Why It Was Almost Impossible to Make the Blue LED

The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea. Head to https://brilliant.org/veritasium to start your free 30-day trial, and the first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription. Special thanks to our Patreon supporters! Join this list to help us keep our videos free, forever: https://ve42.co/PatreonDEB We have a tabletop game launching! Pledge your support now - https://ve42.co/KickStarterD Huge thanks to the UC Santa Barbara Materials Dept (https://ssleec.ucsb.edu/) for taking us around. Thanks to Álvaro Bermejillo Seco for reviewing the science. Thanks to these especially helpful sources: Nobel Prize Biography - Shuji Nakamura - https://ve42.co/NakamuraNobel Johnstone, B. (2015). Brilliant!. Prometheus Books. - https://ve42.co/Johnstone2015 Nakamura, S., Pearton, S., & Fasol, G. (2010). The Blue Laser Diode: The Complete Story. Springer. - https://ve42.co/Nakamura2010 ▀▀▀ References: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8M2z2hIbag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGUteH93xNo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwKHQEw78g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoTALRhAqWc Touchstone, L. A. (2022). Nick Holonyak Jr. University of Illinois. - https://ve42.co/Touchstone2022 Perry, T. S. (1995). The Unsung Inventor. IEEE Spectrum. - https://ve42.co/Perry1995 Chabay, R. & Sherwood, B. (2011). Matter & interactions (4th ed.), S2: Semiconductors. Wiley. - https://ve42.co/ChabaySherwood How MOCVD Works via Aixtron - https://ve42.co/MOCVD Vangala, S. R., et al. (2019). Epitaxial growth of ZnSe on GaAs. Journal of Crystal Growth. - https://ve42.co/Vangala2019 Nakamura, S. (1991). GaN Growth Using GaN Buffer Layer. JJAP. - https://ve42.co/Nakamura3rd1991 Amano, H., et al. (1989). P-Type Conduction in Mg-Doped GaN w/ LEEBI. JJAP. - https://ve42.co/Amano1989 Huang, M., et al. (2021). Defects in Mg–H‐Codoped GaN. Physica Status Solidi. - https://ve42.co/Huang2021 Schubert, E. F. (2006). Light Emitting Diodes, Ch 4: LED bas