New LED design doubles efficiency

Osram Opto Semiconductors (Regensburg, Germany) has put much effort into developing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for room illumination. The company's engineers have now made a breakthrough in the luminous efficacy of aluminum gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP) LEDs. It is known that the substrate of this type of LED partially absorbs the generated light. Using thin-film technology, the Osram researchers have developed a "substrateless" design that more than doubles optical efficiency.