Light-emitting diode

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"LED" redirects here. For other uses, see LED (disambiguation).
Light-emitting diode:

Red, green and blue LEDs of the 5mm type

Passive, optoelectronic

Type
Working principle Electroluminescence
Invented Nick Holonyak Jr. (1962)
Electronic symbol

Pin configuration: Anode and Cathode

A light-emitting diode (LED) (pronounced /ˌɛl iː ˈdiː/[1]) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs
are used as indicator lamps in many devices, and are increasingly used for lighting. Introduced as
a practical electronic component in 1962,[2] early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but
modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, with very
high brightness.

When a light-emitting diode is forward biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine
with holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called
electroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is
determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. An LED is often small in area (less than
1 mm2), and integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern.[3] LEDs
present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption,
longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and
reliability. LEDs powerful enough for room lighting are relatively expensive and require more
precise current and heat management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable
output.

Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse as replacements for aviation lighting,
automotive lighting (particularly brake lamps, turn signals and indicators) as well as in traffic
signals. The compact size, the possibility of narrow bandwidth, switching speed, and extreme
reliability of LEDs has allowed new text and video displays and sensors to be developed, while
their high switching rates are also useful in advanced communications technology. Infrared
LEDs are also used in the remote control units of many commercial products including
televisions, DVD players, and other domestic appliances.

Colors and materials

Conventional LEDs are made from a variety of inorganic semiconductor materials, the following table shows the
available colors with wavelength range, voltage drop and material:

Wavelength
Color Voltage (V) Semiconductor Material
(nm)

Gallium arsenide (GaAs)

Infrared λ > 760 ΔV < 1.9
Aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs)

Aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs)

1.63 < ΔV < Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP)
Red 610 < λ < 760
2.03 Aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP)
Gallium(III) phosphide (GaP)

Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP)

2.03 < ΔV <
Orange 590 < λ < 610 Aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP)
2.10
Gallium(III) phosphide (GaP)

Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP)

2.10 < ΔV <
Yellow 570 < λ < 590 Aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP)
2.18
Gallium(III) phosphide (GaP)

Indium gallium nitride (InGaN) / Gallium(III) nitride

(GaN)
1.9[41] < ΔV
Green 500 < λ < 570 Gallium(III) phosphide (GaP)
< 4.0
Aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP)
Aluminium gallium phosphide (AlGaP)

Zinc selenide (ZnSe)

2.48 < ΔV < Indium gallium nitride (InGaN)
Blue 450 < λ < 500
3.7 Silicon carbide (SiC) as substrate
Silicon (Si) as substrate — (under development)

2.76 < ΔV <

Violet 400 < λ < 450 Indium gallium nitride (InGaN)
4.0

Dual blue/red LEDs,

2.48 < ΔV <
Purple multiple types blue with red phosphor,
3.7
or white with purple plastic

Ultraviol λ < 400 3.1 < ΔV < Diamond (235 nm)[42]

et 4.4 Boron nitride (215 nm)[43][44]
Aluminium nitride (AlN) (210 nm)[45]
Aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN)
Aluminium gallium indium nitride (AlGaInN) — (down
 to 210 nm)[46]

Broad
White ΔV = 3.5 Blue/UV diode with yellow phosphor
spectrum

Types:

LEDs are produced in a variety of shapes and sizes. The 5 mm cylindrical package
(red, fifth from the left) is the most common, estimated at 80% of world production.
[citation needed]
The color of the plastic lens is often the same as the actual color of light
emitted, but not always. For instance, purple plastic is often used for infrared LEDs,
and most blue devices have clear housings. There are also LEDs in SMT packages,
such as those found on blinkies and on cell phone keypads (not shown).

The main types of LEDs are miniature, high power devices and custom designs such as
alphanumeric or multi-color.

Advantages:

• Efficiency: LEDs produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs.[74]
Their efficiency is not affected by shape and size, unlike Fluorescent light
bulbs or tubes.
• Color: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without the use of the color
filters that traditional lighting methods require. This is more efficient and can
lower initial costs.
• Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm2[75]) and are easily
populated onto printed circuit boards.
• On/Off time: LEDs light up very quickly. A typical red indicator LED will
achieve full brightness in under a microsecond.[76] LEDs used in
communications devices can have even faster response times.
• Cycling: LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent
on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out more quickly when
cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.
• Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by pulse-width modulation
or lowering the forward current.
• Cool light: In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in
the form of IR that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted
energy is dispersed as heat through the base of the LED.
• Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt
burn-out of incandescent bulbs.[77]
 • Lifetime: LEDs can have a relatively long useful life. One report estimates
35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be
longer.[78] Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000
hours, depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent light
bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.
• Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to
damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which
are fragile.
• Focus: The solid package of the LED can be designed to focus its light.
Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to
collect light and direct it in a usable manner.
• Low toxicity: LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike fluorescent lamps.

Disadvantages:

• Some Fluorescent lamps can be more efficient.

• High initial price: LEDs are currently more expensive, price per lumen, on
an initial capital cost basis, than most conventional lighting technologies. The
additional expense partially stems from the relatively low lumen output and
the drive circuitry and power supplies needed.
• Temperature dependence: LED performance largely depends on the
ambient temperature of the operating environment. Over-driving the LED in
high ambient temperatures may result in overheating of the LED package,
eventually leading to device failure. Adequate heat-sinking is required to
maintain long life. This is especially important when considering automotive,
medical, and military applications where the device must operate over a
large range of temperatures, and is required to have a low failure rate.
• Voltage sensitivity: LEDs must be supplied with the voltage above the
threshold and a current below the rating. This can involve series resistors or
current-regulated power supplies.[79]
• Light quality: Most cool-white LEDs have spectra that differ significantly
from a black body radiator like the sun or an incandescent light. The spike at
460 nm and dip at 500 nm can cause the color of objects to be perceived
differently under cool-white LED illumination than sunlight or incandescent
sources, due to metamerism,[80] red surfaces being rendered particularly
badly by typical phosphor based cool-white LEDs. However, the color
rendering properties of common fluorescent lamps are often inferior to what
is now available in state-of-art white LEDs.
• Area light source: LEDs do not approximate a “point source” of light, but
rather a lambertian distribution. So LEDs are difficult to use in applications
requiring a spherical light field. LEDs are not capable of providing divergence
below a few degrees. This is contrasted with lasers, which can produce
beams with divergences of 0.2 degrees or less.[81]
• Blue hazard: There is a concern that blue LEDs and cool-white LEDs are now
capable of exceeding safe limits of the so-called blue-light hazard as defined
in eye safety specifications such as ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1-05: Recommended
Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamp and Lamp Systems.[82][83]
• Blue pollution: Because cool-white LEDs (i.e., LEDs with high color
temperature) emit proportionally more blue light than conventional outdoor
light sources such as high-pressure sodium lamps, the strong wavelength
 dependence of Rayleigh scattering means that cool-white LEDs can cause
more light pollution than other light sources. The International Dark-Sky
Association discourages the use of white light sources with correlated color
temperature above 3,000 K.[citation needed]

Switch Contacts:
Several terms are used to describe switch contacts:

• Pole - number of switch contact sets.

• Throw - number of conducting positions, single or double.
• Way - number of conducting positions, three or more.
• Momentary - switch returns to its normal position when released.
• Open - off position, contacts not conducting.
• Closed - on position, contacts conducting, there may be several on positions.

For example: the simplest on-off switch has one set of contacts (single pole) and
one switching position which conducts (single throw). The switch mechanism has
two positions: open (off) and closed (on), but it is called 'single throw' because only
one position conducts.

Switch Contact Ratings:

Switch contacts are rated with a maximum voltage and current, and there may be
different ratings for AC and DC. The AC values are higher because the current falls
to zero many times each second and an arc is less likely to form across the switch
contacts.

For low voltage electronics projects the voltage rating will not matter, but you may need to check
the current rating. The maximum current is less for inductive loads (coils and motors) because
they cause more sparking at the contacts when switched off.

Standard Switches:
Circuit Symb
Type of Switch
ol

ON-OFF
Single Pole, Single Throw = SPST

A simple on-off switch. This type can be used to switch the power supply
to a circuit.

When used with mains electricity this type of switch must be in the live
wire, but it is better to use a DPST switch to isolate both live and neutral.
Piezoelectric Buzzers :

• wide variety of available sizes /

frequencies / sound outputs:
self-oscillating buzzers with signal
generators
buzzers without signal generators
multi-tone sound generators / sirens
• low cost / high sound outputs
• can be mounted in printed circuit boards
• competitive pricing
• fast delivery

Typical Applications:

• alarms / warning devices / automobile

alarms
• pest deterrents
• computer devices
• telephones

• toys / games

Audible Sound Transducers :

The working component in an audible sound transducer usually is a thin disc of piezoelectric
ceramic bonded to a similarly thin metal membrane (see figure 5.3). When a voltage is applied
to the ceramic disc, the disc deforms, causing the metal membrane to bend. When an
alternating voltage is applied the ceramic / metal element vibrates at the frequency of the
applied voltage, producing audible sound. (The resonance frequency of the ceramic disc alone
is too high to produce audible sound, hence the need for the metal membrane.)

The construction of a buzzer greatly affects the level of the sound it emits -- and the cost of the
device. Nodal support mounting (see figure 5.3) minimizes mechanical restriction on the
movement of the sound-producing mechanism, so the amplitude of the vibrations is highest. On
the other hand, signal originating from beyond the nodal ring will be in antiphase with signal
from the central part of the element, and can reduce the sound output. To prevent this
interference, the housing must absorb all output from the periphery of the element.

In clamped edge mounting, the entire surface of the flexing element can vibrate in phase.
Relative to nodal support mounting, greater interaction between the sound-producing element
and the housing reduces the amplitude of the vibrations. Furthermore, unit-to-unit variations in
clamping can affect the uniformity of product performance, and a more substantial housing
generally is needed to retain the element.
In flexible edge mounting, the flexing element is restrained in a pliant material, such as a rubber.
This ensures excellent signal characteristics, at a resonance frequency half that for the same
element in one of the other mounting alternatives. Again, however, careful construction of the
device is critical to effective performance.

Mounting Options for Audible Sound Transducers