Photoluminescence of Y2O3:Eu3+ thin film phosphors by sol-gel deposition and rapid thermal annealing

Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor films have been developed by using the sol-gel process. Comprehensive characterization methods such as Photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to characterize the Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor films. In this experiment, the XRD profiles show that the Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor films crystallization temperature and optimum annealing temperature occur at about 650 and 750 °C, respectively. The optimum dopant concentration is 12 mol% Eu3+ and the critical transfer distance (Rc) among Eu3+ ions is calculated to be about 0.84 nm. Vacuum environment is more efficient than oxygen and nitrogen to eliminate the OH content and hence yields higher luminescent phosphor films. The PL emission intensity of Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor films is also dependent on the annealing time. It was found that the H2O impurities were effectively eliminated after annealing time of 25 s at 750 °C in vacuum environment. From the experiment results, the schematic energy band diagram of Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphor films is constructed.