Article View: sci.electronics
Article #6422re: The first LED's?
From: Bob Billson
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 19:47
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 19:47
29 lines
1857 bytes
1857 bytes
moskin@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com says:
>>From "LED Circuits and Projects", by Forrest M. Mims, III, 1973:
>
>> In recent years, a family of semiconductor devices capable of
>> emitting visible and infrared light has become available.
>> Semiconductor light emission was first discovered in 1907 by
>> H.J. Round, but it was not until 1960 that efficient light
>> generation in a semiconductor was obtained.
>>
>
> I heard once that the early semiconductor diodes used in computers
>had clear casings but they were changed to opaque because they glowed red
>and alarmed people who didn't know that this was normal. Could this be
>considered a Light Emitting Diode? Can anyone verify this story?
Or perhaps it was because the transistors were acting like phototransistors.
I have made phototransistors in a pinch by carefully removing the top of a
metal cased NPN transistor (such as a 2N2222). The exposed semiconductor
is sensitive to light. To protect the semiconductor, I would put a drop of
clear glue or expoy over it. Worked out reasonably well for a couple of
situations.
Bob
--
Bob Billson, KC2WZ | internet: bob@kc2wz.bubble.org
| kc2wz@amsat.org
$nail: 21 Bates Way, Westfield, NJ 07090 | uucp: ...!uunet!kc2wz!bob
C code. C code run. Run code run...<please!>
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<110@kc2wz.bubble.org>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!bobsbox.rent.com!s4mjs!kc2wz!bobReferences:
<1992Aug7.104606.8663@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>Show Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!bobsbox.rent.com!s4mjs!kc2wz!bob From: bob@kc2wz.bubble.org (Bob Billson) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: re: The first LED's? Message-ID: <110@kc2wz.bubble.org> Date: 15 Aug 92 19:47:29 GMT References: <1992Aug7.104606.8663@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> Distribution: na Organization: Color Computer 3: Tandy's 'game' machine Lines: 29