LED technology powers many of our TVs, computer screens, billboards, electronic scoreboards, cell phones and even the lights in our vehicles. While the inclusion of the bulbs is rather new, the technology itself was discovered nearly a century ago, but no practical use was developed until much later.

LED stands for light emitting diode, which is simply a semi-conductor unit that emits light as an electrical current is passed through it. This was originally discovered in Russia in the 1920’s, but the light created wasn’t visible to human eyes. Later, in the 1960’s, engineers in the United States used various elements to create the first primitive LED bulb, which emitted visible red light. The bulbs however were not very efficient and couldn’t produce light that was effective for outdoor signs, such as sports scoreboards, until a way was found to increase frequency output to run a strong current into the bulb to generate noticeable light.

In the 1970’s more colors of LED’s were introduced, most of which are still used to today, and some in LED scoreboards. The issue in progression here rested in the reliability. Failure rates on LED’s at the time were tremendous. Even though they were highly more efficient in their task at lighting than neons and incandescent lights, LED’s were made by hand and any error in the epoxy mix or assembly created an instability in voltage regulation, among other problems. This resulted in bulbs that had short lifespans and were inefficient at times.

Then in the 1980’s, with the development of a new compound of gallium aluminum arsenide, LED technology experienced its largest growth and development. With brightness far exceeding what older LED’s offered, the greatly improved structure of each device and reduction in power required, LED popularity skyrocketed. The new LED’s were excellent in many situations, and this is where LED scoreboards became a reality, having the ability to pulse or multiplex light. Outdoor signs, electronic scoreboards, barcode scanners and medical equipment all gained from this breakthrough in technology. The technology was still far from where it is today however, and though the improvements were tremendous from the previous decade, problems with lifespan still existed and limitations in color held LED growth in check until technology could once again improve itself.

LED engineers then looked toward laser technology for a way to bridge the gap. Using new material once again, engineers were able to create a greater spectrum of color light emitted from LED’s. The technology would still improve by contributions from Toshiba and their Metal Oxide Chemical Vapor Deposition process, essentially making LED’s even brighter and more efficient, with lower power requirement once again. Other improvements were made, and the new age of LED’s stand to replace many of our conventional light sources, from streetlights to sports scoreboards, car headlights to televisions.

LED’s now last longer, shine brighter and use less energy than virtually all other light sources except for the sun. LED scoreboards can now display high definition video on screens over 100 feet wide and provide a visible image in bright daylight. The potential for future development still exists, but it has made tremendous strides and gains in the years since its discovery.