High transparency in visible region was required for red-light-emitting Y2O3:Eu3+ thin film phosphors. Such films were obtained via chemical bath deposition on bare SiO2 glass substrates through heterogeneous nucleation with further heat treatment. Thin amorphous yttrium basic carbonate films could be completely transformed to crystalline Y2O3 at 650 °C. X-ray diffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize these products. The deposition temperature and the post-annealing conditions were crucial factors for preparing high-quality thin films. The thin films prepared with optimized parameters emitted a bright red light around 612 nm. Meanwhile, these thin films exhibited optical transmittance of 90% to 95% in a wavelength range of 400 to 800 nm depending on the chemical deposition solution. These results clearly indicated that chemical solution deposition is a promising technique for large-scale production of thin film phosphors in application of display technology.
