Cold white light generation from hafnium oxide films activated with Ce3+, Tb3+, and Mn2+ ions

Abstract

Hafnium oxide films doubly doped with CeCl3 and TbCl3 and triply doped with CeCl3, TbCl3, and MnCl2 were deposited at 300 °C with the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique. The green and yellow emissions of Tb3+ ions and the yellow-red emission of Mn2+ ions can be generated upon ultraviolet (UV) excitation via a nonradiative energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ and Ce3+ to Mn2+. In the doubly doped film Ce3+ → Tb3+ energy transfer via an electric dipole–quadrupole interaction appears to be the most probable transfer mechanism; the efficiency of this transfer is about 81% upon excitation at 270 nm. In the HfO2 films activated with Ce3+, Tb3+, and Mn2+ the efficiency of energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ and Mn2+ ions is enhanced by increasing the Mn2+ concentration, up to about 76% for the film with the highest manganese content (1.6 at.%). In addition, it is demonstrated that these triply doped films can generate cold white light emission upon excitation at 270 nm (peak emission wave length of an AlGaN/GaN-based LEDs).