Review—Temperature Dependence of Luminescence Intensity and Decay Time in Mn4+-Activated Fluoride and Oxyfluoride Phosphors

Studying luminescence properties of various phosphor materials is not only of scientific interest, but also of technological importance. Temperature dependence of the non-rare-earth-doped fluoride and oxyfluoride phosphor properties are examined in this study. The representative non-rare-earth ion considered here is Mn4+ in which the luminous intra-3d 3-shell transitions occur with the parity and spin-forbidden nature and, as a result, reflect a very long photoluminescence (PL) decay time in the milliseconds range (2 E g → 4 T 2g ). Temperature dependence of the PL intensity I PL(T) is successfully explained by considering the phonon-assisted activation model together with the usual thermal quenching one. The dependence of the PL decay time τ(T) for some fluoride and oxyfluoride phosphors are also analyzed and compared with those of I PL(T). The proposed analysis model can be used to interpret the temperature-dependent luminescence intensities and decay times for a variety of non-rare-ion (Mn4+, Mn2+, Cr3+, etc.)-doped phosphors regardless of the host materials, fluoride, oxide, oxyfluoride, or others.