Excitation dependent quenching of luminescence in LED phosphors |
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Authors: | Oleg B. Shchekin Peter J. Schmidt Fahong Jin Nate Lawrence Kenneth J. Vampola Helmut Bechtel Danielle R. Chamberlin Gerd O. Mueller |
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Affiliation: | Lumileds, San Jose, CA, USA |
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Abstract: | Droop, the decrease of efficiency with increased power density, became a major topic with InGaN LEDs, after its introduction in 2007. This paper provides insight into droop in localized center luminescence phosphors, exemplified here by Eu2+ doped materials. This topic is of increasing importance, as high brightness blue LEDs have reached outputs >1 W/mm2. The nonlinearities in phosphor quantum efficiency result in drive‐dependent color point shift and reduction of overall efficiency of phosphor converted white LEDs which utilize Eu2+ activated phosphors. The efficiency quenching can be traced back to two processes, well‐known in laser physics, excited state absorption or/and cross relaxation by Foerster/Dexter transfer. Both processes lead to reduction in phosphor efficiency, but they can be differentiated. Understanding the root cause of efficiency quenching opens ways to minimize the practical consequences. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
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Keywords: | light‐emitting diodes phosphors quenching europium nitrides luminescence droop excited state absorption cross relaxation |
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