Light emitting diode technology and applications: introduction

Spurred on by the invention of the blue light-emitting diode (LED) a quarter of a century ago, the LED industry has advanced dramatically and has revolutionized the signaling/signage, mobile and flat panel display, and more recently, general lighting markets. Indeed, LEDs now out-surpass in performance all conventional (e.g., incandescent, fluorescent, high-intensity discharge) light sources in general illumination applications. The question arises: what more is to be done? Thus comes the thesis