Investigation on white light emissions from CeO2/Dy2O3 multilayer films based on silicon substrates

• CeO2/Dy2O3 multilayer films were deposited on Si by electron-beam evaporation.
• White light emission was obtained from the annealed CeO2/Dy2O3 multilayer film.
• The coordinate data of optimal sample are proximate to ideal white light emission.
• The effects of Dy3+ concentration on photoluminescence properties were studied.
• The effects of annealing temperature on luminescence intensity were studied.

CeO2/Dy2O3 multilayer films were deposited on Si substrates using electron-beam evaporation, and Dy3+ ions were doped in CeO2 after samples were annealed in weak reducing atmosphere at high temperature. White light emissions were observed from CeO2:Dy3+ films. The luminescence properties of CeO2:Dy3+ films were investigated by excitation, emission spectra and decay curves. In addition, the effects of Dy3+ concentration and annealing temperature on photoluminescence intensity were conducted. In this paper, the color coordinates of samples with different Dy3+ concentration were calculated and the results were presented in chromaticity diagram.