The arrival of solid-state lighting

The assault of silicon-based technologies on the electronic industry Old Way of Doing Things is nearly complete. With the CRT on its way out, the century-old incandescent bulb is the last bastion of presilicon technology not kept around for niche or novelty applications.

An LED is not the only kind of SSL lamp. There are now many ways to create light without a filament or an energized gas. Electroluminescent (light from electricity) technology is decades old, and recent advances have finally enabled the creation of a new lighting industry. Strings, sheets, bars, bulbs, and even bare glass can now emit light on command, creating the opportunity to replace all current technologies for light in existence. That is a big market.

Solid-state lighting is disruptive and will fundamentally change the way things are done in a way not seen since the original light bulb. This disruption is putting pressure on the current lighting industry. Suppliers of traditional illumination technology must add SSL to their palette or they will lose customers, and designers must learn the new ways of mounting, driving, packaging, and managing the additional technological disciplines required to create SSL systems.

The devices that create the light in SSL are chips, strings, or sheets of material that need packaging to hold them, electronics to provide their precise power needs, and heat-management systems as anything handling power gets hot. This creates a cross-disciplinary category where knowing how to handle the heat or hold the device or focus the light best is almost as valuable as how the light itself is created.