Category Archives: LED Packaging and Testing

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd of Seoul, South Korea has introduced a new lineup of Zhaga-compliant LED H-Series linear modules with high efficacy and light quality, as well as color consistency for use in a wide range of LED lighting applications including ambient lighting and linear fixtures.

“Our new Zhaga-compliant H-Series is well suited to be used in a variety of high-performance light fixtures,” says Jaap Schlejen, senior VP, LED lighting sales & marketing, at Samsung Electronics’s Device Solutions Division. The new LED module series is one of several launches in a series of new LED modules with high light performance and efficacy, says the firm.

The H-Series features luminous efficacy of 145lm/W, which is claimed to be the industry’s highest in the LED module product category. The new module’s correlated color temperature (CCT) of 5000K provides an improvement of about 40 percent over a typical T5 fluorescent lamp and an improvement of 50% over a T8 fluorescent lamp, says the firm.

The H-Series consists of four types of LED module, each with a different form factor and luminous flux for various market needs. Fixture makers can connect multiple modules together for variations in luminous flux, without a gap between the modules.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced today that CEA-Leti, a research lab based in Grenoble, France, has selected Veeco’s TurboDisc K465i Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) system for its program with Aledia, its nanowire-LED partner.

Aledia is a start-up company spun out of the CEA-Leti labs in 2011 and based at the CEA site. It counts among its three founders two former CEA researchers, Xavier Hugon and Philippe Gilet. Aledia’s goal is to manufacture 3D nanowire-based LEDs for solid-state lighting applications on thin silicon wafer substrates, of 8 inches or greater in diameter, at a cost significantly below that of conventional planar LEDs. Nanowires are thin crystalline structures that, when electrically charged, can emit a broader spectrum of light than conventional LEDs, and can be grown on industry-standard silicon substrates. Aledia’s nanowire technology was originally developed at CEA-Leti, and Aledia and CEA-Leti continue to develop nanowire technology in close cooperation.

“We are confident that Veeco’s MOCVD system is the right equipment to help make this technology successful,” said Fabrice Geiger, head of CEA-Leti’s Silicon Technology Division.

According to Giorgio Anania, Aledia’s President and Chief Executive Officer, “The TurboDisc reactor will be an important element of our strategy to take this potentially game-changing technology towards the commercialization phase. In partnership with CEA-Leti, we selected Veeco because our analysis indicated that at this time their MOCVD systems showed the best financial returns for 8 inch wafer production on the market.”

The global LED lighting market will be worth $25.4 billion in 2013, representing 54% growth on the 2012 figure of $16.5, while the LED lighting penetration rate will also rise to 18.6%, according to a new DIGITIMES Research Special Report titled "Global high-brightness LED market forecast."

The report describes how the luminous efficacy of LEDs continues to rise, with manufacturers likely to be well ahead of the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) development targets of 129 lm/W for warm white light LEDs and 164 lm/W for cold white light LEDs.

LED lighting product prices are likely to drop by 20-25% in 2013, as LED component performance/price ratios rise from 2012’s 500 lm/US$ to 1,000 lm/US$ in 2013.

Looking further ahead to 2015, the US DoE targets are for LED component costs to drop 37% from 2013 levels, while 60W-equivalent LED bulb costs are to drop by 38% from 2013 levels by 2015. LED lighting prices would then be at a price point even more acceptable to general consumers.

Lighting policy in many countries is also critical to the development of LED lighting, and this effect has been most marked in the Asia region. For example, Japan now has the highest LED lighting market penetration rate of any region, with the rate set to rise to 73.8% by 2015; South Korea’s Korea Association for Photonics Industry Development (KAPID) projects that the country’s LED lighting industry will have an output value of US$7.8 billion by 2015, 5.6 times the figure for 2012; while China’s LED lighting market is growing by 30% per year, which will give the country nearly one third of total global output value for LED lighting in 2015.

All of these factors will drive major growth in the LED lighting market, which will beat even the significant gains forecast over the last one to two years. "In addition to the rise of LED TV applications, LED lighting will begin to replace conventional lighting technology in the market. LED lighting will take 38.6% of the global lighting market by 2015," predicts Jessie Lin, author of the report. DIGITIMES Research in fact projects that the global LED lighting market will be worth US$44.2 billion by 2015.

global lighting market

Aledia, a developer of LEDs-based on disruptive microwire GaN-on-Silicon technology, announced today that it has made its first LEDs on 8-inch (200mm) silicon wafers. The cost of Aledia’s LED 3D chips based on microwires is expected to be four times less than traditional planar (2D) LEDs. Additionally, Aledia announced its first-round financing totalling €10 million, or approximately $13M, with leading US and European investors, which was closed in 2012.

Aledia solves the important cost issue in the very large and growing LED market. The continued integration of LEDs into new applications, such as general lighting, depends on LEDs becoming available at substantially lower prices than today. Aledia’s microwire technology enables the steep cost reduction that is vital for the further transition to LED. The Aledia LED technology, made on large-size silicon wafers and with very low materials cost, represents a cost-disruptive solution to this problem. Furthermore the new LED technology is compatible with silicon CMOS technology and will be manufactured directly in existing high-volume silicon foundries.

“Since our financing last year, we have scaled up our microwire manufacturing process and transferred it to 8-inch (200mm) silicon wafers. We can now push forward to optimize the performance of these products and bring them to market,” indicated Giorgio Anania, Aledia co-founder, President and CEO.

Investors in Aledia’s first-round financing included Sofinnova Partners, a leading European venture capital fund and an active investor in energy; New-York based Braemar Energy Ventures, a leading US energy technology investor with various investments in the LED and illumination area; Demeter Partners, the largest France-based cleantech investor; and CEA Investissement, the venture capital arm of CEA, France’s Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives.

“This is an innovative technology that can have a disruptive effect on the LED market,” said Jiong Ma, partner at Braemar Energy Ventures. “Braemar is committed to investing in companies like Aledia that have developed a breakthrough approach to LED lighting to accommodate a rapidly changing market. We are excited about the future opportunities this investment will bring and the expansion of Aledia’s market presence and product offerings.”

“We are proud to participate in the new venture of Giorgio Anania, a successful entrepreneur already well known to Sofinnova, and of an outstanding technical team, that could revolutionize the large and growing LED market, both in cost and performance,” added Alessio Beverina of Sofinnova Partners.

“We believe that the development of LED lighting is an important element of energy-efficiency in our economies – lighting representing approximately 20% of all electricity usage. A technology able to make a significant breakthrough in the cost-effectiveness of using LEDs and thereby accelerate their adoption will have a major environmental and financial impact,” concluded Sophie Paturle, partner at cleantech specialist Demeter Partners.

The 3D GaN-on-Silicon microwire technology was developed over a six year period at the LETI-CEA in Grenoble, France. As part of its spin-out from CEA, Aledia received exclusive worldwide rights to all present and future CEA patents on microwire technology as applied to the area of lighting. Several additional patents have already been filed directly by Aledia.

Crystal IS, Inc., a manufacturer of proprietary, high-performance ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UVC LEDs) for monitoring, purification, and disinfection applications, has announced today that they achieved more than 65mW in optical output at 260nm from a single UVC LED operated in a continuous mode. The details of this breakthrough were recently published in Applied Physics Express.

"This achievement is a technological milestone in the continued development of brighter, more efficient and reliable UVC LEDs. By employing die thinning and encapsulation techniques, we were able to increase the photon extraction efficiency to over 15%, “said Leo Schowalter, founder and CTO.  "By fabricating our LEDs on our home grown aluminum nitride substrates, we continue to set the pace of what is possible for the combination of highest efficiencies and longest lifetimes in the 250-280nm wavelength range, far surpassing diodes fabricated on sapphire."

“This R&D accomplishment represents a more than six-fold increase in performance from just one year ago,” said Larry Felton, CEO. “Our progress in business operations continues on a like pace, readying us and our LEDs for commercial success.”

UVC refers to ultraviolet light with wavelengths between 200 – 280 nanometers (nm). Light in the UVC wavelength can be used for disinfecting water, sterilizing surfaces, destroying harmful micro-organisms in food products and in air, and for spectroscopy applications. Yole Développement estimates the UVC lamp market to be nearly $200 Million in 2012, with lamps being replaced increasingly by UV LEDs.

"Our products will address some of the most pressing health concerns of our time,” said Therese Jordan, Senior Vice President of Business Development. “We are seeing demand in both water and air for the disinfection and quality monitoring aspects of UVC. Similarly, spectroscopic instruments are also taking advantage of the high light output available in a UVC LED. Unlike UV lamps, UVC LEDs are mercury-free, compact, rugged and robust, lending themselves to an array of designs and hold the promise of long life and environmentally friendly end-of-life disposal.”

Engineering samples of UVC LEDs are available from Crystal IS.

UVC LED from Crystal IS

Bridgelux, a developer and manufacturer of LED lighting technologies and solutions, today unveiled the Vero LED array, a new lighting platform that simplifies design integration and manufacturing and gives designers a more flexible LED lighting solution.

The Vero next generation packaged array technology offers new advancements in design flexibility, ease of use, and energy efficiency today while also defining a platform for future opportunities to integrate smart sensors and wireless communication technology for smart building control systems and other innovative applications. 

Vero advancements revolve around three primary innovations: a new, higher flux density LED array, an increase in lumens per watt by up to 20% over existing Bridgelux LED arrays and a simplified assembly process that streamlines manufacturing and improves overall system reliability. Taken as a whole, the Vero platform will allow manufacturers to dramatically reduce electronic and optical component inventories while broad input current ranges allow designers to optimize products on efficiency, cost, and light output. 

Vero Platform Technical Details

The Vero platform provides complete application coverage from four form factors, delivering the light output and color temperatures required for retail, hospitality, commercial, industrial, residential and outdoor lighting applications. In their official release, Bridgelux said the arrays will initially be available with performance ranging from 800 lumens in warm white (3000K) up to 20,000 lumens in cool white (5000K) with multiple CCT and CRI options, including the 97 CRI Decor product option.

With significant advancements in luminaire design flexibility, the Vero product offers a light emitting surface (LES) area with higher flux densities than earlier Bridgelux array designs.  The Vero LED array has been engineered to be driven reliably at much higher drive currents than previous offerings to further increase performance and reduce cost. These new features combine to allow luminaire designers to develop smaller, sleeker designs and to deliver narrow beam angles for spot and track applications facilitating high contrast ratio lighting designs.

The Vero arrays are compatible with a wide variety of standard drivers and optical components, providing manufacturers with greater flexibility and more options than normal, shortening product development times, lowering inventory requirements and reducing costs. The new Vero array series will also provide luminaire manufactures enhanced interface and connection options.  The electrical connection may be established via user friendly solder pads or by using a solderless on-board connector provided by Molex.

The Vero platform is currently being evaluated by Bridgelux customers and will be broadly commercially available in the first quarter of 2013.

 

power design challenges and new product

ON Semiconductor will showcase its latest power efficient product advances at APEC 2013, March 17 – 21, 2013, in Long Beach, California. The new devices are designed for boosting performance and simplifying the design of offline power supplies, AC lighting infrastructure and motor control systems.

Targeted for high efficiency, compact, switch-mode power supplies for power adaptors, the NCP1937is a quasi-resonant (QR) flyback controller device with power factor correction (PFC).  This is the first AC-DC device utilizing a hybrid digital core architecture enabling higher efficiency, increased flexibility and easier system design implementation.  The device incorporates all the features necessary for building a robust and compact PFC stage in combination with a QR flyback stage while minimizing the number of external components.  The quasi-resonant current-mode flyback stage features a proprietary valley-lockout circuitry, ensuring stable valley switching. It has wide voltage range spanning 9 volts (V) to 30 V, plus built-in over-voltage protection, and a skip mode operation which enables higher efficiency in light load conditions.   The NCP1937 will be demonstrated in an 85 watt (W) Notebook Adapter showcasing the industry’s leading <10 milliWatt (mW) no load standby power.

The NCP1255/NCP1254 is a fixed frequency PWM controller designed for applications requiring peak power capability. Offered in SOIC-8 and TSOP-6 packages, it operates with a fixed 65 kilohertz (kHz) switching frequency with the ability to scale the frequency up to 130 kHz based on output load requirements. In light load conditions with the power on the secondary side decreasing, the IC automatically folds back its switching frequency to a minimum level (26 kHz). The inclusion of adjustable over-power protection and adjustable brown-out protection functions make this device ideal for products requiring peak-power capabilities such as printers, and ultrabooks.  The NCP1255 will be demonstrated in a 15 W nominal 55 W peak power printer adapter.

For LED power supply applications, the high functional integration of theNCL30081 PWM controller IC minimizes the number of external components required for AC powered LED lighting designs. It operates in a quasi-resonant mode to enhance overall efficiency and provides precision regulation of the LED current from the primary side. Dispensing with the need for secondary side feedback control, as well as the associated optocoupler and biasing circuitry, the device is specifically intended for very compact space efficient designs utilizing either flyback or buck-boost topologies. It supports step dimming by monitoring the AC line and detecting when the line has been toggled on-off-on by the user to reduce the light intensity in five steps down to five percent dimming.  The NCL30081 will be demonstrating the step dimming functionality and compact system solution in a standard GU10 bulb design.

The NSIC2020 is a linear constant current regulator based on Self-Biased Transistor (SBT) technology. Because these devices do not require the specification of any external components, they can serve as either high or low side regulators, thus offering a streamlined solution that makes the development process more straight forward and maximizes design flexibility. This compact SMB packaged device is capable of regulating current over a wide voltage range (from 0 V to 120 V). Its negative temperature coefficient enables protection of LED emitters from thermal runaway at extreme voltages and currents.

Also on display at the ON Semiconductor booth will be the LV8702V a high efficiency stepper motor driver IC housed in a compact SSOP package and targeted at office automation equipment applications (multi-function printers, copiers, scanners, etc.). It is capable of dramatically lowering no-load power consumption and peak motor current, thereby maximizing energy efficiency in system designs. The company’s latest 1200 V IGBTs using trench field stop topologies and 40 ampere (A) current ratings will be also be featured. Offering both low on state voltage and minimal switching loss, the IGBT is well suited for motor drive control and other hard switching applications.

Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology has just announced an evolution in batch etch technology with the launch of the PlasmaPro 1000 Astrea etch system, a large batch etch solution for PSS, GaN and AlGaInP that will offer HBLED production manufacturers high throughput. The launch is being made at the LED China exhibition in Shanghai this week, where Dr. Mark Dineen, Oxford Instruments HBLED Product Manager will present the new system to the LED China Conference delegates.

“The PlasmaPro1000 Astrea is our ultimate batch etch tool, building on over fifteen years experience as a major supplier to the HBLED industry,” says Dr. Mark Dineen, Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology’s HBLED Product Manager. “Today’s HBLED manufacturers justifiably demand high yield, high throughput, optimum device quality and low cost of ownership.  Our PlasmaPro1000 Astrea large batch etch system offers solutions for all of these.”

With wafer batch sizes from 55 x 2” to 3 x 8”, the system has been designed specifically for the harsh chemistries required for HBLED materials. The PlasmaPro1000 Astrea delivers low damage, high yield processes ensuring the maximum light output from customers’ chips.  This is a highly configurable system, with process chambers that are available as standalone modules or in cluster configurations, available on a four sided cluster tool capable of supporting up to three process modules.

Designed to ensure high system availability and ease of serviceability, key system features and benefits include:

• >690mm large area source for highly uniform plasma

• 490mm electrode giving unparalleled throughput from batch sizes of 55×2”, 14×4”, 7×6” and 3×8”

• High conductance pumping system

• Dual entry gas inlet for ease of process tuning

• Maximized clamping for wafer cooling

• Z-movement electrode for ultimate uniformity

• Reliable hardware and ease of serviceability for excellent uptime

“This advanced and innovative system has been developed to address the exacting needs of HBLED Production users, who demand not only the very latest technological innovations, but also the superb customer support offered by our company,” Dan Ayres, Managing Director of Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology said.

Cree, Inc. announces the release of its second generation SiC MOSFET, enabling systems to have higher efficiency and smaller size at cost parity with silicon-based solutions. These new 1200V MOSFETs deliver power density and switching efficiency at half the cost per amp of Cree’s previous generation MOSFETs. At this price-performance point, they enable lower system costs for OEMs and provide additional savings to the end-user through increased efficiency and lower installation costs due to the lower size and weight of SiC-based systems.

“We have evaluated Cree’s second generation SiC MOSFET in our advanced solar circuits,” stated Prof. Dr. Bruno Burger, renowned industry expert at the Fraunhofer-Institute in Freiburg, Germany.  “They have state-of-the-art efficiency and enable system operation at higher switching frequencies that result in smaller passive components, especially smaller inductors. This substantially improves the cost-performance tradeoff in solar inverters in favor of smaller, lighter and more efficient systems.”

The superior performance of these new SiC MOSFETs enables the reduction of required current rating by 50-70% in some high power applications.  When properly optimized, customers can now get the performance benefits of SiC with the same or lower systems cost as with previous silicon solutions.  For solar inverters and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, the efficiency improvement is accompanied by size and weight reductions.  In motor drive applications, the power density can be more than doubled while increasing efficiency and providing up to twice the maximum torque of similarly rated silicon solutions.  The product offering range has been extended to include a much larger 25 mOhm die aimed at the higher power module market for power levels above 30 kW. The 80 mOhm device is intended as a lower cost, higher performance upgrade to the first generation MOSFET.

“With our new MOSFET platform, we already have design wins in multiple segments,” explained Cengiz Balkas, vice president and general manager, Cree Power and RF.  “Due to the rapid acceptance of this second generation of SiC MOSFETs, we are shipping pre-production volumes to several customers ahead of schedule and we are ramping volume production in-line with customer demand.”

Die are available with ratings of 25 mOhms, intended as a 50 amp building block for high power modules, and 80 mOhm.  The 80 mOhm MOSFET in a TO-247 package is intended as a higher performance, lower cost replacement for Cree’s first-generation CMF20120D. Packaged parts are available immediately from DigiKey, Mouser and Farnell. 

Yole Développement announced today its new report “UV LEDs: Technology & Application Trends” which presents UV LED new applications and associated market metrics for the period 2012-2020, and a deep analysis of UV LED technology and UV LED lighting industry.

Thanks to UV curing, UV LEDs should become a $270M business by 2017, and could hit $300M if new applications boom

Thanks to its compactness, low cost of ownership and environmentally-friendly composition, UV LED continues to replace incumbent technologies like mercury. Hence, the UV LED business is expected to grow from $45M in 2012 to nearly $270M by 2017, at a CAGR of 43% — whereas the traditional UV lamps market will grow at a CAGR of 10% during the same time period.

In 2012, UVA/UVB applications represented 89% of the overall UV LED market. Amongst these applications, UV curing is the most dynamic and most important market, due to significant advantages offered over traditional technologies (lower cost of ownership, system miniaturization, etc.). This trend is reinforced by the whole supply chain, which is pushing for the technology’s adoption: from UV LED module and system manufacturers to ink formulators and (of course) the associations created to promote the technology. And with Heraeus Noblelight’s recent acquisition of Fusion UV (Jan. 2013), all major UV curing system manufacturers are now involved in the UV LED technology transition.

Concerning UVC applications, they are still in their infancy and their sales are mainly for R&D purposes and analytic instruments like spectrophotometers. But given some newly published results (increase of EQE over 10%, etc.) and the recent commercialization of the world’s first UVC LED-based disinfection system (2012), the market should kick into gear within the next two years.

In addition to traditional applications (UV lamps replacement), and due to their unique properties (compactness, higher lifetime, robustness, etc.), UV LEDs are also creating new applications that aren’t accessible to traditional UV lamps, i.e. apps that are miniaturized and portable.

“In 2012, several new UV LED based products were launched, including cell phone disinfection systems, nail gel curing systems and miniaturized counterfeit money detectors – and this is likely to continue!” explains announced Pars Mukish, Technology & Market Analyst, LED, at Yole Développement. “We estimate that if new UV LED applications continue emerging, the associated business could represent nearly $30M by 2017, which would increase the overall UV LED market size to nearly $300M,” he adds.

This market and technology analysis is a comprehensive review of every UV application (including a deep analysis of UV curing and UV disinfection purification), highlighting: UV working principle, market structure, UV LED market drivers and the challenges/characteristics associated, time-to-market, penetration rate & Total Accessible Market (TAM) for UV LEDs, and much more. Additionally, Yole Développement details the market metrics for traditional UV lamps and UV LEDs over the period 2012 – 2017, with splits by application for each technology (volume & market size, etc.).

The report also presents an analysis of emerging UV LED applications, detailing: short-term applications that have already begun emerging, UV LED Concept Knowledge theory, and more.

Once UVC LED performance is sufficient, the supply chain battle will intensify

The booming UVA/UVB market (mostly UV curing) has attracted several new players from different backgrounds over the past few years: traditional UV lamp suppliers, traditional UV system suppliers, pure UV LED system suppliers, and others. Each player employs a different strategy for capturing the maximum value created by this disruptive technology: horizontal integration (from UV lamp to UV LED), vertical integration (from UV LED device to UV LED system and vice-versa) or both (from UV lamp to UV LED system). We should point out that traditional UV lamp manufacturers are under the most pressure since they have to compensate for the waning lamp replacement market by diversifying their activities in higher supply chain levels.

In the end, every UV LED device/system manufacturer faces the same technical issues when it comes to integrating UV LEDs into a system (thermal management, optics, etc.), but experience is gained with each passing year. Once UVC LEDs achieve sufficient performance, there’s no way a manufacturer will allow the opportunity to pass them by. When that moment comes, the whole supply chain will become a mess due to an increasingly competitive environment, and consolidation will be necessary. Yole Développement analysis covers the UV LED industry, detailing: main players & associated strategies/business models, 2012 industrial value & supply chains, key players’ revenue and market share, and much more.

Bulk AlN vs. AlN on sapphire template: no current winner

AlN on sapphire templates are definitely the substrate of choice for UVA applications, as they provide the right mix between cost and performance. However, for UVC applications (and some UVB applications) the competition with bulk AlN substrate is strong, since such material could allow for improvement at the device level in terms of lifetime, efficiency (IQE and EQE) and power output.

Right now, the debate is still on. And even if bulk AlN’s superior performance has been demonstrated by companies such as Crystal-IS and HexaTech, the associated cost (2.5x to 4x more compared to AlN on Sapphire template) still remains an obstacle to developing UVC LEDs at a reasonable price.

Indeed, such a situation has already occurred with GaN substrate for visible LEDs. Bulk GaN was the ideal technical candidate, but cost was too high and sapphire was widely adopted instead. Will UV LEDs meet the same fate?

In addition to substrate issues for UVC LED development, epitaxy represents another challenge for increasing device performance. Such barriers will have to be surpassed before we see commercialized UV LED-based disinfection/purification systems.