--- title: Making LEDs In The Home Fab | daily.dev description: A hobbyist fabricator known as Dr. Semiconductor has built functional blue LEDs from gallium nitride epiwafers in a home lab, going beyond typical amateur... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Making LEDs In The Home Fab | daily.dev og:description: A hobbyist fabricator known as Dr. Semiconductor has built functional blue LEDs from gallium nitride epiwafers in a home lab, going beyond typical amateur... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/pdmlG9V8c.png og:image:alt: Making LEDs In The Home Fab og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Making LEDs In The Home Fab **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary A hobbyist fabricator known as Dr. Semiconductor has built functional blue LEDs from gallium nitride epiwafers in a home lab, going beyond typical amateur semiconductor demos by also bonding the chips to a PCB. The process involved a novel 355-nm UV laser etching technique combined with a potassium hydroxide clean-up to expose the n-type layer, followed by photoresist masking and sputtered nickel, silver, and titanium contacts. Chips were diced with the laser and soldered to a PCB using electroplated indium bumps and rosin flux. A cerium-doped YAG phosphor mixed with silicone was applied to convert the blue emission into white light. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can you make an n-type electrical contact on a gallium nitride LED without reactive ion etching? A 355-nm ultraviolet etching laser can cut through the p-type and quantum well layers of a GaN LED by causing the material to break down into gallium and nitrogen, with the resulting cut then cleaned up using a potassium hydroxide etch. This replaces the more conventional chlorine-based reactive ion etching process typically used to reach the n-type layer. _daily.dev surfaces hands-on fabrication techniques like this for hobbyists exploring semiconductor processes._ ### How do you bond a transparent LED chip to a PCB without visible alignment marks on the underside? Indium bumps can be electroplated onto the printed circuit board, the chip positioned above them, rosin flux added, and the bumps melted to solder the chip in place. This method was used specifically because transparent LED chips make it hard to align pads on an opaque wafer's underside with the board. _Engineers tackling tricky chip-to-board bonding challenges can track novel approaches like this on daily.dev._ ### How do you make a white LED from a blue gallium nitride LED chip at home? Cerium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) phosphor powder mixed with clear silicone and spread over a blue GaN LED absorbs some blue light and re-emits yellow light; the combined blue and yellow light appears white to human eyes. This mimics the phosphor-conversion method used in most commercial white LEDs. _daily.dev helps DIY electronics builders keep up with material science tricks behind projects like white LED fabrication._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@akkitto** · 0 upvotes > This AI summary has more chemicals in it, than Walter White's curriculum. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Tiny NanoLEDs Promise New Display Possibilities](https://daily.dev/posts/tiny-nanoleds-promise-new-display-possibilities-3ydbzjco1) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How LEDs are Made](https://daily.dev/posts/how-leds-are-made-ia6b3gbqp) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Making RAM At Home In Your Own Semiconductor Fab](https://daily.dev/posts/making-ram-at-home-in-your-own-semiconductor-fab-eyosoqgtq) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Discovery could lead to brighter, more energy-efficient digital displays](https://daily.dev/posts/discovery-could-lead-to-brighter-more-energy-efficient-digital-displays-7odymrk1z) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Pinpointing the glow of a single atom to advance quantum emitter engineering](https://daily.dev/posts/pinpointing-the-glow-of-a-single-atom-to-advance-quantum-emitter-engineering-dhdttbqfi) · Phys.org · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Making LEDs In The Home Fab","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T17:13:24.438Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T09:02:48.842Z","description":"A hobbyist fabricator known as Dr. Semiconductor has built functional blue LEDs from gallium nitride epiwafers in a home lab, going beyond typical amateur...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5e18b37878bd635bfc1ea44d39ff5099?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5e18b37878bd635bfc1ea44d39ff5099?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Making LEDs In The Home Fab"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"This AI summary has more chemicals in it, than Walter White’s curriculum.","datePublished":"2026-08-24T22:24:57.028Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/pdmlG9V8c#c-9MkADtfTQ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel","url":"https://daily.dev/akkitto","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FtwJqX4c--/f_auto/v1754900041/avatars/avatar_29TCpY2hJR72V3BlxPXzX?_a=BAMClqZW0"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/making-leds-in-the-home-fab-pdmlg9v8c#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How can you make an n-type electrical contact on a gallium nitride LED without reactive ion etching?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A 355-nm ultraviolet etching laser can cut through the p-type and quantum well layers of a GaN LED by causing the material to break down into gallium and nitrogen, with the resulting cut then cleaned up using a potassium hydroxide etch. 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