Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society, 2006, 53, 1067-1072 1067

A Low Cost LED Based Spectrometer

Tai-Sheng Yeh* ( ) and Shih-Shin Tseng ( )

Department of Electronic Engineering, Fortune Institute of Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

A low cost LED based spectrometer is described. This LED based spectrometer could be operated as a
standalone instrument or under PC control via serial link. A total of seven wavelength selections are avail-
able by the plug-and-measure LED light module. With the seven wavelength selections, the LED based
spectrometer could provide qualitative visible absorption spectra that predict the absorption maximum.
Based upon the qualitative visible spectra, quantitative photometric information could be obtained.

Keywords: LED; Spectrometer; USB 2000; Low cost; Microcontroller.

INTRODUCTION This spectrometer was not robust or inexpensive enough

There is a need in many resource limited countries
and laboratories for a low cost analytical instrument that
could provide both qualitative and quantitative chemical
information. There are also great needs for low cost auton-
omous instruments that could help monitor the fragile envi-
ronment around the world on a global scale.1,2 With the ad-
vances in modern electronics, microcontrollers could pro-
vide great capabilities to acquire and process sensor sig-
nals. The development of compound semiconductor manu-
facturing technology could also produce many LEDs with
wavelengths from IR down to the 365 nm UV range. With
its compact size, a wide range of selections of available
wavelengths and low power consumption, LEDs are used
extensively in analytical instruments as light sources.3-15
Dasgupta et. al. gave a very detailed review for LED appli-
cation in flow injection analyses.3,4 LED light sources for
sensor applications were also extensively reviewed by
Kostov et al.5-7 Hauser et al.8-10 built a multi-wavelength
spectrometer to analyze aluminum, copper, ammonia, cal-
cium, phosphate, chromium, and nitrile. In his work, LEDs
with seven wavelengths and a 2 ´ 7 fiber optic coupler were
used to construct a multi-wavelength spectrometer. The 2 ´
7 fiber optic coupler would greatly increase the cost of the
spectrometer and would not be suitable for large scale em-
ployment. Hamilton et al.11 built a four color LED photom-
eter with a material cost of about US$ 200. The LED pho-
tometer was designed with analog circuits and thus was not
very flexible or user configurable. Knagge et al.12 built a
spectrometer with a mini light bulb, diffraction grating and
LEGO block. The material cost was also about US$ 200.
for large scale deployment in the field. Cantrell et al.13 de-
signed a SLIM spectrometer with red, yellow, and blue
LEDs. The total cost to construct the SLIM spectrometer is
about US$ 25. A TSL230 programmable light-to-fre-
quency converter from Texas Advanced Optoelectronic
Solutions (TAOS) was used as photo-detector for the SLIM
spectrometer. The SLIM spectrometer is low cost, low
power consumption and robust, thus it is very suitable for
autonomous instruments employed in the field. The only
limitation is the available wavelength in the SLIM spec-
trometer.
This work intended to build a robust, low cost, multi
wavelength LED based spectrometer using plug-and-
measure LED light source modules. A TCS230 program-
mable light-to-frequency converter from Texas Advanced
Optoelectronic Solutions (TAOS) was used as the photo-
detector in the current design. The total cost of the present
design is about US$ 20. With a wide range wavelength se-
lection and low cost solid-state electronic components, this
LED based spectrometer is a very cost-effective instrument
for resource limited developing countries and laboratories.
EXPERIMENTAL
The Chemical Reagent and Electronic Components
The Universal Indicator of pH solution is purchased
from Panreac, Inc. The pH dye Bromocresol Purple and
Bromocresol Green were purchased from Lancaster Inc.,
and Phenol Red and Thymol Blue were purchased from
TCI, Inc. All pH buffer solutions were purchased from
1068 J. Chin. Chem. Soc., Vol. 53, No. 5, 2006
Panreac, Inc. The LED was bought from RS Components
and local parts vendors. The TCS230 sensor chips were
bought from TAOS, Inc. The PIC Micro 16F877A and
electronic components were sourced from local electronic
parts vendors.
The Circuit and Hardware Tuning
Fig. 1 is the circuit design for the LED based spec-
trometer. The TCS230 chip from TAOS, Inc. was used as
photo-detector. Output-frequency scaling and photodiode
color selection is set by a dip-switch connected to the S0,
S1, S2, S3 input pin on the sensor chip. The sensor fre-
quency output is received by a PIC Micro 16F877A micro-
controller via PORTC.2. The signal after processing by a
microcontroller is displayed on the LCD and transmitted to
a PC via a RS232 serial connection. Thus the LED based
spectrometer could operate standalone or be controlled by a
PC to have a better visualized view of the obtained data. PC
Fig. 1. Circuit for LED based spectrometer.
Yeh and Tseng
control software written in Visual Basic 6.0 was used to set
the operation mode for the experiment. The spectra of the
plug-and-measure LED light sources are shown in Fig.
2(a). The emission peaks for the LED light sources were
389 nm, 407 nm, 462 nm, 527 nm, 572 nm, 587 nm and 620
nm. The actual device hardware is shown in Fig. 2(b), 2(c),
2(d).
The LED light intensity and the emission bandwidth
could be adjusted by the current-limiting resistor. Because
the LED light intensity and the emission bandwidth would
affect the measured absorbance by the LED based spec-
trometer, calibration against a commercial spectrometer
with standard solutions is necessary for the LED based
spectrometer. The best empirical value for the current-lim-
iting resistor is set by fitting the absorbance spectra ob-
tained by a LED based spectrometer to that obtained by a
Ocean Optics USB 2000 spectrometer. A series of standard
solutions to calibrate the LED based spectrometer were
A Low Cost LED Based Spectrometer
prepared by adding 5 ml Universal pH Indicator to 2 mL
buffer solutions from pH 1 to pH 13. The spectra for the 13
standard solutions obtained by Ocean Optics USB 2000
spectrometer are shown in Fig. 3(a). The obtained spectra
serve as reference for setting the value of LED current-
limiting resistors. The best value of the current-limiting re-
sistor was set by comparing the spectra obtained from a
USB 2000 spectrometer. Fig. 3(b) shows the best value for
a blue LED (462 nm) was 2 kW.
Experiment Procedure for Spectra Mode
Typical LEDs have FWHM values of about 25 nm
and a typical FWHM molecular absorption band is over 50
nm. Thus it is possible is use a discrete LED absorbance
measurement to approximate the absorbance spectra of mo-
lecular absorption.
Fig. 2a. Spectra of LED light source.
Fig. 2b. Plug-and-measure LED light source module
and TCS230 detector module.
J. Chin. Chem. Soc., Vol. 53, No. 5, 2006 1069
The resistor value for each LED light source was de-
termined by comparing it with an Ocean Optics USB 2000
spectrometer. Herein the spectra of different buffer solu-
tions from pH 1 to pH 13 were measured, and the resistor
value was tuned to best fit the spectra obtained by the USB
2000 spectrometer. After the resistor value was fine tuned
for the LED based spectrometer, four indicator solutions:
Bromocresol Purple, Bromocresol Green, Phenol Red and
Thymol Blue were measured and compared again with the
USB 2000 spectrometer. This is the testing procedure for
testing the performance of the spectra mode.
Experiment Procedure for Photometric Mode
A series of the Universal Indicator solution from 1.25
ml to 200 ml is dropped to 2 mL pH 7 buffer solution. The
Fig. 2c. LED spectrometer with cover removed.
Fig. 2d. LED spectrometer with cover in measurement
mode.
1070 J. Chin. Chem. Soc., Vol. 53, No. 5, 2006
absorbance variation caused by concentration difference of
indicator solution is compared with the USB 2000 spec-
trometer for the photometric mode.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Spectra Mode
The absorption spectra obtained by the LED based
spectrometer are shown in Fig. 4. For the Bromocresol
Purple and Bromocresol Green dye solutions, the LED
based spectrometer showed very good qualitative agree-
ment with the USB 2000 spectrometer and provided a
good prediction of their absorbance spectra. In the spectra
region for the maximum absorption of Bromocresol Pur-
ple and Bromocresol Green, the LED light sources are
Fig. 3a. Spectra of pH buffer solution from pH 1 to pH
13 for Universal pH Indicator.
Fig. 3b. Tuning resistor to fit USB 2000 Absorbance.
Yeh and Tseng
spaced closely. For the absorption spectra of Thymol Blue,
the LED based spectrometer didn’t predict the absorption
maximum very well. The reason was that in the present
spectrometer design there was no 430 nm LED light source.
For the absorption spectra of Phenol Red, the LED based
spectrometer didn’t produce very good absorption spectra.
This is caused by the large FWHM values of the blue LED
(peak 462 nm) and green LED (peak 527 nm). According to
Beer’s law, a polychromatic light source would give a large
deviation compared to a monochromatic light.14 The lack
of a good 430 nm LED light source plus the lack of a light
source between blue LED and green LED also contributed
to the ill-behaved absorption spectra.
Photometric Mode
Comparison of photometric performance with an
Fig. 4a. Comparison of Bromocresol Purple spectral
data with a USB 2000 spectrometer.
Fig. 4b. Comparison of Bromocresol Green spectral
data with a USB 2000 spectrometer.
A Low Cost LED Based Spectrometer
Ocean Optics USB 2000 spectrometer is shown in Fig. 5.
The LED based spectrometer showed a similar trend with
Fig. 4c. Comparison of Thymol Blue spectral data
with a USB 2000 spectrometer
Fig. 4d. Comparison of Phenol Red spectral data with a
USB 2000 spectrometer.
Fig. 5. Comparison of photometric data with a USB
2000 spectrometer.
J. Chin. Chem. Soc., Vol. 53, No. 5, 2006 1071
the Ocean Optics USB 2000 spectrometer for the full mea-
surement range. For the concentration range from 10 ml to
80 ml, the agreement with the USB 2000 spectrometer was
very good for the LED based spectrometer. The LED based
spectrometer could yield very good quantitative results for
absorbance values under 0.8. In daily practice, absorbance
measurements seldom exceed 1.0. Many commercial in-
struments also fail at high absorbance values. The devia-
tion of the LED based spectrometer in the high absorbance
region could be due to the polychromatic nature of the LED
light sources.14
CONCLUSIONS
Both spectra mode and photometric mode for the
LED based spectrometer had shown very comparable re-
sults compared to the Ocean Optics USB 2000 spectrome-
ter. With low cost electronic components, it is possible to
build a cost effective instrument for resource limited labs.
The electronic components for a LED based spectrometer
had a total cost of about US$ 20. Commercial instruments
usually would cost more than US$ 1,000. In this respect,
the LED based spectrometer was a very cost-effective in-
strument. Inclusion of a kinetic mode for a LED based
spectrometer is possible by rewriting the firmware in a PIC
microcontroller. This kind of LED based spectrometer will
be very useful for both autonomous environment monitor-
ing and educational purposes. The capability of the present
LED based spectrometer can be further extended by incor-
porating more LEDs with different wavelengths.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors sincerely thank the National Science
Council of Taiwan (No. NSC 93-2113-M-268-001) for the
financial support of this work.
Received December 15, 2005.
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