New book: The Bright Stuff chronicles U of I inventors career and LED technology

Fifty years ago, Nick Holonyak Jr. ignited a revolution in lighting with his invention of the world’s first practical light-emitting diode. A new book, The Bright Stuff: The LED and Nick Holonyak’s fantastic trail of innovation, explores the amazing career of the College of Engineering’s most famous faculty member.

At the time, Holonyak’s competitors at places like Bell Labs, IBM, MIT Lincoln Lab, and Hewlett Packard were making LEDs from conventional semiconductor materials that were widely available but were either poor light emitters or created infra-red light invisible to the human eye. Holonyak, on the other hand, wanted devices that emitted visible light, so he created an unorthodox mixture of gallium, indium, and phosphorus and fashioned it into a red LED.

Holonyak’s alloy device was the progenitor of all of today’s LEDs, which are found in everything from indicator lights to automobile brake lights to traffic signals to vibrant electronic billboards to general lighting.

An expert in semiconductor materials and devices, Holonyak instantly recognized just how powerful his alloy LED was when he modified its design and achieved a laser.

“The semiconductor in the form of a p-n junction is an ultimate lamp,” said Holonyak about his alloy LED. No other light source could convert electrical energy to optical energy as efficiently, nor could any other lighting method create such powerful light.

In fact, the inventor was so confident that he predicted in a 1963 magazine article that LEDs would eventually replace all other forms of lighting. Although it has taken longer than Holonyak initially thought, LEDs are finally replacing Thomas Edison’s iconic incandescent light bulb. During the next decade, as U.S. consumers replace less efficient bulbs with LEDs, they will reap energy savings totaling $250 billion dollars.

Another aspect of the book explores how Holonyak’s contributions to LED technology extend well beyond his initial invention. Since joining the Illinois faculty in 1963, Holonyak and his students worked primarily on making better alloy lasers. However, some of his laser breakthroughs also improved the performance of LEDs. In addition, some of his graduate students achieved their own success and made important contributions to advancing LED technology.

“I wrote this book for young people, who will be the main beneficiaries of Nick’s technology,” said Laura Schmitt, a Champaign-based writer. “I wanted them to understand how technology happens and who the people are behind it. I hope they are inspired by Nick’s life story, creativity, and work ethic.”

The book was released on October 1, 2012, and can be purchased at the Illini Union bookstore in Champaign, at the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory’s business office on campus, or as an e-book through major booksellers such as Amazon. The book will also be sold at the LED 50th Anniversary Symposium on October 24-25, 2012, at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign.
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Contact: Laura Schmitt

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.