Lumileds’ Craford Recognized for Contributions to LED Lighting

Craford’s career spans from the early days when LEDs were first developed to delivery of high brightness LEDs suitable for commercial use in a variety of applications, including LED bulbs.
May 16, 2017
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George Craford, Lumileds
Lumileds (San Jose, CA):George Craford, Lumileds Solid State Lighting Fellow, was selected for the IEEE Edison Medal for “a lifetime of pioneering contributions to the development and commercialization of visible LED materials and devices.” Craford will be presented with the medal at the IEEE Honors Ceremony in San Francisco on May 25, 2017, during the IEEE Vision, Innovations, and Challenges (IEEE VIC) Summit.

Craford’s career spans from the early days when LEDs were first developed to delivery of high brightness LEDs suitable for commercial use in a variety of applications, including LED bulbs. He is best known for his invention of the yellow LED in 1972. Craford then led the development of increasingly brighter red, orange and amber LEDs. In 1979, Craford began work at Hewlett-Packard, where his team pioneered the development of AlInGaP LEDs using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). MOCVD was then a relatively expensive lower volume process and had not been utilized for the high volume commercial production of LEDs. AlInGaP LEDs increased the performance of red and yellow LEDs by more than 10 times. Craford’s team continued to achieve technology breakthroughs in AlInGaP LEDs, eventually reaching 100 lm/W.

“Not only was George responsible for substantial breakthroughs in technology, but with his team, ensured that the technology could be reliably and cost effectively manufactured,” said Mark Karol, 2017 IEEE Awards Board Chair.

About the Author

Doug Chandler, Senior Staff Writer

Executive Editor

Doug Chandler began writing about the electrical industry in 1992, and still finds there's never a shortage of stories to be told. So he spends his days finding them and telling them. Educationally, he's a Jayhawk with an English degree. Outside of work, he can often be found banging drums or harvesting tomatoes.