Abstract Some new structures of thin-film solar converters (SC) based on heterojunctions (HJ) with intermediate semiconductor layers are suggested. Thin protective layers and a quasi-electric field incorporated into the space charge region (SCR) prevent cross-diffusion of HJ components and increase efficiency of charge carrier separation. They also decrease the diode dark current and provide high stability of the converter parameters. Thin (∼ 0.1 μ M) (CdSe) x (ZnTe) 1− x or Zn x Cd 1− x Se layers were used as graded band-gap layers. They were places between a photosensitive II-VI-compound (CdTe, CdSe, CdSe x Te 1− x ) base layer and the transparent Cu 1.8 S layer. The above structures were prepared by vacuum closed space sublimation. The properties of these compounds were studied by electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) with ion etching. The photoelectron properties of structures such as Cu 1.8 S/(CdSe) x )(ZnTe) 1− x /CdSe are presented in detail. The manufacturing technology for the integrated solar batteries based on CdTe, CdSe, and CdSe x Te 1− x compounds was developed. The solar cell parameters under low illumination intensities are comparable to those of solar batteries based on c-Si and a-Si. The competitiveness of the polycrystalline thin-film SC is due to ease and low cost of fabrication (as compared with c-Si and a-Si) and also to the extended photosensitivity range (as compared to a-Si).