Light-Emitting Diode, a semiconductor chip that turns electric current directly into light at its p-n junction. Most white lighting LEDs are phosphor-converted: a blue indium gallium nitride chip near 450 nm excites a yellow or red-and-green phosphor, and the mix of blue leakage and phosphor glow makes white. Output, color and life depend on drive current and junction temperature, which is why drivers and heat sinks matter as much as the chips.
LED board is fine, it's the driver that died, swap the driver and keep the module.
Also heard as
- light-emitting diode
Related terms
Driver
The electronic power supply that converts line voltage into the regulated current or voltage an LED needs.
Junction temperature
The temperature of the active semiconductor region inside an LED, which governs its output, color and lifetime.
Binning
Sorting LEDs after manufacture into groups with matching color, brightness and voltage.
COB
Chip-on-Board: an LED array with many dies mounted closely under one phosphor layer, acting as a single compact source.
Droop
The fall in an LED's efficiency as drive current or temperature rises, so extra power yields proportionally less light.