Photoluminescence of Sr2CeO4 phosphors prepared by microwave calcination and pulsed laser deposition

The blue emission powder phosphors of Sr2CeO4 were fabricated by calcinating a mixture of SrCO3 and CeO2 powder using microwave calcination. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the Sr2CeO4 bulk powders which were produced exhibited an orthorhombic crystal structure. The room-temperature broad photoluminescence (PL) spectra peaking around 470 nm for the powder phosphor were deter-mined. In addition, Sr2CeO4 thin films were successfully prepared by using 355 mm pulsed laser deposition technique. The time-resolved PL spectroscopy was used to examine the PL lifetime of these phosphors, and the PL decay lifetimes were estimated to be 18 mus for thin film. The relatively long PL lifetime could be explained by the spin-forbidden nature of the ligand-to-metal charge-transfer transition. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.