Aliovalent Ho3+ ion doped BaZrO3 thin films; Structural, optical and photoluminescence properties

Abstract Ho doped BaZrO3 thin film phosphors with varying Ho content (1, 2, 3 and 4 at%) were prepared via pulsed laser deposition technique. To understand the effect of doping on structural, morphological, optical and emission properties of thin films, X-ray Diffractrometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) and Photoluminescence (PL) Spectroscopy have been used, respectively. Polycrystalline nature with single phase cubic crystalline structure of the films has been obtained. The optical band gap energy, as estimated by SE, has been found to increase with increase in the Ho content. The PL spectra of the synthesized phosphor exhibit green and yellow-orange as prominent emission bands in response to 328 nm as excitation wavelength.