Visible light-emitting diode (LED)
Diodo emisor de luz (LED) visible
- Date
- 1962 · confidence high
- Place
- General Electric, Syracuse, New York, United States
- Credited to
- Nick Holonyak Jr. (GE); infrared LED by James Biard and Gary Pittman (TI, 1961); Oleg Losev (1927) as a precursor
- People
- 👤 Henry Joseph Round1881–1966👤 James R. Biard1931–2022👤 Nick Holonyak1928–2022👤 Oleg Lósev1903–1942👤 Shūji Nakamura1954–
- Field
- Communication
What it is
A semiconductor that emits red light when current passes through it, without a filament or heat. It began as an indicator light and calculator display and ended up lighting the world.
What it led to
- Calculator, watch and traffic-light displays
- The blue LED and white lighting
- Consumer electronics with light indicators
Built on
- semiconductor diode
- electroluminescence
Made possible
- Semiconductor laser diode1962
- Low-loss optical fibre1966-1970
- Pocket electronic calculator1967
- Organic light-emitting diode (OLED)1987
- Blue gallium-nitride LED1993
- pocket calculator
- optical fibre (sources)