Abstract
In a practical sense, the development of high-performance
visible-spectrum light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has occurred over a period of
over 60 years, beginning with the discovery of the first semiconductor p-n
junction in 1940, the development of solid-state electronic band theory in
the 1940s, the invention of the first bipolar transistor in 1947, and the
demonstration of efficient light generation from III-V alloys in the 1950s
and 1960s. This paper reviews some of the major scientific and technological
developments and observations that have created the materials and device technologies
currently used in the commercial mass production of high-brightness visible-spectrum
LEDs and that have culminated in white-light sources exhibiting luminous efficacies
of over 150 lm/W, far beyond what has been achieved with conventional lighting
technologies.
© 2008 IEEE
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