Analysis of Enhancement in Phosphor Performance induced by Surface Treatments

A search for a new phosphor composition of excellent performance in systematic ways requires lots of research efforts, and often turns out to be very timeconsuming and difficult. Thus, usually practical ways are taken to improve the performance of phosphors. A few examples of practical surface treatments on phosphors such as $In_2O_3$ coating on $ZnGa_2O_4:Mn$, phosphoric acid treatment on ZnS:Ag,Cl, and base KOH treatment with ultrasonication on ZnS:Ag,Cl are presented. The reasons for the improvement of luminescence intensity or degradation properties after these treatments are discussed based upon careful analyses on the surface of the phosphors and a proposed model on charge carriers generated by electron beam excitation.