The object of the present work is the formation of a nearly collimated beam of gold nanoparticles with a high deposition rate and investigation of the resulting nanostructured gold film deposited onto (111) silicon substrates. The shape, size, and orientation of nanostructured gold crystals' were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction, and optical properties were investigated by ellipsometry. It was found that the optical properties of gold nanostructured films are completely different from the optical properties of conventionally deposited films reported in the literature. It was also found most crystals were grown on (111) plane with an indication, of an expitaxial contact between the film and the substrate. The crystallite size was approximately 8 nm in diameter. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy also revealed that the gold nanophase crystals are cubo-octahedral with larger surface areas (octahedral part) at (111) orientation. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society.