Electroluminescence

FEB 01, 1968

Improved understanding of electron‐hole recombination in semiconductors has accompanied efforts to increase the efficiency of diodes that emit visible light.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3034762

David G. Thomas

SOLIDS CAN GENERATE visible light in several ways. A solid raised to sufficiently high temperature, for example, will emit light, a principle that is used in the tungsten incandescent lamp. But practical considerations limit the efficiency and reliability of such a lamp. In electroluminescence, however, electronic energy can be converted directly into light, and in principle, there is nothing to prevent this process from being very efficient in a simple rugged device operating at room temperature (figures 1–3). Needless to say, such a possibility has aroused much curiosity.

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David G. Thomas, Bell Telephone Laboratories.

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