Rapid process for producing a chalcopyrite semiconductor on a substrate

A process for producing a chalcopyrite semiconductor of the type ABC.sub.2, where A is copper, B is indium or gallium, and C is sulfur or selenium, on a substrate, comprising the steps of:

• producing a layer structure on the substrate by applying the components A, B, and C in elemental form and/or as a binary interelemental compound B.sub.2 C.sub.3, the component C being present in an excess which forms up to twice a stoichiometrically exact proportion of component;
• rapidly heating the substrate with the layer structure to a processing temperature, which is greater than or equal to 350.degree. C., at a heating rate of at least 10.degree. C./s;
• and
• keeping the substrate at the processing temperature for a time interval dt in the range of 10 seconds to 1 hour to perform annealing;
• providing an encapsulation as a covering above the layer structure at a spacing of less than 5 mm, which encapsulation maintains, throughout the entire annealing process, a partial pressure for the component C which is above the partial pressure of the component C which would develop above a stoichiometrically exact ABC.sub.2 semiconductor.