Will Silicon Substrates Push LED Lighting Into the Mainstream？

　　Will Silicon Substrates Push LED Lighting Into the Mainstream？

　　发光二极管比传统照明有许多优点，包括功效、寿命和坚固性，但价格不是其中之一。。

　　之所以发光二极管价格昂贵，部分原因是用于制造芯片的制造过程是困难的，并且使用了诸如蓝宝石（或GaN）上的氮化镓（蓝宝石）衬底等稀有材料。

　　但最近，一些生产商建议使用硅作为LED衬底，通常每年都要制造数十亿次集成电路（ic）。除了潜在的降低LED的成本，使用成熟的互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）芯片技术会使传统的晶圆厂，有余力的制造。

　　However， the idea is not new. Silicon has been tried before， but large mismatches between its crystal structure and coefficient of thermal expansion， and those of the GaN used for the LED proper created faults that lowered the end product’s efficacy and dramatically shortened its life. Now new developments promise to overcome these drawbacks.

　　This article describes recent advances in manufacturing technology for silicon-substrate LEDs with reference to the work done by major makers， and compares the performance of the experimental chips with today’s commercial LEDs.