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Solid-state UV emitters promise to alter the discussion of how UV materials are cured in a manner similar to the way the microwave oven has transformed the way we talk about cooking. Just as a bowl of popcorn may look and taste identical when cooked either way, so will UV coatings look and perform identically whether cured with conventional medium-pressure mercury lamps or with solid state devices. This will also require a new language when we describe the UV process. Since it will be just as inappropriate to describe cure in terms of watts/inch or specify measurements made with a LightBug as it is to ask what temperature the microwave oven needs to be set for popping. This paper is divided into three parts. First a description of the light output and related characteristics of solid-state UV LED sources, and second a cursory comparison of how these sources behave in UV some representative UV curing processes. Finally, since the emergence of UV LED sources is admittedly in the early stages this is a work in progress. So I will conclude with look into the near term future for UV LED sources and associated photochemistry.
