Pore characteristics for improving luminous efficacy of phosphor-in-glass

Pores formed during the sintering of a glass/phosphor mixture affect the scattering and path of light within the resulting phosphor-in-glass (PIG) plate. An investigation of the interactions between blue light from an LED chip and pores within a PIG plate is therefore needed to understand the effect of light scattering on the optical properties. To this end, various glass compositions based on SiO2-B2O3-ZnO were prepared so as to better understand the effect of modifiers (i.e., Li2O, Na2O, La2O3, WO3) on the viscosity and pore properties at different sintering temperatures. This study found that PIGs sintered within a given viscosity range exhibit different optical properties depending on their pore size and overall porosity; a higher luminous efficacy observed in the case of intermediate scattering length values was due to an improved interaction between pores and light. This is a significant finding, as ensuring suitable PIG pore characteristics is an important factor in achieving a desired spectrum and high efficacy from white LEDs. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America