Bright idea: new LEDs will dazzle handhelds, PC screens, TVs and more

Researchers next week will show off new technology that promises to make PC screens, handheld device readouts and televisions brighter, slimmer and less expensive.

UCLA researchers have recently achieved the highest lumens per watt ever recorded for a red phosphorescent LED or light-emitting diodes, using a new combination of plastic, or polymer, infused liquid - and they did it at half the current cost. The LEDs will be presented at the Society for Information Display 2007 conference in Long Beach, Calif., from May 20 through 25, according to UCLA materials science and engineering professor Yang Yang and his graduate researcher Jinsong Huang.

LEDs are generally measured in lumens per watt. Lumens, a measure of the perceived power of light, and watts, a standard measure of power, combine to define the optical efficiency of power - in other words, how bright a device is and how much power it consumes.

Current red LEDs generally score around 12 lumens per watt. Yang and Huang's technology rates a record-breaking 18 lumens per watt, according to a university release.

In Yang and Huang's new polymer light emitting diodes, the devices have a very simple single-layer structure, generated by a much cheaper solution process. The new LED, or more precisely PLED, developed by the two UCLA engineers uses a polymer powder and liquid mixture added to a previously top-secret material developed by Canon to create a paint-like product. The product is used to coat a layer of glass, and a charge is added. The end result is a slim single layer of glass with two electrodes.

The new technology, has been licensed by Canon, should be available to consumers in about three years, the release said. LEDs are fast becoming the lighting mechanism of choice in electronics, housewares and automobiles. Their small size, powerful light emission, reliability, low energy requirement and long lifespan make them the ideal product for many applications. Making them brighter and cheaper will only increase their usage.

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