Luminescence properties of novel rare-earth doped silicon nitride based phosphors

Novel rare-earth doped ternary and multinary nitride-based phosphors are described from the aspects of the classification of nitride compounds, unconventional properties of rare-earth ions in the local nitride surroundings and the practical applications for white-light LEDs. According to the types of the host lattices, the luminescence properties are given in details from pure nitride, oxynitride and carbonitride phosphors with a focus on the relationship between the crystal structure/composition and luminescence of Eu2+- and Ce3+-activated silicon nitride based materials