Photoluminescent properties of Ca2Gd8(SiO4)6O2:Dy3+ phosphor films prepared by sol-gel process

There are growing interests on phosphor thin films owing to their potential application in high-resolution devices such as cathode ray tubes and flat panel display devices. The solution-based sol-gel method is one of the most important techniques for the synthesis of various functional coating films. Compounds with the apatite structure are very suitable host lattices for various luminescent ions. Ca2RE8(SiO4)(6)O-2 (RE=Y, Gd, La) is a kind of ternary rare-earth-metal silicate with oxyapatite structure, which has been used as host material for the luminescence of various rare earth and mercury-like ions. In this article, Ca2Gd8(SiO4)(6)O-2:Dy3+ phosphor films were dip-coated on quartz glass substrates through the sol-gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, as well as lifetimes were used to characterize the resulting films. AFM study revealed that the phosphor films consisted of homogeneous particles. The Dy3+ showed its characteristic emission in crystalline phosphor films, i.e., F-4(9/2)-H-6(15/2) and F-4(9/2)-H-6(13/2).