Category Archives: LED Manufacturing

June 21, 2012 — To support the next cycle of LED manufacturing, tools such as MOCVD, plasma etch, lithography, and others must undergo cost efficiency and yield improvements, says Yole Développement. Trends include migrating to larger wafers, silicon substrates, and tools developed specifically for LED fab, rather than retooled from semiconductor manufacturing specs.

The light-emitting diode (LED) market experienced an unprecedented investment cycle in 2010-2011, according to Yole Développement. The LED chip cycle was driven by demand in liquid crystal display (LCD) backlights, anticipation of a general lighting market boom, and generous stimulus subsidies from the Chinese central and local governments. The resulting overcapacity situation will take 12-18 month to absorb.

The next investment cycle, driven by lighting applications, will start in 2013. Expect a more limited cycle due to improvements in fab equipment throughput and yields. To enable massive adoption in general lighting applications, significant technology and manufacturing efficiency improvements are still needed to reduce the cost per lumen of packaged LED.

Figure. LED front end equipment market revenue (MOCVD, lithography, dry etch, PECVD, PVD). SOURCE: Yole June 2012.

LED manufacturing equipment trends

Front-end LED manufacturing typically represents about 50% of the total cost of a packaged LED. LED structures and materials are undergoing performance, manufacturability, and cost improvements.

The metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment market represents a $4.3 billion opportunity in the 2012-2017 period. MOCVD represents the single largest opportunity for front-end cost reduction in LEDs.

Additional equipment — lithography, plasma etch, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD) tools — together represent a $650 million opportunity and will essentially follow a similar trend, with some exceptions. The emergence of LED-dedicated tools has already contributed significantly to cost reduction in lithography, plasma, and PVD processing.

The market for dry etching tools is still growing in 2012 due to increasing adoption for patterned sapphire substrates (PSS).

Most lithography tools will see decreased market as LED makers transition to larger-diameter wafers. The number of wafer starts will see a moderate increase initially but start decreasing in 2015, said Eric Virey, senior analyst, LED, at Yole Développement.

PVD equipment will also experience moderate growth during the next investment cycle.

E-beam evaporators have turned into commodities, with systems available from dozens of vendors at very low cost. But opportunities exist in promoting sputtering for indium tin oxide (ITO) deposition, and sputtering could also gain some traction in metal deposition if the industry adopts large-diameter wafers and moves from batch to single-wafer processing. Sputtering equipment could then offer improved cost of ownership.

Learning from the semiconductor industry

With close to 100 companies involved in front-end LED manufacturing, the industry is too fragmented to generate significant economies of scale. Yole predicts massive consolidation within 3 years (2012-2015), which should speed up process and tools standardization and allow better economy of scale.

LED manufacturing still uses methods that would be considered outdated in most semiconductor industries. Consolidation and emergence of LED “giants” will also facilitate and speed up adoption of manufacturing paradigms coming from the IC industry.

Adoption of silicon substrates for LED manufacturing rapidly move LED epiwafer processing into existing, highly automated and fully depreciated CMOS fabs. This would also give LED makers access to extended “process toolboxes,” which could pave the way for entirely new LED architectures.

Traditional large semiconductor equipment suppliers are mostly absent from the LED manufacturing equipment markets. For MOCVD, the tools are very different than the epitaxy tools used in mainstream semiconductor manufacturing. Designing and building such equipment requires significant and unique expertise that Aixtron, Veeco and Taiyo Nippon Sanso, the leading companies in the sector, have acquired through almost 2 decades.

Other front-end LED manufacturing tools are similar in essence to those used in mainstream semiconductor fabs. However, they often require a full redesign to deliver optimum performance and cost of ownership for LED makers. Smaller companies eager to capture opportunity in this niche market are now offering LED-dedicated tools with cost of ownership (COO) payoffs.

Yole Développement’s new report, “LED Front-End Manufacturing,” is dedicated to the LED manufacturing technology & equipment market, including MOCVD, lithography, dry etching, PECVD and PVD tools.

Companies cited in the report:

ACC Silicon, Accretech, Advanced Dicing Technology, Advanced System Technology (AST), Advatool Semiconductor, Aixtron, ALSI, Altatech (Soitec), AM Technology, AMEC, And Corporation, Applied Materials, APT, Arima, ASM Pacific Technology, ASML, Astri, Aurotek, Autec, Azzurro, Bayer, Beijing Yuji, Bergquist, Bridgelux, Bruker, Canon, Cascade Microtech, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), Chroma, Corial, Cree, Crystal Applied Technology (SAS), Crystal Optech, Crystalwise, Dai Nippon Kaken (DNK), Dai Nippon Screen Mfg, Daitron, Delphi Laser, Denka, Disco, Dow Corning, Dow Electronic Materials, Dynatex, Edison Opto, Epiluxy, Epistar, Eplustek, ESI, Eulitha, EV Group (EVG), Evatec, Everlight Electronics, Fittech, Formosa Epitaxy (Forepi), Four N4, Fraunhofer IZM, FSE Corporation (Fulintec), Galaxia, GE, GloAB, Hans Laser, Hansol Technics, Hauman, Heliodel, Hitachi Cable, Huga, Hybond, Iljin Display, IMEC, Intematix, InVacuo, Ismeca, JCT, JPSA, JT Corp, Jusung Engineering, K&S, KLA Tencor, Lattice Power, Laurier, Laytech, LG Innotek, Lightscape, Lightwave Photonic, Litec, Loomis, Luminus Devices, LWB, Maxis Co, Merk/Litec, Mitsubishi, Mitsuboshi Diamond Industrial, Molecular Imprint, Momentive, Monocrystal, MPI, Nanoco, Nanometrics, Nanosys, Nichia, Nihon Gartner, Nikon, NN Crystal, North Microelectronics, Novellus, NTT, Nusil, Obducat, Oerlikon Systems, OP System, Optest, Opto Supply Ltd, Orbotech, Osram, Oxfrod Instrument Plasma Technology, Palomar Technology, Panasonic, Philips Lumileds, Phosphortech, Plasma-Therm, Procrystal, Proway, Puji Optical, QD Vision, QMC, Quatek, Rigidtek, Rose Street Lab, Rubicon, Rudolph, Samco, Samsung, Sanken, Semileds, Seoul Semiconductors, Sharp, Shibuya, Sino American Silicon (SAS), Sino Kristals Optoelectronics, Sino Nitride, Sky Technology, SNTEK, SPTS, Stararc, Sumitomo Chemical, Suss Microtech, Synova, Tainics, Taiyo Nippon Senso, Tamarack, Tecdia, Technology & Science Enabler (TSE), Tekcore, Temescal, TeraXtal, Toyoda Gosei, Transluscent, TSMC, Ultratech, Ulvac, Uni Via Technology, Ushio, Varian, Veeco, Verticle, Wacker, Waferworks, Wellypower, Wentworth Laboratories, Withlight, YCChem, Ying Lyu, Zeon Chemical.

Dr Eric Virey, holds a Ph.D in Optoelectronics from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble. In the last 12 years, he’s held various R&D, engineering, manufacturing and marketing position with Saint-Gobain Crystals.

Tom Pearsall started the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC). Before EPIC, he works among others for Bell Laboratories, Thomson/CSF and Corning. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, EPIC, and the IEEE.

Yole Développement provides market research, technology analysis, strategy consulting, media, and finance services. For more information, visit www.yole.fr.

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June 20, 2012 — PLANSEE has developed a pressed-sintered tungsten crucible with an ultra-smooth surface to avoid sapphire ingot or crucible damage in the Kyropoulos method.

When the sapphire crystal is extracted from the crucible, surface adherence can result in cracks or faults in the crystal, as well as damage to the crucible walls. Easier extraction results in higher-quality, higher-yield sapphire ingots for light-emitting diode (LED) wafers. It also enables longer crucible lifetimes.

PLANSEE developed the fully automated crucible manufacturing process with precise control over the material properties of refractory metals. The pressed-sintered tungsten crucible has surface roughness of less than 0.8µm. The smooth surface is less susceptible to corrosion caused by the aggressive melted sapphire, in addition to preventing sapphire cracks and damage.

The tungsten crucible from PLANSEE is high-density, 93%, to retain its shape in high temperatures and rapid temperature changes. PLANSEE tunes the sintering process for the crucibles at very high temperatures and under a uniform temperature distribution to increase density with an extremely homogeneous density distribution.

The crucibles are manufactured in ultra-clean environments and materials supplied in-house to prevent contaminants — iron, titanium, chromium, etc — that can transfer to the sapphire wafers. Purity is in excess of 99.97 %.

Crucibles can be made for 35 to 100kg sapphire ingots, and PLANSEE is process-ready for 200kg sapphire production.

Plansee provides molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, niobium and chromium products for electronics manufacturing. Learn more at www.plansee.com.

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June 13, 2012 — Guangzhou (China) Lightfair Conference is the biggest lighting fair in Asia, with companies throughout the light-emitting diode (LED) lighting supply chain, including new Chinese MOCVD makers, International Solid State Lighting Alliance and China SSL Alliance. Citi analyst Timothy Arcuri notes trends at the show in LED manufacturing and pricing ahead of China’s subsidy program going into effect.

The NDRC’s demand rebate program is more positive than Citi originally estimated, because the rather meager RMB2.2B (~$350MM) would get more funds if this iteration of the subsidy catalog’s funds are depleted, expected to take only ~12-24months. Producers are even more excited by provincial-level subsidies, Arcuri says. In Guangdong, the province in which the conference took place, these will boost revenue for local LED producers to RMB5B (~$850-900MM) by 2015.

Major buyers like Kingsun (#1 China outdoor fixture maker) are finally coming to shop at the local LED makers, sourcing up to 60% of their LEDs domestically by 2013. Companies that months before were making Christmas lights are now making bulbs; bulbmakers are vertically integrating rapidly into fixtures. Lumens/W at these companies have increased dramatically even from last fall.

Citi heard of many examples of Chinese LED makers selling well below cost to gain an edge on the current first round of bids — there could be even lower prices for the next 4 rounds of bids through year-end.

The “gray market” for metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) tools is gaining steam, but province-specific. The thought has generally been that the existence of local subsidies for LED fab tools would drastically limit any impact of the grey market. Citi’s observed talk of stronger vendors within a given province buying new, unused, or virtually unused tools from weaker vendors (in most cases recertified by the tool vendor). As long as the equipment does not leave the province, local government is happy. Also, in many cases, the local government is playing “matchmaker” behind the scenes to force consolidation.

China’s LED fab tool utilization rate is around 35-40%. Citi estimates that ~60% of all reactors shipped to China are turned on, with ~60% utilization on these tools, implying overall utilization of ~35-40%. Tanlong Photoelectric (China) now has a working MOCVD tool and Nippon Sanso is officially entering China market to compete w/VECO and AIXG (Nippon has ~70% share in Japan with a strong reputation).

Timothy Arcuri is an alternative/renewable energy analyst at Citi.

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June 12, 2012 – Marketwire — Lattice Power Corporation started volume production of its new-generation gallium nitride (GaN) high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on silicon substrates.

Lattice Power says it achieves comparable performance in the volume GaN-on-Si LED chips as high-end chips on conventional sapphire substrates, at a much lower price point and with a well-established supply base of silicon wafers. Cost savings at larger-diameter wafers can be up to 70% over conventional LED products, Lattice Power asserts.

Twenty strategic customers have received the LEDs and will incorporate them into indoor and outdoor lighting applications. Also read: GaN-on-Si HB-LED demo from Lattice Power, ShineOn

Lattice Power’s silicon-substrate-based LED series encompasses four chip sizes: 28mm2, 35mm2, 45mm2, and 55mm2. Chip power ranges from 0.5 to 2W. The 45mm LED has an operation current of 350mA, producing 130-lumen cool white with an efficiency of 120 lumens/W.

Lattice Power recently launched production of smaller-size silicon-substrate LED chips for displays and signage.

Lattice Power is actively working on 150-mm GaN-on-Si technology and is expecting to transfer its production to the larger-diameter silicon substrates in 2013.

Lattice Power makes blue/white GaN-based LEDs on silicon substrates. The company is backed by leading venture capitalists, including GSR Ventures, Temasek Holdings, Mayfield Fund, AsiaVest Partners and IFC. For more information, visit www.latticepower.com.

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June 12, 2012 — High Tech Lights is participating in a nationwide “Reshoring Initiative” (http://www.reshorenow.org) by bringing job positions from China to the US for light emitting diode (LED) and laser diode (LD) scientists, manufacturing and assembly workers, and R&D staff.

High Tech Lights is offering 80 positions in a Las Vegas manufacturing and assembly facility, hiring over the next six months. The company worked with the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the Nevada Development Authority to develop a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility within the next three years.

“We’re motivating recruits to enter the skilled manufacturing workforce,” said Tony Jones, president, adding that the Made in America brand is important to the company. High Tech Lights sees manufacturing costs in China rising, and also notes more direct control of product by moving manufacturing to the US.

Learn more about "reshoring" or "insourcing" here: President Obama speaks on "insourcing" at Albany Nano-Tech complex

High Tech Lights designs, develops, manufactures and markets general illumination (lighting) products that exclusively use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as their light source. Website: http://www.hightechlights.com.

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June 11, 2012 — After high growth and limited supply in 2010, then a price slump and oversupply in 2011, the light-emitting diode (LED) sapphire substrate supply should find a supply/demand balance in 2012, shows Displaybank. The overall LED industry is showing positive signs of recovery due to the decreased price of LED lighting and LED lighting support policies from governments.

Figure 1. LED substrate use by region, year (Thousands of mm). Source: "LED-use Ingot, Substrate Industry Analysis & Market Forecast" Report, February 2012, Displaybank.

2012’s balance of demand and supply is based on the downward-stabilized price of sapphire wafers. More ingot suppliers are coming online, with new entrants in Korea and China, providing a broader supplier base for LED makers.

Figure 2. LED substrate price trends by wafer size, monthly. Source: "LED-use Ingot, Substrate Industry Analysis & Market Forecast" Report, February 2012, Displaybank.

Large corporations are becoming sapphire ingot suppliers in Korea, which could push changes at existing ingot makers. For instance, the vertical integration of LED upstream and downstream industries was completed as Samsung Electronics merged Samsung LED. As a result, Korea is expected to have competitiveness ranging from LED ingot to the industrial sector of all LED lighting and application product areas by cost reduction and capacity expansion, Displaybank reports.

In China, new LED-related companies continue to open, with LED support policies from the Chinese government. Existing companies are also aggressively expanding their capacities. China is expected to be the biggest supply and demand market for LEDs, especially as consumers of LED lighting.

Displaybank analyzed overall status and forecast regarding the sapphire ingot industry through manufacturing technology and processing of the ingot used most widely as LED-use ingot, major ingot makers’ status and new companies’ trend, capacity analysis by maker, market price forecast and demand prediction, in “LED-use Ingot, Substrate Industry Analysis & Market Forecast.”

This report was written for LED ingot and substrate companies, Epi-wafer/chip-related companies, package companies, companies interested in opening LED application business, and those belonging to LED-related parts and materials sectors. Learn more at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=733&cate=8

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June 7, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) added 3 new models of its TurboDisc metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems for high brightness light emitting diode (HB-LED) production: TurboDisc MaxBright M and MHP, and TurboDisc K465i HP.

MaxBright M is a modular and more compact version of the multi-reactor system, with up to 15% smaller footprint. Its layout configuration flexibility accommodates various fab spacing requirements.

MaxBright MHP (pictured above) is a high-performance version of the MaxBright M, with as much as 20% within-wafer wavelength uniformity improvement. The system incorporates new thermal and flow technologies to improve LED yields, and Veeco reports that it offers lower cost of ownership than MaxBright.

K465i HP is a high-performance option for Veeco’s single-reactor MOCVD system which delivers up to 20% within-wafer wavelength uniformity improvement compared to the K465i and lower cost of ownership. It is available as a field upgrade for existing systems.

All 3 of the new MOCVD tools are available in 2”, 4”, 6”, and 8” wafer configurations.

Veeco makes MOCVD, MBE, ion beam, and related equipment for the manufacture of LEDs, power electronics, hard drives, MEMS and wireless chips. For information, visit www.veeco.com.

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June 3, 2012 — Light-emitting diode (LED) specialist Marl International Ltd. will install the DEK Horizon 03iX print platform to adapt to new circuit board size requirements up to 620mm long. Along with the Horizon 03iX platform, Marl International will also use the VectorGuard stencil system, a stencil tensioning technology. Marl will use Nano-ProTek to reduce cleaning requirements and increase quality.

The screen printing tool suite offers high accuracy to enable consistent thermal conductivity for high-output LEDs, said David Moorhouse, operations director, Marl International. Lighting-grade LEDs need to meet the theoretical lifetime performance set in the market, he added.

The Horizon 03iX offers 12s cycle time, process alignment capability at 2 Cpk @ ±25µm 6-Sigma and machine alignment capability of 2 Cpk @ ±12.5µm 6-Sigma.

DEK is a global provider of advanced materials deposition technologies and support solutions including printing equipment platforms, stencils, precision screens and mass imaging processes. For more information, visit DEK at www.dek.com.

Marl International Limited specializes in the design, manufacture and supply of visible LED indication, illumination, components and systems.

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June 1, 2012 — Singapore’s R&D organization, A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) and semiconductor supplier NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) will collaborate on 200mm gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) process and technology development for high-voltage power devices, targeting end use in computing and communications, aerospace and automotive applications.

GaN-on-silicon devices will achieve better cost and scale at larger-diameter wafers. GaN-on-Si combines the higher operating temperature/power/frequency capabilities of GaN with the existing large-wafer supply chain of Si and CMOS wafer fab processes.

The work will be carried out in IME’s state-of-the art 200mm engineering fab, which offers GaN metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) capabilities.

The Institute of Microelectronics (IME) is a research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). IME’s mission is to add value to Singapore’s semiconductor industry by developing strategic competencies, innovative technologies and intellectual property; enabling enterprises to be technologically competitive; and cultivating a technology talent pool to inject new knowledge to the industry. Its key research areas are in integrated circuits design, advanced packaging, bioelectronics and medical devices, MEMS, nanoelectronics, and photonics. For more information about IME, please visit www.ime.a-star.edu.sg or learn about A*STAR at www.a-star.edu.sg.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) provides high-performance mixed-signal and standard semiconductors for automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing applications. Additional information can be found by visiting www.nxp.com.

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June 1, 2012 — Kyma Technologies Inc., crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) and gallium nitride (GaN) supplier, demonstrated a 10” (250mm) aluminum nitride (AlN) on sapphire template, manufactured on its proprietary plasma vapor deposition on nanocolumns (PVDNC) technology. The 10” sapphire substrate was provided courtesy of Monocrystal.

Photo 1. Kyma’s new 10” diameter PVDNC AlN on sapphire template with smaller diameter (6” and 4”) products.

AlN templates replace bare and patterned sapphire substrates for manufacturing blue, green, and white GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Photo 2. Monocrystal’s 10” sapphire substrate vs 2” sapphire substrate. Source: Monocrystal.

LED manufacturers are transitioning from 2” to 6” wafers, Kyma Technologies reports. While 10” and 12” wafers remain primarily in demonstration phase today, LED makers will be moving to the larger wafer diameters in the next few years, the company predicts. Larger wafers produce more die per wafer, making tool utilization more efficient and achieving higher volume production.

Kyma has demonstrated 12” AlN-on-silicon (Si) templates that can be used for GaN growth. The company commissioned a high-volume PVDNC tool in early 2011 and has qualified customers on it for 2” processes, said Ed Preble, Kyma CTO.

Monocrystal supplies sapphire products for LEDs and metallization pastes for the solar manufacturing industry. For more information, visit www.monocrystal.com.

Kyma makes crystalline nitride semiconductor materials including gallium nitride (GaN), aluminum nitride (AlN), and aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) and related products and services. For more information about Kyma Technologies, visit www.kymatech.com.

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