January 24, 2012 — The Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeks nominees in the US for the 2012 National Medal of Technology and Innovation (NMTI), honoring "this nation’s creative geniuses," said Richard Maulsby, the USPTO
Category Archives: LED Manufacturing
January 24, 2012 — Semiconductor materials companies Soitec (Euronext) and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. demonstrated 4" and 6" engineered gallium nitride (GaN) substrates, part of their strategic joint development program started in December 2010. The companies launched pilot production lines to enable wider market adoption.
Multiple engineered GaN substrates are produced by transferring ultra-thin high-quality GaN layers from a single GaN wafer. The technique combines Sumitomo Electric’s GaN wafer manufacturing technology with Soitec’s Smart Cut layer-transfer method. The resulting wafers have low defect density, and the same coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) as GaN wafers, without the high cost of bulk GaN wafers.
The scalability demonstrated from 2" to 4" and 6" wafers during the project brought the partners to invest in pilot production lines in Itami, Japan, and Bernin, France. Sumitomo Electric will manufacture bulk free-standing GaN substrates in Japan for shipment to France, where Soitec will apply its Smart Cut layer-transfer process to generate the engineered wafers. Based on CVD techniques, Smart Cut technology’s wafer bonding and layer splitting processes made it possible to transfer a thin layer of crystalline material from a donor substrate to another substrate. The pilot lines will initially fabricate four-inch wafers with six-inch wafer production to quickly follow to support customers demand.
The substrates target use in advanced high-brightness light-emitting diode (HB-LED) manufacture, as well as power-efficient controllers for the electric vehicles and energy markets. These substrates "will allow the introduction of a new materials platform with novel and advanced functionalities," said Frédéric Dupont, vice president of Soitec’s Specialty Electronics Business Unit, commenting on the milestone. Yoshiki Miura, general manager of the Compound Semiconductor Materials Division at Sumitomo Electric, noted the "amazing business opportunities" of the LED and energy markets.
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. designs, manufactures and sells optical fibers, cables, components, advanced electronic devices, and automotive parts. For more information about Sumitomo Electric, visit http://global-sei.com.
Soitec manufactures revolutionary semiconductor materials for energy and electronic applications. For more information, visit: www.soitec.com.
January 20, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — LED manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. has applied, registered, and secured more than 10,000 patents for light emitting diodes (LEDs) globally. The company holds a patent portfolio across a broad range of technologies and processes, including material, design, manufacturing and methodology.
Seoul Semiconductor invests 10-20% of its annual revenue in research and development, including funding of an affiliate company. Seoul Semiconductor’s strategy is to hold a large number of patents, and cross-license with major LED corporations, noted Brian Wilcox, vice president of Seoul Semiconductor, saying "R&D is our future and patents heighten our competitiveness."
The company holds patent rights for Acrich, a semiconductor light source using a multi-cell architecture. Starting in 2012, Seoul Semiconductor expects increased business activity from the Acrich2 AC LED technology, as it goes into production. The LED maker also has patent rights for deep UV LED technology, which it expects to be a future commercial success.
Seoul Semiconductor is a top LED supplier with a range of LED technology and production capacity in areas such as deep UV LEDs and non-polar LEDs, as well as Acrich AC LEDs. Learn more at http://www.acriche.com/en/.
January 20, 2012 — United Silicon Carbide Inc. (USCi) will develop next-generation silicon carbide (SiC) devices with AIXTRON SE’s VP2400 hot-wall chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tool. USCi plans to install the CVD system in Q3 2012.
The 2400 system with Aixtron’s SiC Planetary Reactor technology will be used to rapidly develop novel SiC device designs. It achieves high growth rates for high-voltage (5-15kV) SiC devices with 100um+ thickness.
"Having evaluated the market for SiC epitaxy equipment, and based upon our success with merchant SiC epitaxy vendors utilizing similar tools, we have selected the AIXTRON VP2400HW system for the superior quality of both n- and p-type SiC epitaxial layers," said Dr. John Hostetler, Director of Engineering at USCi, adding "our ownership of a 2400 will greatly facilitate our production process transfer to our merchant epitaxial wafer partners."
AIXTRON SE provides deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. Learn more at www.aixtron.com
United Silicon Carbide, inc. is a semiconductor company specializing in the development of high efficiency Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices including Schottky Barrier Diodes, JFETs, BJTs, Solid State Circuit Breakers, Power Modules, and Custom SiC integrated circuits.
January 19, 2012 — Hine Automation LLC shipped its Star SL-300 single-substrate vacuum transfer system to Annealsys in Montpellier, France. Annealsys will integrate the wafer transfer system onto its MC-200 metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) tool for R&D and pilot environments.
The Star SL-300 vacuum transfer system is designed for 300mm and smaller wafers, used in semiconductor manufacturing or related industries. Its Slide and Z-lift mechanisms enable single substrate automation in tools that do not have lifts pin in the process chamber. The Star was designed to reduce or eliminate the many issues encountered with magnetically coupled transfer mechanisms, cost-effectively, said Jose Salas, business manager, Hine Automation.
The MC-200 can process many wafers sizes up to 200mm and offers the option of lower deposition temperatures thanks to its PE-MOCVD option.
Annealsys designs and manufactures rapid thermal processing (RTP) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment for R&D, quality control (QC) and niche production applications. Learn more at www.annealsys.com.
Hine Automation LLC designs and manufactures vacuum automation systems and robotic components for solar, semiconductor, flat panel display and related manufacturing tool OEMs. Learn more at www.hineautomation.com.
January 18, 2012 — SEMI presented its annual SEMI Award for North America to QD Vision. QD Vision team members made significant progress on the integration and manufacturing processes essential to the commercialization of quantum dot (QD) technology.
The QD Vision team’s pioneering work in the commercialization of QD technology is expected to support a wide range of products from lamps to displays to photovoltaics with lower cost, higher energy efficiency and greater wavelength control. Seth Coe-Sullivan accepted the SEMI Award on behalf of his team during a banquet at the 2012 SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) yesterday in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Team members include:
- Moungi Bawendi, MIT professor, QD Vision Science Advisory Board
- Vladimir Bulovic, MIT professor, QD Vision Science Advisory Board, QD Vision founder
- Seth Coe-Sullivan, QD Vision founder and CTO
- John Ritter, QD Vision, EVP of Product Development and Operations
- Jonathan S. Steckel, QD Vision founder and director of Chemistry
Quantum Dots are semiconductor nanocrystals that glow when exposed to current or light. Discovered in the early 1980s, they were researched throughout the 1980s and early 1990s when the industry recognized the commercial potential. QDs emit different colors depending on their size and the semiconductor material in the nanocrystal. The commercial differentiation is in the bright, pure tunable colors, low-power consumption for displays and lighting, and the potential of improved efficiency for photovoltaics. QD Vision was the first to sell QD products which were integrated into general illumination lamps, introduced in 2009 at Light Fair International. QD-based displays will first improve the color quality of LCDs, and will subsequently become the emissive element in an electroluminescent display, where R&D efficiencies demonstrated in 2011 have already eclipsed that of OLEDs and LCDs.
“Our industry honors the QD Vision team for their combined efforts to speed commercialization of Quantum Dot technology,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. “This team’s work on developing integration and manufacturing processes has moved the industry forward for a wide range of applications.”
“The commercialization of quantum dot technology, led by the team at QD Vision, opens the door to new generations of products in lighting, displays, and photovoltaics,” said Bill Bottoms, chairman of the SEMI Award Advisory Committee. “They offer greater wavelength control, improved color purity and greater energy efficiency than any existing alternative. Quantum dots hold the promise of replacing the technologies we use in those areas today.””
The SEMI Award was established in 1979 to recognize outstanding technical achievement and meritorious contribution in the areas of Semiconductor Materials, Wafer Fabrication, Assembly and Packaging, Process Control, Test and Inspection, Robotics and Automation, Quality Enhancement, and Process Integration.
The award is the highest honor conferred by SEMI. It is open to individuals or teams from industry or academia whose specific accomplishments have broad commercial impact and widespread technical significance for the entire semiconductor industry. Nominations are accepted from individuals of North American-based member companies of SEMI. Past award recipients include Walter Benzing and Mike McNealy, Ken Levy, Jean Hoerni, Dan Maydan, Robert Akins and Igor Khandros, among others.
SEMI is aglobal industry association serving the nano- and microelectronics manufacturing supply chains. For more information, visit www.semi.org.
2012 SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) reports:
ISS 2012: What is the semiconductor industry’s strategy? by Michael A. Fury
ISS Top 10 trends, from Pete Singer
January 18, 2012 — 36% of semiconductor fabs are in high-risk zones, finds Semico in its Semiconductor Updated Fab Database. Semico notes the industry disruptions caused by the Japan earthquake and tsunami (March 2011) and the flooding in Thailand (Fall 2011) and the challenges these presented to large chip manufacturers in the regions, as well as strains put on the semiconductor and electronics supply chains.
Highlights from Semico:
- The 36% of fabs that are in the ring of fire contribute 41% of the world’s total semiconductor capacity.
- From a capacity standpoint, Japan contributes 47.7% of that 41%, Taiwan has another 47.5%, and the US only 4.8%.
- Only 15% of the fabs are memory fabs, but those fabs supply half of the world’s total memory capacity.
- 42% of the world’s total logic capacity is produced in the high-risk area of the ring of fire.
In 2011, another analyst firm, IC Insights, estimated that almost two-thirds of worldwide IC industry capacity was located in seismically active areas, owing to the size of the fabs in the Asia-Pacific. Video: Bill McClean discusses seismic risk for IC manufacturing, supply & demand
The Thai floods will cause disruption into 2012. A resolution of Thailand supply constraints in 1H will be followed by stronger product cycles/easier compares in 2H, said Credit Suisse’s J. Pitzer in a bulletin this week. Near term, the semi space saw "multiple challenges in C4Q11 from the impact of the Thai flooding to reduced demand from Europe and the consequential effect on consumer sentiment," agreed Vijay Rakesh of Sterne Agee.
These changes, also with the economic crisis in Europe, caused a flat growth year in 2011, impacted the status of semiconductor fabs worldwide: capacity, capex, wafer size, closures, launches, production ramps, technology node migration, and employee count.
Semico’s 2011 Fab Database study provides information on changes that occurred in 2011, and what plans are in place for upcoming fab construction and closures in 2012-2013. The report addresses development work occurring with 450mm and 3D production. A special section is devoted to DRAM and NAND fab trends. The report compares the number of fabs used by IDMs versus the number for foundries, and how many are used for major semiconductor categories including logic, memory, analog/discretes, LED and MEMS production.
Semico’s fab database includes 769 entries, covering fabs that are planned, under construction, installing tools, operating, closing, and closed. Fabs that were planned, never built, and then cancelled were excluded from this report.
Semico is a semiconductor marketing & consulting research company. Learn more at www.semico.com.
January 17, 2012 — The gallium nitride (GaN) light-emitting diode (LED) market declined in 2011, but 2012 marks the beginning of a growth curve, with double-digit growth in 2013 and 2014, says IMS Research. Lighting revenues will overtake TV revenues for GaN LEDs a year earlier than expected.
After 60% growth in 2010, the GaN LED market fell 6% in 2011 to $8.0 billion, shows IMS Research’s Quarterly GaN LED Supply/Demand Report.
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| Figure. 2009-2016 packaged GaN LEDs by application (Revenues by segment; billions of dollars). SOURCE: IMS Research. |
A widening surplus is resulting in significant pricing pressure: supply grew nearly 3X faster than demand from 2010 to 2011. LED factory utilization levels are depressed. IMS Research’s report shows that the LED surplus rose from 7% (healthy) in 2010 to 45% in 2011, and will continue in 2012.
With both panel shipments and LED penetration below expectations and average LED prices for backlighting declining 34% on a volume weighted average basis on depressed utilization, backlighting revenues fell 13% to $4.8B in 2011. ASPs for certain backlighting markets were down as much as 45% last year. As a result, backlighting fell from 64% of 2010 GaN LED revenues to 59% of 2011 GaN LED revenues and are likely to continue falling on a percentage basis in the future, as backlight markets become saturated and the lighting market accelerates.
LED revenues for TVs are expected to fall 5% in 2011 to $1.9B as penetration is only expected to reach 39%, down from the previous estimate of 43%.
However, the GaN LED market is expected to recover, enjoying annual growth each year from 2012 to 2015 including double-digit growth in 2013 and 2014 as the lighting market accelerates. The 2012 market is expected to grow 5%, but still remain below 2010 levels. Backlighting is expected to be flat on slower unit growth and price reductions, while lighting is expected to be up 30% as LED lamp penetration jumps as prices continue to fall.
Also read: MOCVD shipments stall, but restart in 2012
Lighting revenues are expected to overtake TV revenues for GaN LEDs in 2012, a year earlier than previously predicted. This is a result of increasing LED lighting demand on lower pricing while reducing the LED outlook in TVs on lower penetration than previously predicted along with the use of low cost direct LED backlights in developing markets.
The low-cost direct LED backlights use around half the LED die area as conventional edge backlights, thanks to reduced brightness and thicker form factors for wide viewing angle. Wide-viewing angle packages further reduced the required LED count. While the adoption of these new low-cost direct-type backlights will narrow the cost differential with CCFL LCD TVs, the thicker form factor and reduced brightness capability will narrow their appeal.
The lighting share of the GaN LED market is expected to surge from 21% in 2011 to 49% in 2016 with lighting LED revenues expected to grow >300% and units expected to grow >1500% over this period.
IMS Research’s Quarterly GaN LED Supply and Demand Report tracks and forecasts MOCVD shipments, LED capacity by manufacturer, LED and MOCVD supply/demand, sapphire supply and demand, sapphire pricing and quarterly notebook, monitor and TV panel shipments by backlight type, size, resolution and refresh rate. New features include separated notebook and tablet LED demand, projector forecasts and LED demand, and much more. For more information, please visit www.ledmarketresearch.com.
January 13, 2012 — Taiwan’s light emitting diode (LED) chip and package manufacturers failed to reproduce the booming revenue growth of H1 2011 in the second half, according to LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce. Given inventory pressure, many LED makers are actively seeking joint ventures and improving product quality to create greater product differentiation.
LEDinside expects the difficult economic climate to weed out weaker LED makers. New manufacturers are still considering entering the LED market on the potential of LED lighting. Also read: China lights up LED roadmap; Taiwan leaders seek similar support
In terms of revenues in December, the upstream players’ revenues plunged by 30% YoY while the downstream package makers’ dipped by 10% YoY. The difference is attributed to LED chip makers’ higher base year value of December 2011. In December 2010, products such as tablet PCs and LCD TVs underpinned the backlight demand, while currently the LED chip market is slightly oversupplied, with prices plummeting quickly. Since LED package manufacturers supply the end market, the upstream oversupply has less impact on them, and they are benefitting from a recent surge in backlighting demand.
Revenues of Taiwan’s LED chip makers dipped to NT$45.4 billion, representing a 7% decrease compared to 2010. Revenues hit NT$2.64 billion in December supported by the end-market demand surge and the increasing rush orders, but this was a 30% decline from December 2010.
In 2011, revenues of Taiwan’s LED package makers totaled NT$54.92 billion, a 3% decrease compared to 2010. The revenues of Taiwanese LED package makers in December hit NT$3.9 billion, a 10% decline from the prior year.
Around the LED industry:
Epistar has foreseen the slowdown in backlight growth after 2013, and the demand from the lighting market will have to fill the vacancy. For this reason, Epistar has been actively seeking joint efforts with downstream lighting companies, increasing overseas market share through reinvestment. In addition, the company also cooperates with global lighting big names in terms of technology to secure its position in the light market. Epicrystal Cooperation (Changzhou), a subsidiary company of Epistar, began its production in September 2011.
The luminous efficacies of Forepi’s chips reached 120lm/W in 3Q11. Its production will increase considerably in 2012. Moreover, the Japanese big brand Mitsui & Co. brings Forepi a list of clients. LEDinside believes that in 2012, Forepi will be able to use the cooperation with Mitsui to its advantage in regard to backlight and lighting products.
Genesis Photonics joined forces with JFE Enginnering, targeting at the Japanese market. Although the lighting products merely account 10-15% of the total production at present, the portion is expected to increase in 2012.
Helped by its vertical integration model, Lextar successfully made way into the supply chain of global major makers, which canceled out the slump in the backlight market.
According to Lite-On Technology, the company has signed strategic alliance agreements with six lighting companies and will manufacture LED light source and LED light modules in the future.
According to LEDinside, the value of China’s lighting market will reach US$7.6 billion in 2015. With China’s comprehensive production bases and supply chains, and high domestic demand and market prospects, many manufacturers have been targeting the Chinese market. Epistar cooperates with Sunny Technology Lighting and NVC Lighting, Everlight with Yaming Lighting, and Forepi with NVC Lighting. Philips recently announced that it will set up a LED lighting product plant in Chengdu, which marks Philips’ second large-scale investment in China. Furthermore, LED makers including Liteon and Lextar are taking more aggressive actions to gain a place in the supply chain of global big names. The common goal for the companies is to continue increasing the portion of lighting product in their revenues and preempt an advantageous position in the lighting market.
Taiwan also re-elected its leader Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) for a second term this week. Ma is not expected to make any major economic and regulatory reforms, according to the US-Taiwan Business Council. Also read: New installed wafer capacity leader: Taiwan took over in 2011
TRENDFORCE is a global leading research institution providing market intelligence, in-depth analysis reports and consultant services on technology sector. Our company consists of 4 major research divisions: DRAMeXchange, WitsView, LEDinside and EnergyTrend, which cover the DRAM, NAND Flash, PC, display, LED and Green energy research sectors respectively. LEDinside is online at www.LEDinside.com.
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| Figure. Revenue at the Top 9 Taiwanese LED Manufacturers Fell (9%) Q/Q in 4Q11. SOURCE: Maxim Group Equity Research, January 2012. |
January 13, 2012 — For the first time, Apple Inc. has publicly published a list of over 150 companies that the electronics giant says represent 97% of its procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of products worldwide.
See the suppliers here: http://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Apple_Supplier_List_2011.pdf
The disclosure is part of a broad supplier responsibility reporting initiative at Apple. The US-based company has had its ties to China’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer by revenue and the parent firm of Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International, scrutinized recently.
In 2011, Apple conducted 229 audits throughout its supply chain, an 80% increase over 2010. In 2011, the company launched a specialized auditing program to address environmental concerns about certain suppliers in China. Third-party environmental engineering experts worked with Apple to audit 14 facilities. Apple also broadened its age verification program in 2011. The full progress report is available from Apple at http://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Apple_SR_2012_Progress_Report.pdf