Go to TOP (6) Are gold CD-R discs better than silver?
As explained above, the very first CD-Rs were made with genuine gold metal used as a top reflector layer. Gold was chosen because it did not tarnish when exposed to harsh inks and adhesives used to affix CD labels to the discs. However, because the gold metal itself added at least 25-cents to the cost of the disc, there was constant pressure to find a different metal alloy to use for the reflector layers. Silver was especially attractive as an alternative to gold. Silver costs less than one cent per disc, and is actually more reflective by about 4% than is gold to laser light. The only disadvantage to silver was in its tendency to degrade or tarnish if the harsh inks and adhesive chemicals leached through the top plastic layers down into the metal. Advances in CD research finally produced alloys of silver that had traces of other rare metals, producing a final reflector layer that was very resistant to tarnishing, yet still had the advantages of very low cost and high reflectivity. Tod
