Gold-Coated Glass: Properties & Applications

It goes without saying that gold is an incredibly valuable material, but its value in the combined fields of microscopy and spectroscopy extend far beyond the superficial. Gold thin films deposited uniformly onto transparent glass or mica have useful optical properties, including selective reflectivity and transmissivity. Provided that gold-coated glass can be engineered with extremely precise planarity at, or approaching, the atomic range, it can be readily leveraged in a range of high-resolution imaging techniques that push conventional optical limits.

At Platypus Technologies, we routinely apply our revolutionary surface science expertise to deliver top-quality gold-coated glass products for custom specifications. We are consistently engaged to create novel solutions for an ever-expanding range of microscopy and spectroscopy applications, particularly in the fields of surface science and protein analysis.

Platypus Gold-Coated Glass: Characteristics & Qualities

We offer gold-coated glass in three primary formats. For the purposes of this article, we will focus primarily on our microscope slides, but we also offer coverslips and gold-coated glass chips with comparative properties.

Our gold-coated glass slides are engineered in a class 10,000 cleanroom via electron beam evaporation, enabling the deposition of gold thin films at extremely high purities (<99.999%). Uniform adhesion is promoted by first plasma cleaning the glass substrate and applying an extremely thin layer of adhesive titanium to the surface. The underlying substrates are typically aluminosilicate glass slides of 1 x 3 inches and 0.7 millimeters in thickness. Our high purity coating process enables us to generate atomically flat gold thin films of 10 nanometers (nm), 50 nm, or 100 nm.

Applications of Gold-Coated Glass

The primary benefit of our gold-coated glass slides for various imaging applications is their outstanding topographical uniformity. Unlike conventional imaging where visible light is used to illuminate and thus magnify samples for observation, advanced imaging methods go beyond the visible spectrum. The atomic-scale uniformity of our gold-coated glass slides allows researchers to probe extremely small structures or acquire very weak signals with absolute confidence of negligible interference from the substrate itself.

Additionally, the molecular adsorption dynamics of gold surfaces make them ideal candidates for immobilizing proteins of interest for microscopic/spectroscopic observation. This has proven to be an empowering method of identifying and characterizing nanoscale biomolecular structures.

Gold-Coated Glass from Platypus Technologies

At Platypus Technologies, we make most of our gold-coated glass slides on a custom basis, providing precision solutions that deliver highly repeatable results for a wide range of surface-enhanced optical techniques. If you would like to discuss partnership opportunities with us involving gold-coated microscope slides, coverslips, or patterned chips, why not contact us today?