Display devices

- Photoluminescence,
- injection luminescence,
- cathode luminescence,
- electroluminescence
-

Luminescence
- phenomenon in which electronic states of solids are excited by some
energy from an external source and the excitation energy is released
as light.
- Photoluminescence
Cathodoluminescence
- excitation energy comes from high-energy electrons
Electroluminescence
- Excitation energy comes from the application of an electric field.
Photolumeniscence
- Excitation energy comes from light source.

hc
= E −E
λ 2 1

Fluorescence
- the excitation mechanism is switched off, however, the luminescence
persist for a time equal to the lifetime of the transition between the two
energy levels E1 and E2.
Phosphorescence
- Luminescence persists for much longer.
Metastable states
- very long life states
- Energy state is less than E2.
- Electrons can fall into these states from E2 and remain trapped there
until thermal excitation releases them some time later
Phosphor materials
- Impurity ions called activators present in the phosphor material is the
reason for phosphorescence.
- Activators replace certain of the host ions in the crystal lattice
- If the activator ions and the host ions are not identical, charge balance
is lost and fewer impurity ions in the host site.
- Introduction of co-activators, impurity atoms with different ionic charge,
could increase the solubility.

Characteristic energy level

- energy levels of the activator ions.
Non-characteristic energy level
- energy levels of the host lattice modified by the activators
Characteristic lumeniscence
- excitation energy transferred to the activator ion (less than 10-8sec)
- persistence of the luminescence is due to the lifetime of the excited
state level of the activator
non-characteristic luminescence
- both activators and co-activators are present
- these create donor and acceptor energy levels (in phosphors these
levels are referred to as hole and electron traps)

- hole traps quickly.

Photoluminescence
- energy is transferred to the crystal by the absorption of a photon.

Characteristic luminescence
- activator absorbs the photon directly
- peak emission is red shifted. (stoke shift)
- this is due to the effect of vibrations of the surrounding crystal lattice on
the energy levels of the activator ions which is often positively charged.

- Assume that activator ions are positively charged and is surrounded by

six equidistant negatively charged ions at a distance R.
- Activator ion remains at rest but the host negatively ions vibrate radially
and in phase.
- The positions of the energy levels of the activator ion depends on R.
- Schematic diagram fig 4.3.
- Important feature: minima of the two curves don’t occur at the same
value of R.
- Activator in its ground state, absorb a photon.
- Photon absorption instantaneous process, represented by a vertical
transition.
- After transition to the excited state, the surrounding ions will not be a
their equilibrium positions for this state.
- Relax to their new equilibrium position (at R= R0).
- Downward transition, R constant, photon emission.
- Emitted photon have less energy than that of the absorbed photon.

Condition for Band absorption/emission.

- ions surrounding activator are always in a state of oscillation.
- At the instant of oscillation the value of R may be different from R0.
- Same is true for excited state.
- Thus band of absorption/emission wavelengths is seen

PL:
The two curves in the potential energy-distance diagram describe the ground
state (s0) and the first excited (S1) of the bond; the equilibrium distance is the
bond length, which is longer for the excited state. The horizontal lines
represent the vibrational states of the bond; nuclear distance oscillates around
the equilibrium bond length.
The difference between vibration levels is the vibrational-electronic of the
order of 0.1 eV. At room temperature, almost all bonds are in the lowest
vibration levels of the ground state. From there, they may be lifted into the first
excited state by absorption of a photon. Electronic transitions are much faster
than nuclear rearrangement. Hence, transitions occur vertically in the
diagram, from ground state equilibrium position to the most probable
interatomic spacing of a vibrational mode of the excited state that is close to
the ground state equilibrium distance. In the excited state, there will be a rapid
radiationless relaxation (typically of order 10-12 s) of the excited state into its
lowest vibration state (internal conversion). From there the photon may be re-
emitted after typically between 1 and 10 ns with a transition to the lowest
vibration level of the ground state

Photoluminescence. Eg is the band gap energy. On the left a high energy

laser photon dislodges an electron from its orbit. The electron loses energy
until it reaches the bottom of the conduction band. The right hand diagram
shows two possible transitions. On the left the electron combines immediately
with a hole in the valence band emitting a photon of energy Eg. On the right it
gets stuck in a 'mid-gap' state emitting a lower energy photon

Luminescence is the emission of absorbed light by a substance. When a

material is exposed to electromagnetic radiation of sufficiently short
wavelength the emission of electrons is observed. The phenomenon was
originally described as the photoelectric effect, since there is a measurable
photo current; but nowadays the terms photoionization or photoemission are
commonly used. It occurs when an electron returns to the electronic ground
state from an excited state and loses its excess energy as a photon. The
electronic states of most organic molecules can be divided into singlet states
and triplet states;

Singlet state: All electrons in the molecule are spin-paired

Triplet state: One set of electron spins is unpaired

A molecule in the singlet state emits photons continuously when exposed to

electromagnetic radiation and stops emitting when the source stops
transmitting. But a molecule in the excited triplet state decays by using the
process of intersystem crossing. This means that it decays in steps emitting
photons of lower intensity each time it decays. This process generally also
continues after the source has stopped emitting. This phenomenon is called
as photoluminescence and the study of the emitted light is called as
photoluminescence spectroscopy. However, it may not always use
intersystem crossing to return to the ground state. It could lose energy by
directly emission of a photon.

Cathodoluminescence.

- emission process same as photoluminescence.

- Different excitation mechanism.
Excitation Mechanism.
- beam of energetic electrons (>1 keV) hits a solid, a fraction (about
10%) is backscattered.
- Remainder penetrates the solid losing energy.
- Energy is lost by causing bound electrons to be ejected from their
parent ions. (secondary electrons).
- Generated electrons multiply.
- In the final stage excitation of electrons from the top of the valence
band Ev to the bottom of the conduction band Ec.
- Ec-Ev=Eg: the least energy required to create electron-hole pair.
3
- Higher minimum energy of E c + E g is required for luminescence.
2
3
- Electrons with energy between Ec and E c + E g lose energy by
2
exciting lattice vibration.
EB
- βE g :total no of electron-hole pair, E B total electron beam energy,
β ≈3

Electroluminescence

- a phosphor powder (ZnS:Cu) is suspended in a transparent insulating

bonding medium of high dielectric constant.
 - Powder is sandwiched between two electrodes (one transparent).
- Light is emitted in the form of short burst (last 10-3sec) and occur once
every half cycle.
 1

 V1 2 
- Integrated power: P = P0 ( f ) exp − 
 
V 0
 
 

 
Mechanism:
- high electric field within the phosphor particle.
- High field is sufficiently strong to enable electrons from occupied
acceptor levels to tunnel to states of the same energy in the conduction
band.
- Other electrons in the conduction band are than able to fall into these
vacated levels and emit radiation.

Another possible mechanism.

- electron moving in the electric field acquire sufficient energy to excite

an electron from the valence band to the conduction band thus a hole
is generated.
- Hole quickly becomes trapped at an impurity acceptor site effectively
emptying it of an electron.
- An electron in the conduction band can then make a radiative transition
by falling into the empty acceptor level.

Plasma display

What is plasma?

In physics and chemistry, plasma is a gas, in which a certain proportion of its

particles are ionized. The presence of a non-negligible number of charge
carriers makes the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly
to electromagnetic fields. Plasma therefore has properties quite unlike those
of solids, liquids, or gases and is considered to be a distinct state of matter.

- Rely on the glow produced when electrical current passes through a

gas (neon)
- Under the influence of the external electric field the electrons acquire a
high kinetic energy and when collide with the gas atoms (ions) they
transfer this energy to the atoms, thereby exciting them into energy
levels above the ground stats.
- The atom may lose energy radiatively and return to ground state.

- typical cavity widths and gas pressures are 100 micron and 400 torr.
- firing voltage, Vf 150 V(voltage at which discharge initiates)
- once the discharge has started, it may be sustained with a reduced
voltage Vs of about 90V.
- if the initial voltage pulse is relatively wide then charge accumulates on
the interior of the dielectric layer.
- Electric field built up due to that charges which opposes the external
filed.
- Accumulated charge takes long time to dissipate and this effect can be
used to enable the device to have a memory.
- Later if an external pulse with opposite polarity is applied, the field from
the stored charge will add to the external field and the discharge will
commence again.
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