Luminescence Properties of Silicon and Stannous Oxide : PL and TL studies of rare earth doped Silicon and Stannous oxide nanophosphors prepared by sol gel method

This book gives an overview on studies of physical, chemical and luminescent properties of pure and rare-earth doped group IV A oxide phosphors has been discussed. The oxides taken under consideration in present work is SiO2 and SnO2. SiO2 have been known for a long time as a convenient host for rare earths and have been widely used for the fabrication of solid-state lasers whereas SnO2 is a wide band gap n-type semiconductor with wide band gap of 2.5-3eV, which crystallizes in the rutile structure (tetragonal structure), SnO2 is a member of a special class of semiconductors that have direct band gaps but are dipole forbidden due to their special wave function symmetry. In the present work group IV A oxide (SiO2 and SnO2) phosphors had been prepared by sol-gel method but pure form of group IV A nanophosphors has feeble luminescence intensity. It increases many fold by doping them with rare earth elements therefore doping has been carried out with the help of rare earth elements (Ce3+, Eu3+ and Dy3+). They are incorporated simultaneously into silica and tin matrixes by sol-gel processes and are further characterized by general and luminescence characterization techniques.