LED Lights

By: Braiden WIlls, Niklas Baldis, andOwenDaugherty

History of LED Light

1927- Soviet inventor Oleg Losey reported creation of the first LED (was not visible).His research was
distributed in Soviet, German and British scientific journals, but no practical use was made of the
discovery for several decades.
1951- Kurt Lehovec, Carl Accardo and Edward Jamgochian, explained LEDs usingSiCcrystals with a
current source of battery or pulse generator. 1953- comparison to a variant, pure crystal
1957- Braunstein set up a simple optical communications link: music emerging from a record player
(suitable electronics to modulate the forward current of a GaAs diode). The emitted light was detected by
a PbS diode some distance away. This signal was fed into an audio amplifier, and played back by a
loudspeaker. Intercepting the beam stopped the music. This setup presaged the use of LEDs for optical
communication applications
September 1961- While working atTexas Instruments, James R. Biardand Gary Pittman discoverednear-
infrared(900 nm) light emission from atunnel diodethey had constructed on a GaAs substrate.
On August 8, 1962, Biard and Pittman filed a patent titled "Semiconductor Radiant Diode" based on
their findings, which described a zinc diffusedpn junctionLED with a spacedcathodecontact to
allow for efficient emission ofinfrared lightunderforward bias.
Texas Instruments(TI) began a project to manufacture infrared diodes after receiving the patent for the
GaAs infrared light-emitting diode, the first practical LED due to their journals predating competitor labs
In October 1962, TI announced the first commercial LED product (the SNX-100), which employed a
pure GaAs crystal to emit a 890nm light output. In October 1963, TI announced the first
commercial hemispherical LED, the SNX-110
History Cont.
1962- The first visible-spectrum LED was developed byNick Holonyak, Jr., while working atGeneral
Electric. Holonyak first reported his LED in the journalApplied Physics Letterson December 1, 1962.
1972- M. George Craford, a former graduate student of Holonyak, invented the first yellow LED and
improved the brightness of red and red-orange LEDs by a factor of ten.
1976- T. P. Pearsall created the first high-brightness, high-efficiency LEDs for optical fiber
telecommunications by inventing new semiconductor materials specifically adapted to optical fiber
transmission wavelengths.
The first commercial LEDs were commonly used as replacements forincandescentandneonindicator
lamps, and inseven-segment displays,first in expensive equipment such as laboratory and
electronics test equipment, then later in such appliances as TVs, radios, telephones, calculators, as
well as watches
Until 1968, visible and infrared LEDs were extremely costly, in the order ofUS$200 per unit, and so
had little practical use
1968- TheMonsanto Company is first organization to mass-produce visible LEDs, using gallium
arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) to produce red LEDs suitable for indicators.
LEDs were bright enough only for use as indicators, as the light output was not enough to illuminate
an area.
Readouts in calculators were so small that plastic lenses were built over each digit to make them
legible. Later, other colors became widely available and appeared in appliances and equipment.
1970s- commercially successful LED devices at less than five cents each were produced by Fairchild
Optoelectronics.
The combination of planar processing for chip fabrication and innovative packaging methods
enabled the team at Fairchild to achieve the needed cost reductions.These methods continue to be
used by LED producers.
Most LEDs were made in the very common 5mm T1 and 3mm T1 packages, but with rising power
output, it has grown increasingly necessary to shed excess heat to maintain reliability,so more
complex packages have been adapted for efficient heat dissipation. Packages for state-of-the-
arthigh-power LEDsbear little resemblance to early LEDs.
History- Color

Blue LED- First developed by Herbert Paul Maruska at RCA in 1972

using gallium nitride (GaN) on a sapphire substrate.SiC-types were
first commercially sold in theUnited Statesby Cree in 1989. Neither
of these initial blue LEDs were very bright
The first high-brightness blue LED was demonstrated byShuji
NakamuraofNichia Corporationin 1994 and was based onIndium
gallium nitride (InGaN)
White LED- 12:Ce (YAG-Yttrium aluminum garnet) phosphor coating on
the emitter absorbs some of the blue emission and produces yellow
light throughfluorescence. The combination of that yellow with
remaining blue light appears white to the eye
White LEDs can now produce over 300 lumens per watt of electricity
while lasting up to 100,000 hours
LED Light Spectrum

There are three types of light

spectra:continuous, absorption,
and emission.
LEDlightshave an emission
spectrum because they emit or
release light.
The light spectra shown on the
right represents the sun and
threetypes of light:
LED,incandescendent, and
compact fluorescent.
Uses of an LEDLight

LEDlights are "semiconductor devices thatproduce visible light when an

electrical current passes through them." (WhatAre LEDs Used For?)
These types of lights have an advantage over normal incandescent and
fluorescent light bulbsbecause they are much more efficient and durable.
Some common colorsof an LED light are red, green, and blue. Thewhite
light that wenormally seereleased from these lightsis not natural. It
isinstead produced by mixing the LEDswitha phosphormaterial
thattransforms the light to a white color.
LEDlights can also be classified intodiffused and clear lights.
Diffused LED lights are soft and can be seen from any angle. One common
example of a diffused LED lightisthe turn signals on a car.
Clear LED lights are more direct and powerfulthanthe diffused lights.An
examplethis type of light on a carwould be the headbeams.
 How DoesanLED Work?
A diode consists of a section of N-type material (which has extra
electrons) bonded to a section of P-type material (which has extra
positively chargedholes where electrons fall into) with electrodes on
each end
To eliminate the depletion zone (an area where charge cannot
flow),the electrons from the N-type area must move to the P-type area
and the holes from the P-type area must move in the opposite
direction.
To achieve this, the N-type side of the diode gets connected to the negative
end of the circuit and the P-type side gets connected to the positive end
As a result, the electrons are repelled by the negative charge andthe
positively charged holes arerepelledby thepositive charge, so the holes
andelectrons movetowardeach other in oppositedirections. This allows
charge toflow across the diode
Whenan electronfalls into a hole, the electron falls to a lower energy
level,and as a result,emitsphotons, whichproducelight
3D Model
References

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