Narrow line-width phosphors for phosphor-converted white light emitting diodes

The luminous efficacy of present day phosphor-converted white LEDs is limited by phosphors with broad spectral emission in the long wavelength visible range (600-700 nm). The light output from the cool-white LEDs that do not use a red phosphor is 30-35% higher than the warm white LEDs fabricated with a red phosphor in addition to the yellow phosphor. However, the CRI of cool-white LEDs is significantly lower (~60-70) than the CRI of the warm white LEDs (~80-95) due to lack of the red photons in the emission spectrum. Therefore, a trade-off exists between luminous efficacy and color rendering capability of light generated by phosphor-converted white LEDs. In order to solve this problem, an efficient red phosphor with considerably narrow full width of half maxima (~5-10 nm) and emission in the 600-650 nm wavelength range is required. The narrow spectral line-width can be achieved by introducing trivalent lanthanide ions like Eu3+, Pr3+ and Sm3+ (&...