Gold deposited in vacuum at liquid air temperature contained defects and strain. The number of defects and their characteristic decay energy increased rapidly with increasing rate of deposit in the range from 1 to 5 micrograms/cm2/min. The defects decayed with rising temperature but the relief of strain did not occur until after most of the defects had disappeared. Electron micrographs showed that the gold film was made up of aggregations of discreet particles rather than a smooth continuous film.