In this paper the first results of a work concerned with the development of TiAlON selective solar absorbers with high solar absorptance and low thermal emittance are presented. These absorbers are thought for solar collectors application at operational temperature of about 300 °C. Solar absorber tandems, consisting of an absorbing TiAlON compound sputtered on a TiC buffer layer deposited on a metal (Cu) substrate, have been produced in two ways: by changing the nitrogen flux percentage in (Ar + N2 + O2) mixture at fixed thickness (300 nm) and by varying the absorber thickness at fixed nitrogen percentage (5%) in the sputtering gas. The optical response in the UV–IR range is discussed. The tuning of the nitrogen flux allows to change the metal elements ratio (Ti/Al) in the oxynitride layer, varying the reflectance intensity both in the IR and visible range. The thickness variation permits to shift the cut-off …