Blue
gallium nitride LEDs from LEDtronics cost between $ 2 and $ 2.50, while Cree Research sells silicon carbide LEDs for 49 cents each.
Now Nichia Chemical Industries of Tokushima, Japan, is offering indium
gallium nitride LEDs that emit 1000 millicandelas at 450 nanometres, which makes them much brighter and bluer.
And LEDtronics of Torrance, California, sells
gallium nitride LEDs which emit up to 75 millicandelas at 480 nanometres.
Meanwhile General Electric, Philips and Siemens are all trying, along with R&D partners, to build solid - state lighting based on
gallium nitride LEDs.
Not exact matches
NexGen plans to make semiconductor power devices from
gallium nitride, the same material that Soraa uses to make
LED lighting.
The blue
LEDs found inside most of today's LCDs — and whose inventors were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics this year — use
gallium nitride because it is energy efficient and bright.
Nanowires for
LEDs are made up of an inner core of
gallium nitride (GaN) and a layer of indium -
gallium -
nitride (InGaN) on the outside, both of which are semiconducting materials.
Conventionally, such
LEDs require
gallium nitride to be placed on a substrate of sapphire, with a separate reflector to direct the light.
But the silicon - based or
gallium nitride crystals found in
LEDs and other electronics require a bit of coaxing to attain their ideal shapes and alignments.
The company's new approach to
LEDs revolves around using
gallium nitride (GaN) for the substrate part of the light.
The device is made from the same widely used materials as solar cells and other electronics, including silicon and
gallium nitride (often found in
LEDs).