THIN-FILM ENERGY-CONTROLLED VARIABLE COLOR CATHODOLUMINESCENT SCREENS

A new technique for obtaining energy-variable multicolor cathodolumine scent display screens is presented. This technique employs radio frequ ency ion plasma sputtering of one thin-film phosphor material over a d issimilar phosphor substrate. The technique employed differs from the old ''Penetron'' screen in that the substrate and the secondary phosph or layer are single-crystal materials. This results in higher resoluti on and allows the use of lower energy beam excitation. The experiments presented use Y2O3:Eu (red) deposited on a Y3Al5O12-Tb,Ce (green) sub strate with excitation in the low killovolt range. The method demonstr ated, however, is extendable to a full red-green-blue triplet composed of a wide variety of materials. The screens are particularly applicab le to small, low-power formats, such as avionics and instrumentation d isplays.