What will be required to make solid-state lighting competitive in the general-purpose lighting market?
The performance of solid-state lighting will need to be substantially improved. For example, improvements in materials and devices, and the physics that underlies them, are needed to improve the luminous efficacy and the color rendering quality of the white light. The cost of solid-state lighting will also need to be substantially reduced. This will require improvements in the manufacturing processes and materials. For example, improvements are needed in the processes used to deposit the active semiconductor layers of the LED in order to improve yields, increase throughput, and reduce overall capital and operating costs. A recent U.S.-Department-of-Energy-sponsored OIDA Roadmap entitled ” Light Emitting Diodes(LEDs) for General Illumination Update 2002″ (pdf – 1.7MB) outlines many of the technical challenges and approaches that will be required for LEDs to be economically competitive with conventional lighting.
