This paper investigates the crystal structure and optical absorption of Ge-doped Nb-oxide (Nb-Ge-O) thin films prepared by RF sputtering. A wide-gap material, Nb2O5, is selectively produced as a matrix to disperse Ge nanocrystals through compositional optimization with Ge chip numbers and oxygen ratio in argon. The optical-absorption spectra are obviously shifted to visible (vis) and near-infra...