Solid-state lighting based on light emitting diode technology

Abstract

Solid-state lighting is believed to be the ultimate light source and is in the process of profoundly changing the way that humans generate and control light for various applications. Differing from conventional light sources that use tungsten filament, plasma, or gases to generate light, solid-state lighting is based on organic or inorganic light emitting diodes (LEDs), and has the potential to generate light with almost 100?% efficiency. LED lighting has long lifetime and is environmentally friendly with no toxic mercury contained. Beyond energy saving, LEDs are light sources that can be tuned and controlled to a great degree; for instance, the emission spectrum could be optimised for our health and wellbeing. In the future, we could expect LED-based solid-state lighting to combine with communication technology to become an integrated part of a smart home. In this chapter, we will focus on the most important component of white LEDs-nitride materials-and review the historical development of nitride-based LEDs, the research challenges involved, their performance and applications.