Today, we'll look at the replacement of the existing light bulbs by chips. No, this is not a joke. We are watching the emergence of a totally new lighting industry, according to Barnaby J. Feder, from the New York Times. (Please note that you need to register -- it's free -- for accessing the article.)
The ubiquitous light bulb is quietly on its way to becoming as quaint a relic as the gas lanterns it replaced more than a century ago. Incandescent bulbs, neon tubes and fluorescent lamps are starting to give way to light-emitting microchips that work longer, use less power and allow designers to use light in ways they never have before.
The chips -- 18 million of them -- are already on display in the $37 million Nasdaq sign in Times Square. They are in the vibrant facade of the Goodman Theater in Chicago and adorned last year's White House Christmas tree. More notable, the chips are penetrating blue-collar tasks like illuminating traffic lights, brake lights and exit signs.
Here is a photograph of the marquee of the Loews theater on 42nd Street in Manhattan. It was created by Color Kinetics of Boston and it is lighted with L.E.D.'s
These chips will soon come to your home.
Lighting experts expect the pace of change to pick up as researchers continue their relentless efforts to shrink the chips to microscopic size, improve their already impressive energy efficiency and increase their brightness. The chips are expected to move into the general home and office lighting market as early as 2007.
The chips, which are known as light-emitting diodes, or L.E.D.'s, have huge performance advantages in many mundane tasks. In devices like traffic lights, for example, they consume 80 percent less electricity than do the bulbs they replace and last up to 10 times as long.
Feder then describes the uses of these chips by architects and building designers. He also looks at the upcoming competition from organic light-emitting diodes, or O.L.E.D's.
Finally, he explores new research fields like nanotechnology.
In July, for instance, Kopin, a manufacturer of semiconductors and electronics displays based in Taunton, Mass., disclosed that it had discovered a way to make millions of pockets just two nanometers thick in the dust-size light-emitting chips.
As a result, Kopin, which was once unknown in the industry, is gearing up to ship 100 million light chips this year to contractors who will package them with power and optical components for use by device manufacturers.
The first applications, according to John Fan, Kopin's chief executive, are likely to be back-lighting for liquid-crystal displays on portable electronics and night-lighting for keys on devices like cellphones. The chips are so small that the entire year's production could be easily enclosed in a golf ball.
Source: Barnaby J. Feder, The New York Times, February 11, 2003 (Free registration requested)
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