Yb3þ-doped phosphors have characteristic near-infrared (NIR) emissions, but their applications in
phosphor-converted light-emitting-diodes (pc-LEDs) and Si solar cells are limited due to their mismatching
excitation spectra. Here, we selected nitride La3Si6N11 (LSN) as host material to achieve Yb3þ
NIR emission upon low-energy charge transfer (CT) excitation. The obtained phosphor LSN:Yb3þ has a
broad CT excitation band ranging from 250 to 500 nm and narrowband NIR emissions ranging from 950
to 1100 nm centered at 983 nm. On the basis of spectral data, the vacuum referred binding energies
(VRBE) schemes are constructed to locate energy levels of all lanthanide ions in LSN. We also fabricated
NIR pc-LED device using 395 nm LED chip to demonstrate the potential applications of LSN:Yb3þ
phosphors.