This study report on the optical properties and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) observations of the morphology of gold thin film prepared by a filtered are deposition (FAD) process. The optical properties of FAD deposited films were found to be superior to those prepared with d.c. magnetron and comparable to the best reported properties in the literature. We found that Au film surface roughness increased with increasing substrate bias (i.e. ion energy). Also films prepared at zero substrate bias were found to be smoother to those prepared by thermal evaporation and magnetron sputtering. The smoothness of the gold film, excellent optical properties and high deposition rate makes them attractive for a number of fundamental and technological applications.