A simple method has been developed for the production of gold surfaces which are uniformly flat over large areas. Silicon wafers serve as substrates for the evaporation of thin gold layers. A glass slide glued onto the gold film allows successful separation of the gold layer from the silicon oxide surface. The process leaves a flat gold surface suitable for chemical modification. The surfaces were characterized using scanning force microscopy. An average roughness of 2.5 Angstrom over areas up to 1000 mu m(2) was found. We show scanning force microscopy images on the micron scale of lipid monolayer structures transferred onto these gold surfaces.