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LIGHT EMITTING DIODE

Technical LED's LED Color Chart

Wavelength Color Fwd Voltage Intensity Viewing

LED Dye Material
(nm) Name (Vf @ 20ma) 5mm LEDs Angle
GaAIAs/GaAs -- Gallium
16mW Aluminum
940 Infrared 1.5 15°
@50mA Arsenide/Gallium
Arsenide
GaAIAs/GaAs -- Gallium
18mW Aluminum
880 Infrared 1.7 15°
@50mA Arsenide/Gallium
Arsenide
GaAIAs/GaAs -- Gallium
26mW Aluminum
850 Infrared 1.7 15°
@50mA Arsenide/Gallium
Aluminum Arsenide
GaAIAs/GaAs -- Gallium
2000mcd Aluminum
660 Ultra Red 1.8 15°
@50mA Arsenide/Gallium
Aluminum Arsenide
GaAsP/GaP - Gallium
High Eff. 200mcd
635 2.0 15° Arsenic Phosphide /
Red @20mA
Gallium Phosphide
InGaAIP - Indium
3500mcd
633 Super Red 2.2 15° Gallium Aluminum
@20mA
Phosphide
InGaAIP - Indium
Super 4500mcd
620 2.2 15° Gallium Aluminum
Orange @20mA
Phosphide
InGaAIP - Indium
Super 6500mcd
612 2.2 15° Gallium Aluminum
Orange @20mA
Phosphide
GaAsP/GaP - Gallium
160mcd
605 Orange 2.1 15° Arsenic Phosphide /
@20mA Gallium Phosphide
InGaAIP - Indium
Super 5500mcd
595 2.2 15° Gallium Aluminum
Yellow @20mA Phosphide
InGaAIP - Indium
Super Pure 7000mcd
592 2.1 15° Gallium Aluminum
Yellow @20mA Phosphide
GaAsP/GaP - Gallium
100mcd
585 Yellow 2.1 15° Arsenic Phosphide /
@20mA Gallium Phosphide
"Incan-
2000mcd SiC/GaN -- Silicon
4500K descent" 3.6 20°
@20mA Carbide/Gallium Nitride
White
Pale 4000mcd SiC/GaN -- Silicon
6500K 3.6 20°
White @20mA Carbide/Gallium Nitride
SiC/GaN - Silicon
6000mcd
8000K Cool White 3.6 20° Carbide / Gallium
@20mA Nitride
Super InGaAIP - Indium
1000mcd
574 Lime 2.4 15° Gallium Aluminum
@20mA Phosphide
Yellow
InGaAIP - Indium
Super 1000mcd
570 2.0 15° Gallium Aluminum
Lime Green @20mA
Phosphide
High GaP/GaP - Gallium
200mcd
565 Efficiency 2.1 15° Phosphide/Gallium
@20mA Phosphide
Green
InGaAIP - Indium
Super 350mcd
560 2.1 15° Gallium Aluminum
Pure Green @20mA
Phosphide
GaP/GaP - Gallium
80mcd
555 Pure Green 2.1 15° Phosphide/ Gallium
@20mA
Phosphide
525 Aqua 3.5 10,000mcd 15° SiC/GaN - Silicon
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Green @20mA Carbide / Gallium

Nitride
SiC/GaN - Silicon
2000mcd
505 Blue Green 3.5 45° Carbide / Gallium
@20mA
Nitride
SiC/GaN - Silicon
3000mcd
470 Super Blue 3.6 15° Carbide / Gallium
@20mA Nitride
SiC/GaN - Silicon
100mcd
430 Ultra Blue 3.8 15° Carbide / Gallium
@20mA
Nitride

Relative Intensity vs Wavelength (P)

Forward Current vs
Forward Voltage
Red 5, Ultra Red 4, HE Red 6, Orange 7, Relative Luminous Intensity vs
Bright Red 3, Forward Current
HE Green 9, Yellow 8 Ultra Red 4, HE Red 6, Orange 7, Yellow
8, HE Green 9
Red 5, Bright Red 3, Pure Blue C

Forward Current vs
Ambient Air Temperature Relative Luminous Intensity vs
Red 5, Ultra Red 4, HE Red 6, Ambient Temperature
Orange 7, Red 5, Bright Red 3, Ultra Red 4, HE Green 9,
HE Green 9, Ultra Blue D, Yellow 8, Yellow 8
Bright Red 3
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Maximum Tolerable Peak Current

vs Pulse Duration
Ultra Red, Red, HE Red, Orange, Yellow, HE Bright Red
Green,
Ultra Green (523nm), Ultra Green (502nm), Pure
Blue, Ultra Blue
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Light Emitting diode (LED )

A light-emitting-diode (LED)) is a semiconductor diode that emits light when an electric current is applied
in the forward direction of the device, as in the simple LED circuit.. The effect is a form of
electroluminescence where incoherent and narrow-spectrum light is emitted from the p-n junction.
Electroluminescence devices that are composed of semiconductor materials that are capable of
generating light when they are forward biased by a current source.

The center wavelength of an LED device is determined by the band gap energy in eV at the active layer
given

 .

  = ------ ---- (1)

 

Semiconductor materials:
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Basic Diagram of LED

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Physical principles

The inner workings of an LED

I-V diagram for a diode an LED will begin to emit light when the on-voltage is exceeded. Typical on
voltages are 2-3 Volt

Like a normal diode, the LED consists of a chip of semiconducting material impregnated, or doped, with
impurities to create a p-n junction. As in other diodes, current flows easily from the p-side, or anode, to
the n-side, or cathode, but not in the reverse direction. Charge-carriers—electrons and holes—flow into
the junction from electrodes with different voltages. When an electron meets a hole, it falls into a lower
energy level, and releases energy in the form of a photon.

The wavelength of the light emitted, and therefore its color, depends on the band gap energy of the
materials forming the p-n junction. In silicon or germanium diodes, the electrons and holes recombine
by a non-radiative transition which produces no optical emission, because these are indirect band gap
materials. The materials used for the LED have a direct band gap with energies corresponding to near-
infrared, visible or near-ultraviolet light.

LED development began with infrared and red devices made with gallium arsenide. Advances in
materials science have made possible the production of devices with ever-shorter wavelengths,
producing light in a variety of colors.

LEDs are usually built on an n-type substrate, with an electrode attached to the p-type layer deposited
on its surface. P-type substrates, while less common, occur as well. Many commercial LEDs, especially
GaN/InGaN, also use sapphire substrate.
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Light extraction

The refractive index of most LED semiconductor materials is quite high, so in almost all cases the light
from the LED is coupled into a much lower-index medium. The large index difference makes the
reflection quite substantial (per the Fresnel coefficients). The produced light gets partially reflected back
into the semiconductor, where it may be absorbed and turned into additional heat; this is usually one of
the dominant causes of LED inefficiency. Often more than half of the emitted light is reflected back at
the LED-package and package-air interfaces.

The reflection is most commonly reduced by using a dome-shaped (half-sphere) package with the diode
in the center so that the outgoing light rays strike the surface perpendicularly, at which angle the
reflection is minimized. Substrates that are transparent to the emitted wavelength, and backed by a
reflective layer, increase the LED efficiency. The refractive index of the package material should also
match the index of the semiconductor, to minimize back-reflection. An anti-reflection coating may be
added as well.

The package may be colored, but this is only for cosmetic reasons or to improve the contrast ratio; the
color of the packaging does not substantially affect the color of the light emitted.

• Power ranging from .05mW to 2 mW.

Chromatic chart and angle of emission

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Angle of emission

Radiation Plot      

Follow the Lambertian surface emission plot.

LED characteristic

Power
Efficiency

Internal External
Power Power
Efficiency Efficiency

a : Internal Power Efficiency

ratio of photons generated to the number of electron induced into the active
layer of the device
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  − − − − − −2
 !

B: External Power Efficiency

Ratio of the optical power couple into the fiber to the electrical power applied by the optical device.

%& '( ** +++++++++,

')!

Where optical power PF is only a fraction of the power generated internally by the optical device.
This optical power loss is relevant to the device optical fiber coupling efficiency expressed as

  -. − − − − − − − − − 4

A maximum power couple into the optical fiber is given by

01234  5* .267 8-. − − − − − − − −5

Where I0 is the ratio of the source optical power output and active area.

LED spectral Bandwidth at the half power point

The LED spectral bandwidth determine the half power point of the spectral density in reference to
wavelength .

LED Bandwidth : LED are intensity modulated devices, that is input current can directly affect the
output intensity of the device. In digital device the time delay b/w ON and OFF of LED is determine
by the rise time and fall time of LED source.

Rise time is measured between 10% and 90% of the power output.

Fall time is the time it takes the output power to decrease from 90% to 10 %.
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These time gives us information about the maximum data bit rate the device is capable of handling.
These time delays are due to carrier recombination and change of capacitance. The total optical
bandwidth at the half power point is given by

:;  <= − − − − − −6

Where r is the carrier lifetime or carrier recombination.

*.,@
:?  − − − − − −7
A)B )C

Lambertian Surface Lambert's cosine law in optics says that the radiant intensity observed from a
"Lambertian" surface is directly proportional to the cosine of the angle θ between the observer's line of
sight and the surface normal. The law is also known as the cosine emission law or Lambert's emission
law. It is named after Johann Heinrich Lambert, from his Photometria, published in 1760.

An important consequence of Lambert's cosine law is that when such a surface is viewed from any
angle, it has the same apparent radiance. This means, for example, that to the human eye it has the
same apparent brightness (or luminance). It has the same radiance because, although the emitted
power from a given area element is reduced by the cosine of the emission angle, the size of the
observed area is increased by a corresponding amount, so that while the area element appears the
same in reality it has increased by the cosine of the angle and therefore its radiance is the same. For
example, in the visible spectrum, the Sun is almost a perfect Lambertian radiator, and as a result the
brightness of the Sun is almost the same everywhere on an image
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UVWXY Z[\

Couple in
fiber laws

Butt Lens
Method Method

(direct coupling) fundamental requirement is cross section of fiber is equal to the

Butt Method(direct
optical source.

] 4 h
E  FG ^ d efg ehi g − − − − − 8
u ‚ t
72HI6J2
2HI6J2 `6aH= 37I bcJ=H
_

-. t
F  op q r1 − eug vw
LMNOPQRKS klmQnP
KLMNOPQRKS
E − − − 9u
9 ƒ t
pq2

Lens Method

Source behind source infront

the focal point of focal point of
of lense lense

LED Reliability and operational Lifetime

Maximum LED operational time is

T1  :1 F1 y1 z1 e {|)} g +++++++
~~€ 

Where BF = base failure rate , TF = temperature factor , EF = environmental factor, QF = quality

factor.
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The mean time between failure (MTBF) is „F:… 
†(

The BF = 6.5 x 10-4

Now F ‰Š
‹~~~

1&‡.* 4 *~ˆ H Œ) ˆŽ +++++++*

‘’  F] q “”] 0I − − − − − −11

Where θJA = thermal resistance, Pd is the thermal dissipation of power. TA is ambient temperature.

0I  51 •1