Highly porous and electrically insulating films deposited by reactive physical vapor deposition

Highly porous metallic films can be deposited by a modified physical vapor deposition process. The deposition of those films is investigated for several metals. For application in infrared optics and sensors it is often necessary to deposit a highly porous and electrically insulating film. This type of film can be produced by reactive physical vapor deposition of aluminum in a low-pressure O sub O2/Ar atmosphere.