In the category of precious metals, you can find the usual list of suspects. Everyone considers such elements as gold and silver as being precious. In fact, several other elements are also in this particular class of metals. The group contains some better and lesser-known metals including:
- Gold (Au)
- Silver (Ag)
- Iridium (Ir)
- Platinum (Pt)
- Palladium (Pd)
- Rhodium (Rh)
- Ruthenium (Ru)
- Titanium (Ti)
They all qualify because they fall into one of several strict characteristics.
Common Characteristics
To be a precious, a metal must feature some or all of the below applicable characteristics. It must be
- Scarce or rare
- Be considered a valuable investment commodity either as currency or in another fashion
- Be employable in diverse functions in industrial treatments
Moreover, these metals tend to possess certain common chemical qualities or properties that place them together as a group. These include:
- Less chemical reactivity
- Higher melting point
- Excellent level of luster or sheen
- High ductility
Precious metals may also have higher densities, fair to good resistance to corrosion and a high price. At the same time, this group of metals is always graded excellent in terms of functional and decorative qualities.
Thin Film Coating
While electroplating is one means of applying a coating of a precious metal to a workpiece, thin film coating is another. Acting as a thin film coating material, they create a micro or atom thin layer of protection while imbuing the substrate or subsequent layers with desirable qualities. At the same time, such metals as gold or silver improve the overall appearance of the item, they also strengthen it in terms of durability and corrosion resistance.
As a result of this double endowment, the metals find themselves popular in a variety of applications. Among the most common ones, besides jewelry are in the electronic field. Thin film coating using a precious metal can produce high quality products that are used for:
- Crystal oscillators e.g. electrodes
- Energy harvesting
- Energy storage e.g. thin-film solar cells
- Electrode films e.g. for touch Panels
- LED electrodes
- Memory storage
- Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
- Medical equipment
Overall, this type of thin film application finds increasing application in such devices as electrodes, semiconductors, and medical equipment. They act as adhesion layers, barrier layers, reflective layers and sensors.
Precious Metals: A Growth Industry
The use of this select group of metals has always proven popular if expensive. Today, using thin film technology, the interest is growing as is the number of applications. With our increasing miniaturization and expansion of electronic devices such as mobile phones and smartphones, the natural and expected result is an increase in the demand for precious metals.