OMC's new high-brightness purple LED creates new opportunities

OMC's Active Diffuser Technology combines a blue LED chip with coloured phosphor-based diffuser media in order to manipulate the light wavelength and give the desired output spectrum. The device efficiency is comparable to blue gallium nitride-based LEDs, which allows other colours to be produced at higher efficiencies than typically achieved when using different chip technologies. As the output consists of a wide spread of light wavelengths rather than a narrow peak, the result is a more intense, richer colour than traditional LEDs. Another benefit of active diffuser technology is that it delivers a more homogenous output, eliminating the wire-bond and lead-frame shadows commonly seen in the beam pattern of standard LEDs.

Applying this approach to generate purple light simplifies the task of incorporating purple illumination into a design. Previously, the most common approaches to generating purple light from an LED was to mix red and blue light from a multichip device, which adds complexity and cost to a design and requires more sophisticated drive circuitry. As the LPRM3268X3 device contains only a single LED chip, it can be used in the same circuit layout as other standard LED colours, simplifying designs. Other approaches to generating purple light with LEDs involve the use of a 400nm LED chip, which is typically less efficient and incorporates a significant UV component to the output, which can give rise to its own considerations.

OMC's Commercial Director, William Heath comments: "Our high output colour LED range with Active Diffuser Technology is a newer, more efficient approach to producing coloured LEDs. The addition of a rich purple LED to the line-up broadens the colour choice available to designers and is certain to help enhance product appearance."

For more information about the new high brightness purple surface-mount LED lamp please go to www.omc-uk.com.