Instrumentation LEDs: Digital domination? Light-emitting diodes proliferate as gas-discharge and liquid-crystal digital readouts find special niches

Only five years ago, few visible light-emittng-diode (LED) devices were used as instrument displays, and liquid-crystal displays were largely a laboratory curiosity. Gas-discharge, fluorescent, and incandescent readouts constituted the majority of instrument display devices then. Today, the venerable “Nixie” tube, the prototypical gas-discharge device, is still in use. And its successors continue to offer high readability and low cost. However, over one half of all instrument types now use LEDs and that fraction is growing and, according to most major instrument manufacturers interviewed by Spectrum, will continue to grow.