Investigation on low thermal emittance of Al films deposited by magnetron sputtering

A series of Al films with different thicknesses were deposited on polished stainless steel by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering as a metal IR-reflector layer in solar selective absorbing coating (SSAC). The effects of the film thickness and the temperature on the thermal emittance of the Al films are studied. An optimal thickness 78 nm of the Al film for the lowest total thermal emittance is obtained. The thermal emittance of the optimal Al film keeps close to 0.02 from 25 degrees C to 400 degrees C, which are low enough to satisfy the optical requirements in SSAC. The optical constants of the AI film are deduced by fitting the reflectance and transmission spectra using SCOUT software.