摘要:
A flexible substrate has heat resistance to endure the high temperature such as sintering of a photovoltaic conversion layer of a compound-type thin film solar cell, can prevent permeation and/or diffusion of metal into the photovoltaic conversion layer, and can be used for many applications. The polyimide layer-containing flexible substrate has a metal substrate of metal foil made of ordinary steel or stainless steel having a coefficient of thermal expansion in a plane direction of not more than 15 ppm/K, or a metal substrate of metal foil made of that ordinary steel or stainless steel on the surface of which a metal layer comprising one of copper, nickel, zinc, or aluminum or an alloy layer of the same is provided, over which a polyimide layer having a layer thickness of 1.5 to 100 μm and a glass transition point temperature of 300 to 450° C. is formed.