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 Mn 4+ in which the luminous intra-3 d 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 2 g ). 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 (Mn 4+ , Mn 2+ , Cr 3+ , etc.)-doped phosphors regardless of the host materials, fluoride, oxide, oxyfluoride, or others.