EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology, solar and semiconductor markets, and Brisbane Materials Technology (BMT), a specialty materials company, today introduced a new anti-reflective (AR) coating solution based on BMT’s innovative XeroCoat materials, which is designed to substantially increase lumen output of light emitting diode (LED) devices. The jointly developed manufacturing solution enables lumen output increases of up to eight percent. The AR coating manufacturing solution can be seamlessly integrated with established production schemes, allowing the coating of LED components at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.
“Improving light efficiency is a constant goal for LED chip and luminaire manufacturers in order to drive down the total cost of LED lighting. However, extracting further improvements in light output from the LED chip design and epitaxial layer growth process has become increasingly difficult and costly. As a result, any incremental improvements in light output that can be gained from other areas with minimal cost or disruption to the LED manufacturing flow can have a significant impact on reducing overall system cost,” stated Dr. Antun Peic, business development manager at EV Group. “Through our partnership with BMT, we’ve developed a turnkey manufacturing solution that has achieved a significant breakthrough in improving LED light efficiency, which can help accelerate new applications for solid-state lighting such as smart lighting and smart building.”
Under a strategic cooperation agreement, EVG has optimized its precision coating systems for BMT’s unique materials and processes, enabling high-yield fabrication of AR coatings with industry-leading performance and cost. The innovative technology enables the creation of a nano-porous silicon dioxide (SiO2) coating from a liquid precursor at room temperature and atmospheric pressure on plastic and glass lenses and luminaires. The SiO2 film, which has undergone rigorous testing, including a 2.5-year accelerated aging test equivalent to more than 20 years of field application, is covalently bonded to the surface to give maximum durability and field reliability.
“Our collaboration with EV Group in the solar market over the past several years has proven the ability of our joint-AR coating solution to provide significant improvements in solar cover glass transmission,” commented BMT founder and CEO Dr. Gary Wiseman. “We are very excited to begin providing our patented XeroCoat anti-reflective materials to LED lighting customers. Our unique solution provides a simple and cost-effective way for customers to increase lumen output. Working with our equipment partner, EVG, we provide the equipment, materials, and process as a turnkey solution to our customers.”
The large-area spray deposition method employed for this new process provides maximum processing flexibility as well as scalability. According to Paul Lindner, executive director of technology at EVG, “The large-area spray coating technology used in this process has been in commercial production in the display technology space for well over 10 years. This field-proven equipment solution, combined with BMT’s novel material, allows us to quickly and uniformly coat nano-scale films onto a large number of luminaires―a key requirement to meet the challenging volume and cost targets of our LED customers. In addition, spray coating allows for coating over a large range of form factors―for instance, lenses with highly curvilinear features―which is another important requirement for the LED luminaire market.”