LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. Diodes are a semiconductor device that will conduct electricity in only one direction. The device is made-up of layers of silicon and seeded with atoms of phosphorus, germanium, arsenic or other rare-earth elements. The layers of the device are called the die and the junction between the materials is where the light is generated. Different materials and designs have different coloured lights and intensities. LEDs are now bright enough to be considered for applications that traditionally used incandescent bulbs.
Technical advances have dramatically improved the reliability and the performance of LEDs since they were invented in the 1960s. The lifetime for the new generation of LEDs is about 100,000 hours of use, or 30 to 40 years of normal operation. As they are a semiconductor device, they are also very rugged and are not subject to fail when dropped or vibrated as are incandescent or fluorescent lights.
The original LEDs only emitted light of one frequency or colour of light. These were blues, greens, yellows, oranges or reds and they were unsuited for domestic lighting. Recent innovations in materials, doping and die structure have developed high brightness LEDs that emit light in all visible frequencies to produce white light. With Tiger Light working on new technology with LED, we now can provide the same output in light as incandescent or fluorescent light.
Light Comparison Table
| Lamp Type | Incandescent | Compact Fluorescent | Luxeon WLED |
| Efficiency (Lumens/Watt) | 5-18 | 30-79 | 50-80 |
| Rated Life (Hours) | 1,000 | 6,500 – 15,000 | 50,000 to 100,000 |
| Durability | Very fragile | Very fragile | Durable |
| Power consumption (Watt) | 5W | 7W | 2W |
| CCT deg K | 2,652 degrees | 4,200 degrees | 5,000 degrees |
| CRI | 98 | 62 | 82 |
| $ spent after 50,000 hours | $175 | $131 | $20 |
Colour Temperature Comparison Table
| Light source | Colour temperature | Colour |
| Sunrise or sunset | 2000 k | reddish – yellow |
| Tungsten light 100watt | 2800 k | orange – yellow |
| Halogen light 500 watt | 3200 k | yellowish |
| Halogen file photoflood 500 watt | 3400 k | yellowish |
| One hour after sunrise | 3500 k | yellowish |
| Flash bulbs | 4950 k | white with minimal yellow cast |
| Daylight at noon | 5400 k | white |
| Electronic flashlight | 5500 k | white |
| Unclouded daytime | 6500 k | |
| Unclouded summertime | > 8000 k |
