Preliminary studies on luminescent terbium-doped ZrO2 thin films prepared by the sol-gel process

ZrO2:Tb thin films have been successfully produced from dichloride ethoxide of zirconium, ZrCl2(OEt)(2) . EtOH and TbCl3 by the sol-gel process. These films show luminescent properties when they are excited with UV light (270 nm). The luminescence spectra present typical transitions from the D-5(4) level belonging to the trivalent terbium ion. The processes used for film deposition were dipping and spinning on glass microscope slides. The films obtained exhibit an average visible transmission between 85 and 95%. The surface profiles show that these films are fairly smooth. The results of x-ray diffraction show that the zirconia coatings present a metastable tetragonal phase. It is observed that such films have excellent properties and are therefore of high technological interest.