Zirconia thin film preparation by wet chemical methods at low temperature

In this study the preparation of zirconia thin films with a high refractive index at low temperature is aimed for. Two non-hydrolytic type approaches of wet chemical synthesis are presented. Both by sol–gel and colloid chemistry, highly transmissive, smooth thin films of zirconia cubic and/or tetragonal crystalline phases were readily prepared after annealing at only 400 °C. The thin films show indices of refraction varying between 1.7 and 1.9 for annealing temperatures in the range 200–400 °C.