Category Archives: LED Manufacturing

The use of LEDs to illuminate buildings and outdoor spaces reduced the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of lighting by an estimated 570 million tons in 2017. This reduction is roughly equivalent to shutting down 162 coal-fired power plants, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions. LED lighting uses an average of 40 percent less power than fluorescents, and 80 percent less than incandescents, to produce the same amount of light.

“The efficiency of LEDs is essentially what makes them environmentally friendly,” said Jamie Fox, principal analyst, lighting and LEDs group, IHS Markit. “Therefore, LED conversion is unlike other measures, which require people to reduce consumption or make lifestyle changes.”

LED component and lighting companies were responsible for reducing the global carbon (CO2e) footprint by an estimated 1.5 percent in 2017, and that number is likely to continue to grow as more LEDs are installed around the world.

LEDs have other positive environmental benefits, too. For example, LEDs have a longer life span than traditional bulbs and fewer are produced, so the emissions and pollution associated with the production, shipping, sale and disposal of the products is lowered. Secondly, unlike fluorescents, LEDs do not contain mercury. LEDs also decrease air pollution, since most electrical energy is still generated by burning fossil fuels. “While other activities affect climate change more than lighting does, it is still a very strong contribution from a single industry sector,” Fox said.

IHS Markit has tracked the market share for top LED component suppliers for many years. Based on an analysis of this data, Nichia can claim credit for having saved the most carbon overall — accounting for 10 percent of all LED lighting reduction achieved in 2017, which translates into 57 million tons of CO2 — about the same as 16 coal plants. Cree followed Nichia with 8 percent, while Lumileds, Seoul Semiconductor, MLS, Samsung and LG Innotek each have a share in the range of 4 percent to 7 percent.

Savings achieved by each company relate to the energy saved by the use of that company’s components while installed in lighting applications. It does not include a whole lifecycle analysis, which would likely lead to a small additional positive benefit, due to the longer life of LEDs.

“LED component companies and lighting companies have transformed their industry,” Fox said. “They are fighting climate change much more effectively than other industries, and they should be given credit for it. Unlike in other industry sectors, workers at LED companies can honestly say that by selling more of their products, they are helping to reduce global warming.”

IHS Markit figures are only based on the lighting market. They do not include energy saved by LEDs that replaced other technologies in other sectors, such as automotive and consumer technology.

More than 70,000 players in the electronics manufacturing industry are expected to descend upon SEMICON China for technology and innovation insights to accelerate already strong industry growth. March 14-16, 2018, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), SEMICON China 2018 will bring together top executives and technologists in six exhibition halls, the most ever in the event’s 30-year history, to find opportunities in key focus areas including Smart Automotive and Smart Manufacturing, Green Tech, Advanced Technology, and Power and Compound Semiconductors.

Concurrent with FPD China, SEMICON China 2018, the largest and most influential gathering of the semiconductor supply chain in China, is now open for visitor registration.

SEMICON China technical forums will address the most pressing industry topics:

  • CSTIC 2018: Staged in conjunction with SEMICON China, this has ranked among the largest and most comprehensive annual semiconductor technology conferences in China since 2000. March 11-12, 2018, CSTIC 2018 will feature nine symposiums covering all aspects of semiconductor technology, with a focus on manufacturing and advanced technology.
  • SIIP: Tech Innovation and Investment Forum: SIIP is a key international platform for semiconductor industry investment in China. Informed by China’s IC policy to fund key semiconductor sectors, leaders of China’s National IC Fund and municipal IC funds will join leaders from global investment institutions to discuss hot opportunities in China semiconductor investment – and applications such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).
  • Win-Win: Build China’s IC Ecosystem: Spurred by a strong market outlook, policy and the national fund, fab construction in China will surge over the next five years, with OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) making strategic investments. Industry leaders will explore how China’s semiconductor manufacturing industry will strengthen its core competency, prioritize resources, revisit its business model, and thrive in the electronics ecosystem.
  • Power and Compound Semiconductor International Forum: Among the largest power and compound semiconductor industry forums in Asia, this two-day event features four sessions: Wide Band Gap Power Electronics, Optoelectronics, Compound Semiconductor in Communications, and Emerging Power Device Technology
  • Smart Automotive Forum – AI Inside: Top automotive, electronic, AI and technology executives will gather to discuss the future of the rapidly disrupting automotive industry.
  • China Memory Strategic Forum: Driven by market needs and policy support, three new Chinese Memory foundries are accelerating memory development. Industry leaders will explore ways multinationals can benefit more from China’s memory market, China can better leverage its technical strength, and Chinese companies can enhance research and development collaboration with global partners.
  • Green High-Tech Facility Forum: With more than 10 fabs now under construction in China,China’s semiconductor industry is entering a stage of rapid growth. Green Tech leaders will discuss how China can improve factory design and construction; optimize energy efficiency of semiconductor manufacturing equipment; enhance machine platform stability, chemicals and gas management, and wastewater treatment; and improve risk management.
  • Smart Manufacturing Forum: The semiconductor industry must be proactive in all aspects of smart manufacturing. This session will address automation, product tractability, cost and cycle time reduction, enhancements in productivity and yield, and efficiency improvements in front- and back-end factories.
  • Semiconductor New Technology Conference: The best way to promote new technology is through direct customer interaction and collaboration. Join this conference to discuss your new IC, new IOT solution, new machine or new material with more 200 customers from around the world.
  • 2018 China Display Conference-Emerging Display Forum: Join this forum, concurrent with FPD China 2018, to exchange ideas on emerging display technologies and future development.
  • MSIG International IOT Conference 2018: MEMS, sensors, IC, NB-IoT, 5G and smart application experts will share their insights on the IoT market and how to maximize the value of IoT applications.

SEMICON China also features three theme pavilions:

  • IC Manufacturing: See products, technologies, and manufacturing solutions focused on serving China’s fabless IC community, from design to final manufacturing.
  • LED and Sapphire: Learn how China has become the world’s largest sapphire manufacturing center.
  • ICMTIA: See the local IC material industry demonstrate its capabilities to support semiconductor industry growth.

Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC) today announced that the Fujian High Court in China has granted AMEC’s motion for an injunction against Veeco Instruments (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (Veeco Shanghai). The injunction prohibits Veeco Shanghai from importing, manufacturing, selling or offering for sale to any third party any MOCVD systems and wafer carriers used in the MOCVD systems that would infringe AMEC’s patent CN 202492576 in China. The patent covers AMEC’s proprietary wafer carrier and spindle-locking and synchronization technology. The injunction covers Veeco’s TurboDisk EPIK 700 system, EPIK 700 C2 system, and EPIK 700 C4 system, as well as the related wafer carriers used in the MOCVD systems. AMEC believes that the ruling should also cover Veeco’s EPIK 868 system and related wafer carriers, since AMEC believes that the EPIK 868 system also uses AMEC’s patented technology involved in the action.

The ruling, which is unappealable, takes effect immediately. The stringent injunction terms expose the nature of Veeco Shanghai’s flagrant violation of AMEC’s intellectual property (IP) and confirms that Veeco Shanghai does not respect AMEC’s IP rights.

AMEC filed the patent infringement claim against Veeco Shanghai in the Fujian High Court on July 13th 2017. The motion requested a permanent injunction against Veeco Shanghai, as well as compensation for monetary damages of more than 100 million RMB Yuan (approx. US$15 million).

The injunction follows a previous victory for AMEC relating to the same action. When AMEC filed its claim in July, Veeco Shanghai responded by filing a patent invalidation request with the Patent Re-examination Board (PRB) of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) in China. A second request to invalidate the same AMEC patent was filed concurrently by an individual. The PRB held separate hearings for the two requests. On Nov. 24th2017, the PRB dismissed both requests,thereby upholding the validity of the patent.

AMEC invested heavily in R&D and IP protection for this key technology. AMEC first developed the technology, filed a series of patents to protect the innovations, and installed equipment containing the technology at a number of LED production fabs in China. Veeco later followed by using the same locking approach in its MOCVD system to improve the tool’s performance. After AMEC filed the patent disputed by Veeco Shanghai, Veeco Instruments Inc. (Veeco US) submitted a similar patent application, and subsequently used this technology in its MOCVD system, thus infringing AMEC’s patent.

“The court’s ruling and the PRB’s decisions together confirm in no uncertain terms that AMEC’s technology contains unique innovations, and that our patent portfolio is comprehensive, robust and highly valuable,” said Dr. Zhiyou Du, Senior Vice President, COO & General Manager of AMEC’s MOCVD Product Division. “We are very pleased with the court’s decision. We take IP enforcement seriously, and we will not tolerate any violation of our IP rights. Indeed, we will aggressively pursue instances of infringement, and vigorously protect our IP portfolio.”

Dr. Du continued: “As a supplier of high-end micro-fabrication equipment to leading global manufacturers of ICs, LEDs and power devices, AMEC attaches great importance to IP protection. Since our founding in 2004, we have independently developed unique technologies to enable our customers worldwide. Therefore, for more than a decade, we have defended our IP in domestic and international jurisdictions when challenged, and prevailed in every case. We respect the IP of our customers and competitors, and we expect the same regard for our IP.”

In a separate development, AMEC filed a motion on Dec. 8th 2017 to invalidate a Veeco patent with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). The patent, US 6,726,769 filed in 2001, covers a detachable wafer carrier technology. It was asserted in an infringement action initiated in the US by Veeco US against AMEC’s supplier of wafer carriers for MOCVD systems. AMEC believes that the Veeco patent is invalid because the technology was definitively and clearly disclosed in many prior patents and publications as far back as the early 1960s. Therefore, the Veeco patent does not meet standard patent law requirements. Besides filing to invalidate the patent in the US, AMEC has already filed motions to invalidate counterpart patent families in China and South Korea.

AMEC intends to also challenge a second Veeco US patent (US 6,506,252) involved in the same US infringement action. A motion to that effect will soon be filed with the PTAB.

Dr. Gerald Yin, Chairman and CEO of AMEC, said: “We are confident that AMEC will prevail in its action against Veeco Shanghai, and that Veeco Shanghai will be required to pay for the enormous cost of its infringement beginning in 2014 when Veeco US launched its EPIK 700 system. In addition, we believe that our supplier will eventually prevail in its US case.”

Dr. Yin further noted: “AMEC is an innovative company with extensive expertise in providing breakthrough technologies that enable customers with competitive advantages. Our products have earned market success for their differentiation and value. Naturally, we prefer to focus our efforts on providing such innovative products and stellar service to customers instead of wasting time and resources on litigation. That’s why we’re fully committed to reaching a positive resolution with Veeco, and working diligently to achieve that goal.”

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announces the commercial availability of the XLamp®XD16 LED, the industry’s first Extreme Density LED, which delivers up to 5 ½ times higher lumen density than Cree’s previous generation of high power LEDs. Built on Cree’s groundbreaking NX Technology Platform, the XD16 LED combines breakthrough lumen density, low optical cross-talk, unsurpassed thermal contact and ease of system manufacturing to enable innovative new designs for a broad spectrum of lighting applications, such as color-tuning, street, portable and industrial.

“Cree’s new XD16 LED delivers an incredible amount of light output for such a tiny package,” said Joe Skrivan, senior technical director at Black Diamond Equipment. “The XD16 LED’s breakthrough lumen output and peak intensity is a game-changer for our climbing headlamp products because we can design better beam control and decrease the overall size and weight compared to existing designs.”

The XLamp XD16 LED delivers a lumen density of more than 284 lumens per square-millimeter, which is the highest level achieved by a commercially available lighting-class LED. The ceramic-based XD16 LED utilizes the proven XQ footprint and successfully addresses challenges with luminaire manufacturing, thermal design, optical design and reliability faced by competing LEDs. For example, the XD16 LED reduces system-level optical loss by up to three times versus competing technologies when LEDs are placed close together on a board. This improvement translates into fewer wasted lumens and higher efficacy for lighting products.

“Cree’s new Extreme Density LED demonstrates that true LED innovation improves our customers’ system performance without forcing compromise,” said Dave Emerson, Cree LEDs executive vice president and general manager. “The XD16 LED delivers unmatched lumen density without the design and manufacturing challenges associated with inferior LED technology approaches. Now, lighting manufacturers can easily achieve previously unattainable levels of light output and efficacy in their existing form factors.”

The new LEDs are characterized and binned at 85°C, available in ANSI White, EasyWhite® 3- and 5-step color temperatures (2700K – 6500K), and CRI options of 70, 80 and 90. Product samples are available now and production quantities are available with standard lead times.

Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today introduced the first 3-channel high-side linear automotive light-emitting diode (LED) controller without internal MOSFETs which gives designers greater flexibility for their lighting designs. The TPS92830-Q1’s novel architecture enables higher power and better thermal dissipation than conventional LED controllers, and are particularly beneficial for automotive LED lighting applications that require high performance and reliability.

Conventional LED drivers integrate the MOSFET, which limits designers’ ability to customize features. With that type of driver, designers often must make significant design modifications to achieve the desired system performance. The TPS92830-Q1 LED controller’s flexible on-board features give designers the freedom to select the best MOSFET for their system requirements. With this new approach, designers can more quickly and efficiently optimize their lighting power designs for automotive system requirements and desired dimming features.

Key features and benefits

  • Flexibility: The on-chip pulse-width modulation (PWM) generator or PWM input enables flexible dimming. Designers can use either the analog control or PWM to manage an output current of more than 150 mA per channel, to power automotive rear combination lamps and daytime running lights.
  • Improved thermal dissipation: By pairing the LED controller with an external MOSFET, the designer can achieve the required high power output while distributing the power across the controller and MOSFET to avoid system overheating. By retaining linear architecture, the TPS92830-Q1 provides improved electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) performance.
  • Greater system reliability: Advanced protection and built-in open and short detection features help designers meet original equipment manufacturer (OEM) system reliability requirements. The output current derating feature protects the external MOSFET under high voltage conditions to ensure system reliability.

The TPS92830-Q1 expands TI’s extensive portfolio of LED drivers, design tools and technical resources that help designers implement innovative automotive lighting features.

High-power white LEDs face the same problem that Michigan Stadium faces on game day — too many people in too small of a space. Of course, there are no people inside of an LED. But there are many electrons that need to avoid each other and minimize their collisions to keep the LED efficiency high. Using predictive atomistic calculations and high-performance supercomputers at the NERSC computing facility, researchers Logan Williams and Emmanouil Kioupakis at the University of Michigan found that incorporating the element boron into the widely used InGaN (indium-gallium nitride) material can keep electrons from becoming too crowded in LEDs, making the material more efficient at producing light.

This is the crystal structure of a BInGaN alloy. Using atomistic calculations and high-performance supercomputers at the NERSC facility, Logan Williams and Emmanouil Kioupakis at the University of Michigan predicted that incorporating boron into the InGaN active region of nitride LEDs reduces or even eliminates the lattice mismatch with the underlying GaN layers while keeping the emission wavelength approximately the same. The lattice matching enables the growth of thicker active regions and increases the efficiency of LEDs at high power. Credit: Michael Waters and Logan Williams

This is the crystal structure of a BInGaN alloy. Using atomistic calculations and high-performance supercomputers at the NERSC facility, Logan Williams and Emmanouil Kioupakis at the University of Michigan predicted that incorporating boron into the InGaN active region of nitride LEDs reduces or even eliminates the lattice mismatch with the underlying GaN layers while keeping the emission wavelength approximately the same. The lattice matching enables the growth of thicker active regions and increases the efficiency of LEDs at high power. Credit: Michael Waters and Logan Williams

Modern LEDs are made of layers of different semiconductor materials grown on top of one another. The simplest LED has three such layers. One layer is made with extra electrons put into the material. Another layer is made with too few electrons, the empty spaces where electrons would be are called holes. Then there is a thin middle layer sandwiched between the other two that determines what wavelength of light is emitted by the LED. When an electrical current is applied, the electrons and holes move into the middle layer where they can combine together to produce light. But if we squeeze too many electrons in the middle layer to increase the amount of light coming out of the LED, then the electrons may collide with each other rather than combine with holes to produce light. These collisions convert the electron energy to heat in a process called Auger recombination and lower the efficiency of the LED.

A way around this problem is to make more room in the middle layer for electrons (and holes) to move around. A thicker layer spreads out the electrons over a wider space, making it easier for them to avoid each other and reduce the energy lost to their collisions. But making this middle LED layer thicker isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Because LED semiconductor materials are crystals, the atoms that make them up must be arranged in specific regular distances apart from each other. That regular spacing of atoms in crystals is called the lattice parameter. When crystalline materials are grown in layers on top of one another, their lattice parameters must be similar so that the regular arrangements of atoms match where the materials are joined. Otherwise the material gets deformed to match the layer underneath it. Small deformations aren’t a problem, but if the top material is grown too thick and the deformation becomes too strong then atoms become misaligned so much that they reduce the LED efficiency. The most popular materials for blue and white LEDs today are InGaN surrounded by layers of GaN. Unfortunately, the lattice parameter of InGaN does not match GaN. This makes growing thicker InGaN layers to reduce electron collisions challenging.

Williams and Kioupakis found that by including boron in this middle InGaN layer, its lattice parameter becomes much more similar to GaN, even becoming exactly the same for some concentrations of boron. In addition, even though an entirely new element is included in the material, the wavelength of light emitted by the BInGaN material is very close to that of InGaN and can be tuned to different colors throughout the visible spectrum. This makes BInGaN suitable to be grown in thicker layers, reducing electron collisions and increasing the efficiency of the visible LEDs.

Although this material is promising to produce more efficient LEDs, it is important that it can be realized in the laboratory. Williams and Kioupakis have also shown that BInGaN could be grown on GaN using the existing growth techniques for InGaN, allowing quick testing and use of this material for LEDs. Still, the primary challenge of applying this work will be to fine tune how best to get boron incorporated into InGaN at sufficiently high amounts. But this research provides an exciting avenue for experimentalists to explore making new LEDs that are powerful, efficient, and affordable at the same time.

Transphorm Inc., a designer and manufacturer of highest reliability (JEDEC and AEC-Q101 qualified) 650V gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors, announced it received a $15 million investment from Yaskawa Electric Corporation. This news comes only a few weeks after Yaskawa revealed its integrated Σ-7 F servo motor relies on Transphorm’s high-voltage (HV) GaN to deliver unprecedented performance and power density. Transphorm intends to allocate the funds to various areas of its GaN product development.

“We’ve seen the benefits of working with gallium nitride from the R&D phases through to the application development phases of our products, such as photovoltaic converters and the integrated Σ-7 F servo motor,” said Yukio Tsutsui, General Manager of Corporate R&D Center from Yaskawa. “We look ahead to further developments from Transphorm and its cutting-edge technology.”

The integrated Σ-7 F products resulting from the companies’ co-development serves one of the core target markets that can benefit most from HV GaN: servo motors. The technology is also an optimal solution for automotive systems, data center and industrial power supplies, renewable energy and other broad industrial applications.

“Transphorm has consistently prioritized the quality and reliability of our GaN platform,” said Dr. Umesh Mishra, Chairman, CTO and co-founder of Transphorm. “That focus leads to strong customer relationships with visionaries such as Yaskawa and companies that not only innovate, but also influence market growth by demonstrating GaN’s real-world impact. Receiving Yaskawa’s recent support illustrates the rising confidence in GaN while underscoring its reliability.”

InfinityQS International, Inc. (InfinityQS), the global authority on data-driven manufacturing quality, announces TEL NEXX, a metallization solutions provider to chip designers and manufacturers, is using its software to modernize shop floor data collection and quality control. Moving from a manual, paper-based system to an accessible database, the company has installed InfinityQS’ Quality Intelligence solution ProFicient on tablets for shop floor operators to directly enter data. This has improved the accuracy and timeliness of data capture and enabled rapid response to production issues. With access to historical data at the management level, TEL NEXX can also identify opportunities for quality and process improvements.

Brian Hart, Manufacturing Engineer, TEL NEXX, said, “ProFicient has made accessing a history for each product easy. As our database grows, we can extract information to drive continuous improvement projects and eliminate bottlenecks. What’s more, moving from a paper-based system to an accessible database has made us more efficient. As the projects and operators advance, we only expect to move faster and faster—with the same integrity.”

Historically, TEL NEXX collected data almost entirely manually, which required operators to duplicate data-entry steps by recording data on paper and then entering them into spreadsheets. These processes were time consuming and required rechecking to avoid errors. But now, operators are entering data once into ProFicient, and the data immediately becomes available for managers and administrators to review and provide feedback in real time. Direct data entry has also improved morale on the shop floor, with operators seeing the importance of data collection and taking greater ownership of the work.

Michael Lyle, President and CEO, InfinityQS, said, “When manufacturers rely on manual data entry, it creates inefficiencies that prevent them from responding to variations and other shop floor issues properly and in a timely manner. Instead, modern technologies are available that can create visibility for organizations into their quality data. This transparency enables them to not only make prompt corrections to ensure problems don’t compound, but also perform proactive analysis for continuous improvement.”

To support operator adoption, Hart is leading an incremental rollout of ProFicient and also gradually integrating the solution with TEL NEXX’s existing shop-floor systems. Notably, within just weeks of deploying ProFicient, Hart was able to detect equipment settings that had been inadvertently altered from the original specifications and in a few hours make adjustments so that the machine operated correctly moving forward.

The stacked color sensor


November 16, 2017

The human eye has three different types of sensory cells for the perception of colour: cells that are respectively sensitive to red, green and blue alternate in the eye and combine their information to create an overall colored image. Image sensors, for example in mobile phone cameras, work in a similar way: blue, green and red sensors alternate in a mosaic-like pattern. Intelligent software algorithms calculate a high-resolution colour image from the individual colour pixels.

However, the principle also has some inherent limitations: as each individual pixel can only absorb a small part of the light spectrum that hits it, a large part of the light is lost. In addition, the sensors have basically reached the limits of miniaturization, and unwanted image disturbances can occur; these are known as color moiré effects and have to be laboriously removed from the finished image.

Transparent only for certain colors

Researchers have therefore been working for a number of years on the idea of stacking the three sensors instead of placing them next to each other. Of course, this requires that the sensors on top let through the light frequencies that they do not absorb to the sensors underneath. At the end of the 1990s, this type of sensor was successfully produced for the first time. It consisted of three stacked silicon layers, each of which absorbed only one colour.

This actually resulted in a commercially available image sensor. However, this was not successful on the market because the absorption spectra of the different layers were not distinct enough, so part of the green and red light was absorbed by the blue-sensitive layer. The colors therefore blurred and the light sensitivity was thus lower than for ordinary light sensors. In addition, the production of the absorbing silicon layers required a complex and expensive manufacturing process.

Empa researchers have now succeeded in developing a sensor prototype that circumvents these problems. It consists of three different types of perovskites – a semiconducting material that has become increasingly important during the last few years, for example in the development of new solar cells, due to its outstanding electrical properties and good optical absorption capacity. Depending on the composition of these perovskites, they can, for example, absorb part of the light spectrum, but remain transparent for the rest of the spectrum. The researchers in Maksym Kovalenko’s group at Empa and ETH Zurich used this principle to create a color sensor with a size of just one pixel. The researchers were able to reproduce both simple one-dimensional and more realistic two-dimensional images with an extremely high color fidelity.

Accurate recognition of colors

The advantages of this new approach are clear: the absorption spectra are clearly differentiated and the colour recognition is thus much more precise than with silicon. In addition, the absorption coefficients, especially for the light components with higher wavelengths (green and red), are considerably higher in the perovskites than in silicon. As a result, the layers can be made significantly smaller, which in turn allows smaller pixel sizes. This is not crucial in the case of ordinary camera sensors; however, for other analysis technologies, such as spectroscopy, this could permit significantly higher spatial resolution. The perovskites can also be produced using a comparatively cheap process.

However, more work is still needed in order to further develop this prototype into a commercially usable image sensor. Key areas include the miniaturisation of pixels and the development of methods for producing an entire matrix of such pixels in one step. According to Kovalenko, this should be possible with existing technologies.

Perovskites are such a promising material in research that the prestigious journal Science has published a special edition about them. It includes a review article by the Empa/ETH research group led by Maksym Kovalenko about the current state of research and potential uses of lead halide perovskites nanocrystals.

These have properties that make them a promising candidate for the development of semiconductor nanocrystals for various optoelectronic applications such as television screens, LEDs and solar cells: they are inexpensive to manufacture, have a high tolerance to defects and can be tuned precisely to emit light in a specific colour spectrum.

Seoul Semiconductor exhibited its new SunLike Series LEDs, the world’s first LED to produce light that closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight, at the recent Professional Lighting Design Conference (PLDC), held in Paris, France from Nov. 1 – 4. The new LED technology, first unveiled in Frankfurt, Germany in June of this year, is generating interest from many global lighting companies, who are developing new lighting products using SunLike Series LEDs.

New products from leading lighting designers powered by Seoul Semiconductor’s SunLike LED technology were on display at PLDC 2017, which attracted more than 2000 attendees. A number of these companies signaled their intention to launch these new SunLike-powered lighting products in the market.

The director of Seoul Semiconductor’s Lighting Divison, Mr. Yo Cho, was invited as a keynote speaker at the PLDC’s opening event, where he presented SunLike Series LED technology. “Because the SunLike Series LEDs are designed to deliver light that closely matches sunlight’s natural spectrum, they provide an optimized light source that maximizes the benefits of natural light,” said Mr. Cho. “Thus, the colors and texture of objects can be viewed more accurately, as they would be seen under natural sunlight.”

According to Dr. Kibum Nam, head of Seoul Semiconductor R&D Center and Chief Technology Officer, “SunLike Series LEDs have the potential to drive a revolution in lighting – overcoming the limits of artificial light sources by implementing light closer to the natural spectrum of sunlight. Seoul will open a new era of natural spectrum lighting with the launch of more SunLike LED technology.”

SunLike Series natural spectrum LEDs may also play a key role in minimizing the negative effects of artificial lighting. While conventional LED technology produces light with a pronounced blue “spike” in its spectral output, SunLike LEDs implement a more uniform spectrum that more closely matches natural sunlight, lowering this blue light spike. Some recent research indicates that this blue light spike may produce negative effects when viewed for prolonged periods of time during night-time hours, potentially interfering with natural human biorhythms. By employing new light sources powered by SunLike Series LEDs, lighting designers will be able to deliver a healthier light experience.

Interest in the link between light sources and human health is higher than ever before, as evidenced by the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology, Professor Jeffrey C. Hall, University of Maine; Professor Michael Morris Rosbach, Brandeis University; and Professor Michael Young, Rockefeller University. These researchers are credited with seminal discoveries about the cellular mechanisms for circadian biology.