LCD Based Flash for Camera Phones Released

Lumileds Lighting has announced the availability of a reference design for rapid development of LED-based camera phone flash applications utilizing Luxeon LEDs, the world's brightest light emitting diodes. A single Luxeon emitter can be used to produce 72 lumens of light at distances up to 2 meters (6.5 feet), providing significantly more illumination than conventional LED sources and enabling flashes on mobile phone cameras to approach the light levels of those on digital still cameras for the first time.

This brightness also will allow a Luxeon-powered flash to double as a mobile phone flashlight for user safety. Lumileds' suggested design will deliver a 72-lumen flash with peak illuminance of up to 142 lux at half a meter, 36 lux at one meter, and 9 lux at 2 meters. In contrast, other LED-based mobile camera flashes yield no more than 30 lux of illumination at half a meter.

In addition to Luxeon's industry-leading brightness, the design enables mobile phone manufacturers to take advantage of the small footprint, long life and instant-on capabilities common to all solid-state lighting. Luxeon devices can be turned on and off in less than 1 microsecond, eliminating the charging time required by conventional discharge lamps.

The reference design, called "Luxeon for Camera Phone Flash, PDA and DSC Applications," covers optical, mechanical, thermal and electrical design components as well as image sensor requirements and performance results."

Posted to the site on 12th August 2003