Patent ID: 7540977

Claim:
A phosphor, wherein the phosphor includes, as a main component, an inorganic compound comprising: a composition on a pseudo-ternary phase diagram including AO (A is one kind or two or more kinds of metallic element(s) selected from Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba; and AO is oxide of A), Si 3 N 4 , and SiO 2 as end members, respectively, and satisfying all of the following conditions: in a composition formula, pAO-qSi 3 N 4 -rSiO 2 (p+q+r=1), 0.1≦p≦0.95 (1), 0.05≦q≦0.9 (2), and 0≦r≦0.5 (3), and at least a metallic element M (M is one kind or two or more kinds of element(s) selected from Mn, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb) dissolved, in a solid state, in the composition.