HfTiO4 transparent thick film phosphors activated with Eu3+, Dy3+, and Tb3+ ions

Hafnium (Hf)-based double oxides show promise as high-efficiency scintillators due to large effective atomic numbers and high relative density. However, the preparation of these scintillation crystals is challenging due to their high melting points and incongruent melting behavior. In the present study, we demonstrated that the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of single-phase HfTiO4 films on quartz glass substrate was successfully deposited at temperatures ranging from 973 to 988 K, with a TiO2 molar ratio in the precursor vapor of 25–45 mol% TiO2. The deposition rate of HfTiO4 reached 36 µm h−1. The films exhibited an in-line transmittance of 78 % relative to the raw glass substrate at a wavelength of 600 nm. When activated with Eu3+, Dy3+, and Tb3+ ions, the HfTiO4 films displayed red, yellow, and green photoluminescence emissions originated from the 4f–4f transitions of each trivalent rare-earth ion under ultraviolet light irradiation. HfTiO4 exhibited no intrinsic background emission, suggesting that the addition of a selected activator could yield a phosphor with the desired emission color range.