Engineering phosphors for improved brightness

Abstract

Factors affecting the cathodoluminescent (CL) efficiency of phosphors include: morphology, size, stoichiometry, composition, and surface of the phosphors. In the design of phosphors for low-voltage operations, processes such as surface etching are used to enhance phosphor efficiency. In this study, zinc-activated ZnO phosphors were subjected to three processes: acid etching, ball milling, and/or ultrasonic vibration, and the effect of each process on the CL efficiency studied. It is found that the brightness of phosphors increases 40% after ultrasonic vibration followed by etching twice with 0.005 M HNO3. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.