White light emission from Er, Pr co-doped AlN films

In this work, Er-doped aluminum nitride (AlN), Pr-doped AlN, and Er, Pr co-doped AlN thin films were prepared by ion implantation. After annealing, the luminescence properties were investigated by cathodoluminescence. Some new and interesting phenomena were observed. The peak at 480 nm was observed only for Er-doped AlN. However, for Er, Pr co-doped AlN, it disappeared. At the same time, a new peak at 494 nm was observed, although it was not observed for Er-doped AlN or Pr-doped AlN before. Therefore, the energy transfer mechanism between Er3+ and Pr3+ in AlN thin films was investigated in detail. Through optimizing the dose ratio of Er3+ with respect to Pr3+, white light emission with an International Commission on Illumination chromaticity coordinate (0.332, 0.332) was obtained. This work may provide a new strategy for realizing white light emission based on nitride semiconductors.