of the first electrode.