1

LASER
Alyssa Jane T. Magkalas
Department of Electronics Engineering, College of Engineering,
Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa Manila

SUMMATIVE REPORT
This paper aims to give an overview about Light Emitting Diode (LED) its working
principle, application, and other important matters that can make a room for
improvement to the said component. LEDs are just tiny light bulbs that fit easily into an
electrical circuit. They are illuminated exclusively by the movement of electrons in a
semiconductor material, and they last just as long as a standard transistor. Since LEDs
are in demand nowadays, this research may help to provide information to enhance its
characteristics to be able to develop new LEDs suitable for more applications.
INTRODUCTION

LEDs are something we can see

everywhere in our phones, cars and
even in our homes. Every time that we
see something electronic lights up,
theres a possibility that an LED is
behind it. They come in a massive type
of sizes, shapes, and colors. Theyre
widely used to make any project better
and often added to unlikely things.
LEDs are a special type of diode that
when elements such as gallium, arsenic
and phosphorus are used in doping, it
can emit different colors of light. In fact,
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode.
A light-emitting diode is a two-lead
semiconductor light source. It is a pn
junction diode, which gives off light
when activated. Electrons are able to
recombine with electron holes within
the device when a suitable voltage is
applied to the leads that released energy
in the form of photons. This effect is
called electroluminescence, while the
color of the light is determined by the
energy band gap of the semiconductor.

In short, LEDs are miniature of light

bulbs that gives off visible and invisible
(infrared) light when energized. However,
LEDs need less power to light up
compare to bulbs. It also more energy
capable that they dont tend to get hot
like conventional light bulbs do.
DISCUSSION
Principle of LED p -n
LED is a special diode which produces
photons (light) when a stream of
electrons passes through it. In making a
diode, crystals (electric insulator) are
used in doping by atoms that have one
more electron on their valence band (N
doping). An atom which has 5 electrons
on its valence band is called electron
donor where
four electrons
will
participate to the crystal structure the
fifth will stay free capable of moving in
the crystal as a negative charge. While
electron acceptor element which has 3
electrons on its valence band, will
participate in the crystal structure but
is fails one electron which creates a

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fixed hole like a positive charge (P
doping).
Working Principle
The LED is a diode which the direction
of movement of charge carriers is being
limits. The current can flow from the
P-type side (the anode) to the N-type
side (the cathode), but not in the reverse
direction. In a diode a n-type
semiconductor is passed into contact
with a p-type semiconductor creating a
p-n junction.
According to the article, when a p-n
junction is first created, mobile
electrons from the N-doped region
diffuse into the P-doped region where
there is a large population of holes
(places for electrons in which no
electron is present) with which the
electrons "recombine". When a mobile
electron recombines with a hole, the
hole vanishes and the electron is no
longer mobile. Thus, two charge carries
have vanished. The region around the pn junction becomes depleted of charge
carries and thus behaves as an
insulator. However, the depletion width
cannot grow without limit. For each
electron-hole pair that recombines, a
positively -charged dopant ion is left
behind in the N-doped region, and a
negatively charged dopant ion is left
behind in the P-doped region. As
recombination proceeds and more ions
are created, an increasing electric field
develops through the depletion zone
which acts to slow and then finally stop
recombination. A t this point, there is a
'built-in' potential across the depletion
zone. (Emma, 2008)
If an external voltage is placed
peprndicularly the diode with the same
polarity as the built-in potential, the
depletion zone maintains to act as an

insulator preventing a momentous

electric current. This is the reverse bias
phenomenon. However, if the polarity of
the external voltage resist, the built-in
potential, emerge can once again
proceed resulting in substantial electric
current through the p-n junction.

LED Materials
The LEDs realized using two differently
doped semiconductors that are the
same material is called a homojunction. When they are realized using
different bandgap materials they are
called a hetero-structure device. A
hetero-structure LED is brighter than a
homo-junction LED.
Homojunction
A semiconductor boundary that occurs
between similar semiconductor material
layer. These materials have different
doping but have equal band gaps. In
most practical cases a homojunction
happens in boundary between an ntype (donor doped) and p-type (accept or
doped) semiconductor, this is called a pn junction.
This condition is not necessary as the
only requirement is that the same band
gap is found on both sides of the
junction
Double Heterojunction
A double heterostructure is produced
when two semiconductor materials are

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developed into a "sandwich". And there
must be two boundaries for the device
to
be
able
to
formed
double
heterostructure. If there was only one
side of cladding material, the device
would be a simple heterostructure

the utmost energy of the valence band

in momentum space energy of a direct
band gap material.

The double heterostructure is a very

effective structure in optoelectronic
devices, with a interesting electronic
properties. If one of the cladding layers
is p-doped, the other cladding layer ndoped and the smaller energy gap
semiconductor material is undoped,
a p-i-n structure is formed. When a
current is applied to the ends of the pin
structure, electrons and holes are
injected into the heterostructure. The
smaller energy gap material forms
energy
discontinuities
at
the
boundaries, confining the electrons and
holes to the smaller energy gap
semiconductor. The electrons and
holes recombine in
the intrinsic
semiconductor emitting photons. If the
width of the intrinsic region is reduced
to the order of the de Broglie
wavelength, the energies in the intrinsic
region no longer become continuous but
become discrete. (Actually, they are not
continuous but the energy levels are
very close together so we think of them
as being continuous) In this situation
the double heterostructure becomes
a quantum well.

In the indirect band gap materials, the

minimum energy in the conduction
band is shifted by a k-vector relative to
the
valence
band.
The
k-vector
difference represents a difference
in momentum. Due to this difference in
momentum, the probability of direct
electron hole recombination is less. In
these materials, additional dopants
(impurities) are added which form very
shallow donor states. These donor
states capture the free electrons locally;
provides the necessary momentum shift
for recombination. These donor states
serve as the recombination centers.
This is called Indirect (non-radiative)
Recombination.

Direct Recombination
Free electrons at the bottom of the
conduction band can merge directly
with free holes at the peak of the
valence band, as the momentum of the
two particles is the same. This
transition from conduction band to
valence band involves photon emission.
And it is called as direct band gap
materials, the least energy of the
conduction band varies directly above

Indirect Recombination

Thus besides a photon emission,

phonon emission or absorption has to
take place. The wavelength of the light
emitted, and hence the color, depends
on the band gap energy of the materials
forming the p-n junction. The emitted
photon energy is approximately equal to
the
band
gap
energy
of
the
semiconductor.
LED Circuit
In electronics,
an
LED
circuit is
an electrical circuit used
to
power
a light-emitting diode (LED). The circuit
must provide sufficient current to light
the LED at the required brightness, but
must limit the current to prevent
damaging
the
LED.
The voltage
drop across an LED is approximately
constant over a wide range of operating
current; therefore, a small increase in

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applied voltage greatly increases the
current. Very simple circuits are used
for low-power indicator LEDs. More
complex, current source circuits are
required when driving high-power LEDs
for illumination to achieve correct
current regulation.

electrons passing through the device

allows them to escape.
EQE = [Injection efficiency]
[Internal
quantum
efficiency]
[Extraction efficiency]

x
x

Injection Efficiency
Injection efficiency is the section of
electrons fleeting through the device
that are inserted into the active region.
In order to undergo electron-hole
recombination
to
create
photons,
injection of electrons is being made.

The simplest circuit to drive an LED

consists of a voltage source and two
components connected
in
series:
a current limiting resistor, sometimes
called the ballast resistor, and an LED.
Optionally, a switch may be introduced
to open and close the circuit. Although
simple, this circuit is not the most
energy efficient circuit to drive an LED,
since energy is lost in the resistor. More
complicated circuits improve the energy
efficiency.
An LED has a voltage drop specified at
the intended operating current. Ohm's
law and Kirchhoff's
circuit
laws are
used to calculate the appropriate
resistor value to obtain the desired
current. The value is computed by
subtracting the LED voltage drop from
the supply voltage, and dividing by the
desired operating current. If the supply
voltage is equal to the LED's voltage
drop, no resistor is needed.
External Quantum Efficiency (EQE)
The relation of the number of photons
emitted from the LED to the number of

Internal Quantum Efficiency (IQE also termed Radiative Efficiency)

IQE is the part of all electron-hole
recombinations in the active region that
are radiative, creating photons.
Extraction Efficiency (also termed
Optical
Efficiency)
Extraction efficiency is the amount of
photons produced in the active region
that run off from the device. Once the
photons are generated within the
semiconductor device, they have to
break out from the crystal in order to
create a light-emitting effect.
Radiation Pattern
With the utmost emitted power in the
direction perpendicular to the emitting
surface, LED is a directional light
source. The typical radiation pattern
shows that most of the energy is emitted
within 20 of the direction of maximum
light. Plastic lenses are used in some
packages for LEDs include to extend the
light for a greater angle of visibility.

Figure 1
Emission Spectrum

395 and 530 nm, most large suppliers

concentrate on creating blue LEDs (450
to 475 nm) for making white light with
phosphors, and on green LEDs in the
520- to 530-nm range for traffic signal
green lighting. The technology for these
LEDs is generally viewed as mature,
which has changed the focus of
discussions from lumens per watts to
lowering the price per watt. Lowering
the price is key to penetrating the
general
lighting
market.
Yellow-green to red LEDs: 565 to 645
nm

Ultraviolet LEDs (UV LEDs): 240 to

360
nm
UV LEDs are specifically used for
industrial curing applications, water
disinfection and medical/biomedical
uses. The lower wavelength limitation
for high-efficiency die is 360 nm. Typical
output is below 1 mW at 20 mA for
wavelengths shorter than 360 nm. The
material primarily used for UV LEDs is
gallium
nitride/aluminum
gallium
nitride (GaN/AlGaN) at wavelengths 360
nm or longer. Shorter wavelengths
utilize proprietary materials. While the
market for wavelengths 360 nm and
longer is stabilizing because of lower
prices and plentiful suppliers, shorter
wavelengths are manufactured by only a
few suppliers, and the prices for these
LEDs are still very high compared with
the rest of the LED product offerings.
Near-UV to green LEDs: 395 to 530
nm
The material for this wavelength range
of products is indium gallium nitride
(InGaN). While it is technically possible
to make a wavelength anywhere between

Aluminum indium gallium phosphide

(AlInGaP) is the semiconductor material
used for this wavelength range. It is
predominately used for traffic signal
yellow (590 nm) and red (625 nm)
lighting. The lime-green (or yellowishgreen 565 nm) and orange (605 nm) are
also available in this technology but are
limited.
It is interesting to note that neither the
InGaN nor AlInGaP technologies are
available as a pure green (555 nm)
emitter. Older, less efficient technologies
do exist in this pure green region but
are not considered efficient or bright.
This is due largely to a lack of
interest/demand from the marketplace
and therefore a lack of funding to
develop
alternative
material
technologies for this wavelength region.
Deep red to near-infrared (IRLEDs):
660
to
900
nm
There are many variations on device
structure in this region, but all use a
form of aluminum gallium arsenide
(AlGaAs) or gallium arsenide (GaAs)
materials. Applications include infrared
remote
controls,
night-vision
illumination, industrial photocontrols

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and various medical applications (at
660680 nm).
Coupling of LED output to Optical
Fiber
One of the basic fundamental rule is
that you cannot increase the brightness
of a light source. This is equivalent to
the basic thermodynamic principle that
you cannot decrease the entropy of a
system. Any light source has a
fundamental characteristics called its
"etendue", which is the product of its
emitting area and its emitting solid
angle. The brightness of the source is
then defined as its emitting power
divided by its etendue.
Another fundamental rule is that the
propagation of light has to respect the
symmetry of time. If light goes from
point A to point B, you should then be
able to retrace the propagation from
point B to point A. When you try to
couple a light source into an optical
fiber, it is the same as trying to couple
the fiber to the light source. Ideally, you
can get perfect coupling if you can
match the etendue for both the light
source and the fiber (which you can also
call an emitter and a receiver), or if the
emitter has an etendue smaller than
that of the receiver.
For a LED, the etendue is quite large, as
the emitting area of a "surface emitting"
LED is typically of the order of 200 or
300 micron square, and its emitting
angle is close to 360 Deg (or 180 by

placing a mirror surface underneath,

which is typically inherent in the
fabrication of a LED). For a typical
telcom MM fiber, the receiving surface is
its core, about 50 or 62.5 micron
diameter, and the receiving angle is
about 12 Deg (taking 0.2 NA). Its
etendue is can be much smaller that the
LED.
SALIENT FINDINGS
A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a solid
state light source that release light by
the electroluminescence effect. LEDs
develop the radiative recombination
process of electrons and holes to
produce light through photon emission.
To emit light, electrons and holes are
pumped into the space charge region in
multiple quantum wells (QWs) under
forward bias and they merge.
The increasing demand for light
emitting diodes (LEDs) has been driven
by a number of application categories,
including
display
backlighting,
communications,
medical
services,
signage, and general illumination. One
barrier to the acceptance of LEDs in
these applications is the relatively
sparse information available on their
reliability. There are many areas in need
of improvement and study regarding
LEDs, including the quantum efficiency
of the active region, light-extraction, the
minimization
of
resistive
losses,
electrostatic
discharge
stability,
increased luminous flux per LED
package.

REFERENCES
1. Mitchel E. Schultz. 2008. Grobs Basic Electronics 10th Edition
2. Robert L. Boylestad; Louis Nashelsky. Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory 11th
Edition
3. Light Sources in Electronics , 22 July 2016 Retrieved from http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/electronic/leds.html
4. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), 22 July 2016 Retrieved from
http://www.ele.uri.edu/~vijay/ELE432_Report_LED.pdf
5. Optical Fiber Coupling , 22 July 2016 Retrieved from
http://www.sensorica.co/home/education/technical-know-how/optical-fibercoupling
6. The Light Emitting Diode Principle and Behavior, 22 July 2016 Retrieved from
http://www.ledinside.com/knowledge/2008/6/The_Light_Emitting_Diode_Principle
_and_Behavior_20080612