Light-emitting diode light-emitting diode (U.S. Patent US3293513), the first practical LED. Immediately after filing the patent, Texas Instruments (TI) began a project to manufacture infrared diodes. In October 1962, TI announced the first commercial LED product (the SNX-100), which employed a pure GaAs crystal to emit a 890 nm light output. In October 1963, TI announced the first commercial hemispherical LED, the SNX-110. The first visible-spectrum (red) LED was developed in 1962 by Nick Holonyak, Jr. while working at General Electric. Holonyak first reported his LED in the journal "Applied Physics Letters" on December 1, 1962. M. George Craford, a former graduate
Light-emitting diode epoxy, synthetic rubber or silicone. Touching bare LEDs using synthetic rubber or silicone can damage the delicate wire bonds from LED to package or the LED itself, so they may be protected by a plastic or glass cover, such as in the LED flash in smartphones. It is this YAG phosphor which causes white LEDs without diffusers (such as those used in LED lamps and bulbs) to look yellow when off. There are three main methods of mixing colors to produce white light from an LED: Because of metamerism, it is possible to have quite different spectra that appear white.