Category Archives: LEDs

Standard light-emitting diodes (LEDs) used for home lighting can now transmit data more rapidly between electronic devices, thanks to new research from A*STAR.

Wireless visible light communication—also known as Li-Fi—relies on data signals encoded in incredibly brief pulses of light, far too quick for the eye to see. By supplementing congested Wi-Fi networks, Li-Fi could increase the capacity and speed of data transmission in offices, homes and public spaces. However, white LEDs typically use a phosphor coating to create a natural-looking white light, and the time it takes for the phosphor’s glow to fade away limits how quickly the LED can transmit data.

Previous solutions typically required installing new types of white LEDs. Instead, Ee Jin Teo of the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, and colleagues, have developed a Li-Fi receiver that overcomes these problems. Rather than using a conventional silicon photodiode to detect transmissions, they found that an indium gallium nitride (InGaN) LED is an effective data receiver.

Crucially, the team’s InGaN LEDs can detect only the ‘fast’ blue component of the phosphor’s white light, which fades in only one nanosecond, and not the ‘slow’ yellow component which takes more than 50 nanoseconds to fade away.

The researchers also gave their InGaN LED a textured surface, so that every square centimeter was covered with one billion V-shaped pits (see image), roughly 150 nanometers deep. These V-pits scatter incoming light, allowing the LED’s active layers to absorb more than twice as much blue light as an LED with a smooth surface.

Tests with a white LED showed that the InGaN LED with V-pits was a much better receiver than a standard silicon photodetector. “Using a silicon photodetector, the white LED can reach a switching speed of five megahertz—this typically means a data transmission rate of up to 100 megabits per second,” says Teo. “With our InGaN LED as a detector, this switching speed can be increased by four times, enabling faster data transmission rates from white LEDs.”

She notes, however, that since the receiver is only picking up part of the white LED’s light, it may reduce the range over which data can be transmitted.

“The next stage of our research,” she adds, “is to implement this concept into a dongle where the same LED can be used for transmission as well as detection of data.”

The III-N semiconductor family has attracted significant research attention over the last 25 years, resulting in intensive patenting activity, with a substantial increase during the past decade. More than 80,000 patents and patent applications related to III-N technology have been published worldwide since the early 1990s, announce KnowMade’s analysts. In such a dynamic III-N market, it is essential to understand the technology challenges and the market needs as well as to track related patents. Therefore, industrial companies need to anticipate changes, quickly detect business opportunities, mitigate risks, and make strategic decisions.

KnowMade, System Plus Consulting and Yole Développement, all part of Yole Group of Companies combine their expertise to develop relevant services and high-added value reports dedicated to the III-N technology. Based on technology changes, market evolution and IP strategy, the group is covering the overall GaN industry from LED, diode and laser to RF applications as well as other III-N materials. What is the status of the III-N semiconductor field? Yole Group of Companies proposes an overview of this industry.

III-nitride

The Technology Intelligence & IP strategy consulting company, KnowMade presents today a new service to follow the industry evolution and get a comprehensive understanding of the technical challenges and company’s market positioning through an IP approach. III-N Patent Watch service is monthly updates dedicated to the III-N related patents. With a useful Excel database presenting the latest patent applications, newly granted patents, expired or abandoned, patent transfers and patent litigation and more, the Patent Watch service is a powerful tool of strategic analysis to track competitors, partners and customers and identify new entrants. Patent Watch also allows companies to identify business opportunities as well as analyze the risks for business development.

Under this service, the technology intelligence and IP strategy consulting company is tracking the IP of more than 100 players involved in the III-N sector. The take-off of patenting activity took place in the 2000s with a first wave of patent publications. A second wave started in 2010 while first commercial GaN products, collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions emerged… III-N Patent Watch service from KnowMade help the companies to get a clear view of the market evolution, understand the IP strategies, and anticipate the industry changes and much more.

In parallel, System Plus Consulting and Yole Développement are strongly involved in the GaN industry, representing the biggest market of the III-N semiconductor materials family. Both companies propose a huge collection of reverse engineering and costing analyses and technical and market reports to highlight the technology innovations, markets adoption and give a quantification of these markets. According to Yole Développement, the global GaN market including LED, RF, Power and laser, was estimated to be worth US$16 Billion in 2016 and should reach US$20 Billion by 2020 at a 5% CAGR between 2016 and 2020. Indeed the overall GaN industry is today mainly boosted by newly emerging markets.

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890) today announced consolidated second-quarter revenues of KRW 267 billion. The rise in consolidated revenue came from strong sales in general lighting and strengths across all divisions within the company. The year over year rise in automotive lighting sales proved highly profitable for the company.

For the lighting division, while the differentiated product such as Wicop and Acrich increased in great proportion, automotive exterior lamps, e.g. daytime running lights and headlights continued their fast-paced growth. Automotive lighting is an area of high entry barriers due to high technology requirements and intellectual properties. Seoul expects to gain further market share with its differentiated Wicop technology. For the IT division, current customers expanding their product line-ups and new customer acquisitions were the main drivers for the rising sales figures.

To improve share price stability and increase shareholder value, Seoul announced plans to almost double its future dividends, based on the fact that its current level of pay-out is half the industry average and an increase up to the industry average is necessary. In addition, the company has sufficient cash generation capabilities since it has booked above 20% gains in EBITDA, leaving sufficient funds available for future investments. This was part of Seoul’s last quarter’s announcement to execute a KRW 10 billion share buyback program.

Company outlook

The company has provided revenue guidance of KRW 260 to 280 billion for the third quarter. The company plans to further strengthen its sales and marketing activities for its unique technologies including Acrich and Wicop and focus on acquiring more customers to reach new heights with respect to earnings.

The company’s Chief Financial Officer Sangbum Lee stated that SunLike, a new LED technology that produces light closely matching the spectrum of natural sunlight, unveiled at a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany in June, had been very well received with great interest from global customers. The company plans to launch additional new products during the remainder of the year and focus on protecting intellectual properties owned by the company.

SEMICON Southeast Asia will make its debut in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 8-10 at the new Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Centre (MITEC). The move from Penang to Kuala Lumpur will attract new participation from key electronics clusters within Malaysia’s key Central and Southern regions ─ and will provide greater access to the entire electronics manufacturing downstream supply chain. Professionals in the electronics industry should check their calendars and note the new location and date, whether exhibiting or attending SEMICON Southeast Asia 2018.

Organised by SEMI, the global not-for-profit association advancing the global electronics manufacturing supply chain, SEMICON Southeast Asia has a recent legacy in Malaysia.  In 2016, the conference was the largest ever held at SPICE Arena in Penang, with approximately 6,700 visitors and over 200 exhibitors. This marked a 15 percent growth from 2016, making the conference the largest in three years. The move to Kuala Lumpur, with the larger venue, will accommodate the expanding scope of the conference as well as the growing numbers of visitors and exhibitors.

The growth of SEMICON Southeast Asia can be attributed to the rapid expansion of Malaysia’s Electrical & Electronics (E&E) market, which contributes 44 percent of the total manufacturing output and 26 percent of the total GDP of the region. Additionally, the E&E sector creates over 2.1 million jobs throughout Southeast Asia – and is forecasted to generate approximately U.S. $382 billion in exports in 2018.

Key highlights of SEMICON Southeast 2018:

  • Exhibition with 300+ booths and over 200 exhibitors
  • New Failure Analysis and Future Electronics Manufacturing pavilions
  • Opening Ceremony with the Malaysia Minister of International Trade & Industry
  • Technical and business forums on Advanced Packaging, Future Technology, IC Failure Analysis, Future Electronics Manufacturing, and Product & System Test, and Market Briefing
  • VIP Networking Reception
  • Futura-X at World of IoT, which showcases new applications
  • Vietnam Investment Seminar, featuring presentations from Ho Chi Minh City Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA), ICDREC and Microlux

Sponsors for SEMICON Southeast Asia 2017 included 3M, Advantest, Air Products, AMEC, Applied Materials, ASE Group, Edwards, Evatec Process Systems, Global Foundaries, Hermes Epitek, Kulicke & Soffa, KLA Tencor, LAM Research, Merck, Mentor Graphics, NTT Data, Rudolph Technologies, SAS, Screen, SPTS, Tel, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Tibco, Toray, Xcerra, and Zeiss. Partners for the exposition include AEIS, INTI College Penang, investPenang, Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau, MATRADE, Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, MIDA, Malaysia Truly Asia, Penang Tourism, Singapore Manufacturing Federation, Samenta, Touch Display Research, VLSI Consultancy, and YOLE Development.

For more information on SEMICON Southeast Asia, please visit www.semiconsea.org or contact [email protected]

 

BY PETE SINGER, Editor-in-Chief

Do you know what’s coming? The semiconductor industry is evolving rapidly, driven by new demands from an increasingly diverse array of applications, including the IoT, 5G telecommunication, autonomous driving, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence/deep learning. Solid State Technology will be conducting a new survey will take aim at understanding what this evolution means to the semicon-ductor manufacturing industry supply chain in terms of the technology that will be needed.

IoT alone is expected to drive not only a huge demand for sensors, but a far more sophisticated cloud computing infrastructure that will employ the most advanced logic and memory chips available, including 7 and 5nm logic devices and 3D NAND. The survey will provide answer to questions such as:

  • What new materials are going into volume production and what kind of challenges do they create in terms of availability, handling and disposal?
  • How are fabs dealing with more complex devices structures such as FinFETs and 3D NAND which can create new pressures on process control, yield, and economics?
  • EUV lithography is expected to be in volume production for the 5nm node, if not sooner. What new opportunities and challenges will this create in the supply chain for process equipment, materials and inspection tools?
  • 200mm fabs are seeing a resurgence, in part due to the booming market for IoT devices and sensors. How will this impact the leading edge?
  • What kind of new challenges and opportunities exist in heterogeneous integration and advanced packaging?

The survey will be conducted across the entire Solid State Technology audience, which includes more than 180,000 engineering and management professionals in 181 countries. The report will be compiled by Solid State Technology editors, who will add valuable insights and interpretations based on decades of experience.

Stay tuned for the survey – we welcome your input!

Brewer Science announced this week that the company was selected by ON Semiconductor to receive the prestigious Perfect Quality Award. Dr. Andy Wong, Managing Director of Brewer Science Taiwan was presented the award by Mr. Keenan Evans, Senior Vice President Corporate Quality and Dr. Jeffrey Wincel, Chief Purchasing Officer and Vice President of Procurement, for ON Semiconductor at the 2017 Awards Dinner which was held on June 5 in Kuala Lumpur.

Undergoing a quarterly quality evaluation, Brewer Science received a perfect score all four quarters in 2016 earning the annual award. The receipt of this award highlights the commitment that Brewer Science has to enabling the success of its customers.

With more than 35 years of success, Brewer Science has been recognized globally for its expertise in advanced manufacturing, which has accelerated the timeline for product development.

Brewer Science is a developer and manufacturer of innovative materials and processes for the reliable fabrication of cutting-edge microdevices used in electronics such as tablet computers, smartphones, digital cameras, televisions, LED lighting and flexible technology products. With its headquarters in Rolla, Missouri, Brewer Science supports customers throughout the world with a service and distribution network in North America, Europe and Asia.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) announced today that CrayoNano AS, research company for ultraviolet short wavelength light emitting diodes (UV-C LEDs), has ordered the Propel Power Gallium Nitride (GaN) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) System. CrayoNano will use the system to grow semiconductor nanowires on graphene for water disinfection, air purification, food processing and life science applications.

UV-C LEDs are free of harmful mercury compared to typically 20-200 milligrams of mercury found in traditional UV lamps used in these applications. They also require minimal energy to operate and have longer life cycles compared to other purification and disinfection lighting methods. The value of the global market for UV-C LEDs used in sterilization and purification equipment is growing at a CAGR of 56% from US$28 million in 2016 to US$257 million in 2021, according to the 2016~2021 UV LED and IR LED Application Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce.

“We see enormous opportunity in our focused markets and we need superior MOCVD technology to accomplish our goals,” said Mr. Morten Froseth, Chief Executive Officer, CrayoNano. “Veeco’s Propel system offers us the unique opportunity to scale to 200 mm graphene wafer sizes while maintaining superior uniformity, low manufacturing costs and long run campaigns.”

Veeco’s Propel Power GaN MOCVD system is capable of processing single 200 mm wafers or smaller (e.g., two-inch) in batch mode. The system is based on Veeco’s TurboDisc® technology including the IsoFlange™ and SymmHeat™ breakthrough technologies, which provide homogeneous laminar flow and uniform temperature profile across each wafer, up to 200 mm in size.

“The Propel Power GaN system is the best choice to deposit advanced GaN-based structures, including complex semiconductor nanowires on graphene substrates with strict process demands,” said Peo Hansson, Ph.D., Veeco’s Senior Vice President, General Manager, MOCVD. “Our Propel system offers industry leading uniformity and process cycle time, therefore providing superior productivity compared to other technologies. As a global supplier of MOCVD systems, we look forward to supporting CrayoNano and their research activities.”

A major bottleneck in the commercialization of Micro LED displays is the mass transfer of micron-size LEDs to a display backplane. Research by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, reveals that many companies across industries worldwide have entered the Micro LED market and are in a race to develop methods for the mass transfer process. However, their solutions have yet to meet the standard for commercialization in terms of production output (in unit per hour, UPH), transfer yield and size of LED chips (i.e. Micro LED is technically defined as LEDs that are smaller than 100 microns). These research findings can be found in LEDinside’s 3Q17 Micro LED Next Generation Display Industry Member Report: Analyses on Mass Transfer and Inspection/Repair Technologies.

Currently, entrants in the Micro LED market are working towards the mass transfer of LEDs sized around 150 microns. LEDinside anticipates that displays and projection modules featuring 150-micron LEDs will be available on the market as early as 2018. When the mass transfer for LEDs of this size matures, market entrants will then invest in processes for making smaller products.

Development of mass transfer solutions faces seven major challenges

“Mass transfer is one of the four main stages in the manufacturing of Micro LED displays and has many highly difficult technological challenges,” said Simon Yang, assistant research manager of LEDinside. Yang pointed out that developing a cost-effective mass transfer solution depends on advances in seven key areas: precision of the equipment, transfer yield, manufacturing time, manufacturing technology, inspection method, rework and processing cost.

LED suppliers, semiconductor makers and companies across the display supply chain will have to work together to develop specification standards for materials, chips and fabrication equipment used in Micro LED production. Cross-industry collaboration is necessary since each industry has its own specification standards. Also, an extended period of R&D is needed to overcome the technological hurdles and integrate various fields of manufacturing.

Mass transfer has to achieve five-sigma level before mass production of Micro LED displays is feasible

Using Six Sigma as the model for determining the feasibility of mass production of Micro LED displays, LEDinside’s analysis indicates that the yield of the mass transfer process must reach the four-sigma level to make commercialization possible. However, the processing cost and the costs related to inspection and defect repair are still quite high even at the four-sigma level. To have commercially mature products with competitive processing cost available for market release, the mass transfer process has to reach the five-sigma level or above in transfer yield.

As progress on mass transfer solutions continues, true Micro LED products are expected to first enter applications such as indoor displays and wearables

Even though no major breakthroughs have been announced, many technology companies and research agencies worldwide continue to invest in the R&D of mass transfer process. Some of the well-known international enterprises and institutions working in this area are LuxVue, eLux, VueReal, X-Celeprint, CEA-Leti, SONY and OKI. Comparable Taiwan-based companies and organizations include PlayNitride, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Mikro Mesa and TSMC.

There are several types of mass transfer solutions under development. Choosing one of them will depend on various factors such as application markets, equipment capital, UPH and processing cost. Additionally, the expansion of manufacturing capacity and the raising of the yield rate are important to product development.

According to the latest developments, LEDinside believes that the markets for wearables (e.g. smartwatches and smart bracelets) and large indoor displays will first see Micro LED products (LEDs sized under 100 microns). Because mass transfer is technologically challenging, market entrants will initially use the existing wafer bonding equipment to build their solutions. Furthermore, each display application has its own pixel volume specifications, so market entrants will likely focus on products with low pixel volume requirements as to shorten the product development cycle.

Thin film transfer is another away of moving and arranging micron-size LEDs, and some market entrants are making a direct jump to developing solutions under this approach. However, perfecting thin film transfer will take longer time and more resources because equipment for this method will have to be designed, built and calibrated. Such an undertaking will also involve difficult manufacturing related issues.

Taiwan is the world’s largest consumer of semiconductor materials for the seventh consecutive year, bringing new opportunities in this increasingly critical sector.  SEMICON Taiwan (13-15 September), held at Taipei’s Nangang Exhibition Center, will feature over 1,700 booths and 700 exhibitors, and more than 45,000 attendees from the global electronics manufacturing supply chain. This year, in addition to the much-anticipated Executive Summit, themed “Transformation: A Key to Solution,” 27 international forums will be held, exploring major issues. Speakers from TSMC, UMC, Powerchip, NVIDIA, Micron and Amkor will share their insights on trends and strategies of the next-generation electronics industry.

According to the SEMI Material Market Data Report, Taiwan’s semiconductor materials consumption was US$9.8 billion in 2016 − the world’s largest. Global semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached US$13.1 billion in Q1 2017, exceeding the record quarterly high set in Q3 2000. These figures signal that application drivers will continue to drive the development of a supply chain feeding their manufacturing processes, equipment and materials.

“As SEMICON Taiwan celebrates its 22nd year, the exhibition area will be expanded to closely align with the four major trends of applications in the market, which include Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Manufacturing, Smart Transportation, and Smart Medtech,” said Terry Tsao, president of SEMI Taiwan. “This year, SEMICON Taiwan aims to increasingly connect the entire manufacturing ecosystem vertically and horizontally. In addition, it will provide an overview of market trends and leading technologies in the industry, with forums and business matching activities which will enable collaboration and new opportunities.”

Theme Pavilions and Region Pavilions Focus on Opportunities

In addition to the eight customary theme pavilions, five new pavilions are featured this year, and to promote cross-border collaboration, eight regional pavilions are offered. The 21 pavilions include:

Theme Pavilions
  • Automated Optical Inspection (AOI)
  • Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP)
  • High-Tech Facility
  • Materials
  • Precision Machinery
  • Secondary Market
  • Smart Manufacturing & Automation
  • Taiwan Localization

 
New Theme Pavilions
  • Circular Economy
  • Compound Semiconductor
  • Flexible Hybrid Electronics/Micro-LED
  • Laser
  • Opto Semiconductor

 
Regional Pavilions
  • Cross-Strait
  • German
  • Holland High-Tech
  • Korean
  • Kyushu (Japan)
  • Okinawa (Japan)
  • Silicon Europe
  • Singapore

Co-located with SEMICON Taiwan 2017, the SiP Global Summit will discuss three key system-in-package topics:

  • Package Innovation in Automotive
  • 3D IC, 3D interconnection for AI and High-end Computing
  • Innovative Embedded Substrate and Fan-Out Technology to Enable 3D-SiP Devices

Participants will share trends on 2.5D/3D IC technologies, and the evolution and challenges of embedded technologies and wafer level packaging.

This is the first year that the International Test Conference (ITC) will be co-located with SEMICON Taiwan 2017, also marking the first time that ITC is held in Asia. The conference will focus on the rapid growth of emerging applications like IoT and automotive electronics, and how testing technologies are challenged by rapid advancements of manufacturing processes, 3D stacking and SiP.

For more information about SEMICON Taiwan 2017, please visit www.semicontaiwan.org or follow us on Facebook.

By Ed Korczynski

Veeco Instruments (Veeco) recently announced that Veeco CNT—formerly known as Ultratech/Cambridge Nanotech—shipped its 500th Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) system to the North Carolina State University. The Veeco CNT Fiji G2 ALD system will enable the University to perform research for next-generation electronic devices including wearables and sensors. Veeco announced the overall acquisition of Ultratech on May 26 of this year. Executive technologists from Veeco discussed the evolution of ALD technology with Solid State Technology in an exclusive interview just prior to SEMICON West 2017.

Professor Roy Gordon from Harvard University been famous for decades as an innovator in the science of thin-film depositions, and people from his group were part of the founding of Cambridge Nanotech in 2003. Continuity from the original team has been maintained throughout the acquisitions, such that Veeco inherited a lot of process know-how along with the hardware technologies. “Cambridge Nanotech has had a broad history of working with ALD technology,” said Ganesh Sandaren, VP of Veeco CNT Applied Technology, “and that’s been a big advantage for us in working with some major researchers who really appreciate what we’re providing.”

The Figure shows that the company’s ALD chambers have evolved over time from simple single-wafer thermal ALD, to single-wafer plasma-enhance ALD (PEALD), to a large chamber targeting batch processing of up to ten 370 mm x 470 mm (Gen2.5) flat-panels for display applications, and a “large area” chamber capable of 1m x 1.2m substrates for photovoltaic and FPD applications. The large area chamber allows customers to do things like put down an encapsulating layer or an active layer such as buffer materials on CIGS-based solar cells.

Evolution of Atomic-Layer Deposition (ALD) technology starts with single-wafer thermal chambers, adds plasma energy, and then goes to batch processing for manufacturing. (Source: Veeco CNT).

Evolution of Atomic-Layer Deposition (ALD) technology starts with single-wafer thermal chambers, adds plasma energy, and then goes to batch processing for manufacturing. (Source: Veeco CNT).

“There a tendency to think that ALD only belongs in the high-k dielectric application for semiconductor devices, but there are many ongoing applications outside of IC fabs,” reminded Gerry Blumenstock, VP and GM of MBE business unit and Veeco CNT. “Customers who want to do heterogeneous materials develop can now have MBE and ALD in a single tool connected by a vacuum cluster configuration. We have customers today that do not want to break vacuum between processes.” Veeco’s MBE tools are mostly used for R&D, but are also reportedly used for HVM of laser chips.

To date, Cambridge Nanotech tools are generally used by R&D labs, but Veeco is open to the possibility of creating tools for High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM) if customers call for them. “Now that this is part of Veeco, we have the service infrastructure to be able to support end-users in high-volume manufacturing like any of the major OEMs,” said Blumenstock. “It’s an interesting future possibility, but in the next six months to a year we’re focusing on improving our offering to the R&D community. Still, we’re staying close to HVM because if a real opportunity arose there’s no reason we couldn’t get into it.”

In IC fab R&D today, some of the most challenging depositions are of Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAM) that are needed as part of the process-flow to enable Direct Self-Assembly (DSA) of patterns to extend optical lithography to the finest possible device features. SAM are typically created using ALD-type processes, and can also be used to enable selective ALD of more than a monolayer. Veeco-CNT is actively working on SAM in R&D with multiple customers now, and claim that major IC device manufacturers have purchased tools.

At the leading edge of materials R&D, researchers are always experimenting with new chemical precursors. “Having a precursor that has good vapor-pressure, and is reactive yet somewhat stable is what is needed,” reminded Sundaram. “People will generally chose a liquid over a solid precursor because of higher vapor pressure. There are many classes of precursors, and many are halogens but they have disadvantages in some reactions. So we see continue to move to metal-organic precursors, which tend to provide good vapor-pressures and not form undesirable byproducts.”