Patent ID: 8574459

Claim:
A phosphor containing a crystal phase represented by the following formula [I], wherein when its object color is expressed by the L*a*b* color system, the values of a*, b* and (a* 2 +b* 2 ) 1/2 satisfy −20≦a*≦−2, 71≦b* and 71≦(a* 2 +b* 2 ) 1/2 , respectively: R 3−x−y−z+w2 M z A 1.5x+y−w2 Si 6−w1−w2 Al w1+w2 O y+w1 N 11−y−w1 [I] wherein R is at least one rare earth element selected from the group consisting of La, Gd, Lu, Y and Sc; M is at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Ce, Eu, Mn, Yb, Pr and Tb; A is at least one bivalent metal element selected from the group consisting of Ba, Sr, Ca, Mg and Zn; and x, y, z, w1 and w2 represent numerical values within the following ranges, respectively: (1/7)≦(3 −x−y−z+w 2 )/6<(1/2), 0≦(1.5 x+y−w 2)/6<(9/2), 0 ≦x< 3, 0 ≦y< 2, 0 <z< 1, 0 ≦w 1≦5, 0 ≦w 2≦5, 0 ≦w 1 +w 2≦5.