Category Archives: LED Manufacturing

Smart technologies take center stage tomorrow as SEMICON West, the flagship U.S. event for connecting the electronics manufacturing supply chain, opens for three days of insights into leading technologies and applications that will power future industry expansion. Building on this year’s record-breaking industry growth, SEMICON West – July 10-12, 2018, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco – spotlights how cognitive learning technologies and other disruptors will transform industries and lives.

Themed BEYOND SMART and presented by SEMI, SEMICON West 2018 features top technologists and industry leaders highlighting the significance of artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest technologies and trends in smart transportation, smart manufacturing, smart medtech, smart data, big data, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Seven keynotes and more than 250 subject matter experts will offer insights into critical opportunities and issues across the global microelectronics supply chain. The event also features new Smart Pavilions to showcase interactive technologies for immersive, virtual experiences.

Smart transportation and smart manufacturing pavilions: Applying AI to accelerate capabilities

Automotive leads all new applications in semiconductor growth and is a major demand driver for technologies inrelated segments such as MEMS and sensors. The SEMICON West Smart Transportation and Smart Manufacturing pavilions showcase AI breakthroughs that are enabling more intelligent transportation performance and manufacturing processes, increasing yields and profits, and spurring innovation across the industry.

Smart workforce pavilion: Connecting next-generation talent with the microelectronics industry

SEMICON West also tackles the vital industry issue of how to attract new talent with the skills to deliver future innovations. Reliant on a highly skilled workforce, the industry today faces thousands of job openings, fierce competition for workers and the need to strengthen its talent pipeline. Educational and engaging, the Smart Workforce Pavilion connects the microelectronics industry with college students and entry-level professionals.

In the Workforce Pavilion “Meet the Experts” Theater, recruiters from top companies are available for on-the-spot interviews, while career coaches offer mentoring, tips on cover letter and resume writing, job-search guidance, and more. SEMI will also host High Tech U (HTU) in conjunction with the SEMICON West Smart Workforce Pavilion. The highly interactive program supported by Advantest, Edwards, KLA-Tencor and TEL exposes high school students to STEM education pathways and useful insights about careers in the industry.

Researchers at Kyushu University’s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA) in Japan have demonstrated a way to split energy in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and surpass the 100% limit for exciton production, opening a promising new route for creating low-cost and high-intensity near-infrared light sources for sensing and communications applications.

OLEDs use layers of carbon-containing organic molecules to convert electrical charges into light. In normal OLEDs, one positive charge and one negative charge come together on a molecule to form a packet of energy called an exciton. One exciton can release its energy to create at most one beam of light, or photon.

Illustration of the singlet fission process used to boost the number of excitons in an OLED and break the 100 percent limit for exciton production efficiency. The emitting layer consists of a mixture of rubrene molecules, which are responsible for singlet fission, and ErQ3 molecules, which produce the emission. A singlet exciton, which is created when a positive charge and a negative charge combine on a rubrene molecule, can transfer half of its energy to a second rubrene molecule through the process of singlet fission, resulting in two triplet excitons. The triplet excitons then transfer to ErQ3 molecules, and the exciton energy is released as near-infrared emission by ErQ3. Credit: William J. Potscavage Jr.

When all charges form excitons that emit light, a maximum 100% internal quantum efficiency is achieved. However, the new technology uses a process called singlet fission to split the energy from an exciton into two, making it possible to exceed the 100% limit for the efficiency of converting charge pairs into excitons, also known as the exciton production efficiency

“Put simply, we incorporated molecules that act as change machines for excitons in OLEDs. Similar to a change machine that converts a $10 bill into two $5 bills, the molecules convert an expensive, high-energy exciton into two half-price, low-energy excitons,” explains Hajime Nakanotani, associate professor at Kyushu University and co-author of the paper describing the new results.

Excitons come in two forms, singlets and triplets, and molecules can only receive singlets or triplets with certain energies. The researchers overcame the limit of one exciton per one pair of charges by using molecules that can accept a triplet exciton with an energy that is half the energy of the molecule’s singlet exciton.

In such molecules, the singlet can transfer half of its energy to a neighboring molecule while keeping half of the energy for itself, resulting in the creation of two triplets from one singlet. This process is called singlet fission.

The triplet excitons are then transferred to a second type of molecule that uses the energy to emit near-infrared light. In the present work, the researchers were able to convert the charge pairs into 100.8% triplets, indicating that 100% is no longer the limit. This is the first report of an OLED using singlet fission, though it has previously been observed in organic solar cells.

Furthermore, the researchers could easily evaluate the singlet fission efficiency, which is often difficult to estimate, based on comparison of the near-infrared emission and trace amounts of visible emission from remaining singlets when the device is exposed to various magnetic fields.

“Near-infrared light plays a key role in biological and medical applications along with communications technologies,” says Chihaya Adachi, director of OPERA. “Now that we know singlet fission can be used in an OLED, we have a new path to potentially overcome the challenge of creating an efficient near-infrared OLED, which would find immediate practical use.”

Overall efficiency is still relatively low in this early work because near-infrared emission from organic emitters is traditionally inefficient, and energy efficiency will, of course, always be limited to a maximum 100%. Nonetheless, this new method offers a way to increase efficiency and intensity without changing the emitter molecule, and the researchers are also looking into improving the emitter molecules themselves.

With further improvements, the researchers hope to get the exciton production efficiency up to 125%, which would be the next limit since electrical operation naturally leads to 25% singlets and 75% triplets. After that, they are considering ideas to convert triplets into singlets and possibly reach a quantum efficiency of 200%.

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation (“Toshiba”) announces the launch of a new analog output IC photocoupler that enables high-speed communications in automotive applications – especially electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV).

The new TLX9309 consists of a high-output GaAlAs light emitting diode (LED) that is optically coupled to a high-speed detector. The detector consists of a photodiode and a transistor integrated onto a single chip. A Faraday shield has been integrated onto the photodetector chip to provide enhanced levels of common-mode transient immunity – typically up to 15kV/μs, an important parameter in electrically noisy automotive environments.

By separating the photodiode and amplification transistor, the collector capacitance is reduced, reducing propagation delays and making the open-collector TLX9309 faster than transistor output devices. In fact, propagation delay times are guaranteed to be between 0.1μs and 1.0μs, with the difference between high to low and low to high transition (|tpLH-tpHL|) being no more than 0.7μs, making the device suitable for high-speed communications such as inverter control or as an interface to intelligent power modules (IPM).

Electrically, the device offers 3750Vrms of isolation with 5.0mm of creepage and clearance for safety isolation. It operates from a supply in the range -0.5 to 30V DC and can drive up to 25mA at output voltages up to 20V. The current transfer ratio is in the range 15-300%.

The TLX9309 is packaged in a 3.7mm x 7.0mm x 2.2mm RoHS compliant 5-pin SO6 package and operates over the temperature range -40°C to +125°C. The device is AEC-Q101 qualified for use in automotive applications.

The TLX9309 is now in mass production.

A Tokyo Institute of Technology research team has shown copper nitride acts as an n-type semiconductor, with p-type conduction provided by fluorine doping, utilizing a unique nitriding technique applicable for mass production and a computational search for appropriate doping elements, as well as atomically resolved microscopy and electronic structure analysis using synchrotron radiation. These n-type and p-type copper nitride semiconductors could potentially replace the conventional toxic or rare materials in photovoltaic cells.

Thin film photovoltaics have equivalent efficiency and can cut the cost of materials compared to market-dominating silicon solar panels. Utilizing the photovoltaic effect, thin layers of specific p-type and n-type materials are sandwiched together to produce electricity from sunlight. The technology promises a brighter future for solar energy, allowing low-cost and scalable manufacturing routes compared to crystalline silicon technology, even though toxic and rare materials are used in commercialized thin film solar cells. A Tokyo Institute of Technology team has challenged to find a new candidate material for producing cleaner, cheaper thin film photovoltaics.

(a) This is a copper and Copper Nitride. (b) Theoretical Calculation for P-type and N-type Copper Nitride. (c) Direct Observation of Fluorine Position in Fluorine-doped Copper Nitride. (a) An image of thin film copper plates before and after reacting with ammonia and oxygen. Copper metal has been transformed to copper nitride. (b) Copper insertion for an n-type semiconductor and fluorine insertion for a p-type semiconductor. (c) Nitrogen plotted in red, fluorine in green, and copper in blue. Fluorine is located at the open space of the crystal as predicted by the theoretical calculation. Credit: Advanced Materials

They have focused on a simple binary compound, copper nitride that is composed of environmentally friendly elements. However, growing a nitride crystal in a high quality form is challenging as history tells us to develop gallium nitride blue LEDs. Matsuzaki and his coworkers have overcome the difficulty by introducing a novel catalytic reaction route using ammonia and oxidant gas. This compound, pictured through the photograph in figure (a), is an n-type conductor that has excess electrons. On the other hand, by inserting fluorine element in the open space of the crystal, they found this n-type compound transformed into p-type as predicted by theoretical calculations and directly proven by atomically resolved microscopy in figures (b) and (c), respectively.

All existing thin film photovoltaics require a p-type or n-type partner in their makeup of a sandwich structure, requiring huge efforts to find the best combination. P-type and n-type conduction in the same material developed by Matsuzaki and his coworkers are beneficial to design a highly efficient solar cell structure without such efforts. This material is non-toxic, abundant, and therefore potentially cheap–ideal replacements for in use cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium diselenide thin film solar cells. With the development of these p-type and n-type semiconductors, in a scalable forming technique using simple safe and abundant elements, the positive qualities will further bring thin film technology into the light.

Edmund Optics®, a supplier of optical components, has ordered the  SPECTOR® Ion Beam Sputtering System from Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO). The new capability is in support of Edmund Optics’ expanding portfolio of high quality laser optics for infrared, visible, and ultraviolet systems. Edmund Optics’ growing presence in the laser optics landscape builds on the company’s long history as a supplier of high quality imaging and photonics components. The SPECTOR platform represents Edmund Optics’ most recent financial and technical commitment to advancing state-of-the-art optics fabrication, adding to the company’s existing expertise in aspheric design and manufacturing, advanced optical metrology, and production of optics designed for high laser fluence applications.

“The SPECTOR platform gives us two essential elements: the best tool available to support precision and custom optical coatings, and the best partner to support our technical needs,” said Joel Bagwell, director of engineering and manufacturing technology at Edmund Optics. “Veeco fit the bill perfectly on both counts. The SPECTOR’s ability to create extremely high quality, high performance films is especially important for our laser optics coatings, and will help expand our portfolio to encompass new and emerging applications. As a company that holds customer service as our highest priority, we were also impressed with Veeco’s demonstrated track record of successfully supporting customers with global reach— the kind of service we provide to our customers and we seek from our suppliers.”

The SPECTOR ion beam sputtering platform offers exceptional layer thickness control, enhanced process stability, and the lowest published optical losses in the industry. The platform is engineered to enhance key production parameters, such as target material utilization, optical endpoint control, and process time for cutting-edge optical coating applications. The SPECTOR platform, which is the preferred ion beam sputtering system in the industry, has been installed in more than 200 advanced manufacturing settings across the world. The system is consistently chosen by manufacturers for the qualitative advantages of ion beam sputtering technology—low scatter loss, high film purity, stable deposition rates, and film thickness control of less than 0.1nm.

“Edmund Optics is a premier provider of optical components, known for providing the highest quality products for the life sciences, biomedical, semiconductor, defense, and research and development markets,” said Adrian Devasahayam, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of advanced deposition and etch products at Veeco. “Their selection of Veeco’s SPECTOR ion beam sputtering system further demonstrates the platform’s flexibility to support a wide range of applications with unmatched control and precision.”

Optical coatings are valuable in a wide variety of commercial categories including telecom, defense, architecture, medical, solar, transportation, and industrial, as well as consumer categories including flat-screen TVs, computers, tablets, cell phones, and eyeglass coatings. According to BCC Research, the global market for optical coatings is expected to reach $14.2 billion in 2021, up from $9.5 billion in 2016. The commercial segment in particular is expected to grow from $5.4 billion in 2016 to $9.4 billion in 2021—demonstrating a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5 percent. Key drivers of this growth are emerging applications in commercial and consumer categories, as well as innovative coatings to improve existing applications.

As silicon-based semiconductors reach their performance limits, gallium nitride (GaN) is becoming the next go-to material to advance light-emitting diode (LED) technologies, high-frequency transistors and photovoltaic devices. Holding GaN back, however, is its high numbers of defects.

This material degradation is due to dislocations — when atoms become displaced in the crystal lattice structure. When multiple dislocations simultaneously move from shear force, bonds along the lattice planes stretch and eventually break. As the atoms rearrange themselves to reform their bonds, some planes stay intact while others become permanently deformed, with only half planes in place. If the shear force is great enough, the dislocation will end up along the edge of the material.

As silicon-based semiconductors reach performance limits, gallium nitride is becoming the next go-to material for several technologies. Holding GaN back, however, is its high numbers of defects. Better understanding how GaN defects form at the atomic level could improve the performance of the devices made using this material. Researchers have taken a significant step by examining and determining six core configurations of the GaN lattice. They present their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics. This image shoes the distribution of stresses per atom (a) and (b) of a-edge dislocations along the <1-100> direction in wurtzite GaN. Credit: Physics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Layering GaN on substrates of different materials makes the problem that much worse because the lattice structures typically don’t align. This is why expanding our understanding of how GaN defects form at the atomic level could improve the performance of the devices made using this material.

A team of researchers has taken a significant step toward this goal by examining and determining six core configurations of the GaN lattice. They presented their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing.

“The goal is to identify, process and characterize these dislocations to fully understand the impact of defects in GaN so we can find specific ways to optimize this material,” said Joseph Kioseoglou, a researcher at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and an author of the paper.

There are also problems that are intrinsic to the properties of GaN that result in unwanted effects like color shifts in the emission of GaN-based LEDs. According to Kioseoglou, this could potentially could be addressed by exploiting different growth orientations.

The researchers used computational analysis via molecular dynamics and density functional theory simulations to determine the structural and electronic properties of a-type basal edge dislocations along the <1-100> direction in GaN. Dislocations along this direction are common in semipolar growth orientations.

The study was based on three models with different core configurations. The first consisted of three nitrogen (N) atoms and one gallium (Ga) atom for the Ga polarity; the second had four N atoms and two Ga atoms; the third contained two N atoms and two Ga core-associated atoms. Molecular dynamic calculations were performed using approximately 15,000 atoms for each configuration.

The researchers found that the N polarity configurations exhibited significantly more states in the bandgap compared to the Ga polarity ones, with the N polar configurations presenting smaller bandgap values.

“There is a connection between the smaller bandgap values and the great number of states inside them,” said Kioseoglou. “These findings potentially demonstrate the role of nitrogen as a major contributor to dislocation-related effects in GaN-based devices.”

Technavio analysts forecast the global LED market to post a CAGR of more than 16% during the forecast period, according to their latest market research report.

The growing number of households and urbanization is one of the major trends being witnessed in the global LED market. The increase in urbanization is driving the installation of new lamps and LED luminaires which in turn, will lead to an increase in unit shipments and thereby revenue from LED products. In addition, rapid urbanization is driving governments of various countries to invest in large-scale urban infrastructure projects.

According to Technavio analysts, one of the key factors contributing to the growth of the global LED market is the declining manufacturing cost of LEDs:

Global LED market: Declining manufacturing cost of LEDs

The manufacturing cost of LEDs has declined since 2012 and will continue to do so during the forecast period primarily because of the declining ASP of chips and components used in the manufacturing process. This is leading to a decrease in the installation costs of LED lamps and fixtures thereby driving the installation of new LED lamps and fixtures across all application segments.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio for research on semiconductor equipment, “Megacities concentrate on investing in infrastructure development to meet the needs of the growing population. These megacities consume a large amount energy due to which governments of these countries are planning to install energy-efficient lighting sources such as LED lamps and luminaires to reduce electricity consumption. This will lead to the growth of the LED market.”

Global LED market: Segmentation and analysis

This global LED market research report provides market segmentation by application (general lighting and backlighting, automotive lighting and others), and by region (the Americas, EMEA, and APAC). It provides an in-depth analysis of the prominent factors influencing the market, including drivers, opportunities, trends, and industry-specific challenges.

The high demand for energy-efficient lighting solutions in the general lighting market is expected to fuel the demand for LED products. This segment is expected to increase its market share by close to 29% over the forecast period, while the backlighting segment is expected to see a significant decrease in its market share.

APAC held the largest share of the market in 2017, accounting for close to 47%, followed by the Americas and EMEA respectively. APAC and the Americas are expected to witness a significant increase in their market shares while EMEA will see a commensurate decrease in its market share over the forecast period.

 

WIN Semiconductors Corp (TPEx:3105), the world’s largest pure-play compound semiconductor foundry, has expanded its portfolio of highly integrated GaAs technologies with the release of a new pHEMT technology. The PIH0-03 platform incorporates monolithic PIN and vertical Schottky diodes with WIN’s high performance 0.1um pseudomorphic HEMT process, PP10. This integrated technology, PIH0-03, adds a highly linear vertical Schottky diode with cut-off frequency over 600GHz, as well as multi-function PIN diodes while preserving the state-of-the-art mmWave performance of the PP10 technology. The availability of monolithic PIN and Schottky diodes with a high performance mmWave transistor enables on-chip integration of a wide range of functions, including mixers, temperature/power detecting, limiters, and high frequency switching, and supports power, low noise and optical applications through100 GHz.

This integrated technology provides users with multiple pathways to add on-chip functionality and reduce the overall die count of complex multi-chip modules used in a variety of end-markets. In addition to high frequency switching, the monolithic PIN diodes can be used for low parasitic capacitance ESD protection circuits, and as an on-chip power limiter to protect sensitive LNAs in phased array radars. The vertical Schottky diodes enable numerous detecting and mixing functions and can be combined with the PIN diodes in unique limiter applications.

“Today’s complex systems and highly competitive markets require increased mmWave performance and more functionality per chip. The PIH0-03 platform is the latest example of how WIN Semiconductors is addressing these critical market needs by offering high performance GaAs technologies with new levels of multifunction integration. To meet the ever-increasing demands of next generation mobile user equipment, wireless infrastructure, fiber optics and military applications, WIN Semiconductors continues to commercialize advanced, highly integrated GaAs solutions and provide our customers a clear technology advantage,” said David Danzilio, Senior Vice President of WIN Semiconductors Corp.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) today announced that Aledia, a developer and manufacturer of next-generation 3D LEDs for display applications based on its gallium-nitride-nanowires-on-silicon platform, has selected Veeco’s Propel® GaN MOCVD system to support advanced research and development. Aledia noted the tool’s large process window, single-wafer reactor technology and defect stability as key factors in its decision to adopt the Propel system.

“We believe that the opportunity for our breakthrough nanowire-LED display technology on large-area silicon is very large, and we need the best and most scalable technology available to support our continued R&D around 3D display applications—we believe Veeco is best positioned,” stated Giorgio Anania, CEO, chairman and co-founder of Aledia. “Veeco’s cutting-edge Propel system delivers unsurpassed results, and very good homogeneity throughout the entire wafer, making it the best choice and one we know will help us continue to push the limits of innovation.”

Designed for leading-edge GaN applications like power, RF, laser diodes and advanced LEDs, the Propel system’s single-wafer reactor platform enables the processing of six- and eight-inch wafers or two- to four-inch wafers in a mini-batch mode. In addition to Veeco’s proprietary TurboDisc technology, the system also includes Veeco’s IsoFlange™ and SymmHeat™ technologies, which provide homogeneous laminar flow and uniform temperature profile across the entire wafer.

“On the heels of the company’s previous adoption of Veeco’s K465i™ MOCVD system, Aledia’s decision to turn to Veeco once again to support future generations of nanowire-LED technologies for mobile displays is a testament to our shared commitment to excellence,” noted Peo Hansson, Ph.D., senior vice president and general manager of MOCVD at Veeco. “We look forward to our continued partnership and to support Aledia as it continues to innovate new discoveries in the LED space.”

Innovators in display technology are focusing on the next big technological shifts such as micro-LED and 3D LED. Industry analysts predict a scenario where the market for advanced LED displays could potentially reach 330 million units by 2025. This optimism is fueled by the promise of sub-100 micrometer LEDs, which is considered the critical enabler to achieving the ultimate display.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) today announced that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mike McDevitt will retire from his executive positions following a transition period. Mr. McDevitt intends to stay on until a successor is appointed, and thereafter will remain available as a consultant to the Company to ensure a seamless transition of leadership responsibilities.

Since joining Cree in 2002, Mr. McDevitt has held numerous executive financial positions with the Company, helping grow Cree from less than $200 million to approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue, with approximately 6,900 employees worldwide. Mr. McDevitt has served as the Company’s CFO since May 2012.

Gregg Lowe, CEO, said, “Mike has made significant contributions to the continued success of the Company during his role as CFO, and we appreciate his dedication to helping us solidify and introduce the new business strategy. Now that we have made our pivot, we are gaining traction in the market with the new strategy and believe that we have collectively positioned the Company to support our growth plans and achieve a successful future.”

Mr. McDevitt added, “I am confident that it is the appropriate time to begin this CFO transition as the team continues executing the new strategic direction going forward. It has been a privilege working with Cree’s many talented employees and our Board for the last 16 years, first driving the adoption of LEDs, then LED Lighting and more recently our Power and RF products. The Company is on healthy financial footing to enable its future growth. I appreciate the opportunity that Gregg and Chuck gave me to serve as their CFO. I look forward to working with Gregg and the team to find our next CFO and to ensure a smooth transition.”

The Company today also reaffirmed its previously announced business outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 ending June 24, 2018. As announced on April 24, 2018, for the fourth quarter Cree targets:

  • Revenue in a range of $390 million to $410 million.
  • GAAP net loss of $34 million to $38 million, or a $0.34 to $0.38 loss per diluted share.2
  • Non-GAAP net income in a range of $5 million to $9 million, or $0.05 to $0.09 per diluted share.1,2

1 Targeted non-GAAP income excludes $43 million, net of tax, of expenses related to stock-based compensation expense, the amortization or impairment of acquisition-related intangibles, the inventory basis step-up from the previously reported Infineon RF Power acquisition, transition and integration costs associated with the Infineon RF Power acquisition and charges associated with the restructuring of our Lighting Products business.

2 The GAAP and non-GAAP targets do not include any estimated change in the fair value of Cree’s Lextar investment, any potential reserve for ZTE specific inventory or impact from a potential Chinese LED tariffs.