No. 809: Successful development of a new LED chip capable of reducing blue light by 95% (November 21, 2013)

Technology:

Showa Denko developed an LED chip that reduces blue light coming out from PC and smartphone screens by 95%. LED illuminations and liquid crystal displays use a blue LED as the main light source. A blue LED is said to be liable to make eyes dry and keep a man from falling asleep. The company successfully reproduced light almost the same as the light source of a blue LED by combining three colors of LED chips: purplish red, yellow, and blue green. The existing purplish red LED does not have enough brightness to be used as the light source of illumination, but the company successfully increased its brightness.

Because the newly developed LED chip does not use a blue LED, it can reduce blue light by 95%. Showa Denko wishes to commercialize the new LED chip and put it on the LC display and LED lighting market toward 2014. The new LED chip will be 2-3 times higher in price than a blue LED, but the price increase of lighting and LC display that incorporate the new LEC chip will be between 20% and 30%. It is estimated that 10 billion blue LED chips are produced monthly worldwide, and the company estimates the potential demand for replacement will be about 5% of the world production. 

Blue LED chips are flushing to reduce

traffic accidents at a tunnel exit in Tokyo