NSF Award
9761108
*** 9761108 Tompa This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Project will investigate and generically develop a series of thin film oxide phosphors for green, blue and white electroluminescent and cathodoluminescent displays. Recently, a variety of oxide films have shown great promise for emissive displays. The proposer is uniquely positioned to capitalize upon and advance those results. The proposer plans to use MOCVD to vary alloy composition and dopant concentrations over great ranges in order to rapidly produce and qualify a variety of oxide phosphors. In Phase I the proposer will examine doped ZnO based phosphor films: Zn2GeO4:Mn for green emission (improving upon our ZnSiO:Mn results) and Mn and Ga/Ce doped ZnGa2O4 and Znln2O4 for green and blue emission, in Phase II the proposer will also examine ZnTaO and ZnNbO phosphors. Primary issues to be addressed are improved efficiency, radiative lifetimes, brightness, multilayer structures to improve conductivity and injection coupling, and minimization of "light piping" losses. The proposer will work with the Display Devices Team at the Army Research Laboratory through an existing Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to fully characterize our films, especially with respect to device physics. In Phase II the proposer will build upon Phase I results, investigate additional phosphors and multilayer phosphor structures, reduce annealing temperatures, determine practical operational parameters and prototype EL (and possibly CL) lamps. Also, in Phase II the proposer will examine dopants for red emission so that ultimately full color oxide based displays could be fabricated. Working the several display companies, the proposer will commercialize the results in displays in Phase III. The project will develop low voltage thin film phosphors for electroluminescent (and cathodoluminescence) based displays which have strong market potential in field emitter based displays and lamps. ***
