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Cambridge University creates low-cost production method for GaN LEDs
Electrical Engineering Times ^ | 01/29/2009 | Paul Buckley

Posted on 01/30/2009 11:39:15 AM PST by PapaBear3625

Winchester, UK - Cambridge University's Centre for Gallium Nitride has developed a new way of making GaN which could produce LEDs for a tenth of current prices and may see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75 percent within five years.

[snip]

Currently GaN LEDs can only be grown on 2-inch sapphire wafers. Following the Cambridge innovation nine times as many LEDs can be grown on a 6-inch silicon wafer compared with a 2-inch sapphire wafer. In addition, edge effects are less, so the number of good LEDs is about 10 times higher. The processing costs for a 2-inch wafer are essentially the same as for a 6-inch wafer. A 6-inch silicon wafer is much cheaper to produce than a 2-inch sapphire wafer. Together these factors result in a cost reduction of about a factor of 10.

(Excerpt) Read more at eetimes.eu ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; Technical
KEYWORDS: led; lighting
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To: ApplegateRanch

When the kilowatt police start metering you use, the LED lights will decrease your consumption enough so you can sneak in an a little illegal AM radio listening.


21 posted on 01/30/2009 2:07:54 PM PST by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
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To: Dr.Zoidberg

One thing I like about LED lighting is that in generally involves a bunch of LEDs, which means you can soften the color of the light by mixing in some reds and greens.


22 posted on 01/30/2009 2:10:26 PM PST by PapaBear3625 (We used to institutionalize the insane. Now we elect them.)
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To: PapaBear3625

The Telegraph says they may be available in two years. Snip... [ Manufacturers have already begun work on production prototypes and the first units could hit shelves within two years.]


23 posted on 01/30/2009 2:11:56 PM PST by scramaseaxe2002
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To: dangerdoc

you can sneak in an a little illegal AM radio listening.
**********************************************************
You don’t have a crystal set hidden under the stairs do you? Or maybe a Zenith Trans-Oceanic ?? We’re watching you!


24 posted on 01/30/2009 2:18:23 PM PST by Neidermeyer
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To: pappyone
“...lighting bills reduced by up to 75 percent within five years.”
I am all for energy savings and reduced cost of lighting. But can any FReepers advise me of ANYTHING that we have now that was predicted to happen five years ago? Hopefully this is not another “flying car” that will soon (5 years?) be appearing in your neighbors drive way.
Moore's Law has held up.

When they're already making some LED's for flashlights and other specialty apps, a development which cuts the cost of production by an order of magnitude is going to open a BIG market.


25 posted on 01/30/2009 2:33:13 PM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (Change is what journalism is all about. NATURALLY journalists favor "change.")
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To: ReformedBeckite

Yes, although the glass is blacker than the ceramic as shown in your picture.


26 posted on 01/30/2009 2:41:47 PM PST by fanfan
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To: sionnsar
Why, I remember the days when we created light by heating up bits of metal...

Ahh, Yes.......

Click Here

I remember it well.........
Good 'ol limelight........
Works pretty good too.....
27 posted on 01/30/2009 2:44:21 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: PapaBear3625
which means you can soften the color of the light by mixing in some reds and greens.

Good point. I once saw an orchestra and noticed the "richness" of the white lights. It wasn't until after the show I sneaked up there and saw blues and reds mixed in with the whites. I was thinking it was just the effects of the fresnel lenses on the powerful lights.

28 posted on 01/30/2009 3:39:32 PM PST by Big Giant Head (I should change my tagline to "Big Giant penguin on my Head")
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To: dangerdoc
you can sneak in an a little illegal AM radio listening.

I bought a radio at Big Lots that will run off an AC outlet, but it has a solar panel to assist the batteries when it's outside and if all else fails, a hand crank that winds a spring that turns a little generator.

29 posted on 01/30/2009 4:15:22 PM PST by SC Swamp Fox (Aim small, miss small.)
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To: PapaBear3625

Aren’t those CFGs or whatever they are already mandated in UK and soon in the US?


30 posted on 01/30/2009 4:39:05 PM PST by wildbill
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To: PapaBear3625
My nephew's first job in 82 with HP he was tasked with designing a machine to sort the brightness and color of LED as they were hand sorted prior to that. Then he designed he hand held Bar Code scanner for HP. I don't remember what was next but then he worked with the team to design the Camera Module for cell phones.

He has retired form HP and it derivatives and is now working for Phillips Luminance working on LED lighting yet to come...

31 posted on 01/30/2009 5:06:07 PM PST by tubebender (Your Tag Line offends me...)
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To: backwoods-engineer

Ping to post #31...


32 posted on 01/30/2009 5:10:46 PM PST by tubebender (Your Tag Line offends me...)
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To: ReformedBeckite

Believe it or not, they are designed to fail that way.


33 posted on 01/30/2009 5:12:53 PM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Big Giant Head
Good point. I once saw an orchestra and noticed the "richness" of the white lights. It wasn't until after the show I sneaked up there and saw blues and reds mixed in with the whites.

Stage lighting makes heavy use of different colored lights to achieve various effects and moods. Your color screen only has red, green, and blue pixels, from which all the other colors are generated. So a lighting arrangement that used red, green, and blue as well as white could be used to generate a wide variety of "mood" lighting effects.

34 posted on 01/30/2009 6:22:34 PM PST by PapaBear3625 (We used to institutionalize the insane. Now we elect them.)
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To: wildbill

In the US, we have legislation to phase out incandescent bulbs in a few years. UK is just further along.


35 posted on 01/30/2009 6:25:23 PM PST by PapaBear3625 (We used to institutionalize the insane. Now we elect them.)
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To: tubebender

http://www.ccrane.com/lights/index.aspx

C Crane is selling LED lighting currently.
A bit pricey still.


36 posted on 01/30/2009 8:01:41 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: Jet Jaguar
Yep. CCrane is just down 101 about 15 miles and I bought the first edition LED flash lite from him. My son and his crew all carry them on their belt working on or under cars. I have 2 Ccrane radios here at home and one of them is a digital shower model. The led lites don't pop bulbs like the older Maglites...
37 posted on 01/30/2009 10:10:37 PM PST by tubebender (Your Tag Line offends me...)
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To: tubebender

Everything I bought from them works. And still works. Good company.


38 posted on 01/30/2009 10:14:31 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: Jet Jaguar
I had a place on the Klamath River several years ago where AM reception was weak. I bought a GE all radio and some Hokus Pokus circular antenna from them that brought in good signals with out wires. Sold the cabin but still have the radio and antenna...
39 posted on 01/30/2009 10:40:33 PM PST by tubebender (Your Tag Line offends me...)
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To: All

I would vote and approve of billions of dollars to build factories IN THE US to make low cost LED replacement lamps for everything from streetlights to nightlights.

And ban CFLs in America.


40 posted on 01/30/2009 10:43:48 PM PST by Eye of Unk (How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! SA)
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