Luminescent Properties of Ce Doped LuAG Thin Films Prepared by Pechini Sol–Gel Method

Abstract

Compared to phosphors, scintillating films are shown as a better feature for high–resolution display devices with low loss diffusion. Ce 3+ doped lutetium aluminum garnet (Lu 3 Al 5 O 12 , LuAG) scintillating films with different Ce 3+ concentration have been fabricated by Pechini sol–gel processing combined with the spin–coating technique and characterized by X–ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) under excitation of UV–VIS light. The results of XRD patterns indicated that the specimen under study is a well–crystallized single–phase of cubic structure. Under an excitation of 442nm , it was found that the PL spectra was the typical Ce 3+ emissions located in the 460–650 nm consisting of two emission bands due to the transitions from the lowest 5d excited state (2D) to the 4f ground state of Ce 3+ , which matches well with the sensitivity curve of the Si–photodiode . The luminescent intensity of LuAG: Ce 3+ films varies with the Ce 3+ contents and reaches the maximum at 1.0 mol% doped. With the increase of calcining temperature, the luminescence intensity in the PL spectra of LuAG:Ce 3+ films was found to increased accordingly due to the improved crystallization.