Scientists Devise Brighter LEDs via Nano-imprint Lithography

Daily Tech ^ | January 1, 2008 | Wolfgang Hansson

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Like frosting a bulb.

[raybbr]

Like frosting a bulb.

More like scraping the coating off of a soft white incandescent.

Can't wait to have some of these flashlights. I use the LED flashlights now. So much light for such a little bulb.

[MrEdd]

More low energy lighting ping.

[TOneocon]

My computer mouse has one. Very bright red. It dim's when I lift it off the pad. I like it.

[TOneocon]

Whats this got to do with LED’s???

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

So, the LED flashlights are good? I’ve seen maglite advertising them, but didn’t know how good they are.

[Squawk 8888]

LED flashlights are excellent; in many cases they’re brighter than conventional flashlights and the batteries last nearly forever. You can even get LEDs that can be recharged by turning a crank for a few minutes.

[Eye of Unk]

Right now with the Cree Q5 emitter available in top end EDC (every day carry)flashlights the lumens output is now over 225, several years ago it was 105 and that flashlight cost about $180 from Surefire. Check out the Fenix brand flashlights. http://www.fenixtactical.com/fenix-t1.html

[raybbr]

I don't use mag-lite LED lights. I have been using Streamlight brand. They make penlights, small lights and tactical lights for guns. I am very satisfied with their products.

My only problem is the Stylus penlight is very easy to lose. It's just like a pen but I use it at work all the time.

[Lexinom]

I've had gadgets since the 1970s using LEDs - from handheld games to calculators. From the 70s to the 80s, the color was almost always RED. In the late 80s green and yellow became more popular. In the early 90s, Cree pioneered fabrication wish Silicone Carbide to achieve a blue LED. Initially, these devices in their discreet form cost about 10x an equivalent red, yellow, or orange device. Geeks (like me) had a few in our inventory as a novelty, but it was too expensive owing to its proprietary nature for general use. Now, blue is ubiquitious to the point it seems the color of choice in new electronics.

Point is that the LED has been in the hands of the consumer for a LOOONG time. They do not burn out - at least, not suddenly - and any advances in this efficient and reliable technology are a positive.

The gas discharge tube was another interesting light emitting technology, used in seven-segment displays (common in VCRs for a time), greyish/white in color. I have not seen this for awhile.

[muawiyah]

This seems to be our first purely LED thread. There are others about antique incandescent bulbs, or the antiquated fluorescent technology that Congress just voted to make a requirement, but non just on this technology

I love those flashlights. Used one (with the handcrank) working under a new sink hooking up the plumbing and water fittings a bit over a year ago. Had just had cataract surgery in both eyes, but there were no bright spots ~ just nice, steady, bright light over an area.

I was still wearing sunglasses to drive at night just to give you an idea of what LED light is like compared to high powered incandescent bulbs out on the streets.

[theBuckwheat]

It appears that light output is now limited by the maximum temperature the LED chip can stand, which in turn is controlled by how much heat the mounting can pull away. A glance at the spec sheet from Cree for a LED used in flashlights (the X-Lamp XR-E) shows the max junction temp of 150 deg C is reached at 1000 ma.

http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLamp7090XR-E.pdf

[sionnsar]

From the 70s to the 80s, the color was almost always RED. In the late 80s green and yellow became more popular.

The reason they were "almost always" red was because that was the only color they could make (at least in production quantities and reasonable prices). The first red LEDs were extremely dim by today's standards.

[UCANSEE2]

[null and void]

So, the LED flashlights are good?

Very. The light is very even, none of the shadows that a tungsten filament lamp shows.

The LED(s) are very robust, totally unfazed by dropping on concrete.

A standard flashlight bulb may last a few hundred hours, an LED lamp has a rated life of 100,000 hours, that's nearly 10 years of continuous use.

Speaking of continuous use, a couple D cells will provide solid weeks of illumination.

[null and void]

I've had gadgets since the 1970s using LEDs - from handheld games to calculators.

I'm still using an HP-45 calculator I bought in '73...

[VOA]

bump

[Lexinom]

Far out, man! ;-)

That is a CLASSIC!

[null and void]

The first red LEDs were extremely dim by today's standards.

One of the highlights of my then young career was developing a simple process technique that boosted the brightness of National Semiconductor's red LEDs by 70%.

For a while they were the brightest on earth...