Category Archives: LED Manufacturing

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) has joined imec to collaborate on the development of next-generation GaN-on-Si power devices. ON Semiconductor is presently building a GaN processing line in its Oudenaarde facility in Belgium Oudenaarde, Belgium. The Oudenaarde facility, which was acquired from AMI Semiconductors in 2008, has over 40,000 square feet of clean room space, is located on a 10 acre campus, and presently produces 0.35 µm to 2 µm low, medium, and high voltage analog CMOS and BCD technologies on 6 in. wafers (150mm). Denis Marcon, product marketing manager for the power electronics and LED programs at imec said the goal was produce GaN-on-Si at the facility.

GaN is characterized by superior electron mobility, higher breakdown voltage and good thermal conductivity properties, making it useful for power and radio frequency (RF) devices which need high-switching efficiencies. Today, GaN-based power devices are too expensive for large volume manufacturing, as they are fabricated on small diameter wafers using non-standard production processes, according to imec.

Caption:  Imec’s power devices on 200mm CMOS-compatible GaN-on-Si

Imec’s research program is focused on developing GaN-on-Si technology on 200 mm wafers, as well as reducing the cost and improving the performance of GaN devices. Last year, imec’s research program successfully produced 200 mm GaN-on-Si wafers, bringing processing within reach for standard high-productivity 200 mm fabs. Moreover, imec developed a fabrication process compatible with standard CMOS processes and tools, the second prerequisite for cost-effective processing.

“As a top 20 global semiconductor supplier with a portfolio focused on energy efficient devices, ON Semiconductor has been researching GaN silicon technologies for several years,” said Hans Stork, senior vice president and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at ON Semiconductor. “Partnering with imec will help strengthen our current market position and potentially assist us in adding a competitive leading-edge technology to our customer offerings. We look forward to collaborating with a broad consortium of like-minded companies on forward-looking research in this field.”

According to Rudi Cartuyvels, vice president of smart systems and energy technology at imec: “Extraordinary developments continue to emerge from our GaN-on-Si Affiliation Program, creating further inroads to drive down production costs The newest addition, of ON Semiconductor as a strategic program partner, further advances our collective expertise. Leveraging joint efforts will help us overcome the next hurdle toward economical volume manufacturing, ultimately bringing GaN power devices to the market.”

October 4, 2012 – When LCD TVs were first competing against plasma TVs, one key differentiating argument was their brightness. Typical TVs have brightness measuring around >400 nits (1 nit is roughly 1 candela per m2) deemed suitable for TVs typically viewed in a living room and at a distance, while plasma TVs’ full-white brightness is typically sub-200 nits. (<300 nits is more typical of computer/laptop screens)

However, the trend in LCD TVs is now swinging toward lower brightness, points out DisplaySearch senior analyst Jimmy Kim, in a new blog post. Most existing low-brightness TV models were small and targeted the secondary market, but earlier this year first trials began for low-brightness TV models, with low-cost direct LED backlighting, in the main segment of large TVs, he notes. The tradeoff in these sets sacrifices design and picture quality for cost: lower brightness for the LED component, and a thinner light guide plate. These efforts have reduced the cost gap between LED and CCFL backlights to <1.3×, so pricing is similar. (A spike in CCFL materials prices is another reason for the shrinking cost difference.)

Consumers have responded, and low-brightness LED-backlit TVs accounted for more than 10% of total LCD TV shipments in 2Q12. So TV makers are now planning more models with low brightness, even those using edge LED backlights. Most mainstream TV models are being designed with ~350 nits, and some entry-level models will be as low as 250 nits, to fend off the charge of low-cost backlight TVs (300-350 nits); soon the only 400-nit LCD TVs will be high-end models, Kim indicates.

Getting edge-lit backlight TV brightness down to 250 nits narrows the cost gap between them and CCFL models from 2× to 1.5×, which is still a bit higher than aforementioned gap between CCFL and direct LED backlighting. But the goal here, Kim notes, isn’t to offer another CCFL alternative — it’s targeting the same entry segment as low-cost low-brightness direct LED backlight TVs.

by Dan Tracy, senior director, SEMI Industry Research and Statistics

October 3, 2012 – Semiconductor manufacturers in Japan are either consolidating or closing fabs, and, in several cases, transitioning to a "fab-lite" strategy, all in a restructuring effort to meet the market challenges ahead. While device manufacturers are consolidating manufacturing operations and plan to outsource more wafer fabrication and package assembly to foundries and packaging subcontractors, a large installed fab capacity remains in Japan. Recent data for the year shows overall wafer area shipments into Japan’s fabs being the same as shipments into Taiwan.

By 2014, the total installed fab capacity Japan should increase slightly from about 4.5 million to 4.6 million 200mm equivalent wafers per month. Installed 300mm fab capacity is expected to increase from about 760,000 to 840,000 300mm wafers per month — representing, by region, the third largest 300mm fab manufacturing capacity base globally. Over the next several years, fab spending in the Japan market will be directed towards the production of NAND flash memory, power semiconductors, high-brightness LEDs, and CMOS image sensors.


Regional share forecasted for 2013 fab materials market. Total market size: $25.7 billion.

Overall equipment spending in Japan will likely range on the order of $4 billion per year. Expected NAND flash investments in 2013 could approach up to $2.5 billion. LED fab equipment spending is estimated to be $340 million next year. Finally, Sony is expected to invest about US$ 1 billion or more in its CMOS image sensor production.

Japanese equipment and material suppliers are leading players on the global semiconductor industry stage. It is estimated that Japan-headquartered equipment companies collectively capture about 35% share of the global semiconductor industry spending per annum. Like their North American and European counterparts, customers in the rest of the Asia Pacific region are the largest base for new equipment sales.

Chemical and other material suppliers in Japan are market leaders in the manufacturing of silicon wafers, III-V wafers, advanced chemicals, packaging resins, and packaging substrates. It is estimated that the Japanese material suppliers sales represent about 70% of the global semiconductor materials market, both fab and packaging.

Japanese suppliers showcase the latest products at SEMICON Japan 2012

Leading Japanese equipment and materials suppliers will exhibit at SEMICON Japan 2012 on December 5- 7, along with global key players, at the Makuhari Messe, Japan. Find the latest products and innovations this companies offer to customers globally that enable key technologies for the future including 450mm, EUV, TSV, power devices, and HB-LEDs to name a few. Also, the show will co-locate with a major photovoltaic show, PVJapan 2012 so you can connect to two major microelectronics industries in a single visit.

For more information, including registration and exhibition, visit www.semiconjapan.org/en.

October 2, 2012 – Driven by market demand, the semiconductor industry is progressing toward consensus on building-block standards for automating LED production on 6-in wafers, explains Paula Doe in an article for SST sister magazine LEDs Magazine.

With the fast-growing demand for HB-LEDs, the industry has added roughly 100 new fabs in the last five years, for a total of 169 LED fabs worldwide. Total industry epitaxy capacity has subsequently ballooned 5× to some 2 million (4-in equivalent) wafers a month.

But there’s still considerable headroom to improve yields and reduce costs — and drive the growth of the solid-state lighting (SSL) market — by moving to larger-diameter wafers and automated production with tighter process controls. Lower front-end processing costs for 6-in wafers mean translate to a 25% cost savings vs. 4-in wafers, per unit surface area, assuming equivalent yields and around $150/wafer for the bigger wafers.

In the latest issue of LEDS Magazine, Paula Doe examines the major players’ progress in enabling this transition, forging consensus on the basics of common wafer parameters, common interfaces for production equipment, and common communication software to communicate data from analysis tools. Bottom line: efforts could enable a $7/$8 60W-equivalent LED bulb by 2014, which would propel the general lighting industry to surpass displays as the main driver of the LED market.

Click through to read the full article.


(Image via LEDs Magazine)

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September 26, 2012 – Sumitomo Chemical has joined the Holst Center’s shared research program on printed organic lighting and signage, to extend the program’s research into multilayer solution processes for high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).

OLEDs as large-area light sources could cut lighting-related energy use by 50%-90%, while enabling unique lighting applications. They are conventionally made by depositing numerous thin layers of material onto glass substrates or flexible plastic foils, using evaporative processes in vacuum conditions. Switching to solution-based processes that can be done in an atmospheric-pressure environment would significantly reduce costs, by removing the need for vacuum equipment and reducing material waste.

Also read:

Toward this end, Sumitomo Chemical‘s participation in the Holst program will be providing high-end OLED materials, particularly for the active (light-emitting) layers. "Their expertise and high-end OLED materials will help us develop solution-processed OLEDs that match the efficiency of today’s highest-performing devices but at lower manufacturing costs," stated Ton van Mol, Partnership Director at Holst Centre.

Sumitomo Chemical, meanwhile, also will benefit from the program’s expertise in optimizing materials for low-cost production and flexible substrates. "Holst Centre is a leading research center for flexible electronics, and one of the few working on solution processing for OLEDs. Its unique infrastructure and many partners across the OLED lighting community will help us tailor our materials to better meet the needs of the lighting industry," echoed Ikuzo Ogawa, managing executive officer at Sumitomo Chemical.

The Holst Center is an independent open-innovation R&D center bringing together industry and academia to develop technologies for wireless autonomous sensor technologies and flexible electronics. It was set up in 2005 by imec (Flanders, Belgium) and TNO (The Netherlands) with support from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Government of Flanders. It is named after Gilles Holst, a Dutch pioneer in Research and Development and first director of Philips Research. Located on High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Holst Centre has over 180 research staff from 28 nationalities and a commitment from close to 40 industrial partners.

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September 14, 2012 – DAS Environmental Expert says it has a new system that offers a more environmentally friendly way to clean waste process gases produced in LED manufacturing.

LED demand continues to soar due to demand for backlighting (mobile devices and TVs) and general lighting — Yole Développement projects 2012 sales of $3.5B this year, doubling since 2010, and doubling again to $7B in 2014.

With that ramp-up, though, LED manufacturers have to deal with manufacturing process ramifications, such as the heavy use and disposal/emissions from process gases including ammonia and hydrogen. Taiwan is expected to enact stricter regulations in 2013 for waste water/gas disposal, which will emphasize the need for more environmentally friendly processes, notes DAS.

The company’s new LARCH system is said to be "based on a simple principle:" Initial thermal dissociation of ammonia is achieved by reaction heat; hydrogen is then ignited and burned off by electrical heating elements to be safely released into the atmosphere. (Heat generated by the reactions is transferred to a downstream heat exchanger.) It "economically" achieves low emission values, which means it can replace wet scrubbing processes that create large quantities of ammonia solution that must be further managed, the company explains.

The new LARCH system "has already generated a lot of interest" and enquiries from potential customers, according to Guy Davies, director of DAS’ gas treatment business unit. "Beyond LED manufacturing, DAS sees the system "finding application in other processes in which ammonia and hydrogen are generated." (DAS has other abatement systems targeting MOCVD technology but it’s unclear how or if they are related to LARCH.)



The LARCH system for processing and disposal of waste gases in LED manufacturing. (Source: DAS)

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (NTNU)  have patented and are commercializing GaAs nanowires grown on graphene. The technology underpinning their approach has recently been described in a publication in the American research journal Nano Letters.

The new patented hybrid material offers excellent optoelectronic properties, says Professor Helge Weman, a professor at NTNU’s Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, and CTO and co-founder of the company created to commercialize the research, CrayoNano AS. "We have managed to combine low cost, transparency and flexibility in our new electrode," he adds.

The patented method of growing semiconductor nanowires on atomically thin graphene uses MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy) to grow the nanowires. "We do not see this as a new product," Weman says. "This is a template for a new production method for semiconductor devices. We expect solar cells and light emitting diodes to be first in line when future applications are planned."

Check out the video to see the process in action.

"Graphene is experiencing tremendous attention worldwide," Weman said, adding that the new invention “fits perfectly” with existing production machinery.  

One possible device with very large market potential is a nanowire solar cell. This type of solar cell has the potential to be efficient, cheap and flexible at the same time. The invention also makes it possible to imagine a future with self-powered nanomachines and advanced 3D integrated circuits built on graphene and semiconductor nanowires, enabling smaller and more efficient electronics.

Weman envisions flexible self-powered consumer electronics integrated into everything from clothes to notepads, and of course traditional cell phones, tablets and exercise accessories.

"Semiconductors grown on graphene could become the basis for new types of device systems, and could transform the semiconductor industry by introducing graphene as a preferred substrate for many applications," he said.

The research underpinning this development has been strongly supported by the Research Council of Norway since 2007. The project is embedded in the NTNU NanoLab, MBE Lab and Nano-Photonics Laboratory. The technology has been patented by NTNU Technology Transfer, of which CrayoNano is a spin-off company. The founders, Professor Helge Weman and Professor Bjørn-Ove Fimland, are both responsible for important research groups and labs at NTNU.

The article "Vertically Aligned GaAs Nanowires on Graphite and Few-Layer Graphene: Generic Model and Epitaxial Growth" was recently published in Nano Letters, which reports on fundamental research in all branches of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

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September 12, 2012 – A delegation of stakeholders in LED manufacturing have met with US Department of Energy officials to plead their case for increased support in solid-state lighting (SSL) R&D and manufacturing, with their key message that SSL offers greater energy conservation and return-on-investments (ROI) than renewable energy technologies that get much more backing.

Pushing for the added US backing is a delegation of SEMI members and other industry stakeholders with origins in the FALCON Lighting Consortium, led by Philips Lumileds and SEMI members Applied Materials, Veeco, KLA-Tencor, Ultratech, and others (SEMI’s broad roster includes major suppliers of LED equipment and materials). FALCON and SEMI have emphasized increased DOE support for domestic SSL development and especially manufacturing. US LED manufacturing received over $23M in grants in several areas (metrology, lithography, and deposition R&D) under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Funding has been reduced since then, but the groups claim lobbying efforts have restored and increased funding levels above what the DoE submitted to appropriations subcommittees.

In August of this year the groups met with US DoE Assistant Secretary of Energy David Danielson and his senior staff, their first such meeting in recent years. The key message was that energy conservation achieved through SSL can have a greater impact on US energy than renewable energy technologies which currently get government investments (and a lot more of it). The group calculates SSL can deliver 4.0-6.0 quads of annual energy savings for a 10-20× higher ROI than other energy investment alternatives.

"According to the Energy Information Administration [EIA], on a dollar-per-unit of-production basis, the level of subsidies received by the wind and solar industries were almost 100 times greater than those for conventional energy," stated Richard Solarz, senior director of technology at KLA-Tencor and Randy Moorhead, VP for government relations at Philips Electronics, co-leaders of the group advocating for greater DOE support for SSL.

"We believe that it is generally understood that conventional energy conservation — specifically lighting — efforts are under-supported."

SEMI added that it hopes the meeting will help secure support for SSL beyond its funding levels of the past four years, despite the obvious and formidable pressures on national budgets. "Despite the austerity mood in Washington, SEMI is confident that increased budget requests for LED-based lighting technologies will receive considerable bicameral and bipartisan support in the legislative branch during upcoming legislative sessions," the group stated.

*US EIA 2009 Annual Energy Review, ref. in each cell
** January 27, 2012 DOE est. 4.0 quads, FALCON estimate against current usage 6.0 quads

September 6, 2012 – GaAs epitaxial substrate production rose just 3% in 2011 as handset power amplifiers offset a shift away from GaAs for handset switches. But inside that slowing slope are two key market drivers, according to Strategy Analytics.

While GaAs epi output was slow, the actual market value surged 19% in 2011 — largely due to supply-chain disruptions and spiking prices after the March 2011 Japanese earthquake/tsunami disaster, a trend the firm emphasizes is "not sustainable." Demand for semi-insulating GaAs epi substrates reached about 30382 kilo-square inches (ksi), and just over $600M in revenues.

Within that slow 2011 growth in GaAs epi substrate production were two major trends: "MOCVD material production increased sharply, fueled by growth in HBT-based handset PAs. Nearly offsetting this growth completely was a sharp decline in production of wafers using MBE epitaxy," explains Eric Higham, director of the firm’s GaAs and compound semiconductor technologies service. Device makers have been moving away from using GaAs MBE wafers in HEMT devices for handset switching applications, but "the bulk of this technology conversion is complete and the MBE market will return to slow growth," adds Asif Anwar, director in the Strategy Analytics strategic technologies practice.

Similar trends were seen affecting the GaAs bulk substrate market too. A few weeks ago the firm calculated the GaAs bulk substrate market as ~32000 ksi in 2011 and $230M in revenues; the difference in markets reflects the added value in extra processing to create GaAs epi substrates, which enable formation of different device structures.

With disruptions in the supply chain easing, Strategy Analytics is forecasting GaAs epi substrate demand to slow to around 35,000 ksi and $544M in 2016. The market for GaAs bulk substrates is seen hitting 39,000 ksi and $240M in revenues by 2016.

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Three leaders in their respective fields have formed a technology alliance to bring a new glass cutting technology to market. InnoLas Systems GmbH licensed process technology developed by FiLaser LLC and will use ultra-short pulse lasers produced exclusively for InnoLas by LUMERA LASER GmbH. This complete turnkey system designed for glass, sapphire and brittle materials cutting will be available exclusively through InnoLas’ worldwide sales network.

Conventional laser cutting is based on rapid heating leading to vaporization and material removal. This process is not only slow, but it also leads to unwanted micro-cracks and a rough surface finish. Material cut with conventional laser processes require post-processing in order to remove the unwanted damage. These subsequent grinding and polishing steps are costly and time consuming. Filament cutting, on the other hand, uses ultra-short laser pulses in the picosecond range that cut brittle materials via plasma dissociation. This new process ensures lower surface roughness, high bend strength, and faster processing speed. This new laser cutting technology works especially well on chemically strengthened glass and sapphire, which have been difficult to cut with conventional methods. Filament cutting thus enables a higher quality, throughput and yield in the production of touchscreen displays for smart phones and tablet PCs. Further areas of application include Si, SiC, and GaAs at very high speeds.

Richard Grundmüller, CEO InnoLas: “This innovative laser cutting technology gives us access to new markets, where we can leverage our core competencies in laser machining and glass handling in order to offer our customers a clear competitive edge.”

Jeffrey Albelo, CEO FiLaser: “We have created a novel laser process technology that is at the nexus of physics and materials science. It is purely disruptive and will provide our customers with a compelling motivation to acquire this capability. We believe the combination of these leaders in their respective fields will produce world-class results and will aid in putting this capability into the hands of our customers with speed and 24/7/365 reliability. Looking ahead, we have great expectations as the application potential spans far beyond glass, sapphire, and wafer singulation."

Dr. Achim Nebel, CEO LUMERA LASER GmbH: “LUMERA LASER is delighted to be part of this new partnership. LUMERA has been the leader in ps-laser systems for quite some years and our lasers’ capabilities are a perfect fit for this new application. Up to now the field of glass cutting had mostly been the domain of high average power CW lasers. The FiLaser technology utilizes unique aspects of our ultra-fast lasers providing a fast and high quality solution.”