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LED Lighting As Cheap As CFLs Invented
mcgrew writes "New Scientist reports that a British team has overcome the obstacles to cheap LED lighting, and that LED lamps as cheap as CFLs will be on the market in five years. Quoting: 'Gallium nitride cannot be grown on silicon like other solid-state electronic components because it shrinks at twice the rate of silicon as it cools. Crystals of GaN must be grown at 1000C, so by the time a new LED made on silicon has cooled, it has already cracked, rendering the devices unusable. One solution is to grow the LEDs on sapphire, which shrinks and cools at much the same rate as GaN. But the expense is too great to be commercially competitive. Now Colin Humphreys's team at the University of Cambridge has discovered a simple solution to the shrinkage problem. They included layers of aluminium gallium nitride in their LED design... These LEDs can be grown on silicon as so many other electronics components are. ... A 15-centimetre silicon wafer costs just $15 and can accommodate 150,000 LEDs making the cost per unit tiny.'"
Ouch, I get on the first page then click "Post Anonymously"...
It's been a long time.
Check out BlueMax full-spectrum CFLs, very nice lighting, matches sunlight very well. Mercury amalgam, and much less mercury than incandescents shot into the atmosphere by coal power plants.
I don't know, but I think that we're getting into something.
testing out my trending skills
LOL Shrinkage is production that doesn't make it out the door, i.e.: defunct product.
Quiz: True or False -- On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your middle name?
Now Colin Humphreys's team at the University of Cambridge has discovered a simple solution to the shrinkage problem.
Excellent news! Wait, what's this story about?
That's probably how he was able to get funding.