Investigation of the anatase-to-rutile transition for TiO2 sol-gel coatings with refractive index up to 2.7

•A sol gel method is reported to yield TiO2 films with high refractive index (n)•Anatase films with n = 2.51 and optical losses of less than 0.5 % can be obtained•Rutile films with n = 2.73 and optical losses of less than 1.2 % can be obtained•Controlled from a balance between nucleation growth, sintering and phase transition This work describes the elaboration of rutile titanium dioxide films with high refractive indices and low scattering losses by sol-gel process and controlled crystallization. The evolutions of the optical properties and crystalline structure of sol-gel processed titania coatings on fused silica were investigated for different thermal budgets of the annealing post-treatment using ellipsometry, spectrophotometry, X-ray diffraction and electronic microscopy. It reveals that anatase and rutile coatings with refractive indices of 2.51 and 2.73 can be prepared with associated optical loss of 0.5 % and 1 %, respectively, which are an excellent compromise for applications in integrated photonics. These evolutions are associated to the thermally induced mass transfer and phase transitions occurring during thermal annealing that involves first the nucleation growth and sintering of anatase polyoriented nanocrystals, followed by the transformation into rutile polyoriented nanocrystals. Concomitantly, rutile crystals with (110) faces parallel to the surface consume surrounding anatase and rutile nanocrystals by diffusive sintering to yield micron-size rutile monocrystalline and monooriented platelets patchwork, exhibiting refractive index of 2.73 and 1.2 % optical loss. The formation of these platelets is governed by surface energies and is responsible for the increase in optical loss.