Posted by Wayne Parham [ 65.69.121.77 ] on February 02, 2005 at 04:33:48:

In Reply to: LED values? posted by colinhester on February 01, 2005 at 21:35:28:

Light-emitting diodes are like other diodes, in that they are formed by a semiconductor PN junction. The semiconductor material of the junction is what sets the voltage required to forward-bias it. For example, germanium diodes are forward biased at 0.3v and silicon diodes at 0.7v. That's what sets the operating voltage of a silicon of germanuium transistor too.

Light-emitting diodes use different semicondutor junctions to provide different colors, and each has a different forward-voltage requirement, usually between 1 and 4 volts. The typical red LED requires about 1.7 volts. Semiconductor junctions that provide higher frequency colors require higher forward voltage bias.

Replies:

• Re: LED values? - colinhester 17:13:42 02/02/05 (0)
• Red lead - Tnuctipun 06:55:24 02/02/05 (3)
  • Re: Red lead - Wayne Parham 08:02:27 02/02/05 (2)
    • interesting... - Tnuctipun 08:42:38 02/02/05 (1)
      • Re: interesting... - Wayne Parham 09:33:58 02/02/05 (0)