TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - CERAMICS AND GLASS - Preferred Components: The glass precursor comprises soluble form of silicon; 1-10C alcohol; trialkylborate; sodium salt or sodium borate; and aluminum compound. The glass precursor further comprises water.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The process further involves: drying the deposited glass precursor at 100-150 degrees C prior to heating the glass precursor at 250-800 degrees C to form a glass layer, where the deposition and drying steps are repeated 2-5 times before the heating step; depositing additional glass precursor on at least a portion of the glass layer; and heating the additional glass precursor to form an additional glass layer on at least a portion of the glass layer, where the glass layers comprise SiO2, Al2O3, Na2O, and B2O3, and optionally an oxide selected from LiO, MgO, K2O, CaO, BaO, PbO, GeO4, SnO2, Sb2O3, Bi2O3 and oxide of a lanthanide metals.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The soluble form of silicon is selected from silicon tetraacetate, silicon tetrapropionate, bis(acetylacetonato)bis(acetato)silicon, bis(2-methoxyethoxy)bis(acetato)silicon, bis(acetylacetonato)bis(ethoxy)silicon, tetramethylorthosilicate, tetraethylorthosilicate and/or tetraisopropylorthosilicate. The 1-10C alcohol is selected from methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol or its isomer, 2-butanol, 1-pentanol or its isomer, 2-pentanol, 3-pentanol, 1-hexanol or its isomer, 2-hexanol, 3-hexanol, and/or 1-heptanol or its isomer. The trialkylborate is selected from trimethylborate, triethylborate, tripropylborate and/or trimethoxyboroxine. The sodium salt is selected from sodium acetate, sodium propionate, sodium silicate, sodium alkoxides and/or sodium tetraphenylborate. The potassium salt is selected from potassium acetate, potassium propionate, potassium methoxide, potassium ethoxide and/or potassium isopropoxide. The aluminum compound is selected from tris(acetylacetonato)aluminum, aluminum methoxide, aluminum ethoxide, aluminum isopropoxide and/or aluminum n-propoxide. EXAMPLE - No suitable example given.