Mechanism for strong yellow emission of Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ phosphor under electron irradiation for the application to field emission backlight units

This letter reports a strong yellow emission of Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ (YAG:Ce) mixed with ZnS:Ag, Cl under electron excitation. The penetration depths of electron of 1 keV and photon of 2.7 eV in YAG: Ce were estimated to be approximately 1450 angstrom and 4.65 mm, respectively. Deeper penetration of blue light from ZnS: Ag, Cl helps to excite a larger number of Ce3+ in a mixture (ZnS:Ag, Cl + YAG:Ce), and YAG:Ce showed strong yellow emission via both cathodoluminescence and photoluminescence. The mixture showed the brightness of 120.5% compared to R, G, B phosphor mixture. This mixture of two phosphors was applied to a carbon nanotube field emission backlight unit. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.