This paper presents a method to prepare solar selective absorbing coatings by radio frequency magnetron reactive sputtering using a single stainless steel target. Stainless steel/stainless steel nitride (SS/SS-N) ceramic-metal composite (cermet) thin films were produced under varied nitrogen gas flow ratios. The solar selective absorbing films have good solar absorptance of 0.91 and thermal emittance of 0.06 at 82 degrees C. The refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k) of the cermet composite layers prepared in nitrogen and argon atmospheres were determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The films were also analyzed by different oscillator models. The results showed a significant transformation from metal to cermet as the nitrogen gas flow ratio was increased to 10%. As the nitrogen gas flow ratio was increased to 17.5%, the film became a dielectric layer that could be used as an anti-reflection layer, suitable as the outermost layer of the solar selective absorbing coatings. A theoretical solar absorptance of 0.92 was achieved by selecting an appropriate combination of three solar absorbing layers. The experimental results agreed well with the theoretical calculations. This study proved the possibility of preparing solar selective absorbing coatings with high solar absorptance by using a single stainless steel target. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.