High-Speed Epitaxial Growth of Terbium- and Europium-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Perovskite Thick Film Phosphors Using Laser-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition

A thick film scintillator with a few tens of micrometers thickness is expected to improve sensitivity and spatial resolution in radiation detection and imaging, while its production method is limited to a costly process of thinning a melt-grown single crystal ingot. Here, we demonstrated the high-speed epitaxial growth of terbium-and europium-doped yttrium aluminum perovskite (Tb3+:YAP and Eu3+:YAP) transparent thick film phosphor using laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The (110)-oriented YAP thick film was epitaxially grown on a (100) SrTiO3 (STO) substrate. The deposition rate was 53 & mu;m h-1, which was 50-90 times faster than those reported for conventional thermal CVD. Under UV and X-ray irradiation, the films emitted green and orange lights originating from 4f 1/4 4f transitions of Tb3+ and Eu3+ centers, respectively. The fluorescence decay curves of the films were fitted to 1.96 and 1.89 ms for Tb3+ and Eu3+ centers. The 9 & mu;m-thick Eu3+:YAP thick film phosphor can be used as a scintillation screen of X-ray imaging test to see though a semiconductor storage device.