TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The method further comprises contacting M3 chalcogenide or M3 salt with the liquid medium, where M3 comprises an element comprising sodium, potassium, lithium, antimony, bismuth, calcium, strontium, barium or boron. The step of contacting the metal chalcogenides in the liquid medium to form the solution or the dispersion is performed before the step of contacting the organic additive with the metal chalcogenides. The solution or the dispersion is deposited onto the substrate using spin-coating, dip-coating, doctor blading, curtain coating, slide coating, spraying, slit casting, meniscus coating, screen printing, ink jet printing, pad printing, flexographic printing or gravure printing. The layer is annealed at a temperature of 300-700 degrees C, at a pressure of 1x 106 mu Pa to 1x 106 Pa for a duration of 10 seconds to 120 minutes to form the chalcogenide film. The annealing step is performed in an atmosphere containing vapors of at least one of sulfur, selenium, tin, tin(II) sulfide, tin(II) selenide, tin(IV) sulfide or tin(IV) selenide. Preferred Components: The chalcogenide film is a copper-based quaternary chalcogenide film having a structure of formula (Cu2xM11+yM21+p(S1zSez)4+q), or has structure of formula (C2xZn1+y-Sn1+p (S1zSez)4+q). The copper chalcogenide is copper disulfide, copper monosulfide, copper selenide, copper (ii) selenide, copper tin sulfide, copper tin selenide, copper tin sulfur selenide (Cu2Sn(S,Se)3), copper zinc tin sulfide, copper-zinc-tin-sulfide and/or copper zinc tin sulfur selenide (Cu2ZnSn (S,Se)4). The M1 chalcogenide is tin(II) selenide, tin(II) sulfide, tin(IV) diselenide, tin(IV) sulfide, copper tin sulfide, copper tin selenide, Cu2Sn(S,Se)3, copper zinc tin sulfide, copper-zinc-tin-sulfide or Cu2ZnSn (S,Se)4. The M2 chalcogenide is zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, copper zinc tin sulfide, copper-zinc-tin-sulfide or Cu2ZnSn (S,Se)4. The M3 chalcogenide or the M3 salt is antimony(III) sulfide, antimony triselenide, antimony sulfur triselenide (Sb2 (S,Se)3), antimony pentasulfide, sodium sulfide, sodium selenide, sodium sulfur selenide (Na2 (S,Se)), potassium sulfide, potassium selenide, potassium sulfur selenide (K2 (S,Se)), lithium sulfide, lithium selenide, lithium sulfur selenide (Li2 (S,Se)), bismuth sulfide, bismuth selenide, bismuth sulfur selenide (Bi2(S,Se)3), antimony(III) chloride, antimony tribromide, antimony triiodide, antimony(III) acetate, antimony(III) tartrate, antimony chloride, antimony pentabromide, antimony trifluoride, antimony pentafluoride, sodium chloride, sodium bromide, sodium iodide, sodium fluoride, sodium hydroxide, sodium acetate, sodium sulfate, sodium nitrite, sodium thiosulfate, sodium nitrate, sodium sulfite, sodium selenite, potassium fluoride, potassium chloride, potassium bromide, potassium iodide, potassium hydroxide, potassium acetate, potassium sulfate, potassium thiosulfate, potassium nitrite, potassium nitrate, potassium sulfite, potassium thiosulfate, potassium selenite, lithium fluoride, lithium chloride , lithium bromide, lithium iodide, lithium hydroxide, lithium acetate, lithium sulfate, lithium nitrate, lithium nitrite, lithium sulfite, lithium thiosulfate, lithium selenite, trifluorobismuthine, bismuth chloride, bismuth tribromide, bismuth (III) iodide, bismuth (III) nitrate pentahydrate, bismuth (III) acetate, or bismuth(III) citrate. The liquid medium comprises a solvent comprising water, ammonium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide-water mixtures, ammonium sulfide-ammonium hydroxide-water mixtures, alcohols, ethers, glycols, aldehydes, ketones, alkanes, amines, dimethyl sulfoxide, cyclic compounds and/or halogenated organic compounds. The substrate comprises a metal foil substrate, aluminum foil coated with a layer of molybdenum, a glass substrate with conductive coating, a ceramic substrate with conductive coating and a polymer substrate with a conductive coating.x, z = 0-1; andy, p, q = -1 to 1.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The organic additive is a molecule of formula (R1 = CR2R3). The organic additive: is urea (preferred), thiourea or selenourea; decomposes at a temperature of less than or equal to 150 degrees C; and has a solubility of 1 mu M to 100 M in the liquid medium.R1 = O, S, Se or Te; andR2, R3 = primary amine group.