Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical and electrical phenomenon, in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field. This is distinct from black body light emission resulting from heat (incandescence), illumination by light (photoluminescence), chemical reactions (chemiluminescence), reactions in a liquid (electrochemiluminescence), sound (sonoluminescence), or other mechanical action (mechanoluminescence), or organic electroluminescence.
Mechanism
Electroluminescence is the result of radiative recombination of electrons and holes in a material, usually a semiconductor. The excited electrons release their energy as photons – light. Prior to recombination, electrons and holes may be separated either by doping the material to form a p-n junction (in semiconductor electroluminescent devices such as light-emitting diodes) or through excitation by impact of high-energy electrons accelerated by a strong electric field (as with the phosphors in electroluminescent displays). It has been recently shown that as a thin-film CdTe solar cell improves its light-to-electricity efficiency (improved open-circuit voltage), it will also improve its electricity-to-light (EL) efficiency.
Characteristics
Electroluminescent technologies have rather low power consumption compared to competing lighting technologies, such as neon or fluorescent lamps. This, together with the thinness of the material, has made EL technology valuable to the advertising industry. Relevant advertising applications include electroluminescent billboards and signs. EL manufacturers can control precisely which areas of an electroluminescent sheet illuminate, and when. This has given advertisers the ability to create more dynamic advertising that is still compatible with traditional advertising spaces. An EL film is a so-called Lambertian radiator: unlike with neon lamps, filament lamps, or LEDs, the brightness of the surface appears the same from all angles of view; electroluminescent light is not directional. The light emitted from the surface is perfectly homogeneous and is well-perceived by the eye. EL film produces single-frequency (monochromatic) light that has a very narrow bandwidth, is uniform and visible from a great distance. In principle, EL lamps can be made in any color. However, the commonly used greenish color closely matches the peak sensitivity of human vision, producing the greatest apparent light output for the least electrical power input. Unlike neon and fluorescent lamps, EL lamps are not negative resistance devices so no extra circuitry is needed to regulate the amount of current flowing through them. A new technology now being used is based on multispectral phosphors that emit light from 600 to 400 nm depending on the drive frequency; this is similar to the color-changing effect seen with aqua EL sheet but on a larger scale.
Examples of electroluminescent materials Electroluminescent devices are fabricated using either organic or inorganic electroluminescent materials. The active materials are generally semiconductors of wide enough bandwidth to allow the exit of the light. The most typical inorganic thin-film EL (TFEL) is ZnS:Mn with yellow-orange emission. Examples of the range of EL material include:
Powdered zinc sulfide doped with copper (producing greenish light) or silver (producing bright blue light) Thin-film zinc sulfide doped with manganese (producing orange-red color) Naturally blue diamond, which includes a trace of boron that acts as a dopant. Semiconductors containing Group III and Group V elements, such as indium phosphide (InP), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and gallium nitride (GaN) (Light-emitting diodes). Certain organic semiconductors, such as [Ru(bpy)3]2+(PF6−)2, where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine Terbium oxide (yellow-green light)
Practical implementations The most common electroluminescent (EL) devices are composed of either powder (primarily used in lighting applications) or thin films (for information displays.)
Light-emitting capacitor (LEC)
Light-emitting capacitor, or LEC, is a term used since at least 1961 to describe electroluminescent panels. General Electric has patents dating to 1938 on flat electroluminescent panels that are still made as night lights and backlights for instrument panel displays. Electroluminescent panels are a capacitor where the dielectric between the outside plates is a phosphor that gives off photons when the capacitor is charged. By making one of the contacts transparent, the large area exposed emits light. Electroluminescent automotive instrument panel backlighting, with each gauge pointer also an individual light source, entered production on 1960 Chrysler and Imperial passenger cars, and was continued successfully on several Chrysler vehicles through 1967 and marketed as "Panelescent Lighting".
Night lights The Sylvania Lighting Division in Salem and Danvers, Massachusetts, produced and marketed an EL night light, under the trade name Panelescent at roughly the same time that the Chrysler instrument panels entered production. These lamps have proven extremely reliable, with some samples known to be still functional after nearly 50 years of continuous operation. Later in the 1960s, Sylvania's Electronic Systems Division in Needham, Massachusetts developed and manufactured several instruments for the Apollo Lunar Module and Command Module using electroluminescent display panels manufactured by the Electronic Tube Division of Sylvania at Emporium, Pennsylvania. Raytheon in Sudbury, Massachusetts manufactured the Apollo Guidance Computer, which used a Sylvania electroluminescent display panel as part of its display-keyboard interface (DSKY).
Display backlighting
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