The History of LEDs
LEDs are currently the most energy-efficient lighting technologies. They work on the electroluminescent principle and can produce the whole spectrum of light. Including UV and Infrared. The story of LEDs is a long one with some significant discoveries predeceasing the first production of a light-emitting diode in 1962.
LED Development Timeline
1907: British experimenter Henry Joseph discovered that when 10volts is applied to silicon carbide crystal, it emits yellow light.
1927: Oleg Vladimirovich Losev in Russian published a paper on luminous silicon carbide crystal detectors and detecting effects and oscillation with crystals.
1955: Robert Braunstein discovered that some simple diodes emit infrared light when connected to a current.
1961: Gary Pittman & Bob Biard proved that gallium-arsenide diodes emit infrared light every time they are connected to a current.
1962: Nick Holonyak, regarded as the founder of LEDs, developed the first light-emitting diode that emitted visible light frequencies. The color his diode emitted was red. So around the time of 1962, the only color option available for LEDs was, in fact, red, other colors ono the visible spectrum were still not yet available
1972: George Craford invented the first yellow LED along with a brighter red version.
1976: Thomas Pearsall, developed a high brightness LED to be used for fiber optics in telecommunications.
1979: Shuji Namakura developed the first blue LED.
Now all of these dates were incredibly significant in the creation and development of Light-emitting diodes. However, the reason for the progress being slow was always the high cost of LEDs. From 1070 until around 1994 LEDs were simply too expensive for commercial use. Even the very first small LEDs were around $200. It was not until Fairchild semiconductors adopted the planar process in producing their LED chips that LEDs became affordable.
Thanks to the research and development of those before us we are now able to produce even more affordable and more technologically sound LED products! LEDs are now becoming the most popular lighting solutions in the world and SANSI would love to help build the LED industry more! We want to provide our customers with high-end products while conserving energy and leaving as little of a carbon footprint as possible!
Our products range from security lighting to desk bulbs all the way to RGB floodlights! We can illuminate every area of your home! If you would like to see our full product list then follow the link here:
