BLUE LED

Introduction to LEDs..

• A Light emitting diode (LED) is essentially a p-n junction diode which emits light when activated.
Most of the commercial LEDs are realized using a highly doped n and p Junction.

• A light-emitting diode (LED) is a two-lead semiconductor light source.

• LEDs are applied in household, industrial automobile lighting, backlighting, medical equipment and in
other applications.

• Modern LEDs are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths with very high
brightness.

Working principle

• A P-N junction can convert absorbed light energy into a proportional electric current. The same
process is reversed here (i.e. The P-N junction emits light when electrical energy is applied to it). This
phenomenon is generally called electroluminescence, which can be defined as the emission of light
from a semi-conductor under the influence of an electric field.

• The charge carriers recombine in a forward-biased p-n junction as the electrons cross from the n-region
and recombine with the holes existing in the p-region. Free electrons are in the conduction band of
energy levels, while holes are in the valence energy band.

• Some portion of the energy must be dissipated to recombine the electrons and the holes. This energy
is emitted in the form of heat and light. The energy is dissipated in the form of heat for silicon and
germanium diodes but in GaAsP and GaP semiconductors, the energy is dissipated by emitting
photons after recombination.

Colours of LEDs..

• LEDs are made from gallium based crystal that contains one or more additional material such as
phosphorous to produce a distinct colour.

• LEDs are available in red ,orange, amber ,yellow , green , blue ,white .

• Blue and white LEDs are much more expansive than other colours .

Introduction to blue LED

• Blue LEDs were first developed by Herbert Paul Maruska in 1972 using gallium nitride (GaN) on a
sapphire substrate.

• These are LEDs which can emit Blue light.

• The bright blue LEDs are based on the wide bandgap SC’s like GaN and InGaN. Wide bandgap refers
to higher energy electronic bandgaps.

Construction…

• Gallium nitride (GaN), which is the material used to create blue LEDs, is hard to grow. In order to
make an LED, you need to make a P-N junction, meaning a layer of p-type material on top of n-type
material .In between the two layers there is a active layer of InGaN.
 • In 1994, Shuji Nakamura developed high-brightness blue LEDs using indium gallium nitride (InGaN),
a mix of gallium nitride and indium nitride. By adjusting the amount of indium in the semiconductor,
he tuned the energy gap to produce blue light.

• GaN crystals can be grown using sapphire as a substrate which has a band gap of 3.4 ev . A scanning
beam microscope is used to increase the brightness of the light emitted by LED.

Working

• In the active layer, the electrons and holes are driven when an electric voltage is applied to the SC ,
When their recombination take place light is emitted.

• The light’s wavelength depends entirely on the SC, Blue light has a very short wavelength and so
produces higher amount of energy. For these reason SC GaN used which have wide bandgap of 3.4ev.

• When the proper voltage is applied, electrons can move and fall into the holes, releasing energy. Early
diodes only released a little energy, so they emitted infrared light. To make a diode that produce visible
light, scientists had to widen the energy gap. Blue light requires a very high energy gap.

Why blue LEDs worth Noble prize?

• Three researchers received the 2014 Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of this blue light-emitting
diode (LED), a technology now used in high-speed networking, data storage, smartphones , water
purification , and efficient home illumination.

• The key advantage of their invention is the production of light with far less waste of electrical energy

• The invention of the blue LED was important because it was a technical triumph and also because it
made a large number of new applications possible. It was a huge technical achievement because the
necessary properties for making blue light could not be achieved with a semiconductor similar to those
already being used for LEDs.

• The discovery that GaN could produce efficient blue light is what earned the noble prize . As blue LED
is a GaN based device they enable significant energy savings and also a major weapon in fight against
global warming, which is one of the major concern of our nation.

Properties of GaN material…

• Gallium nitride (GaN) is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in light-emitting
diodes(LEDs) since 1990s.

• The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure.

• Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it special properties for applications in optoelectronic ,high-power
and high-frequency devices.

• The molar mass of GaN material is 83.73g/mol.

• GaN based compounds are relatively better in stability as compared to GaAs, GaP etc.

White LED…

• White LEDs cannot be generated without blue LED.

• There are three main methods of mixing colours to produce white light with blue LED-

1. Blue LED + green LED + red LED (colour mixing; can be used as backlighting for displays).
 2. Near UV+UV LED+RGB Phosphor (an LED producing light with a wavelength shorter than blue's is
used to excite an RGB phosphor).

3. blue LED + yellow phosphor (two complementary colours combine to form white light).

Applications of blue LEDs…

1. White LED Lamps

2. Digital Displays

3. Water purification

4. Enhancing the plant growth

5. Commercial decoration

Advantages of blue LEDs…

• Blue LEDs are environment friendly with no toxic waste.

• Small, durable and need little power and saves energy.
• Operates at safe and low voltage.
• Blue LEDs are used to make highly efficient white LEDs.
• The white LEDs are energy-efficient, long-lasting and emit a bright white light. and unlike fluorescent
lamps, they do not contain mercury.
• LEDs lasts upto 100,000 hrs compared to 10,000 hrs for fluorescent lights and 1,000 for incandescens
bulbs.
Disadvantages…
• High initial price.
• Blue hazard-can damage eye .
• Difficult to produce than other LEDs
• Blue pollution cause light pollution .

Conclusion

• Blue LEDs already started a big revolution with scientists claiming 21st century will be lit by led lamps
• Expected to reduce the powder consumption to 40 % by 2040 .
• Blue led can also provide a clean and environment friendly light with no toxic waste .
• For the invention of blue LEDs , the genius scientists Isamu Akasaki ,Hiroshi Amano ,and Shuji
Nakamura were awarded the Nobel prize in 2014 Oct. 7 .

Submitted By:
Purnendu Mishra
College Roll No: BS17-124
Exam Roll No: 31317015
S. C.S (A) College, Puri