Process for the preparation of phosphor

Claim 1

A process for the preparation of a divlanet europium activated alkaline earth metal fluorohalide phosphor containing a metal oxide, said phosphor having the formula: M.sup.II FX.aM.sup.I X'.bM'.sup.II X".sub.2.cM.sup.III X"'.sub.3.x'A:yEu.sup.2+ in which M II is at least one alkaline earth metal selected from the group consisting of Ba, Sr and Ca; M I is at least one alkali metal selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs;M' II is at least one divalent metal selected from the group consisting of Be and Mg; M III is at least one trivalent metal selected from the group consisting of Al, Ga, In and Tl; A is at least one metal oxide selected from the group consisting of BeO, MgO, CaO, SrO, BaO, ZnO, Al 2 O 3 , Y 2 O 3 , La 2 O 3 , In 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , TiO 2 , ZrO 2 , GeO 2 , SnO 2 , Nb 2 O 5 , Ta 2 O 5 and ThO 2 ; X is at least one halogen selected from the group consisting of Cl, Br and I; each of X', X" and X"' is at least one halogen selected from the group consisting of F, Cl, Br and I; a, b and c are numbers satisfying the conditions of 0≦a≦0.5, 0≦b≦10 -2 , 0≦c≦10 -2 and a+b+c≧10 -6 ; and x' and y are numbers satisfying the conditions of 0<x'≦0.5 and 0<y≦0.2, respectively, which process comprises firing a mixture of starting materials comprising an alkaline earth metal halide, a trivalent europium compound and at least one metal oxide source selected from the group consisting of: a metal oxide subgroup consisting of BeO, MgO, CaO, SrO, BaO, ZnO, Al 2 O 3 , Y 2 O 3 , La 2 O 3 , In 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , TiO 2 , ZrO 2 , GeO 2 , SnO 2 , Nb 2 O 5 , Ta 2 O 5 and ThO 2 , and a metal compound subgroup consisting of metal compounds easily convertible into said metal oxide under the firing temperature, said firing being carried out in at least two firing stages the fired product from the first firing stage being cooled and pulverized prior to the second firing stage, with the first firing stage being carried out at a temperature of about 600° to 1000° C. under a weak reducing atmosphere for a period of about 0.5 to 12 hours to effect reduction of trivalent europium to divalent europium, and with the second firing stage being carried out at a temperature of about 500° to 800° C. under a weak reducing atmosphere or an inert atmosphere for a period of about 0.5 to 12 hours, said metal oxide source being added prior to the first firing stage and after the first firing stage, with the amount of said metal oxide source added to the fired product of the first firing stage being not less than 1/500 of the amount of said metal oxide source added to said mixture of starting materials prior to the first firing stage, the total amount of metal oxide source added being sufficient to prevent sintering and to enhance the stimulated emission of the resultant phosphor.