Spectroscopic and photoluminescence characteristics of Sm3+ doped calcium aluminozincate phosphor for applications in w-LED

Monophase Calcium Aluminozincate (Ca3Al4ZnO10) phosphor doped with Sm3+ ions by varying concentrations have been prepared at 1300 degrees C using conventional solid state reaction technique. The crystal structure and phase analysis of the as-prepared phosphor has been carried out by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) studies. Morphology and functional groups present in the phosphor have been investigated thoroughly by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectral measurements, respectively. Under 401 nm excitation, the as-prepared phosphor exhibit intense visible orange emission at 601 nm. It has been observed that 1.0 mol% of Sm3+ ions concentration is optimum to give intense visible orange emission. The PL analysis reveals that the dipole-dipole interaction is primarily responsible for the concentration quenching observed beyond 1.0 mol% of Sm3+ ions. The TR-PL study reveals a bi-exponential behavior of decay curves with an average lifetime of the order of microseconds. The CIE coordinates (x=0.574 and y=0.424) measured for the optimized phosphor are very close to the intense orange emission coordinates specified by Nichia Corporation developed Amber LED NSPAR 70BS (0.570, 0.420). The spectroscopic, PL and TR-PL studies suggest the potential use of Sm3+ doped calcium aluminozincate phosphors for display and white light emitting devices.