Combinatorial approach in search of luminescent materials

Extensive work has been done in the Last 60 years in search of efficient phosphors for Hg discharge fluorescent lamps and cathode ray tubes'. The recent emergence of new lighting concepts and flat panel display (FPD) technologies, though, drives the needs for developing new phosphors under specific excitation conditions(2). For example, solid state lighting with GaN based UV or blue LED's, quantum splitting phosphors for Xe discharge lamps, and low voltage phosphors for field emission displays, etc. To accelerate the discovery process and reduce the cycle time in search of new phosphors, combinatorial methods were developed and applied to screen for new phosphors. In this paper, some existing methods of combinatorial synthesis and screening of phosphors will be reviewed with examples. These methods are generic combinatorial tools and can be applied in the discovery of other solid state materials.