Deposition and characterization of far-infrared absorbing gold black films

A process is described for producing gold black films with high absorptance in the far IR. The optical and electrical properties of these films have been studied with particular emphasis on the absorptance of films at wavelengths as long as 50 microm. A substantial decrease in absorptance near50 microm has been observed for pure gold black films on aging in air. This degradation can be largely avoided by alloying the gold with a small percentage of copper during the deposition. Preliminary results on two methods for delineating gold black films are also presented.