A significantly more stable ohmic contact for a lead-salt semiconductor surface, especially for use in infrared lasers. The contact has layers of platinum, palladium or nickel alternating with gold, and then covered with indium. An Au-Pd-Au-In contact is used on lead-sulfide-selenide, lead-tin-selenide, and lead-tin-telluride of high tin content. A Pt-Au-Pt-Sn contact is preferred for lead-tin-telluride of low tin content. Lower contact resistance is attained if P type lead-tin-selenide and lead-tin-telluride surfaces are previously doped with oxygen, and the initial metal layer is applied in a manner that does not remove it.