Annealing effect on photoluminescence of Tb-doped AlBON films

Photoluminescence (PL) of Tb-doped AlBON (AlBON:Tb) films is investigated. The AlBON:Tb films are synthesized by RF magnetron sputtering. The PL intensity of the film with 800 °C annealing is about 10 times larger than that of the film without annealing. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement suggests that Tb4+ ions decrease compared with Tb3+ ions after annealing treatment. Oxygen atoms in the AlBON:Tb film are dissociated from Tb and bonded to boron atoms by annealing treatment. It is possible that decrease in Tb4+ ions leads to increase in the PL intensity by annealing treatment.