LED 101
Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) are solid state lighting components. They have no moving or fragile parts and can last for decades. LED's are many times more efficient than Incandescent Bulbs. Just as vacuum tubes were replaced with solid state components, the last remaining vacuum tube light bulbs are being replaced by solid state components.
Imagine a grain of sand that emits a very bright light when an electrical current is applied. That's essentially an LED. The actual science and manufacturing process to develop an LED is quite complex, but the principle is simple.
The first LED's for commercial applications were red. They functioned as on/off indicators in electronic devices such as VCR's, calculators, strereo systems and even automobile sub-systems. Eventually LED's were produced in green and amber as well. The major breakthrough can in 1989 when CREE, INC. of Durham in the United States, started shipping the first commercially viable blue LED based on silicon carbide. The blue LED enabled white LED's to be made because mixing red, blue and green light produces white.
Today a more efficient and cost effective white LED is revolutionising the lighting world. The white LED, based on a blue LED chip coated with phosphor is bright and efficient enough to be used in general illumination.
Imagine a grain of sand that emits a very bright light when an electrical current is applied. That's essentially an LED. The actual science and manufacturing process to develop an LED is quite complex, but the principle is simple.
The first LED's for commercial applications were red. They functioned as on/off indicators in electronic devices such as VCR's, calculators, strereo systems and even automobile sub-systems. Eventually LED's were produced in green and amber as well. The major breakthrough can in 1989 when CREE, INC. of Durham in the United States, started shipping the first commercially viable blue LED based on silicon carbide. The blue LED enabled white LED's to be made because mixing red, blue and green light produces white.
Today a more efficient and cost effective white LED is revolutionising the lighting world. The white LED, based on a blue LED chip coated with phosphor is bright and efficient enough to be used in general illumination.