Combustion chemical vapour deposition was applied to deposit thin silica films on soda-lime-silica glass substrates. For this purpose, a flame loaded with tetramethylsilane was passed one to 15 times over the substrate. The deposition was carried out using different substrate temperatures in the range from 50 to 500 degrees C. The coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, profilometry and UV/vis spectroscopy. All layers show a particle-like structure. Higher substrate temperatures resulted in a smaller deposition rate. The thicknesses of the coatings were in the range from 20 to 180 nm. All coated glasses showed a higher light transmission than the uncoated substrate. Increasing the thickness of the coatings, resulted in a higher transmission. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.