ATOMIC-LEVEL STRESS AND LIGHT-EMISSION OF CE ACTIVATED SRS THIN-FILMS

We find that the Ce3+ ion in polycrystalline sputtered SrS:Ce thin fil ms resides in a distorted octahedral environment, as opposed to the cu bic host environment. Using electron paramagnetic resonance and x-ray diffraction analysis, we show that the degree of axial distortion is r elated to the preferential growth direction of the SrS films. To first order, the blue-emission properties (emission wavelength and decay ti mes) of the SrS:Ce films do not appear to be affected by the amount of distortion in the local Ce3+ environment. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.