Invention, development, and status of the blue light-emitting diode, the enabler of solid-state lighting

Publication date: Available online 9 January 2018 Source:Comptes Rendus Physique Author(s): Daniel Feezell, Shuji Nakamura The realization of the first high-brightness blue-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in 1993 sparked a more than twenty-year period of intensive research to improve their efficiency. Solutions to critical challenges related to material quality, light extraction, and internal quantum efficiency have now enabled highly efficient blue LEDs that are used to generate white light in solid-state lighting systems that surpass the efficiency of conventional incandescent lighting by 15–20×. Here we discuss the initial invention of blue LEDs, historical developments that led to their current state-of-the-art performance, and potential future directions for blue LEDs and solid-state lighting.
Source: Comptes Rendus Physique - Category: Physics Source Type: research