This paper is a perspective on the applicability of atomic layer deposition (ALD) to the synthesis of photovoltaic absorber layers. ALD offers digital control over composition with excellent uniformity and conformal morphology. Two types of thin film photovoltaic (PV) device architectures where ALD is viable to deposit the absorber layer are extremely thin absorber (ETA) cells and plasmon-enhanced cells. Metal sulfides are an attractive class of compounds for the absorber material. Successful absorber layers are engineered materials, optimized to meet the application specifications of performance and stability. Historical precedence in engineered materials contains many prominent multicomponent examples. Fortunately, atomic mixing is facile in multicomponent metal sulfide thin films synthesized by ALD, and so the synthetic approach is up to the task. Cu2ZnSnS4 is used as an example.