A comprehensive study of a Cr-Ag-Au metalization system, as well as a comparison with an aluminum system, is described. The Cr-Ag-Au metalization system, which can be deposited in a conventional evaporator with relatively little increase in processing complexity, has the desirable characteristics of aluminum metalization. It can be patterned more easily than equivalent thicknesses of aluminum. The Cr-Ag-Au has excellent storage characteristics at 300°C and has a much longer mean time to failure than does aluminum under high current density-high temperature stress. In addition, measurements show that with the use of an enhancement diffusion the Cr-Ag-Au produces as good as or better contact to p- and n-type silicon than does aluminum. Finally, the absence of significant metalization-oxide interaction makes Cr-Ag-Au useful for MOS devices and the ease with which contact is made between layers of this metalization indicates a number of applications for Cr-Ag-Au in multilayered devices.