LED lighting is produced by a diode, which is a semiconductor. A diode is made up of an impregnated semi-conducting chip. The impregnation, or doping as it is often called, is with various impurities that allow for the flow of current. As wit any other diode, the LED lighting current flow is one way only. An electron meets the hole in the LED components and releases energy as it realizes the lowered level of energy. This energy release takes the form of a photon and produces the lighting effect of the LED.

The color and length of wave that the LED light emits is dependent on the materials' bandgap energy during the junction formation. If the diodes are germanium or silicon the holes and the diode electrons get back together again through a method that is not radiative and gives off no optical emission. The materials that are used for LED lighting contain a bandgap that is direct, with energy that corresponds to nearly infrared, visible or nearly ultraviolet light.

The development of LED lighting started with devices that were infrared or red and made with gallium arsenide. Since that time technological and scientific advances have improved on LED lighting, making shorter wavelength a possibility. This has made colored LED lighting commonplace.

LED lighting is produced by several semiconductors, all of which are inorganic. The semiconductor material determines the color of the LED lighting.

Aluminium gallium arsenide produces red or infrared LED lighting, while aluminium gallium phosphide gives off green lights. If aluminium gallium indium phosphide is introduced, the light is higher and the color is red-orange, orange, green or yellow. Gallium arsenide phosphide produce red, orange or yellow LED lighting, wile gallium phosphide delivers a red, yellow or green light. Indium gallium nitride creates LED lighting that is almost ultraviolet, bluish green or blue, while using silicon carbide as a semiconductor delivers only blue light. Diamond will assure you of an ultraviolet LED light.

Purple and pink LED lighting are recent color additions. They are made by placing one or more layers of phosphor over a blue LED chip. The first layer of an LED that is pink glows yellow, while the second layer glows either orange or red. Purple LED lighting is made with a blue LED and a glowing phosphor that is orange. Some pink LED lighting products have not proven to be reliable. It turns out that some have been pained with fluorescent nail polished or paint and these have worn off, or with pink dyes that fade shortly after purchase.