The Future of LEDs Is So Bright

Our lives would be completely different without semiconductors. All integrated circuit (IC) chips are made out of semiconductors. ICs are in our cars, in airplanes, and in our kitchen appliances. But what is a semiconductor? A semiconductor is a material whose function falls somewhere between an insulator (like plastic) and a conductor (like copper). Semiconductors have the ability to conduct electricity under certain conditions, which leads to some interesting and useful devices, such as transistors and lasers.
One semiconductor you've probably heard of is a light-emitting diode (LED), which is a semiconductor device that converts electricity into light. Current in semiconductors is carried by electrons (negatively charged) and holes (positively charged). An LED consists of a layer of electron-rich material next to a layer of hole-rich material. When a current is applied to the LED in a certain direction, the electrons move toward the holes and the holes move toward the electrons. When an electron and a hole meet, they create light. The wavelength, or color of the light, depends on the materials that are used for the layers and how electron-rich layer 1 is and how hole-rich layer 2 is.