An LED BFD

The future of light is plastic, says Cyberlux.

The company, which specializes in light emitting diodes (LEDs, will come out with prototypes of a new type of white light LEDs in about four months that will cost substantially less to manufacture than conventional LEDs and provide more light at the same time.

In conventional white light LEDs, a semiconductor emits blue light. The blue light passes through the phosphor and becomes white light. The phosphor is thin film on a substrate; the substrate has to be placed in intricate proximity to the semiconductor. Positioning the phosphor is one of the more expensive steps in creating an LED, said Mark Schmidt.

Add one bean bag chair

(Credit: Michael Kanellos)

LEDs cost a lot. But they use less energy than conventional lights and come in multiple colors, so you can decorate your house so it looks like Peter Max lives there, as this photo at the Lumileds headquarters shows.

In the coming prototype, the conventional phosphor is replaced with a sheet of polymer, which sort of applies itself into the LED, almost like a layer of shrink wrap. The technology was invented by The University of California Santa Barbara's Stephen DenBaars, who has been a big advocate of LEDs and Nobel Prize winner Alan Heeger.

Meanwhile, the prototype will have a greater efficiency than conventional LEDs because more photons will get through the phosphor and emerge as white light because of technology from RPI.