prof. dr hab. Detlef Hommel (IFD)

Solid State Lighting - energy saving on a global scale: for environment and consumers

The invention of blue InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs) by Shuji Nakamura in 1993 was a breakthrough for the development of white LEDs for global lighting. In a first part the historical situation at the beginning of the 90's will be reviewed followed by a more detailed desciption of achievements by the three last year Nobel Prize winners in Physics. Whereas Profs. I. Akasaki and H. Amano developed the physics of the Group-III nitrides Prof. S. Nakamura found not only the practical solutions for p-doping but also invented InGaN quantum wells as active Region. In a second part the principles of white light emission will be discussed as well as energy saving potencial of SSL (solid state lighting). Finally an outlook of future developments and challanges will be given.