Multicomponent tellurite thin film materials with high refractive index

Sol-gel processing has been used to prepare optically transparent thin films in the system TeO2-TiO2. The structure and morphology of the thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission microscopy (FEM). The calculated refractive index, band gap and Urbach energy values for the thin films are consistent with the values obtained in other studies of conventionally melted tellurite and multicomponent tellurite glasses. The results show that the thin films by sol-gei processing offers an attractive route for the fabrication of such materials into devices. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.