Green emission from B2N2CO thin films doped with Tb

Visible light emission has been obtained at room temperature by photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) from Tb-doped B2N2CO thin films prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The films were deposited by sputtering TbBn (n=4, 6, 12, 25, and 50) targets in an atmosphere of Ar and N-2 gas mixture. The films are uniformly composed of very small particles with particle size of about 20-40 nm, which consist of turbostratic BN phase and amorphous phase. The characteristic PL peaks are observed in the spectral range from 300 to 800 nm, and correspond to the two groups of transitions of Tb3+ ions: D-5(3)-->F-7(J) (J=6, 5, 3) and D-5(4)-->F-7(J) (J=6, 5, 4, 3). The strongest PL peak at similar to547.2 nm is about four times greater than the other signals in the investigated range, indicating that the films have strong green light emission. CL intensity is very weakly dependent on the temperature. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.