No abstract

A series of systematic investigations have been carried out on a new type of full-color display devices combining ultraviolet (UV) thin film electroluminescence (EL) with red, green and blue (RGB) visible-light phosphors. The device structure is composed of phosphor/Indium Tin Oxide (ITO)/a-SiN x /ZnF 2 :Gd/a-SiN x /Al/glass. UV emission from a ZnF 2 :Gd active layer is employed as an excitation source for the phosphors. For the UV-EL/photoluminecsence (PL) hybrid device using blue lightemitting phosphors, a maximum luminance of 10 cd/m 2 and a maximum efficiency of 0.015 lm/W has been achieved while the luminance of red and green light-emitting devices were 50 and 30 cd/m 2 , respectively, under an applied voltage of 250 V 0-p (5 kHz sinusoidal voltage). Technical data on the fabrication of the thin film UV-EL device together with RGB visible-light PL layers are presented. Research and development efforts on the optimum design and optoelectronic performance and related characterizations are also described and discussed. It is believed that there will be a tremendous demand for the developed device which has a much higher picture element resolution and the possibility of a higher brightness as compared with recently introduced plasma display panels (PDPs).