| > Blue ones are used, at least around my area, to decorate things. Don't let the "blue LED" headline fool you. This discovery did not just enable blue LEDs but a whole range of nitride-based devices. This includes, but is not limited to: * LEDs for a wide range of colours, including white LEDs for general lighting * blue (and other colour) laser diodes (e.g. Blu-ray) * solar cells (nitrides show good radiation resistance, making them of specific interest for space applications) * high electron mobility transistors (power converters are a big application, but these are useful for a huge range of other applications too e.g. radar) * potential for biosensors (it's non-toxic/biocompatible and can be functionalised) * better UV emitters (and all that entails, e.g. water purification, or potentially lithography) and more besides. It really is an enabling technology, though obviously there are alternatives for a lot of these applications too. Blue LEDs just started this all off. |