What is an LED?

What is an LED?

Let's start off with the basics..

General

An LED is a Light Emitting Diode. A diode is a semiconductor device that only allows electrical current to flow in one direction. An LED works by a process called electroluminescence. Inside an LED, there are two regions, a P region (with positively charged holes) and an N region (with negative electrons). Where these regions meet is called the PN junction. When enough voltage is passed through the device, negatively charged electrons can eventually pass the junction and meet with positively charged holes. Their combination releases electromagnetic energy in the form of a photon of light.

Color Creation

The color of an LED is created by the LED itself without gels or filters. The material of the semiconductor defines the color of the light emitted. LEDs produce monochromatic light (single wavelength) colors, and only red, blue, green, amber and several whites can be created. A cold white LED is actually a blue LED with a special phosphor coating to mix down-converted yellow light with blue to produce light that appears white. A warm white LED is created in much the same way but with red and white emitting phosphors.

Most perceivable colors can be created by mixing varying amounts of the three primary colors (red, green and blue). LEDs are now made with not only one color ability. RGB LEDs, with four pins entering the transparent plastic case instead of the traditional two pins, can realize more colors from one LED. Commonly seven colors can be produced by controlling the switch of the channel for each primary color. However, to produce more than seven colors, each channel must be controllable in brightness.

Life Cycle

Typically, LEDs last for approximately 50,000 hours, by which point they will be at 70% brightness. LEDs, especially high-power LEDs, get extremely hot, and this causes their life expectancy to drop. However, creatively engineered light fixtures integrate heat sinks into the product design in order to keep the LEDs cool and preserve their lifespan.

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Astera LED Technology

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