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It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

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Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#111

If only it was impossible. Blue leds are abominable! [EDIT] I hate white ones too so the replies aren't exactly selling them!

Blue LEDs that are on to let you know something has power is abominable, but that isn't the fault of the blue LED. What is abominable is the use of the "cooler" blueish white light being used at night indoors. That should be considered a crime against humanity.

> What is abominable is the use of the > "cooler" blueish white light being > used at night indoors.

We only associate warm orangey-white light with nocturnal lighting because of centuries of sitting around fires and candles.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#112
post #2

Assuming everything is reported fairly, I really can't imagine being Nichia's customer. Ever. Sacking and not compensating the employee that single-handedly made Nichia successful by inventing a working blue LED and saving Nichia from bankruptcy is just not acceptable.

Like the other person said, nichia makes good LEDs. They make a UV free LED. https://led-ld.nichia.co.jp/en/product/lighting_optisolis.ht...

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#113

Blue LEDs are the bane of my light-sensitive eyes' existence, and it pains me so to know they almost never existed at all. I keep a PC repair kit with me, even though I dont have a desktop computer, because I need to take all of my electronics apart and take these stupid blue LEDs out of them.

You never had a problem with green?

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#114
post #100

Blue LEDs are the bane of my light-sensitive eyes' existence, and it pains me so to know they almost never existed at all. I keep a PC repair kit with me, even though I dont have a desktop computer, because I need to take all of my electronics apart and take these stupid blue LEDs out of them.

LED lighting wouldn't exist if not for blue LEDs. And neither would much of modern display technology. The importance of this discovery was not because we could make shiny blue light with it.

LED lighting in practice is typically terrible (though not always or inevitably): the spectrum is too blue and too spiky, without due respect for human needs. It has ruined nighttime lighting, especially outdoors in applications like street lamps, car headlamps, camp lamps, and flashlights. Whatever marketing people are making decisions in the lighting industry have insufficient understanding of human color vision and/or just don't care, consumers or other people making purchasing decisions have poor understanding of the options and their effects, and government regulation has not kept up with the technology.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#116
I remember when blue LEDs started appearing in guitar FX pedals just out of novelty,resulting in a pedals becoming harder to use as when the pedal was on the brightness meant visibility of the controls was reduced. On pedals I made I always used fine sandpaper to increase the diffusion of each LED, and the result was significantly better. Early blue LEDs,especially, seemed to have a very narrow projection angle.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#117

I thought this was a really well-produced video! It's difficult to communicate science to the public in an accessible way at the right level, and I think Derek does a commendable job. I really liked the LED explanation at the 4:00 mark. Can anyone who is familiar with semiconductor physics opine on how well this explanation models the reality?

Bachelor's in engineering physics (condensed matter experimental)/EE specializing in semiconductors here. The explanation starting at 4:00 is very accurate.

When he talks about the electrons "feeling" the neighboring atoms, he's talking specifically about a result that follows from the materials being crystalline, that is, having regular ordered structure. The regular structure gives rise to a periodic potential. You plug that periodic potential into the Schrodinger equation and apply continuity conditions and translational symmetry to the wavefunction. Computing the solutions to the Schrodinger equation with those conditions reveals that there are allowed and disallowed energy levels, and also reveals the relationship between energy and momentum in the crystal lattice. You can step through this by reading the wikipedia page on the Kronig-Penney Model. This depends on the periodicity, which obviously can change depending on direction in a crystal.

His explanation, and the result that "the" band gap is a single number, isn't dishonest because when we grow semiconductor devices, we grow them such that the crystal is oriented such that current flows in the desired direction, so that simple result holds true.

Even his portrayal of the bands leaning down as potential/voltage is applied mirrors how potential change is shown in diagrams of semiconductor devices, see Streetman and Banerjee - Solid State Electronic Devices.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#118
post #84
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, all I can say is that is tracked my undergraduate semiconductor theory classes pretty well. More confirmation needed.

I would agree. Having said that I still think it was a bit wishy washy. The whole treatment of band gap energies I think is quite complicated beyond the simple diagram shown.

Also, I don't think the explanation for silicon was correct. As I understand it, the problem with Si is not that the bandgap is in the infrared, it's that it's an indirect bandgap semiconductor which suppresses emission of photons. Instead, the energy of recombination goes into heat.

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#119

I thought this was a really well-produced video! It's difficult to communicate science to the public in an accessible way at the right level, and I think Derek does a commendable job. I really liked the LED explanation at the 4:00 mark. Can anyone who is familiar with semiconductor physics opine on how well this explanation models the reality?

Bachelor's in engineering physics (condensed matter experimental)/EE specializing in semiconductors here. The explanation starting at 4:00 is very accurate. When he talks about the electrons "feeling" the neighboring atoms, he's talking specifically about a result that follows from the materials being crystalline, that is, having regular ordered structure. The regular structure gives rise to a periodic potential. You…

That's great! Much appreciated, thanks :)

Re: It was almost impossible to make the blue LED [video]

#120

There is something oddly humbling and inspiring about this story. The scientist thanklessly slaved away for a year and half before even producing the first breakthrough. It must require an immense amount of perseverance to do so. It also reminds me to the craft mentality and patience of Jiro dreams of sushi. Very refreshing when contrasted with western mentality, where people can't wait to get promoted fast enough.

You're comparing a whole billion people to someone who went on to earn a Nobel, it's a little unfair. There's plenty of people in the West (and East, and South and North) with massive, even unhealthy grit and determination, and plenty of people in Japan that just conform to the standard work culture of the country.
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