Vacuum ultraviolet field emission lamp consisting of neodymium ion doped lutetium fluoride thin film as phosphor.

Masahiro Yanagihara,Tomohito Nagami,Toshihisa Suyama,Akira Yoshikawa,Masaki Tanemura,Takayuki Yanagida,Yuui Yokota,Kentaro Fukuda,Takayuki Tsuji,Mohd Zamri Yusop,Shingo Ono

doi:10.1155/2014/309091

Abstract

A vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) field emission lamp was developed by using a neodymium ion doped lutetium fluoride (Nd3+ : LuF3) thin film as solid-state phosphor and carbon nanofiber field electron emitters. The thin film was synthesized by pulsed laser deposition and incorporated into the lamp. The cathodoluminescence spectra of the lamp showed multiple emission peaks at 180, 225, and 255 nm. These emission spectra were in good agreement with the spectra reported for the Nd3+ : LuF3 crystal. Moreover, application of an acceleration voltage effectively increased the emission intensity. These results contribute to the performance enhancement of the lamp operating in the VUV region.

Highlights

Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light has been used in numerous fields, such as cleaning, surface modification, and sterilization, because short wavelength light with high photon energy is capable of breaking strong chemical bonds [1,2,3]
A KMgF3 thin film acting as a solid-state phosphor and carbon nanofiber (CNF) field electron emitter has previously been incorporated into a VUV lamp [25]
A VUV field emission lamp consisting of a Nd3+ : LuF3 thin film as a solid-state phosphor and CNF field electron emitter was fabricated

Summary

Introduction

Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light has been used in numerous fields, such as cleaning, surface modification, and sterilization, because short wavelength light with high photon energy is capable of breaking strong chemical bonds [1,2,3]. The VUV gas lamp has widely been used [4,5,6] but presents limited stability, lifetime, and size. VUV lamps using a solid-state phosphor have attracted considerable attention as alternate light sources because they exhibit less deterioration, less fluctuation, and higher density than gas lamps [7, 8]. These lamps require wide band gap materials but few solid-state phosphors have substantial band gaps. Some fluorides have band gaps that are sufficiently wide to enable light emission in the VUV region [15, 16]. The emission spectra from the lamp showed two emission peaks at 155 and 180 nm in the 140–200 nm wavelength range, showing that solid-state phosphors can be exploited in VUV lamps

Methods

Results

Conclusion