Moisture-resistant electroluminescent phosphor with high initial brightness and method of making

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/766,543, filed Jan. 26, 2006.

This invention relates to electroluminescent phosphors and more particularly to electroluminescent phosphors that have been treated to be moisture resistant. Still more particularly, this invention relates to electroluminescent phosphors having greatly reduced moisture-induced degradation and high initial brightness.

Electroluminescent (EL) lamps may be divided generally into two types: (1) thin-film EL lamps that are made by depositing alternating films of a phosphor and dielectric material on a rigid glass substrate usually by a vapor deposition technique such as CVD or sputtering; and (2) thick-film EL lamps which are made with particulate materials that are dispersed in resins and coated in alternating layers on sheets of plastic. In the latter case, the thick-film electroluminescent lamps may be constructed as thin, flexible lighting devices thereby making them suitable for a greater range of applications.

A cross-sectional illustration of a conventional thick-film EL lamp is shown in FIG. 1 . The lamp 2 has two dielectric layers 20 and 22 . A first conductive material 4 , such as graphite, coated on a plastic film 12 b forms a first electrode of the lamp 2 (this electrode could also comprise a metal foil); while a thin layer of a transparent conductive material 6 , such as indium tin oxide, coated on a second plastic film 12 a forms a second electrode. Sandwiched between the two conductive electrodes 4 and 6 are two layers 20 and 22 of dielectric material 14 which may be, for example, cyanoethyl cellulose, cyanoethyl starch, poly-(methylmethacrylate/ethyl acrylate) and/or a fluorocarbon polymer. Adjacent to the first electrode 4 is a layer of dielectric material 14 in which are embedded particles of a ferroelectric material 10 , preferably barium titanate. Adjacent to the second electrode 6 is a layer of dielectric material 14 in which are embedded particles of an electroluminescent phosphor 8 . When an alternating voltage is applied to the electrodes, visible light is emitted from the phosphor.

The electroluminescent phosphors available for thick-film EL lamps are primarily comprised of zinc sulfide that has been doped with various activators, e.g., Cu, Au, Ag, Mn, Br, I, and Cl. Examples of zinc sulfide-based EL phosphors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,009,808, 5,702,643, 6,090,311, and 5,643,496. Preferred EL phosphors include ZnS:Cu phosphors which may be co-doped with Cl and/or Mn.

The brightness of electroluminescent phosphors, and in particular the ZnS:Cu phosphors, significantly deteriorates due to the presence of moisture during the application of the electric field. It has been reported that the deterioration of the brightness of the zinc sulfide-based phosphors is caused by increasing sulfur vacancy, which is produced by the following reaction:

ZnS+2H 2 O→SO 2 +Zn+2H 2

Sulfur escapes from the phosphor in the form of SO 2 ; as a result, sulfur vacancy and zinc are left in the phosphor.

Therefore, it is important to incorporate moisture protection measures to prolong the light emission of EL lamps. Typically, the individual particles of EL phosphors are encapsulated with an inorganic coating in order improve their resistance to moisture-induced degradation. Examples of such coatings are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,220,243, 5,244,750, 6,309,700, and 6,064,150. These inorganic coatings are formed via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reaction while the phosphor particles are suspended within a gas-fluidized bed. In general, a thin yet continuous coating is deposited upon the surface of the phosphor particles, thereby protecting them from the effects of atmospheric moisture.

A preferred coating for EL phosphors results from the hydrolysis of trimethylaluminum (TMA). The hydrolyzed TMA coating and CVD process are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,080,928 and 5,220,243 which are incorporated herein by reference. The composition of the hydrolyzed TMA coating is believed to be primarily aluminum oxyhydroxide (AlOOH), but may be varied in composition between aluminum oxide and aluminum hydroxide depending upon the reaction conditions. For the sake of convenience, the composition of the hydrolyzed TMA coating will be referred to herein as aluminum oxyhydroxide (AlOOH) although it is to be understood that this also encompasses the full range of compositions from aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) to aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH) 3 ). The reaction of TMA and water can be described as follows:

Al(CH 3 ) 3 +(3+n)/2H 2 O→AlO (3-n)/2 (OH) n +3CH 4 (0≦n≦3)

FIG. 2 is a graph of the 100-hour maintenance as a function of aluminum content (coating thickness) for conventional AlOOH CVD-coated EL phosphors operated in an EL lamp at 50° C., 90% rel. humidity. As can be seen, the coating thickness corresponding to about 3.8 wt. % aluminum (as a percentage of the total coated phosphor weight) represents in the case of the conventional CVD method the coating thickness for the optimal combination of retained initial brightness and high moisture resistance. As used herein, the 100-hour maintenance is defined as the 100-hour light output divided by 0-hour light output and multiplied by 100%, (100-hour/0-hour)×100%. Compared to the uncoated phosphor, the CVD-encapsulated EL phosphor always suffers a significant loss in initial brightness as a result of the coating process. It is suspected that the decrease may be caused by a decrease in the electric field inside the phosphor particles due to the presence of the outer coating.

As used herein, the term initial brightness (IB) refers to the brightness of the phosphor in an electroluminescent lamp when the lamp is operated for the very first time. A brief period of a few minutes may elapse in order to allow for the measurement to be made and the light output of the lamp to be stabilized. This is also referred to as the 0-hour brightness. Because of the rapid decrease in brightness caused by moisture-induced degradation, it is preferred to laminate the EL lamp containing the uncoated phosphor in a moisture resistant package in order to make the initial brightness measurement. The retained initial brightness (RIB) for a coated EL phosphor is expressed as a percentage and determined with respect to the initial brightness of the same EL phosphor in its uncoated state when operated in an EL lamp under the same conditions; RIB=(IB(coated)/IB(uncoated))×100%. Preferably, the retained initial brightness for the coated EL phosphors of this invention is at least 95%.

It has been discovered that atomic layer deposition (ALD) is able to provide a thinner coating on the EL phosphor particles than the conventional CVD method while at the same time maintaining an equivalent level of moisture protection and at a higher level of initial brightness. ALD is an attractive thin-film deposition technique because it allows atomic level control over the deposition process. ALD coatings have many excellent features like conformality, uniformity, repeatability and accurate thickness control. In fact, ALD is a special type of CVD that uses two chemical vapor precursors that are periodically injected into the deposition system in such a manner that both are not present in the reactor in the vapor phase at the same time. The purpose for doing this is to force the precursors react on the substrate and not in the gas phase during ALD deposition. Examples of ALD coating processes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,913,827 and 6,613,383 which are incorporated herein by reference.

In an ALD deposition process, one precursor is adsorbed on the surface as a monolayer; the system is then purged to remove the excess precursor; the second precursor is injected to react with the adsorbed material; and then the system is purged again. Carrier gas flow (typically N 2 ) and vacuum pumping is used to purge the system after each precursor pulse. The ALD deposition cycle is repeated, with a dosing time for each precursor on the order of 10 to 20 seconds, until the required film thickness is achieved. This leads to very uniform deposition over very complex surfaces such as the high-aspect-ratio features on semiconductor devices. The reaction is self-limiting and the growth rates typically are on the order of 0.1 to 1.5 Å per cycle resulting in very defect-free films. Since the coating is essentially formed one monolayer at a time, ALD is more likely to achieve a denser coating than prior CVD methods.

It has been demonstrated for an ALD-applied aluminum oxyhydroxide coating that a coating thickness of at least about 900 Å, and more preferably about 1200 Å, is needed to effectively protect an EL phosphor from the moisture-induced degradation. It takes on the order of 800 ALD deposition cycles to achieve a thickness of about 1200 Å. Preferably, the retained initial brightness of the ALD-coated phosphor is at least 95% and the 100-hour maintenance is at least 60% when operated in an EL lamp at 50° C. and 90% relative humidity. More preferably, the retained initial brightness is at least 95% and the 100-hour maintenance is at least 75% when operated in an EL lamp at 50° C. and 90% relative humidity. Although AlOOH is a preferred coating, it is expected that other inorganic coatings may be applied by ALD on electroluminescent phosphors with similar benefits. Such other inorganic coatings include, but are not limited to, aluminum nitride, silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional illustration of a conventional thick-film EL lamp.

FIG. 2 is a graph of the 100-hour maintenance as a function of aluminum content for conventional CVD-coated EL phosphors operated in an EL lamp at 50° C., 90% rel. humidity.

FIG. 3 is a graph of 100-hour maintenance versus coating thickness for the coated phosphors made by ALD method of this invention.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects, advantages and capabilities thereof, reference is made to the following disclosure and appended claims taken in conjunction with the above-described drawings.

The present invention is an electroluminescent phosphor wherein each individual phosphor particle is encapsulated in an inorganic coating applied by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) coating method. In a preferred embodiment, the coating is aluminum oxyhydroxide. The encapsulated phosphor shows an extreme insensitivity to atmospheric moisture and suffers only minor loss of initial brightness in lamps.

In particular, the method of this invention involves EL phosphor particles being coated with an inorganic film using an ALD method in a fluidized bed. In a preferred method, the ALD coating is formed by introducing into a fluidized bed of phosphor particles a series of alternating doses of vaporized trimethylaluminum (TMA) and water vapor in an ABAB . . . sequence to deposit an aluminum oxyhydroxide film essentially one monolayer at a time on the surface of the phosphor particles. These two precursors are pulsed sequentially in an inert carrier gas into the coating reactor with a purge between the pulses to prevent vapor phase reactions. The fluidized bed reactor is maintained at 450K and 1 Torr of pressure. Since each pair of precursor pulses (one cycle) produces approximately a monolayer of film, the thickness of the resulting film may be precisely controlled by the number of deposition cycles.

The coating thickness can be correlated with the amount of aluminum deposited on the phosphor. The coating thickness is estimated by using Sputtered Neutral Mass Spectroscopy (SNMS) measurements and a standard Ta 2 O 5 film as a reference material. To meet the 100-hour maintenance requirement for EL lamps under 50° C./90% relative humidity conditions, it is preferred that the ALD process be continued for about 800 cycles until the total amount of aluminum deposited reaches at least 1.6 wt. %.

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the following examples. However, it should be understood that the present invention is by no means restricted to such specific examples.

Thick-film electroluminescent test lamps are constructed in the following general manner. Phosphors are mixed with a binder (DuPont Microcircuit Materials Luxprint 8155 binder). The percentage of phosphor in the liquid binder is 60 wt. %. The phosphor suspension is screen-printed onto a 0.0065-0.0075 in.-thick PET film having a transparent, conductive layer of indium-tin oxide, for example OC-200 available from CP Films. The polyester screen has 137 or 140 threads per inch. After drying, a dielectric layer is formed by two applications of a barium titanate-filled dielectric ink (DuPont Microcircuit Materials Luxprint® 8153 Electroluminescent Dielectric Insulator) which applied over the phosphor layer and dried between applications. After drying the dielectric layer, a rear carbon electrode (DuPont Microcircuit Materials Luxprint® 7144 Carbon Conductor) is applied over the dielectric layer. The preferred method for applying the layers to the electroluminescent lamp is screen printing, also referred to as “silk-screening.” However other coating techniques such as draw blade coating and roll-to-roll coating may also be used successfully. After drying, the electroluminescent lamp is ready for brightness and maintenance tests. Lamps tested in a humidity chamber require the rear carbon electrode to be covered in order to prevent liquid water from entering the lamp. In this case, a thin pressure-sensitive adhesive tape (3M Scotch 821 tape) is applied to the carbon electrode.