LEDS

Dow acquires LED phosphor technology IP in Lightscape Materials buy

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:14:00 GMT

Lightscape Materials offers IP in specialty phosphor technology, which Dow will add to its LED technologies portfolio. Lightscape co-founders Gerard Frederickson and Yongchi Tian will join Dow’s LED Technologies team.

Is the LED boom and bust cycle leveling out?

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:06:00 GMT

After a surge in 2010 and oversupply in 2011 that suppressed 2012 fab, LED makers will see a leveling out of supply and demand into better equilibrium, according to NPD DisplaySearch. Demand will shift from LCD-backlit LEDs to LEDs for lighting.

Kulicke & Soffa expands Singapore HQ, bolsters bonder tool R&D and manufacturing

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:44:00 GMT

Kulicke & Soffa broke ground on its Singapore global headquarters expansion, near the current leased headquarters location. A state-of-the-art facility in Serangoon will bolster the company’s R&D and manufacturing capabilities, and host service and support functions.

Beyond sapphire: LED substrates from GaN to ZnO, SiC, and Si

Mon, 14 May 2012 22:39:00 GMT

LEDs are typically manufactured on sapphire substrates, about 90% of the blue LEDs currently in production. SiC substrates are used for virtually all the remaining 10% of blue LEDs. To improve efficiency and brightness, as well as cost, LED makers are looking to other substrates, such as Si and ZnO.

The low utilization/MOCVD uptick phenomenon, LED efficacy and price, more from Lightfair

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:04:00 GMT

Barclays Capital analysts attended Lightfair International and gleaned several trends in LEDs and OLEDs for lighting, including an interesting phenomenon around MOCVD utilization rates and new orders.

GaN-on-Si LED from Bridgelux, Toshiba hits performance record

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:31:00 GMT

Bridgelux and Toshiba reported a 1.1mm² LED chip fabricated on an 8" GaN-on-Si wafer, emitting 614mW, <3.1V @ 350mA. The companies will collaborate on commercializing GaN-on-Si LEDs, and Toshiba has invested in Bridgelux.

3D micro-structuring, OLED display fab nab laser awards

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:16:00 GMT

The Innovation Award Laser Technology 2012 recognized 3D metal micro-structuring laser technology from Schepers, excimer laser design for OLED and LCD display fab from Coherent, and a laser brazing head technology from Precitec Optronik.

AMAT throws the brakes on LED fab equipment

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:59:00 GMT

In light of “challenging industry conditions” in the LED and PV manufacturing sectors, Applied Materials (AMAT) decided to restructure its Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) segment.

OLED manufacturers develop new color patterning technologies for large-area fab

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:59:00 GMT

OLEDs are gaining adopters in small screen sizes, and just moving into large-size displays. Mass production color-patterning technology for large-area OLED is increasingly an issue. Displaybank looks at new technologies under development at major display makers.

GE integrates LED thermal management for 100W bulb within A-19 form factor

Wed, 09 May 2012 20:50:00 GMT

GE’s 27-watt Energy Smart LED bulb is in a standard “A-19” bulb shape, manufactured with a proprietary synthetic jet technology enabled by Nuventix’ collaboration.

SEMI lauds Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI) for microelectronics/photovoltaics support

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:36:00 GMT

SEMI presented US Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI) with its 2012 North American Government Leadership Award for his leadership and support of the US microelectronics and photovoltaic manufacturing value chain.

LED efficiency boosted by quantum dot and formic acid combo

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:42:00 GMT

Vanderbilt University researchers have used formic acid to develop white-light quantum dots' fluorescent efficiency to 45%, enabling UV LED efficiency of 40 lumens/watt.

LED maker SunSun Lighting raises $30M from investors

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:22:00 GMT

SunSun Lighting, a provider of high-performance, energy-efficient and low-cost LED lighting technologies, received $30 million in Series B financing from GSR Ventures and Oak Investment Partners and additional commitments from its original angel investors. Allan Kwan, a China-based advisor for Oak, is joining the board of SunSun.

HB-LED makers drive economic improvement with alternative substrates, automation, and yield

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:11:00 GMT

SEMI’s Paula Doe covers the “commodity market” of LEDs, including capacity utilization at LED fabs, automation in manufacturing that could improve yields, LEDs fabbed on silicon and GaN instead of sapphire wafers, and more.

AIXTRON MOCVD tool installed for GaN research at U of Warsaw

Tue, 08 May 2012 19:35:00 GMT

University of Warsaw, Poland, researchers will grow GaN materials on a new AIXTRON SE Close Coupled Showerhead MOCVD reactor in a 3 x 2” wafer configuration.

Lower-cost LED backlights darken CCFL's future

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:55:00 GMT

Low-cost direct LED-backlit LCD TVs were introduced in March 2011, targeting share in the entry/mainstream LCD TV market currently dominated by CCFL-backlit TVs. They will eliminate CCFLs by 2014, says DisplaySearch.

AIXTRON wins repeat MOCVD order from LED maker

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:03:00 GMT

AIXTRON SE’s long-time customer Formosa Epitaxy Inc. (FOREPI) ordered several MOCVD systems: 4 CRIUS II-XL systems in a 19 x 4” wafer configuration and 2 G5 HT reactors in a 14 x 4” wafer configuration.

LED makers qualify c-axis sapphire wafers from ARC Energy, Trinity Material

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:54:00 GMT

Sapphire wafers grown using ARC Energy’s Controlled Heat Extraction System furnaces for Trinity Material was certified for high-quality LED chip production at two leading LED chip companies.

EMAN wins OLED micro-display follow-on order from Army

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:44:00 GMT

eMagin Corporation (NYSE Amex:EMAN) received a $3.1 million follow-on order for OLED microdisplays under an existing US Army Remote Viewer Program.

SATS provider Carsem begins LED packaging and test

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:19:00 GMT

Semiconductor packaging and test services provider Carsem will assemble and test LED packages, partnering with a key customer and applying semiconductor packaging technologies for better LEDs.

Intematix remote phosphor enables 100W-equivalent LED bulbs

Thu, 03 May 2012 16:19:00 GMT

Intematix debuted ChromaLit Contour remote phosphor architecture. ChromaLit Contour is shaped to enable internal and external convection airflow, cooling LEDs in 60, 75 and 100W-equivalent omni-directional lights.

Cree LED test suite TEMPO 24 incorporates IES LM-79

Tue, 01 May 2012 20:21:00 GMT

Cree Inc. added TEMPO 24 tests to its Cree Services for LED luminaires. TEMPO 24 combines the IES LM-79-08 photometric test with nearly a dozen other LED performance tests.

Toyoda Gosei, Showa Denko form GaN LED JV

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Showa Denko KK will transfer 70% of its gallium-nitride (GaN)-based blue light emitting diode (LED) chip business into a new company, TS Opto Co. Ltd, with Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd.

Phosphor trends for LED manufacturing

Tue, 01 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The phosphor market is largely a game of scale and relationships, as much of the intellectual property (IP) around phosphors was created in the 1970-80s (at least for select element combinations) and protection has by now expired, analysts from Barclays Capital.

Optical display films undergo cyclical changes

Tue, 01 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Optical display film revenues are declining in 2012, after a compound annual growth rate of 19% from 2009 to 2011, according to NPD DisplaySearch Q1'12 Quarterly Display Optical Film Report.

What have we done for you lately?

Tue, 01 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

This page is usually reserved for a guest editorial by someone in the industry that wants to rant a little bit about the lack of standards in any given area, the need to get young students interested in engineering and the sciences, why fab safety is so important, or answering the call to innovate, to give a few examples.

LED manufacturer Lumichip expands in Finland, opens development center

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:16:00 GMT

Lumichip Limited, an LED manufacturer, expanded its commercial operations in Finland and opened a new development center in Espoo, Finland.

AMOLED scales up with virtually 100% concentration in Korea

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:45:00 GMT

Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays manufacturing is virtually 100% concentrated in Korea, according to Displaybank, with Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) and LG Display (LGD) scaling up capacity.

MEI semiconductor wet process tools built to prevent contamination

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:27:00 GMT

MEI uses Vycom Flametec PVC-C for chemical rinse tanks and other wafer-contacting elements of its process tools, reducing tool-based contamination and protecting fab workers. Bill McGinty, MEI operations manager, discusses the benefits the new-generation plastic for semiconductor fab tools.

LED maker orders multiple fab tools from OEM Group

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT

OEM Group began shipping a multi-tool order to a major LED manufacturer, including Spray Ozone Tool and Spray Acid Tool semi-automated batch surface preparation systems.

Round LEDs released by Luminus Devices

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:44:00 GMT

Luminus Devices Inc. unveiled its round LED architecture, meeting the circular aperture designs of many optical devices.

Semiconductor investments from venture capital sector fall in March

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:52:00 GMT

Investments in fabless companies, semiconductor suppliers, and other chip companies fell more than 80% month/month and year/year in March, reports the Global Semiconductor Association (GSA).

Nichia sued over LED fab IP by Everlight

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:42:00 GMT

Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nichia Corp., seeking enforcement of a patent covering LED metallization technology, and asked that 2 Nichia patents on LED phosphor technology be rendered invalid.

MOCVD and MBE epitaxy trends for compound semiconductors

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:55:00 GMT

The corresponding combined revenue opportunity for MBE and MOCVD is estimated to be around US $6.1 billion for the 2012-2020 periods, shows Yole Développement.

OLEDs erode LCD dominance, starting in small displays

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:53:00 GMT

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) will be a nearly $11 billion market in 2017, and will take some display market share from the $100-billion LCD sector, according to a Lux Research report.

As LEDs ramp, GaAs wafers shift from SI to SC type

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:36:00 GMT

Boosted by LEDs, semiconducting (SC) GaAs substrates will lead growth of the GaAs market. In 2011, semi-inductive (SI) GaAs substrates held ~56% (M$) of the overall GaAs substrate market (SC GaAs held ~44%), a trend that is likely to reverse in the short term.

EPIC names new director general, promises closer ties with EU

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:55:00 GMT

EPIC, the European Photonics Industry Consortium, announced at its annual general meeting that Carlos Lee has been appointed as director general, succeeding Thomas Pearsall, who has led the association since its founding in 2003.

Ultratech brings former member back to Board

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:39:00 GMT

Ultratech, lithography and laser-processing system supplier to semiconductor manufacturers and packaging providers, added Michael C. Child to its Board of Directors. Child served on Ultratech’s Board in the 1990s.

Veeco to invest in Korea’s LED industry

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:02:00 GMT

Veeco Instruments Inc. recently participated in an investment signing ceremony at the 2012 Korea Investment Forum in New York City to commemorate the Company’s substantial investment in a new R&D facility in Seoul, Korea to advance high brightness light emitting diode (LED) technology.

MOCVD suppliers await H2 payoff for H1 LED gains

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:46:00 GMT

Positives for LED makers -- improved utilization rates in Taiwan, growing LED lighting demand -- will not immediately equal more orders for MOCVD tool suppliers, reports Barclays Capital. The analysts expect 525 MOCVD tool orders in 2012, most in the second half of the year.

Veeco ion beam deposition tool matches PVD speed

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:12:00 GMT

Veeco Instruments Inc. debuted the SPECTOR-HT ion beam deposition tool for thin-film deposition in optical products, such as lasers, telecommunications chips, and more.

Intematix remote phosphor targets high-lumen small-size LED lights

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:06:00 GMT

Intematix released ChromaLit XT remote phosphor technology for high-lumen LEDs in small form factors, enabling blue LED packages instead of binned white LEDs.

LED researchers install VECO MOCVD in Korea

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:12:00 GMT

LED-IT Fusion Technology Research Center of Korea tapped Veeco for a TurboDisc K465i GaN MOCVD system for research and development of LEDs, including green LEDs and UV versions.

Cree LED achieves 254 lumen/watt on SiC, optimized chip/packaging tech

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:35:00 GMT

Cree Inc. (Nasdaq:CREE) achieved 254 lumen/watt on a white-light, power LED in research. The correlated color temperature is 4408 K.

AMOLED use in small/medium displays prompts more suppliers, more adopters

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:39:00 GMT

Active matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLEDs) are moving from small-quantity development into higher volumes, with shipments destined for smartphones driving growth in the small- and medium-sized display market in February, said IHS.

Vacuum pumps improve throughput by 90% with new rotary design

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:33:00 GMT

Edwards Limited uncrated the STP-iXR1606 series magnetically-levitated turbo-molecular pumps (TMP) with fully integrated onboard controllers. Its new rotary design improves throughput by about 40% at high gas flow rates; nearly 90% percent in maximum gas flow.

Power electronics grow on SiC and GaN innovation

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:03:00 GMT

Power electronics will grow to $15 billion in sales of discrete components in 2020, says Lux Research. New materials -- SiC and GaN -- are taking a 22% market share for $3.3B in sales. Expect this year to set a record for funding to power electronics companies.

OLED adhesive cures at low temperatures to rubber-like consistency

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:04:00 GMT

Engineered Conductive Materials LLC uncrated a low-temperature curing conductive adhesive, DB-1541-LTC, for OLED assembly.

SABIC LED resins offer improved color under heat exposure

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:43:00 GMT

SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business released 3 Lexan LUX resin grades for LED applications such as light guides and lenses. They are transparent and use a new formulation to improve initial color, color stability, and light transmission during heat aging.

AMOLED display gives Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 the edge on weight, thickness, battery life

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:41:00 GMT

Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 7.7 uses an AMOLED display, gaining benefits in the weight, thickness, and battery life, but at a higher material cost, says research firm Displaybank, part of IHS.