Nanocrystalline LaGaO3:Tm3+ as an efficient blue phosphor for field emission displays with high color purity

Nanocrystalline Tm3+-doped LaGaO3 phosphors were prepared through a Pechini-type sol-gel process [M. P. Pechini, U.S. Patent No. 3,330,697 (11 July 1967)]. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence, and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra were utilized to characterize the synthesized phosphors. Under the excitation of ultraviolet light and low voltage electron beams (0.5–3kV), the Tm3+-doped LaGaO3 phosphors show the characteristic emissions from the LaGaO3 host lattice and the Tm3+ (D21, G41-F43, and H63 transitions), respectively. The blue CL of the Tm3+-doped LaGaO3 phosphors, with a dominant wavelength of 458nm, had better Commission International I’Eclairage chromaticity coordinates (0.1552, 0.0630) and higher emission intensity than the commercial product (Y2SiO5:Ce3+).