The room temperature photoluminescence emission characteristics of cer
ium chloride doped aluminum oxide films deposited by spray pyrolysis a
re reported. The spectra of the photoluminescence excited with 300 nm
light on these samples show a broad emission formed by two overlapping
peaks at 365 and 395 nm. The relative emission intensity of these pea
ks to each other and as a whole is strongly dependent on the doping co
ncentration and the deposition temperature. Energy dispersive x-ray sp
ectroscopy analysis of the samples as well as the correlations observe
d with the light emission intensity suggest that the luminescence obse
rved is associated with the molecular incorporation of the CeCl3 into
the aluminum oxide and not to the presence of atomic Ce in the film.