There’s plenty of design work in white LEDs, which hold the promise of replacing conventional lighting sources and providing substantial reductions in power consumption. The compact light sources can also provide smaller packages, fitting in portable equipment or giving stylists many new options.
On the portable side, white LEDs from Lumileds of San Jose, CA are designed for the booming camera phone market, providing far more flash output than competitive parts. The two members of the Luxeon line have output of 40 and 80 lumens at 1 A, far higher than the 6-8 lumen output of parts now used in cameras. That’s enough to illuminate objects one or two meters away. The parts can provide 100,000 flashes or operate for 168 hours in flashlight mode, drawing 350 mA. The LEDs are also smaller than other LEDs, measuring 2 x 1.6 mm.
Addressing the home and office lighting markets, Cree Inc. of Durham, N.C. claims its Xlamp 7090 has the highest light output for standard lighting applications, providing 40-60 lumens at 350 mA. The Dept. of Energy estimates that using LEDs in place of conventional light sources could slash U.S. electrical output for light by nearly a third.
The DOE is putting its money into making that savings happen. One part of that push is by funding research in the next-generation LED technology, organic LEDs. Last month (October) Universal Display Corp. of Ewing, NJ, received a $2.4 million award from the DOE. UDC will work with Princeton University to develop high efficiency phosphorescent OLEDs. Researchers are devising a maskless deposition process called organic vapor jet printing. OLEDs can be printed on many thin substrates, forming lights that can be bent or used in backlighting applications.
White LEDs are expected to see solid growth in coming years. They’re a major part of the high brightness segment of the LED market, which is predicted to grow from $1.84 billion in 2002 to $4.7 billion in 2007, according to Strategies Unlimited of Mt. View, CA.
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LEDs from Lumileds are smaller than competing devices, yet have bright enough output for camera phones.
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For more information, go to:
Universal Display: http://www.universaldisplay.com/press-2004-10-26.htm
Lumileds: http://www.lumileds.com/solutions/solution.cfm?id=9
Cree: http://www.cree.com/Products/lmp_index.asp
U.S. Dept. Of Energy: http://www.netl.doe.gov/ssl/highlights.html
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