Patent Application
20120153822
The present disclosure relates to luminescent materials, and more particularly relates to a luminescent element including a glass substrate made of luminescent material, preparation method thereof and luminescence method—.
The conventional materials used as luminescent substrate include phosphor, nanocrystal, glass, etc. Comparing to the crystal and phosphor, the glass is transparent, rigid, but also has excellent chemical stability and superior luminescent performance. In addition, the glass can be easily machined into products with various shapes, such as display devices or luminescent light sources with various shapes and sizes.
For example, in vacuum microelectronics, field emission devices usually use luminescent glass as illuminant, which has shown a wide prospect in illumination and display techniques and draws a lot attention to domestic and foreign research institutes. The working principle of the field emission device is that, in vacuum, the anode applies a positive voltage to the field emissive arrays (FEAs) to form an accelerating electric field, electron emitted from the cathode accelerating bombards the luminescent material on the anode plate to irradiate. The field emission device has a wide operating temperature range (−40° C.˜80° C.), short corresponding time (<1 ms), simple structure, low energy consumption and meets the environmental protection requirements. Furthermore, materials such as the phosphor, luminescent glass, luminescent film, etc., can be served as luminescent material in field emission device, however, they all suffer from serious problems of low luminous efficiency, thus significantly limit the application of the field emission device, especially in the application of illumination.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, a luminescent element with a high luminescent homogeneity, high luminous efficiency, good stability, simple structure and a preparation method with a simple process and low cost are desired. In another aspect of the present disclosure, a luminescence method of the luminescent element with simple operation, good reliability, and improving luminous efficiency is also desired.
A luminescent element includes: a luminescent glass; and a metal layer with a metal microstructure formed on a surface of the luminescent glass; wherein the luminescent glass has a chemical composition: bY2O3.cAl2O3.dB2O3.yTb2O3, wherein b, c, d, and y are, by mole parts, 7˜15, 20˜40, 40˜60, and 0.1˜3, respectively.
A preparation method of a luminescent element includes:
prepared a luminescent glass comprising a chemical composition: bY2O3.cAl2O3.dB2O3.yTb2O3, wherein b, c, d, and y are, by mole parts, 7˜15, 20˜40, 40˜60, and 0.1˜3, respectively;
forming a metal layer on the luminescent glass, and
annealing the luminescent glass and the metal layer in vacuum to form a metal microstructure of the metal layer, and then cooling the luminescent glass and the metal layer to form the luminescent element.
A luminescence method of a luminescent element includes:
obtaining the luminescent element according to the preparation method described above; and emitting cathode-ray to the metal layer, forming a surface plasmon between the metal layer and the luminescent glass by the radiation of the cathode-ray and then irradiating the luminescent glass.
In the luminescent element described above, the metal layer with a metal microstructure is formed on a surface of the luminescent glass, and irradiated by the cathode-ray, a surface plasmon can be formed between the metal layer and the luminescent glass. Due to the surface plasmon effect, the internal quantum efficiency of the luminescent glass is highly increased, and the spontaneous emission of the luminescent glass is highly increased, so that the luminous efficiency of the luminescent glass is improved and the problem of low efficiency of the luminescent materials is overcome. Accordingly, in the luminescence method of the luminescent element, once emitting cathode-ray to the metal layer, the surface plasmon will be formed between the metal layer and the luminescent glass, thus improving the luminous efficiency and reliability. The luminescent element has a simple two-layer structure for including the luminescent glass and the metal layer. In addition, there is a uniform interface formed between the luminescent glass and the metal layer, so that an excellent luminescent homogeneity and stability is achieved. In the luminescence method of the luminescent element, once emitting cathode-ray to the metal layer, the surface plasmon will be formed between the metal layer and the luminescent glass, thus improving the luminous efficiency and reliability of the luminescent glass.
In the embodiment of the preparation method of the luminescent element, the luminescent element can be obtained by forming a metal layer on the luminescent glass and annealing the luminescent glass and the metal layer, thus the preparation method is simple and has a low cost and wide application prospects.
The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the views.
The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.
Referring to
The luminescent glass 13 is a borate glass doped with rare earths. The luminescent glass 13 has a chemical composition: bY2O3.cAl2O3.dB2O3.yTb2O3, wherein b, c, d, and y are, by mole parts, 7˜15, 20˜40, 40˜60, and 0.1˜3, respectively. Preferably, the luminescent glass can further includes alkali metal oxides and other rare earth elements, in that case, the luminescent glass has a chemical composition: aM2O.bY2O3.cAl2O3.dB2O3.eSiO2.xCeO2.yTb2O3, wherein a, b, c, d, e, x, and y are, by mole parts, 0˜20, 7˜15, 20˜40, 40˜60, 0˜15, 0˜1.5, and 0.1˜3, respectively, M represents the alkali metal element.
The metal layer 14 may be made of metals with excellent chemical stability, such as antioxidant and corrosion-resistant metals, or common metals. The metal layer 14 is preferably made of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Al, Cu, Ti, Fe, Ni, Co, Cr, Pt, Pd, Mg, and Zn, or more preferably made of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, and Al. The metal layer 14 may be made of one metal or a composite metal. The composite metal may be an alloy of two or more than two metals described above. For example, the metal layer 14 may be an Ag/Al alloy layer or an Au/Al alloy layer, where the weight percent of Ag or Au is preferably more than 70%. The metal layer 14 has a thickness in a range of 0.5200 nm, preferably 1100 nm.
As a luminescent element, the luminescent element 10 can be widely applied to luminescent devices with ultra-high brightness and high-speed motion, such as field emission display, field emission light source, and large advertising display, etc. Take field emission display as an example, the anode applies a positive voltage to the field emission cathode to form an accelerating electric field, the cathode emits electron, i.e. cathode-ray 16 to the metal layer 14, so that a surface plasmon is formed between the metal layer 14 and the luminescent glass 13. Due to the surface plasmon effect, the internal quantum efficiency of the luminescent glass 13 is highly increased, and the spontaneous emission of the luminescent glass is highly increased, so that the luminous efficiency of the luminescent glass is improved and the problem of low efficiency of the luminescent materials is overcome. In addition, since a metal layer is formed on the surface of the luminescent glass 13, a uniform interface is formed between the whole metal layer and the luminescent glass 13, thus improving the luminescent homogeneity.
Referring to
Step S01, the luminescent glass 13 is prepared. The luminescent glass is a borate glass doped with rare earths with a chemical composition: bY2O3.cAl2O3.dB2O3.yTb2O3, wherein b, c, d, and y are, by mole parts, 7˜15, 20˜40, 40˜60, and 0.1˜3, respectively.
Step S02, the metal layer 14 is formed on a surface of the luminescent glass 13.
Step S03, the luminescent glass 13 and the metal layer 14 are annealed in vacuum to form the metal microstructure of the metal layer 14, and then the luminescent glass 13 and the metal layer 14 are cooled to form the luminescent element 10.
In step S01, the preparation of the luminescent glass 13 includes: weighing metal oxides of the composition according to the mole parts in the chemical composition of the borate luminescent glass; melting the metal oxides at a temperature in a range of 1580˜1750° C.; cooling the metal oxides to ambient temperature, annealing in reducing atmosphere at the temperature in a range of 600˜900° C. for 1˜20 hours; and obtaining the luminescent glass. Taking luminescent glass with a chemical composition aM2O.bY2O3.cAl2O3.dB2O3.eSiO2.xCeO2.yTb2O3 as an example, the preparation includes: raw materials, such as alkali metal sodium salt, SiO2, Al2O3 in analytical grade, and Y2O3, CeO2, Tb4O7, are weighed according to the mole parts in the chemical composition: aM2O.bY2O3.cAl2O3.dB2O3.eSiO2.xCeO2.yTb2O3 of the luminescent glass. The raw materials are melted at a temperature in a range of 1580˜1750° C. for 1˜5 hours and cooled to form glass at ambient temperature. Then, The glass is placed in reducing atmosphere at the temperature in a range of 600˜900° C. to be annealed for 1˜20 hours to obtain the luminescent glass. Furthermore, the luminescent glass can be cut, and polished to a certain size to meet the application demands.
As previously described, the metal layer 14 is formed by depositing metal source with excellent chemical stability, such as antioxidant and corrosion-resistant metals, or common metals. The metal layer 14 is preferably made of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Al, Cu, Ti, Fe, Ni, Co, Cr, Pt, Pd, Mg, and Zn, or more preferably made of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, and Al. In step S02, the metal layer 14 is formed on the surface of the luminescent glass 13 via PVD or CVD, for example, via sputtering or evaporation, with at least one metal described above. The metal layer 14 has a thickness in a range of 0.5˜200 nm, preferably 1˜100 nm.
In step S03, after the formation of the metal layer 14 on the luminescent glass 13, the metal layer 14 and the luminescent glass 13 are annealed at a temperature in a range of 50˜650° C. for a period of time of 5 minutes to 5 hours and cooled to ambient temperature. The preferred anneal temperature is in a range of 100˜500° C., and the preferred anneal time is in a range of 15 minutes to 3 hours.
Referring to
Step S11, the luminescent element 10 is obtained according to the previously described preparation method.
Step S12, the cathode-ray 16 is emitted to the metal layer 14. A surface plasmon is formed between the metal layer 14 and the luminescent glass 13 by the radiation of the cathode-ray 16 and thus irradiating the luminescent glass 13.
The luminescent element 10 has features of structure and composition as previously described. In application, the step S12 can be implemented by field emission display or illumination light source. In vacuum, the anode applies a positive voltage to the field emission cathode to form an accelerating electric field, so that the cathode emits cathode-ray 16. Excited by the cathode-ray 16, electron beam will penetrate the metal layer 14 and irradiate the luminescent glass 13. During such process, a surface plasmon is formed between the metal layer 14 and the luminescent glass 13. Due to the surface plasmon effect, the internal quantum efficiency of the luminescent glass 13 is highly increased, and the spontaneous emission of the luminescent glass is highly increased, so that the luminous efficiency of the luminescent glass is improved.
Surface plasmon (SP) is a wave spread along the interface between the metal and medium, whose amplitude exponentially decay with the increase of the distance away from the interface. When changing a surface structure of the metal, the feature, dispersion relationship, excitation mode, coupling effect of the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) will be significantly changed. The electromagnetic field caused by the SPPs can not only constrain the spread of the light wave in sub-wavelength size structure, but also can produce and manipulate the electromagnetic radiation from light frequency to microwave band, thus active manipulation of the light spread is implemented. Accordingly, the present embodiment uses the excitation of the SPPs to increase the optical density of the luminescent glass and to enhance spontaneous emission velocity of the luminescent glass. In addition, the coupling effect of the surface plasmon can be used, when the luminescent glass irradiates, sympathetic vibration phenomena occurs, thus the internal quantum efficiency of the luminescent glass is highly increased, so that the luminous efficiency of the luminescent glass is improved.
Pluralities of examples are described to illustrate the different compositions and preparation methods of the luminescent element, and their performances.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 15Na2O-7.75Y2O3-26.25Al2O3-50B2O3-0.5CeO2-1Tb2O3 is selected. A silver layer with a thickness of 2 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via a magnetron sputtering equipment. The luminescent glass and the silver layer are annealed at a temperature of 300° C. for half an hour in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
The prepared luminescent element is bombarded by cathode-ray emitted from an electron gun, and the electron beam penetrates the metal layer and irradiates the luminescent glass, thus an emission spectrum shown in
Other Examples have the similar emission spectrums and luminescent performance as Example 1, which will not be described later.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 12Y2O3-37Al2O3-50B2O3-0.5CeO2-1Tb2O3 is selected. A gold layer with a thickness of 0.5 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via a magnetron sputtering equipment. The luminescent glass and the gold layer are annealed at a temperature of 200° C. for 1 hour in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 10Y2O3-37Al2O3-40B2O3-10SiO2-0.5CeO2-3Tb2O3 is selected. An aluminum layer with a thickness of 200 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via a magnetron sputtering equipment. The luminescent glass and the aluminum layer are annealed at a temperature of 500° C. for 5 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 15Na2O-7Y2O3-26.25Al2O3-49.5B2O3-1.5CeO2-1Tb2O3 is selected. A magnesium layer with a thickness of 100 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the magnesium layer are annealed at a temperature of 650° C. for 5 minutes in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 20Na2O-8Y2O3-24Al2O3-46.5B2O3-1.5CeO2-1.2Tb2O3 is selected. A palladium layer with a thickness of 1 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the palladium layer are annealed at a temperature of 100° C. for 3 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 10.5Na2O-7.5Y2O3-20Al2O3-60B2O3-0.8CeO2-1.5Tb2O3 is selected. A platinum layer with a thickness of 5 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the platinum layer are annealed at a temperature of 450° C. for 15 minutes in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 4.5Na2O-10Y2O3-40Al2O3-45B2O3-0.3CeO2-0.5Tb2O3 is selected. An iron layer with a thickness of 20 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the iron layer are annealed at a temperature of 50° C. for 5 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 11Y2O3-33Al2O3-55B2O3-0.3CeO2-0.8Tb2O3 is selected. A titanium layer with a thickness of 10 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the titanium layer are annealed at a temperature of 150° C. for 2 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 12Y2O3-36Al2O3-52B2O3-0.1CeO2-0.1Tb2O3 is selected. A copper layer with a thickness of 50 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the copper layer are annealed at a temperature of 200° C. for 2.5 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 15Na2O-9Y2O3-26.5Al2O3-50B2O3-0.3CeO2-0.7Tb2O3 is selected. A zinc layer with a thickness of 150 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the zinc layer are annealed at a temperature of 350° C. for 0.5 hour in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 10Y2O3-37Al2O3-50B2O3-0.5CeO2-3Tb2O3 is selected. A chromium layer with a thickness of 120 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the chromium layer are annealed at a temperature of 250° C. for 2 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 10Na2O-7Y2O3-25Al2O3-42B2O3-15SiO2-0.3CeO2-0.5Tb2O3 is selected. A nickel layer with a thickness of 40 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the nickel layer are annealed at a temperature of 80° C. for 4 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 15Na2O-8Y2O3-24Al2O3-46B2O3-6SiO2-0.5Tb2O3 is selected. A cobalt layer with a thickness of 180 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. The luminescent glass and the cobalt layer are annealed at a temperature of 400° C. for 1 hour in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 5K2O-9Y2O3-30Al2O3-48B2O3-5SiO2-2.0Tb2O3 is selected. A gold/aluminum layer with a thickness of 0.5 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. In the gold/aluminum layer, the gold is about 80 weight %, and the aluminum is about 20 weight %. The luminescent glass and the gold/aluminum layer are annealed at a temperature of 200° C. for 1 hour in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 8Li2O-13Y2O3-28Al2O3-45B2O3-8SiO2-1.8Tb2O3 is selected. A silver/aluminum layer with a thickness of 15 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via a magnetron sputtering equipment. In the silver/aluminum layer, the silver is about 90 weight %, and the aluminum is about 10 weight %. The luminescent glass and the silver/aluminum layer are annealed at a temperature of 200° C. for 1 hour in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 6K2O-15Y2O3-22Al2O3-42B2O3-12SiO2-2.2Tb2O3 is selected. A silver/aluminum layer with a thickness of 10 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via an electron beam evaporation equipment. In the silver/aluminum layer, the silver is about 80 weight %, and the aluminum is about 20 weight %. The luminescent glass and the silver/aluminum layer are annealed at a temperature of 150° C. for 2 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
A 1×1 cm2, polished, green luminescent glass prepared accordingly with the composition of 12Li2O-14Y2O3-28Al2O3-44B2O3-1SiO2-0.2Tb2O3 is selected. A gold/aluminum layer with a thickness of 0.5 nm is deposited on the surface of the luminescent glass via a magnetron sputtering equipment. In the gold/aluminum layer, the gold is about 90 weight %, and the aluminum is about 10 weight %. The luminescent glass and the gold/aluminum layer are annealed at a temperature of 120° C. for 2 hours in vacuum with the vacuum degree <1×10−3 Pa and cooled to ambient temperature, thus a luminescent element is obtained.
In Examples described above, the metal layer 14 with a metal microstructure is formed on a surface of the luminescent glass 13, and irradiated by the cathode-ray, a surface plasmon can be formed between the metal layer 14 and the luminescent glass 13. Due to the surface plasmon effect, the internal quantum efficiency of the luminescent glass 13 is highly increased, and the spontaneous emission of the luminescent glass is highly increased, so that the luminous efficiency of the luminescent glass is improved and the problem of low efficiency of the luminescent materials is overcome. In the luminescence method of the luminescent element, once emitting cathode-ray to the metal layer 14, the surface plasmon will be formed between the metal layer 14 and the luminescent glass 13, thus improving the luminous efficiency and reliability. The luminescent element 10 has a simple two-layer structure for including the luminescent glass 13 and the metal layer 14. In addition, there is a uniform interface formed between the luminescent glass 13 and the metal layer 14, so that an excellent luminescent homogeneity and stability is achieved. In the luminescence method of the luminescent element, once emitting cathode-ray to the metal layer 14, the surface plasmon will be formed between the metal layer 14 and the luminescent glass 13, thus improving the luminous efficiency and reliability of the luminescent glass 13.
In the embodiment of the preparation method of the luminescent element, the luminescent element can be obtained by forming a metal layer on the luminescent glass and annealing the luminescent glass and the metal layer, thus the preparation method is simple and has a low cost. The luminescent element can be widely applied to luminescent devices with ultra-high brightness and high-speed motion, such as field emission display.
Although the invention has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as sample forms of implementing the claimed invention.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN09/73516 | 8/26/2009 | WO | 00 | 2/24/2012 |
