Category Archives: LED Packaging and Testing

CEA-Leti will demonstrate its new prototype for wireless high data rate Li-Fi (light fidelity) transmission at Light + Building 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany, March 30-April 4. The technology employs the high-frequency modulation capabilities of light-emitting diode (LED) engines used in commercial lighting. It achieves throughputs of up to 10Mb/s at a range of three meters, suitable for HD video streaming or Internet browsing, using light power of less than 1,000 lumens and with direct or even indirect lighting.

With this first proof of concept and its expertise in RF communications, Leti forecasts data transmission rates in excess of 100Mb/s with traditional lighting based on LED lamps using this technology approach and without altering the high-performance lighting characteristics.

Visible light communications (VLC), or Li-Fi, have gained significant momentum in recent years, primarily because of expectations that LEDs will become predominant in the lighting market. Indeed, as part of its Ecodesign process, the European Union established a schedule for LED lighting penetration (regulation No. 1194/2012). Halogen lamps will be phased out and replaced by LED lighting by Sept. 1, 2016, in 30 European countries.

Moreover, because LEDs can be modulated at very high frequencies and their oscillations are invisible to humans, they permit information transmission at very high data rates.

Other technical and market factors also are increasing interest in data transmission through lighting. These include crowding of the conventional radio frequency (RF) spectrum, the mobile data-traffic explosion in cellular networks, and the need for wireless data transmission without electromagnetic field (EMF) interference.

The demonstration is part of a Leti project begun in 2013 to achieve a high data rate Li-Fi prototype by applying Leti’s expertise in digital communications, hardware prototyping and solid-state lighting.

The optical system consists of an A19 lamp based on LEDs at the transmitter and an avalanche photodiode at the receiver. The digital communication component is implemented on a proprietary and reconfigurable platform that carries out a flexible multi-carrier modulation.

Leti, which is demonstrating the Li-Fi capability to show a promising alternative to conventional RF wireless communications, is also focusing on component optimization to offer a bidirectional link.

The prototype was demonstrated at Forum LED Europe in Paris in 2013 and at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today introduced a new lineup of flip chip LED packages and modules offering enhanced design flexibility and a high degree of reliability. The new offerings, for use in leading-edge LED lighting such as LED bulbs, MR/PAR and downlights, will be available in the market during the second quarter of this year.

flip chip

“By utilizing an advanced flip chip technology, Samsung has made significant improvements to its LED packages and modules,” said Bangwon Oh, senior vice president, LED strategic marketing team, Samsung Electronics.

Samsung’s new flip chip (FC) LED package and flip chip on module (FCOM) solutions feature highly efficient and versatile LED structures, created by flipping over blue LED chips and adhering phosphor film to each of them. Unlike conventional LED packages that dispense phosphor and then place a plastic mold over each chip, Samsung’s FC package technology can produce LED packages down to a chip-scale size without any mold, enabling more compact lighting fixture designs.

Samsung’s new FC and FCOM series can be driven at a current higher than that of conventional LED components, and have low thermal resistance. The low thermal resistance improves the reliability of the FC and FCOM solutions, resulting in higher flux, and a decrease in the number of packages needed, plus a reduction in the size of the circuit board.

Also, by attaching a cell film, each package gains uniform thickness and lower color deviation. As a result, the FC and FCOM solutions provide a high level of color consistency and ensure the chromaticity control of MacAdam 3-step ellipses.

The new FC and FCOM LED solutions include a middle power LED package (LM131A), a high power LED package (LH141A) and an LED downlight module, all featuring the new Samsung flip chip technology.

Flip chip middle power LED package (LM131A) and high power LED package (LH141A)

Samsung’s LM131A and LH141A flip chip packages feature exceptionally compact form factors of 1.22×1.22 millimeters and 1.4×1.4mm, respectively. By excluding a plastic mold, the two packages can function at a high current level in a highly reliable manner, even after long hour of use. These advantages make them ideal for use in LED lighting applications requiring a small form factor with high light output, including LED bulbs and spotlight products such as MRs and PARs.

In addition, the use of a phosphor film assures color quality that satisfies the MacAdam 3-step.

Flip chip on module (FCOM) for LED downlight fixtures

Samsung’s new FCOM downlight products are distinguished by their high light output. Compared to a chip-on-board (COB) engine, which has a fixed wattage, the new FCOM permits simple adjustments in the number of FC LED packages to make the module compatible with a variety of electrical drivers of different wattages, in allowing greater design flexibility.

To create a downlight with 1000lm output and 100lm/W efficacy, Samsung FCOMs require a 1.7×1.7 centimeter circuit. Such a small form factor makes these FCOMs well-suited for size-sensitive LED lighting applications, which include LED bulbs, MR/PAR spotlights, downlights and even cove lighting.

Samsung’s FCOMs satisfy the MacAdam 3-step and can support MacAdam 2-step depending on customer needs, thanks to the superb color consistency of the chips and a rating of at least 80 on the color rendering index (CRI). The new Samsung FCOMs also offer a range of correlated color temperature (CCT) – from 2700K to 5000K.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new processing technique that makes light emitting diodes (LEDs) brighter and more resilient by coating the semiconductor material gallium nitride (GaN) with a layer of phosphorus-derived acid.

“By coating polar GaN with a self-assembling layer of phosphonic groups, we were able to increase luminescence without increasing energy input,” says Stewart Wilkins, a Ph.D. student at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the work. “The phosphonic groups also improve stability, making the GaN less likely to degrade in solution.

“Making the GaN more stable is important,” Wilkins adds, “because that makes it more viable for use in biomedical applications, such as implantable sensors.”

The researchers started with polar GaN, composed of alternating layers of gallium and nitrogen. To increase luminescence, they etched the surface of the material with phosphoric acid. At the same time, they added phosphonic groups – organic molecules containing phosphorus – that self-assembled into a monolayer on the surface of the material. This layer further increased luminescence and improved the stability of the GaN by making it less likely to react chemically with its environment.

The paper, “In Situ Chemical Functionalization of Gallium Nitride with Phosphonic Acid Derivatives during Etching,” is published online in the journal Langmuir. Senior author of the paper is Dr. Albena Ivanisevic, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and associate professor of the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Consuelo Arellano, a research associate professor of statistics at NC State; Dr. Tania Paskova, a research professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State; and Michelle Greenough, an undergraduate at Wagner College.

The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation

Today, GaN on Sapphire is the main stream technology for LED manufacturing. GaN-on-Si technology appeared naturally as an alternative to sapphire to reduce cost. Yole Développement’s cost simulation indicates that the differential in silicon substrate cost is not enough to justify the transition to GaN-on-Si technology. The main driver is the ability to manufacture in existing, depreciated CMOS fabs in 6 inch or 8 inch.

“Despite potential cost benefits for LEDs, the mass adoption of GaN-on-Si technology for LED applications remains unclear. Opinions regarding the chance of success for LED-on-Si vary widely in the LED industry from unconditional enthusiasm to unjustified skepticism. Virtually all major LED makers are researching GaN-on-Si LED, but few have made it the core of their strategy and technology roadmap. Among the proponents, only Lattice Power, Plessey and Toshiba have moved to production and are offering commercial LED-on-Si,” explains Dr. Hong Lin, Yole Developpement analyst.

At Yole Développement, analysts believe that although significant improvements have been achieved, there are still some technology hurdles (performance, yields, CMOS compatibility). They consider that if the technology hurdles are cleared, GaN-on-Si LEDs will be adopted by some LED manufacturers, but will not become the industry standard. Yole Développement expects that Silicon will capture less than five percent of LED manufacturing by 2020.

GaN-on-Si technology will be widely adopted by power electronics applications

The power electronics market addresses applications such as AC to DC or DC to AC conversion, which is always associated with substantial energy losses that increase with higher power and operating frequencies. Incumbent silicon based technology is reaching its limit and it is difficult to meet higher requirements. GaN based power electronics have the potential to significantly improve efficiency at both high power and frequencies while reducing device complexity and weight. Power GaN are therefore emerging as a substitution to the silicon based technology. Today, Power GaN remains at its early stage and presents only a tiny part of power electronics market.

“We are quite optimistic about the adoption of GaN-on-Si technology for Power GaN devices. GaN-on-Si technology have brought to market the first GaN devices. Contrary to the LED industry, where GaN-on-Sapphire technology is main stream and presents a challenging target, GaN-on-Si will dominate the GaN based power electronics market because of its lower cost and CMOS compatibility,” says Dr. Eric Virey, analyst at Yole Developpement. Although GaN based devices remain more expensive than Si based devices today, the overall cost of GaN devices for some applications are expected to be lower than Si devices three years from now, according to some manufacturers.

“In our nominal case, GaN based devices could reach more than seven percent of the overall power device market by 2020,” adds Virey. GaN-on-Si wafers will capture more than one point five percent of the overall power substrate volume, representing more than 50 percent of the overall GaN-on-Si wafer volume, subjecting to the hypothesis that the 600V devices would take off in 2014-2015.

GaN-on-Si epiwafer: buy it or make it? Which business will be dominated?

GaN on Si LED

To adopt the GaN-on-Si technology, device makers have the choice between buying epiwafers or templates on the open market, or buying MOCVD reactors and making epiwafer by themselves. Today, there is a limited number of players selling either epiwafers or templates or both on the open market. These players comes from Japan, US and Europe. We have not observed an absolute dominance from one region.

As perceived by device markers, each business model has its pros & cons in terms of IP, technology dependence, R&D investments, and time. According to Yole Développement’s reports, analysts do not expect to see a significant template/epiwafer business emerge for LEDs and consider that LEDs makers would prefer making their epiwafers internally for mass production. For the power electronics industry, the opinion is divided. Yole Dévelopement considers that buying epiwafers could work as long as the price of the epiwafer on the open market keeps decreasing.

Following the boom in expansion of the Chinese LED market in 2011, many industry insiders and analysts speculated on whether the Chinese would be able to sustain the growth, or if many companies simply ordered an excessive amount of MOCVD reactors just to benefit from government subsidies. The failure of many of the companies was widely predicted. So, what’s happening in the China LED industry after three years?

According to a new IHS report on the Chinese LED market, China’s LED die production revenues will grow 36.6% to reach $1,475 million and packaged LEDs will grow 14.8 percent to reach $4,812 million in 2014. Sanan, the largest Chinese LED company with a more than 30 percent share of die production in China, is actually expanding capacity. Its second phase project in Wuhu is still going ahead this year, leading to the addition of new tools. Epistar, its largest rival will be directly competing this year to see who will be the world leader for total wafer capacity. MLS was estimated to be the largest Chinese packaged LED company in 2013 with slightly more than nine percent market share among thousands of other Chinese competitors.

Lighting is the major driving force for the China LED market growth from 2013 to 2014 and is forecast to exceed 50 percent share of all applications in 2014. The acceptance of LED replacement T-lamps, the falling cost of LED lamps generally, the continued economic growth, and the phasing out of incandescent A-lamps are all factors that are increasing the penetration rate of LED lamps in China.

Related news: Demand for key raw materials set to double as LED market booms

The backlight market also grew significantly from 2012 to 2013 – by 74 percent in LED die. High growth is expected to continue in 2014 due to Chinese companies’ technology improvements to replace imported products from Taiwan and Korea.

LEDs 2014

Although the Chinese domestic market is huge, international sales of most Chinese LED companies remain fairly low. However, they are catching up quickly. Larger companies are developing their own brands and IHS expects these suppliers to increase their presence in international markets in the near future.

Cree today introduced the new CPW5 Z-Rec high-power silicon-carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes, the industry’s first commercially available family of 50 Amp SiC rectifiers. Designed to deliver the cost reduction, high efficiency, system simplicity and improved reliability of SiC technology to high power systems from 50kW to over 1MW, these new diodes can address demanding applications that include solar / PV inverters, industrial power supplies, induction heating, battery charging stations, wind turbine converters and traction inverters.

Developed to facilitate the direct matching of 50 Amp diodes to 50 Amp MOSFETs or IGBTs, Cree CPW5 Schottky diodes reduce system complexity and cost by enabling the replacement of multiple low-voltage, low-current SiC Schottky diodes, or silicon PiN diodes, with a single CPW5 rectifier. Additional cost savings can be achieved through reduced maximum voltage ratings and the elimination of snubber circuitry due to the diminished voltage overshoot during switching in silicon carbide.

“Cree’s CPW5 family of SiC Schottky diodes are a critical component in our high performance power modules and power electronic systems,” said Ty McNutt, director of business development, APEI, Inc. “The low forward voltage drop, fast switching speed and extended temperature capability allow us to push power density and efficiency across many applications, such as high power motor drives and solar inverters.”

Cree CPW5 diodes enable a new generation of high-current Si/SiC IGBT modules. Hybrid Si/SiC IGBT modules can deliver up to a 43 percent reduction in switching losses over conventional modules, while also reducing voltage- and current-overshoot, switching dead time and cooling requirements. As an added benefit, design engineers can use the same gate driver design and circuits used with conventional modules, allowing easy and immediate implementation. Cree CPW5 diodes also provide a peak forward surge resistance greater than 500 Amps repetitive and 2000 Amps non-repetitive, delivering increased reliability under the harshest electrical conditions.

“As the sole distributor of Cree SiC-based power products in wafer and die form, SemiDice is excited to offer the CPW5 family of Z-Rec Schottky diodes,” said Dan Cormack, CEO of SemiDice, Inc. “We are seeing increased customer demand for 50 Amp Schottky diodes and we know that as a global leader in the manufacture of advanced SiC diodes, Cree will deliver the quality and performance that our customers expect to help them minimize system cost and size.”

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology, solar and semiconductor markets, and Brisbane Materials Technology (BMT), a specialty materials company, today introduced a new anti-reflective (AR) coating solution based on BMT’s innovative XeroCoat materials, which is designed to substantially increase lumen output of light emitting diode (LED) devices.  The jointly developed manufacturing solution enables lumen output increases of up to eight percent.  The AR coating manufacturing solution can be seamlessly integrated with established production schemes, allowing the coating of LED components at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.

“Improving light efficiency is a constant goal for LED chip and luminaire manufacturers in order to drive down the total cost of LED lighting.  However, extracting further improvements in light output from the LED chip design and epitaxial layer growth process has become increasingly difficult and costly.  As a result, any incremental improvements in light output that can be gained from other areas with minimal cost or disruption to the LED manufacturing flow can have a significant impact on reducing overall system cost,” stated Dr. Antun Peic, business development manager at EV Group.  “Through our partnership with BMT, we’ve developed a turnkey manufacturing solution that has achieved a significant breakthrough in improving LED light efficiency, which can help accelerate new applications for solid-state lighting such as smart lighting and smart building.”

Under a strategic cooperation agreement, EVG has optimized its precision coating systems for BMT’s unique materials and processes, enabling high-yield fabrication of AR coatings with industry-leading performance and cost.  The innovative technology enables the creation of a nano-porous silicon dioxide (SiO2) coating from a liquid precursor at room temperature and atmospheric pressure on plastic and glass lenses and luminaires. The SiO2 film, which has undergone rigorous testing, including a 2.5-year accelerated aging test equivalent to more than 20 years of field application, is covalently bonded to the surface to give maximum durability and field reliability.

“Our collaboration with EV Group in the solar market over the past several years has proven the ability of our joint-AR coating solution to provide significant improvements in solar cover glass transmission,” commented BMT founder and CEO Dr. Gary Wiseman.  “We are very excited to begin providing our patented XeroCoat anti-reflective materials to LED lighting customers.  Our unique solution provides a simple and cost-effective way for customers to increase lumen output.  Working with our equipment partner, EVG, we provide the equipment, materials, and process as a turnkey solution to our customers.”

The large-area spray deposition method employed for this new process provides maximum processing flexibility as well as scalability.   According to Paul Lindner, executive director of technology at EVG, “The large-area spray coating technology used in this process has been in commercial production in the display technology space for well over 10 years.  This field-proven equipment solution, combined with BMT’s novel material, allows us to quickly and uniformly coat nano-scale films onto a large number of luminaires―a key requirement to meet the challenging volume and cost targets of our LED customers.  In addition, spray coating allows for coating over a large range of form factors―for instance, lenses with highly curvilinear features―which is another important requirement for the LED luminaire market.”

Soraa announced today the world’s most efficient LED, which it will integrate into the market’s first full-visible-spectrum, large form factor lamps. Soraa’s third generation (Gen3) GaN on GaN LED achieves world-record setting wall-plug-efficiency, outperforming the nearest competitor by 20% at normal operating conditions. In just one year, Soraa has achieved a remarkable 30% increase in white lumen per watt (lm/W) efficiency over its prior generation LED. Soraa’s Gen3 LED will be available in the second quarter of this year in a variety of product offerings: modules, large form factor PAR and AR lamps, and MR16 lamps.

Soraa’s full-visible-spectrum PAR30L lamp, powered by its Gen3 LED, will lead the market not only in light output, but also in color and whiteness rendering; at CRI-95 and R9-95 it will achieve center-beam intensity (CBCP) of 28,250cd at 8° beam angle, 10% higher than the CRI-85 offering of the nearest competitor. Soraa’s large form factor lamps will feature all the signature elements of light quality that its customers are accustomed to: natural and accurate rendering of colors and whiteness, perfectly uniform beams of exceptionally high intensity, and clear single shadows.

“We have achieved a 30% lm/W efficiency improvement over our previous generation white LEDs, and what’s amazing is that we expect to repeat these significant year-over-year performance gains in the future,” said Jeff Parker, CEO of Soraa.

Soraa will display its new full-visible-spectrum large lamp products at Strategies in Light in Santa Clara, California (February 25-27, booth #805) and Light + Building in Frankfurt, Germany (March 30-April 4, booth# 4.1 B55).

MCA Public Relations, a high-tech global public relations and marketing solutions agency serving the semiconductor, microelectronics, life science and flat-panel display industries, announced it has launched a new solid-state lighting (SSL) practice specifically designed to target companies from the multiple segments of the SSL ecosystem to create unique branding and communications campaigns for each.  Brian Fisher, a senior executive with substantial global branding, market positioning and strategic communications experience in this space, has been hired to lead the expansion into this industry as general manager.

Several lighting industry analysts are forecasting double-digit growth rates to 2020 for LED-based lighting within the current $100 billion global lighting market.

“I’ve known Brian for many years and am thrilled to have him join the MCA team,” said Marie Labrie, chief executive officer of MCA.  “Brian’s wealth of experience in the solid-state lighting space makes him an invaluable asset in driving our presence in this burgeoning market.  MCA is unique among technology PR agencies in both its depth and breadth of knowledge in every key aspect of the technology value chain — from design and R&D through manufacturing — across multiple microelectronics industries.  Bringing these capabilities to bear on the solid-state lighting market was a natural progression for us.”

“Brian and MCA have been hard at work for us for more than a year now and have yielded positive and measurable results,” said Derry Berrigan, chief innovation officer at Light Think Studios.  “MCA has helped us articulate our vision for the future of lighting and how SSL embodies not just a technology story, but how it enables innovation in lighting design to enrich people’s lives, to enhance the quality of our experience.”

“The adoption rate of LED-based lighting is clearly accelerating, which creates significant growth opportunities for companies throughout the SSL ecosystem,” said Brian Fisher.  “To capitalize on these opportunities, it is important for companies to start branding themselves, letting their key messages be heard, to expand upon the energy efficiency discussion and to move on to explaining the significance of the quality of light, low maintenance, and how smart lighting leads directly to smart buildings.  MCA, with its technical background, best practices in external communications and previous exposure to LED technology, is the right choice to help companies deliver these messages.”

Brian Fisher has over 20 years of experience in brand building across a spectrum of technologies including LED manufacturing, solid-state lighting, semiconductor capital equipment, enterprise software and IT, for companies ranging from start up through mature stages of growth.  He joins MCA from Bridgelux, where he helped the company develop into a globally recognized industry leader and pioneer of chip-on-board (COB) technology.  He has also worked for Aviza Technology, Porter Novelli and Photronics.

MCA is a sponsor of the Strategies in Light Exhibition and Conference, taking place at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Cara, Calif., February 25-27.

NIKKISO CO., LTD. has announced that it is establishing a new factory in Japan. The company will initiate production operations in mid 2014 and install an annual capacity in excess of 1 million units for its UVB and UVC LED illumination sources.

NIKKISO will introduce its new deep UV LED product line for the first time in North America at the SPIE Photonics West exhibition in San Francisco February 4 – 6, 2014, Booth 4918. The company will exhibit products featuring wavelengths from 255 to 350nm, including several power levels and package types to enable important applications in a wide variety of areas. Among those with immediate demand are surface curing of resins and inks, biomedical instrumentation, dermatology, air purification, and water and surface sterilization.

NIKKISO’s proprietary AlGaN semiconductor technology enables the world’s highest performance, power and efficiency, with industry-leading reliability in the UVB and UVC regions. NIKKISO UVB and UVC LEDs offer substantial advantages over UV lamps including mercury-free operation, compact and lightweight form factor, flexible emission wavelength, directional illumination, instantaneous analog power control via current modulation, and low-voltage operation. Power levels up to 40mW per package are available, with customized multichip assemblies capable of emitting more than 1W. The devices can be utilized in stand-alone light sources, or integrated seamlessly as OEM components into end customers’ final product solutions.

With production technology that enables mass manufacturing on a commercial basis, NIKKISO’s new factory is located in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture with a total floor area of 1500 m2. It includes new epitaxial equipment, wafer fabrication, and clean room facilities for volume manufacturing of deep UV LEDs. The production facility represents a $22 million investment in NIKKISO’s deep UV LED business, and will ensure the stable supply of top-quality deep UV LED products to Nikkiso’s partners, thereby accelerating the development of deep-UV LED applications.