A Univ. of Miami
professor at the College
of Engineering, Jizhou
Song, has helped design an light-emitting diode (LED) light that uses an array
of LEDs 100 times smaller than conventional LEDs. The new device has
flexibility, maintains lower temperature, and has an increased life-span over
existing LEDs. The findings are published online by the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Science.
Incandescent bulbs are not very efficient, most of the power they use is
converted into heat and only a small fraction of the power gets converted to
light. Since LEDs reduce energy waste and present an alternative to
conventional bulbs.
In this study, the scientists focused on improving certain features of LED
lights, like size, flexibility, and temperature. Song’s role in the project was
to analyze the thermal management and establish an analytical model that
reduces the temperature of the device.
“The new model uses a silicon substrate, novel etching strategies, a unique
layout, and innovative thermal management method,” says Song, co-author of the
study. “The combination of these manufacturing techniques allows the new design
to be much smaller and keep lower temperatures than current LEDs using the same
electrical power.”
In the future, the researchers would also like to make the device
stretchable, so that it can be used on any surface, such as deformable display
monitors and biomedical devices that adapt to the curvilinear surfaces of the
human body.
