Structure and Photoluminescence Properties of Sm(3+) Ion-Doped YInGe(2)O(7) Phosphor

A new phosphor, Sm(3+) ion-doped YInGe(2)O(7), was synthesized using a planetary ball mill solid state reaction. The XRD patterns show that all of the peaks can be attributed to the monoclinic YInGe(2)O(7) crystal structure when the Sm(3+) ion concentration is increased up to 20 mol %. Under an excitation wavelength of 404 nm, the Sm(3+) intra-4f transition appears in the emission spectrum including two stronger emission peaks located at 560–570 nm and 598 nm correspond to the (4)G(5/2) → (6)H(5/2) and (4)G(5/2) → (6)H(7/2) transitions, respectively, and another weak emission peak located at 645 nm is due to the (4)G(5/2) → (6)H(9/2) transition. The decay time decreases from 4.5 to 0.8 ms as Sm(3+) ion concentrations increase from 1 to 20 mol %, and the decay mechanism of the (4)G(5/2) → (6)H(7/2) transition is a single decay component between Sm(3+) ions only. The concentration quenching effect occurs when the Sm(3+) ion concentration is higher than 3 mol %. The CIE color coordinate of Y(0.97)Sm(0.03)InGe(2)O(7) phosphor is at x = 0.457 and y = 0.407, which is located in the orange-yellow light region.