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> Blue LEDs appeared in 1993 Then it is interesting that my father's 1989 Wolfsburg Edition Jetta has a blue LED in the dash "The first blue-violet LED using
by Maursault 5y ago
> Blue LEDs appeared in 1993
Then it is interesting that my father's 1989 Wolfsburg Edition Jetta has a blue LED in the dash
"The first blue-violet LED using magnesium-doped gallium nitride was made at Stanford University in 1972 by Herb Maruska and Wally Rhines, doctoral students in materials science and engineering." [1]
"In August 1989, Cree introduced the first commercially available blue LED based on the indirect bandgap semiconductor, silicon carbide (SiC)." [2]
What you must be thinking of:
"Two years later, in 1993, high-brightness blue LEDs were demonstrated by Shuji Nakamura of Nichia Corporation using a gallium nitride growth process." [3]
[1,2,3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode#blue_LED https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode#blue_LE...
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoBlue LEDs were not in commercial products in the 1980s, even if the technology existed. Perhaps due to cost, I don’t really know, but I was there and remember it well. In the 90s, companies went nuts with blue LEDs using them as power indicators in everything.
- Maursault 5y agoYou are simply mistaken. Volkswagen used blue LED in their 1989 model year dash, models presumably available in 1988. [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snld2cT83qg&t=1m56s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snld2cT83qg&t=1m56s
- kube-system 5y agoI think you might be mistaken. Those are lenses that are shaped like LEDs but there are bulbs behind them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqpyc8huRLE&t=20s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqpyc8huRLE&t=20s
- jazzyjackson 5y agogod bless youtube, what a specific piece of history to have a reference for
- kingcharles 5y agoWe've reached peak YouTube. But that does answer the poster's claim. The lens is perfectly shaped to emulate an LED.
- madengr 5y agoI remember buying one in high school (1989 or 1990) for $15 from Digikey. It was in a clear package and put off barely any light, but it was a BLUE LED!
- andyjohnson0 5y agoClearly I was referring to commercial off-the-shelf products rated for aerospace use, not experimental lab prototypes. Regarding your father's car, I'd suggest the indicator in question is either an after-market addition, or an original incandescent mini-bulb behind a blue plastic filter. The latter was a common way to implement coloured dashboard lights back then.
- Maursault 5y ago> Clearly I was referring to commercial off-the-shelf products rated for aerospace use, not experimental lab prototypes. Except for "clearly," then sure. I should have known because when most people talk about LED they mean "hardened for aerospace LED." Right? Come on. > Regarding your father's car Nope. Volkswagen used what anyone would recognize as an ordinary blue LED in their 1989 model year dash, along with ordinary red, green & yellow LEDs.
- sokoloff 5y agoIn my 1984 (A1) Rabbit GTI the indicator that looks like a blue LED is a piece of blue plastic backlit with a white lamp. The A2 cars (including the 1989 Jetta) used the same setup. Similar to this one: http://gtcarlot.com/interiors/Volkswagen/Rabbit+Pickup/1981/58969203/58922639.html http://gtcarlot.com/interiors/Volkswagen/Rabbit+Pickup/1981/...
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoNo. Those are blue lenses only. They did not use blue LEDS in 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqpyc8huRLE&t=20s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqpyc8huRLE&t=20s