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LED Shapes
Discrete (individual) LEDs come in a variety of shapes and mounts (see Figure 10-3). The classic bullet shape (T) still dominates, but side view and square styles are available.

Figure 10-3. A variety of discrete LED shapes The LEDs shape acts as either a collimating lens (light straighteninglike a narrow-beam spotlight) or as a light distributor. If you shave down the dome of an ordinary T 1 LED (use medium-grain sandpaper and then polish with extra fine sandpaper or paste) youll end up with a peculiar glowing circle instead of a directed beam (see Figure 10-4).

Figure 10-4. Homemade pinpoint LED Multiple LEDs are often combined into a group package (see Figure 10-5). A numeric LED (often found in clocks) is nothing more than seven individual LEDs arranged into the number 8. By lighting up specific LEDs, it can form a variety of numbers and letters.

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Figure 10-5. Multi-segment numeric and bar-graph LEDs

LED Lens Clarities

There are three popular lens clarities (see Figure 10-6).

Figure 10-6. Water-clear, white-diffused, and color-diffused lenses

Water Clear
Water-clear LED lenses are sometimes simply called clear. The lens is a transparent epoxy that tends to bend light unevenly like water. Water-clear LEDs are likely to be a bit brighter since the clear lens itself neither absorbs nor disperses the light. The light output is usually straight ahead like a spotlight.

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Water clear is a good choice for an indicator that will be viewed head on but shouldnt be too apparent from the sides. (A traffic light, for example.) Water clear is excellent for a long distance beam, such as an intruder alarm. Sandwich, the line-following robot, uses them because they focus most of their energy on the floor in front of the robot, like headlights.

White Diffused
White-diffused LED lenses are a milky or hazy epoxy. The light spreads out throughout the LED body, making it equally bright and visible from all sides. The amount of head-on light is reduced since the semi-opaque lens absorbs some of the light and spreads the light over a larger viewing angle. Because the LED is dim white when off, theres a significant visual difference when the LED lights up with color. White-diffused lenses are excellent for indicators that need to be visible from the sides as well as the front. Power, ready status, target acquisition, and error lights are good examples.

Colored Diffused
Color-diffused LED lenses are sometimes called red diffused or whatever the particular color. A colordiffused lens spreads light uniformly much the same as a white-diffused lens. Unlike the white lens, the epoxy is tinted so that the LED color is obvious even when the LED is off. This is useful if a bunch of LEDs are adjacent to each other (Is the red LED turned off?). However, since the color doesnt change from the off state to the on state (only the brightness), its more difficult to tell in a bright room if the LED is lit. Early LEDs were so weak in their light output that they couldnt act as spotlights and couldnt light up a white-diffused lens. As such, colored lenses were the manufacturers best solution. Colored lenses provided consistent color quality with decent illumination. Today, colored lenses remain the most common and least expensive. However, with the technological improvements in brightness, the trend is heading toward very lightly tinted water clear and diffused.

LED Viewing Angles

Its valuable to know the viewing angle characteristic of a particular LED, as it gives you a sense of how the light beam will spread out. A large viewing angle indicates an LED that is more visible from the sides. Datasheets often show the viewing angle in graph form, which is much more informative than a single number. Only clear lens LEDs are described with viewing angles, since the color-diffused or white-diffused lenses naturally distribute the light throughout the entire LED.

LED Colors
LEDs became available in commercial production quantities in the 1970s, beginning with the color red. The 1990s marked significant improvements in brightness and efficiency, as well as the introduction of a pure, affordable blue. High-quality white LEDs appeared about that same time because theyre really blue LEDs with white-emitting phosphor. Red, orange, yellow, and yellow-green remain the least expensive. True green, blue, and white are coming down in price, but can still be more expensive than the price of red. Violet and ultraviolet are also available.

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LEDs emit most of their light in a narrow band of color. As such, mixed colors like brown would necessitate multiple dies that are finely tuned. That would be a difficult feat to consistently replicate in production quantities. It will be a while before theres a selection of colors resembling a case of crayons (burnt umber?). See Figure 10-7 for whats available now.

Figure 10-7. A spectrum of colors from infrared to blue, with white on the end. (This image isnt particularly helpful in a grayscale book. But, trust me, it looks lovely.)

Relating Color to a Wavelength

In advertisements and datasheets, LED color is often described by a dominant wavelength measured in nanometers (nm). Sometimes this is referred to with the abbreviation P, for peak wavelength. When the wavelength of an LED is indicated, use Table 10-1 to see where the color lies within the range. For example, 655 nm is a good red, but 635 nm looms a bit towards orange. (This is fine, if orangish-red is the color you desire.) Table 10-1. Approximate Color Ranges

Color or Hue
Infrared (IR) Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Ultraviolet (UV)

Approximate Wavelength Range

above 700 nm 700 nm to 630 nm 630 nm to 590 nm 590 nm to 570 nm 570 nm to 500 nm 500 nm to 450 nm 450 nm to 390 nm Below 390 nm

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LED Efficiency
Efficiency is how much electricity goes in compared to how much light comes out. LEDs are becoming more and more efficient with advances in technology. This is particularly important to battery-powered robots. For visible light, efficiency is measured in lumens per watt (lm/W). Recall that lumens measures total light output, regardless of direction. Take your total light (lumens) and divide that by your total power (watts) and that tells you how much power was used for each drop of light. Unfortunately, few manufacturers specify lm/W. This makes it very difficult to tell if a highefficiency LED really is more efficient. However, in most cases, true high-efficiency LEDs do illuminate better at lower power levels.

Extreme Close Up of an LED

Most LEDs have two wires, called leads (see Figure 10-8). You must connect positive voltage to the anode lead and negative voltage to the cathode lead. An ordinary LED wont light if the leads are connected in reverse. Not only that, but the diode-characteristic of an LED prevents electricity from even passing through it in reverse.

Figure 10-8. Anatomy of an LED To determine which lead is the cathode, look for a flat or notched side on the bottom of the otherwise round lens. Also, the cathode lead wire is usually shorter than the anode lead wire. Most often (but not always), the cathode is connected to the side with the reflector cup (see Figure 10-8 and Figure 10-9). The reflector cup is a tiny, rounded mirror that aims light forward.

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Figure 10-9. View of a reflector cup and die Inside the reflector cup is a die (see Figure 10-10), also called a chip or pellet. This is the part of the LED that actually emits light. The manufacturer adjusts the chemistry of the die to control the LEDs color.

Figure 10-10. Glowing die with a view of the bonding wire and bonding site A bond wire (also called a whisker) connects the die to the anode lead. The bond wire is very thin! With some clear LEDs, you can actually see the shadow of that wire (and sometimes the shape of the die) when you aim the LED at the ceiling.

Identifying Multicolor LEDs

Placing more than one die into an LED allows it to emit more than one color (see Figure 10-11). The lens is usually water-clear or white-diffused, because it wouldnt make much sense to tint the lens with a single color for an LED that can display two or more colors.

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Figure 10-11. Side view of a two-color (red and green) tri-state LED Multicolor LEDs are useful for conserving space or for showing multiple statuses. For example: white is off, red is error, green is ready.

Bicolor
Bicolor usually refers to a multicolor LED that has two leads. When the electricity flows in one direction, the LED lights with one color. When the electricity flows in the other direction, the LED lights with the other color. Since electricity cant flow in opposite directions at the same time, only one color can be lit at a time. However, you can switch the flow back and forth really quickly. To human eyes, the result will be a third color that is a mix of the first two.

Tricolor or Tri-state
Tricolor usually refers to a multicolor LED that has three leads, instead of two (refer back to Figure 1011). One lead for the first color, another lead for the second color, and a third lead that they share. If they share the cathode (-), its called common cathode. If they share the anode (+), its called common anode. Because one wire is dedicated to each of the two LED colors, they can be enabled at the same time. This permits three colors (one on, the other on, or both on) plus off.

Full Color
Full-color LEDs are the Holy Grail! These RGB LEDs contain red, green, and blue dies within the same LED. By electrically adjusting the brightness of each die, you can mix the primary colors together to create almost any color.

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