Selecting Conversion Phosphors for White Light-Emitting Diodes

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are on the verge of a breakthrough in general lighting, due to their rapidly improving efficiency. Currently, white LEDs with high color rendering are mainly based on wavelength conversion by one or more phosphor materials. This Review first describes how to quantify the quality of a light source, discussing the color rendering index (CRI) and alternative color quality indices. Then, six main criteria are identified and discussed, which should be fulfilled by a phosphor candidate to be considered for actual application in LEDs. These criteria deal with the shape and position of the emission and the excitation spectra, the thermal quenching behavior, the quantum efficiency, the chemical and thermal stability and finally with the occurrence of saturation effects. Based on these criteria, the most common dopant ions (broad-band emitting Eu2+, Ce3+ and Mn2+, line-emitting rare earth ions,...) and host compounds (garnets, sulfides, (oxy)nitrides,...) are evaluated. Although many phosphor materials have been proposed in literature in recent years, the number of phosphors effectively fulfilling all six requirements is relatively small.