Almost everyone is

familiar with light-emitting

diodes (LEDs) from their use
as indicator lights and numeric
displays on consumer
electronic devices, and later
used in seven-segment
alphanumerics that became
briefly popular in digital
watches and other display
applications during the early
1970s.
• In 1906, Henry Joseph Round first reported
“electroluminescence” while experimenting with Silicon
Carbide (SiC).
• In 1955, Rubin Braunstein (born 1922) of the Radio
Corporation of America first reported on infrared emission
from Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and other semiconductor
alloys.
• In 1962, Nick Holonyak Jr. (born 1928) of General Electric
Company invented the first practical light-emitting diode
operating in the red portion of the visible spectrum.
• Throughout the later 1960s and 1970s, further invention and
development produced additional colors and enabled LEDs to
become a readily available commercial product.
•The color-emitted light of LEDs
depends on the chemical
composition and dominant
wavelength of the semiconducting
material used.
•LED development began with
infrared and red devices made
with GaAs. Advances in materials
science have made possible the
production of devices with even
shorter wavelengths, producing
light in a variety of colors.
•Table 4.2 lists some common
light emitter materials, the
emission wavelength and
corresponding energy gap.
•The first materials, GaP and
AlAs, are used to make
emitters in the visible portions
of the spectrum.
• The next three materials,
GaAs, InP, and AlGaAs, are
used to make emitters in the
near infrared portion
spectrum.
•The last material, InGaAsP is
used to make emitters in the
infrared portion spectrum.
The energy gap corresponds
to the energy of the emitted
photons and also is indicative
of the voltage drop associated
with a forward biased LED.
•The most popular type of tri-
color LED has a red and a
green LED combined in one
package with three leads.
•They are called tri-color
because mixed red and green
light appears to be yellow and
this is produced when both
the red and green LEDs are on.
•The diagram shows the
construction of a tri-color LED.
Note the different lengths of
the three leads. The center
lead (k) is the common
cathode for both LEDs, the
outer leads (a1 and a2) are the
anodes to the LEDs allowing
each one to be separately, or
both together to give the third
color.
• two LEDs wired in ‘inverse
parallel’ combined in
one package with two
leads.
•Only one of the LEDs can be
lit at one time and they
are less useful than the
tri-color LEDs.
• phospides
• nitrides of aluminum
• Indium
• Gallium
 The two major material groups

• Indium-Gallium Phospide (InGaP) compounds

--used to create red and amber
• Gallium Nitride (GaN) compounds
--used to create blue, cyan, and green

 LEDs that emit different colors are made of different

semi-conductor materials, and require different energies
to light them.
•LED die sizes range from
tenths of millimeters for small-
signal devices to greater than a
square millimeter for the
power packages available
today.
•The ‘standard’ LED has a
round cross-section of 5 mm
diameter (T-1 ¾ lamp) “bullet
shape” and this is probably the
best type for general use, but 3
mm round LEDs are also
popular.
• Round cross-section LEDs are frequently used and they are very
easy to install on boxes by drilling a hole of the LED diameter.
• LED clips are also available to secure LEDs in holes. Other cross-
section shapes include square, rectangular and triangular.
• LEDs vary in their viewing angle (beam of light spreads out).
Standard LEDs have a viewing angle of 60° but others have a
narrow beam of 30° or less.
• Is the measure of the
perceived power of light.
• The luminous flux from a LED
varies according to its color,
and depends on the current
density the LED die can
manage.
• The more current an LED
device can handle, the more
luminous flux it will produce.
• The efficacy of individual
LEDs varies by material type,
packaging, radiation pattern,
phosphors, and processing.
• average commercial LED
currently provides 32 lumens
per watt (lm/W), and new
technologies promise to
deliver up to 100 lm/W.
• Most typical LEDs are designed to operate with no more than 30-
60 milliwatts of electrical power.
• Around 1999, commercial LEDs capable of continuous use at one
watt of input power were introduced. These LEDs used much
larger semiconductor die sizes to handle the large power input.
• In 2002, 5-watt LEDs were available with efficiencies of 18-22
lumens per watt.
• In 2005, 10-watt units became available with efficiencies of 60
lumens per watt. These devices will produce about as much light
as a common 50-watt incandescent bulb.
o is the lighting  commonly attributed for
attribute most often LED is 50,000 to 100,000-
used to determine the hour life
useful life (minimum  The best LED achieved 70
maintained percent of original light
illuminance level) of output at 50,000 hours of
LED sources. operation under standard
use conditions
One of the key limitations affecting LEDs is
temperature.
The higher the design junction temperature, the
faster the light output will degrade.
LEDs of different colors do not have identical
lumen depreciation rates. Various packaging
materials and manufacturing methodologies can
also influence depreciation rates in the same base
color.
• LEDs operates at relatively low
voltages between 1 to 4 volts, and
draw currents between 10 to 40
mA.
• Power sources include electronic
circuit choices such as drivers and
switch-mode power supplies.
• A single direct-current (dc) power source
may drive one LED or a cluster of LEDs.
• When the voltage across the p-n junction is
in the correct direction is said to be
forward-biased.
• If the voltage is of the wrong polarity, the
device is said to be reverse biased, very
little current flows, and no light is emitted.
• LEDs can be operated on an AC voltage, but they
will only light with positive voltage, causing the
LED to turn on and off at the frequency of the AC
supply.
• LEDs can emit light of intended color without use of color filters.
• The shape of the LED package allows light to be focused.
• LEDs are insensitive to vibration and shocks.
• LEDs are solid state devices that do not use gases of filaments.
• LEDs are built inside solid cases.
• LEDs are low voltage devices, doesn’t generate too much
ultraviolet or infrared.
• LEDs have an extremely long operating hours, twice in
fluorescents and fifty times in incandescent.
• LEDs fail by dimming overtime and doesn’t heat that much.
• LEDs lights up quickly and achieves full brightness at 0.01
seconds.
• LEDS are currently more expensive than more conventional
lighting technologies
• LEDS performance largely depends on both current density and
junction temperature. Heat sink are needed to maintain long life
• Since LEDs are solid-state devices,
they do not contain mercury,
glass, filaments, or gases
• LEDs are small and have long
lifetimes
• The ultimate goal is to move
these special light sources into
common usage for general
lighting wherever applicable