What is the shape of a light emitting diode?

Answer 1

Conventional LEDs are cylindrical in shape with a diameter of 3, 5, 8 or 10mm. One end of the LED has two connecting wires and the other usually has a dome which acts as a lens for dispersion of light.

Surface mounting diodes (those without leads that solder directly on to the surface of a circuit board, are a variety of sizes and shapes. Typically, they have a light output on the top or on one side of the package. The size can be anywhere from 1mm square up to 10mm square.

The diode itself is tiny compared to the size of the complete package so the final shape can be designed to suit specific applications. In a component catalog, the LED section is frequently one of the largest, partly due to the huge range of package sizes and shapes.