Very thin gold films produced with ion plating for improved transparent infrared reflectors

Abstract

Semitransparent gold films under 10 nm thick were produced with ion plating onto glass and were shown to give improvements, depending on thickness, for either solar control or transparent heat-mirror applications relative to conventional deposits. Film inhomogeneities, modified gold optical constants, and ion-beam assisted onset of film coalescence all play an important role. An anomalously large frequency dependence of conduction electron relaxation time was identified in a continuous film from a Drude analysis.