Category Archives: LEDs

Pixelligent Technologies, producer of PixClear, nanocrystal dispersions for demanding applications in the Solid State Lighting and Optical Coatings & Films markets, announced today that it closed $5.5 million in new equity funding. The funds will be used to support its accelerating customer growth in Asia, the EU and the U.S., and also to hire application engineers, product managers, manufacturing engineers, and staff scientists.

“During the past 12 months Pixelligent has seen a tremendous increase in demand for its nanocrystal dispersions, predominantly driven by the leading LED package manufacturers and the emerging OLED panel makers. Pixelligent’s high-index and transparent nanocrystals are becoming increasingly important in delivering more lumens per watt while also delivering cost efficiencies. This demand is coming from LED and OLED customers around the globe with the fastest growth being realized in Asia,” commented Craig Bandes, President & CEO, Pixelligent Technologies.

To support the growth coming out of the Asian market, Pixelligent appointed distributors and agents throughout Asia in 2014 and expects to do the same in the EU in 2015. Part of the proceeds from this round are being used to support the global expansion of Pixelligent’s marketing and distribution footprint.

This round included support from both a number of new family offices and existing investors. To date, Pixelligent has raised more than $23.0M in equity funding and has been awarded more than $10.0M in U.S. government grant programs.

Intel announces IoT platform


December 11, 2014

Intel Corporation today announced the Intel IoT Platform, an end-to-end reference model designed to unify and simplify connectivity and security for the Internet of Things (IoT). Intel also introduced integrated hardware and software products based on the new platform and new relationships with an expanded ecosystem of system integrators that promise to move IoT from infancy to mass deployment.

The new offerings and relationships will make it easier for solution providers to move IoT from pockets of pilots to mainstream deployments with a repeatable foundation of building blocks that can be customized for limitless solutions. Data will be unlocked faster to extract meaningful information and value for consumers and businesses.

For example, Rudin Management, a New York City real estate company who developed its own system software called DiBoss, has demonstrated that it can intelligently manage energy and other systems in its buildings. In one year, in one building, the company saved nearly $1 million to its bottom line, which would translate to a savings of 50 cents for every square foot of real estate it owns and manages.

“The power of IoT on our company’s business will have significant impact,” said John Gilbert, COO, Rudin Management. “We are a real estate company that used to dabble in technology, but now because of IoT, we are a technology company that dabbles in real estate.”

Horizontal Approach to IoT
The Intel IoT Platform helps deliver innovations to market faster, reducing solution complexity, and delivering actionable intelligence faster by offering a defined, repeatable foundation for how devices will connect and deliver trusted data to the cloud.

“With this platform we are continuing to expand our IoT product family beyond silicon with enhancements to our pre-integrated solutions that make IoT more accessible to solution providers,” said Doug Davis, vice president and general manager, Internet of Things Group, Intel. “IoT is a rapidly growing market but faces scalability hurdles. By simplifying the development process and making it easier to deploy new solutions that address market needs, we can help accelerate innovation.”

Expanding IoT Ecosystem
IoT has enormous potential to drive economic value and social change, but no company can do it alone. A robust ecosystem is needed to scale. To that end, Intel announced new solutions and relationships to boost the IoT ecosystem. Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, Capgemini, Dell, HCL, NTT DATA, SAP, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Wipro and others are joining together with Intel to develop and deploy solutions using their building blocks on the Intel IoT Platform. These solutions will help provide a repeatable foundation for IoT and free up developers’ time to focus on building solutions that expertly address specific customer pain points.

“Accenture is focused on helping clients realize the business value of the IoT as quickly and easily as possible,” said Mike Sutcliff, group chief executive, Accenture Digital. “Our combined capabilities can help us achieve that, and can also help clients get around some of the biggest roadblocks to IoT adoption by offering a simpler, faster way to roll out end to end IoT solutions than currently exists. Together, we can enable clients to define a clear value strategy for the IoT, and by using Accenture’s industry experience and digital assets to complement Intel’s IoT platform, we can create robust, end-to-end frameworks designed to overcome challenges associated with security, scalability and interoperability in IoT implementations.”

Integrated Hardware and Software
Intel is also delivering a roadmap of integrated hardware and software products to support the Intel IoT Platform. Spanning from edge devices out to the cloud, the roadmap includes API management and service creation software, edge-to-cloud connectivity and analytics, intelligent gateways, and a full line of scalable IA processors. Security is fundamental to the roadmap with both dedicated security products and security features embedded into hardware and software products.

Intel is evolving and optimizing this product roadmap to work seamlessly together with building blocks from the ecosystem to address the key challenges solution providers are facing when implementing IoT, including interoperability, security and connectivity.

The new products from Intel include:

  • Wind River Edge Management System provides cloud connectivity to facilitate device configuration, file transfers, data capture and rules-based data analysis and response. This pre-integrated technology stack enables customers to quickly build industry-specific IoT solutions and integrate disparate enterprise IT systems, utilizing API management. The cloud-based middleware runs from the embedded device up through the cloud to reduce time to market and total cost of ownership.
  • The latest Intel® IoT Gateway will integrate the Wind River Edge Management System via an available agent so gateways can be rapidly deployed, provisioned and managed throughout the life cycle of a system to reduce costs and time to market. In addition, the gateway includes performance improvements, support for lower cost memory options and a broader selection of available communication options. Intel IoT Gateways are currently available from seven ODMs with 13 more releasing systems in early 2015.
  • To get value out of the data generated in deployments using the Intel® IoT Platform, developers need a powerful yet easy-to-use approach to big data analytics. Intel is expanding its cloud analytics support for IoT Developer Kits to include the Intel® IoT Gateway series, in addition to Intel® Galileo boards and Intel® Edison Modules. Cloud analytics enables IoT application developers to detect trends and anomalies in time series at big data scale.
  • McAfee, a part of Intel Security, announced Enhanced Security for Intel IoT Gateways in support of the Intel IoT Platform. This pre-validated solution adds advanced security management for gateway devices.
  • Intel Security also announced that its Enhanced Privacy Identity (EPID) technology will be promoted to other silicon vendors. EPID has anonymity properties, in addition to hardware-enforced integrity, and is included in ISO and TCG standards. The EPID technology provides an on-ramp for other devices to securely connect to the Intel IoT Platform.
  • The Intel API and Traffic Management solution utilizes Intel Mashery solutions to enable creation of building blocks that make it easy to build new software applications. Customers of the Intel IoT Platform today have access to the Intel Mashery API management tools to create data APIs that can be shared internally, externally with partners or monetized as revenue-generating data services for customers.
INTEL_01_scalingiot-01

Intel is working to create a robust, scalable IoT ecosystem.

OCEASOFT, a global provider of sensor-based solutions for monitoring environmental parameters in the health, medical, life science and cold-chain/transport sectors, today announced a partnership with Internet of Things networking pioneer SIGFOX, along with a new line of Cobalt sensors that can transmit data directly to cloud storage without the need for traditional cellular or Wi-Fi service.

The new Cobalt S3 line of smart wireless sensors is designed to take advantage of SIGFOX’s global network that is dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT). It is designed exclusively for two-way, small-message device communication. This eliminates the cost and energy-use barriers to wide adoption of the IoT and greatly extends the battery and service life of connected devices.

Cobalt S3, slated to ship in January 2015, will offer all the proven monitoring capabilities of OCEASOFT’s existing Cobalt sensors, including temperature, humidity, ambient light and voltage, while providing always-on cloud connectivity via SIGFOX’s IoT network.

This approach greatly simplifies sensor installation and startup, extends battery life, and allows the sensors to maintain connectivity in isolated locations without local network or traditional cellular infrastructure. Local users can also access Cobalt S3 readings from smartphones and tablets using Bluetooth Smart.

“Working with SIGFOX to offer this new functionality to our customers is a big step forward for OCEASOFT and our commitment to provide unparalleled cloud-based access to mission-critical sensor data,” said OCEASOFT CEO Laurent Rousseau. “This is, to our knowledge, the first industrial IoT sensor-monitoring solution, and it opens new opportunities for our clients in many sectors. It’s of special interest in pollution and environmental monitoring applications, because it makes it possible to get constantly updated information from sensors in off-the-grid locations.”

OCEASOFT, which serves hundreds of clients worldwide, will initially offer Cobalt S3 in areas where SIGFOX has rolled out its network: France, Holland, the UK, and Spain, as well as several major European cities. Additional expansion is planned in Europe and the US, and plans call for extending coverage to ocean regions, which will enable new shipping and transport applications for the Cobalt S3 sensors.

Data generated by all Cobalt sensors is held securely in the OCEACloud data service, and can be instantly monitored and viewed via computer, or OCEASOFT’s ThermoClient Mobile app, which runs on iOS and Android phones and tablets.

Its wireless Cobalt sensor modules can be equipped with a wide range of internal and external sensor options, including temperature, humidity, CO2, differential pressure, ambient light and voltage. All provide continuously updated reporting, and meet demanding requirements for manufacturing, laboratory work, life sciences, cold chain/transport and other advanced industry sectors.

Gallium nitride (GaN) based devices are attractive for harsh environment electronics because of their high chemical and the mechanical stability of GaN itself that has a higher atomic displacement energy than other semiconductor materials.

However, degradation mechanisms of GaN device under radiation environments is not clear mainly because devices consist of many different types of semiconductors, such as p-type and n-type layers in light emitting diode (LED), and each layer has different hardness to radiation.

Now, researchers at the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS) and Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology, and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) describe the physical mechanism of an observed increase in the resistance of p-type GaN irradiated with 380 keV protons compared with n-type GaN.

This image depicts two-terminal resistance of p- and n-type GaN as a function of proton fluence. This inset shows schematic of sample, and lines are guide for eyes. Credit: Copyright (c) 2014 Toyohashi University of Technology.

This image depicts two-terminal resistance of p- and n-type GaN as a function of proton fluence. This inset shows schematic of sample, and lines are guide for eyes.
Credit: Copyright (c) 2014 Toyohashi University of Technology.

The GaN-based LED structure shown in Fig.1 was irradiated with protons and the resulting electrical properties measured. Notably, the electrodes to measure the resistance of the p-type and n-type layers were produced independently using the clean room facilities at EIIRIS and the ion implanter in JAEA.

The two terminal resistance of the n-type GaN did not vary from its initial value after 1×1014 cm-2 proton irradiation, and remained of the same order after 1×1015 cm-2 protons. However, a clear increase of the resistance was found in the p-type GaN after 1×1014 cm-2 irradiation. The resistance increased further by six orders of magnitude after 1×1015 cm-2.

The observed increase of the resistance in p-type GaN is explained as being due to the lower initial carrier density than in n-type GaN due to a lack of efficient p-type doping technology for GaN, which is a key for the realization of novel devices operable in harsh environments.

Silicon Image, a provider of multimedia connectivity solutions and services, announced that Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has made a $7 million strategic investment in Silicon Image’s new subsidiary, Qterics, for a 7% ownership interest.

Qterics will be focused on enabling a wide variety of solutions and services for Internet-enabled consumer products including TVs, mobile handsets, tablets, routers, home automation devices, white goods and more. Qterics is comprised of the UpdateLogic services business combined with other related Silicon Image assets, including software and other intellectual property (IP). Current UpdateLogic General Manager, Kurt Thielen, will assume the role of President of Qterics.

“Qualcomm is committed to enabling technologies that support our ‘Internet of Everything’ initiatives. Our strategic investment in Qterics further promotes IoE advancements, including the development of solutions utilizing the AllJoyn open source software framework of the AllSeen Alliance for a truly interoperable Internet of Everything,” said Michael Wallace, SVP and General Manager, Qualcomm Internet Services.

In addition to the investment, Qualcomm and Silicon Image will explore opportunities to collaborate on promoting the AllJoyn open source software framework and developing new Internet of Everything (IoE) services.

“Qterics provides a unique offering for ‘Internet of Everything’ devices that has been largely overlooked by other players in the IoE space,” said Camillo Martino, chief executive officer of Silicon Image, Inc. “As the Internet of Everything grows, the task of providing device management services to these connected devices in a secure manner becomes exponentially more difficult. Qterics solves these challenges in a very elegant way by leveraging its highly scalable worldwide computing resources in the cloud.”

The vast expansion of Internet-enabled devices enables new applications and services, but only if the devices can be properly managed. UpdateLogic (now Qterics) is a leading provider of device management and remote access services already deployed in tens of millions of consumer electronics devices such as TVs, set-top-boxes, and tablets – which form a significant part of the Internet of Everything today.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $29.7 billion for the month of October 2014, an increase of 9.6 percent from the October 2013 total of $27.1 billion and an uptick of 1.5 percent compared to last month’s total of $29.2 billion.

Sales in the Americas increased 12.2 percent year-over-year in October, leading all regions. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average. Additionally, a new WSTS industry forecast projects substantial growth for 2014 and moderate growth for 2015 and 2016.

“Year-over-year global semiconductor sales increased for the eighteenth straight month in October, and the industry is well-positioned for a strong close to 2014,” said Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “Sales continue to be strong across the board, with nearly all regions and product categories exhibiting increases. We expect nearly double-digit growth in 2014, followed by moderate growth in 2015 and 2016.”

Regionally, sequential monthly sales increased in the Americas (5.8 percent) and remained roughly flat in Asia Pacific (up 0.7 percent), Europe (down 0.1 percent), and Japan (down 0.6 percent). Compared to October 2013, sales increased in the Americas (12.2 percent) as noted above, Asia Pacific (12.1 percent), and Europe(5.2 percent), but decreased in Japan (-3 percent).

Additionally, SIA today endorsed the WSTS Autumn 2014 global semiconductor sales forecast, which projects the industry’s worldwide sales will reach $333.2 billion in 2014, a 9 percent increase from the 2013 sales total. WSTS predicts year-over-year increases for 2014 in Asia Pacific (11.4 percent), Europe (8.7 percent), the Americas (6.9 percent), and Japan (1.3 percent).

Beyond 2014, the industry is expected to grow steadily and moderately across all regions, according to the WSTS forecast. WSTS predicts 3.4 percent growth globally for 2015 ($344.5 billion in total sales) and 3.1 percent growth for 2016 ($355.3 billion). WSTS tabulates its semi-annual industry forecast by convening an extensive group of global semiconductor companies that provide accurate and timely indicators of semiconductor trends.

October 2014
Billions
Month-to-Month Sales
Market Last Month Current Month % Change
Americas 6.06 6.41 5.8%
Europe 3.21 3.21 -0.1%
Japan 3.03 3.01 -0.6%
Asia Pacific 16.93 17.05 0.7%
Total 29.23 29.69 1.5%
Year-to-Year Sales
Market Last Year Current Month % Change
Americas 5.71 6.41 12.2%
Europe 3.05 3.21 5.2%
Japan 3.11 3.01 -3.0%
Asia Pacific 15.22 17.05 12.1%
Total 27.09 29.69 9.6%
Three-Month-Moving Average Sales
Market May/Jun/Jul Aug/Sep/Oct % Change
Americas 5.47 6.41 17.2%
Europe 3.24 3.21 -1.1%
Japan 3.04 3.01 -0.9%
Asia Pacific 16.38 17.05 4.1%
Total 28.13 29.69 5.5%

WSTS Autumn 2014 Forecast

Autumn 2014 Amounts in US$M Year on Year Growth in %
2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016
Americas 61,496 65,763 69,274 71,432 13.1 6.9 5.3 3.1
Europe 34,883 37,923 38,491 39,732 5.2 8.7 1.5 3.2
Japan 34,795 35,239 35,133 35,452 15.2 1.3 -0.3 0.9
Asia Pacific 174,410 194,226 201,648 208,656 7.0 11.4 3.8 3.5
Total World – $M 305,584 333,151 344,547 355,272 4.8 9.0 3.4 3.1
Discrete Semiconductors 18,201 20,441 21,347 21,980 -4.9 12.3 4.4 3.0
Optoelectronics 27,571 29,498 30,958 31,983 5.3 7.0 4.9 3.3
Sensors 8,036 8,627 9,151 9,624 0.3 7.4 6.1 5.2
Integrated Circuits 251,776 274,586 283,090 291,685 5.7 9.1 3.1 3.0
Analog 40,117 44,217 47,429 49,175 2.1 10.2 7.3 3.7
Micro 58,688 62,211 63,144 64,240 -2.6 6.0 1.5 1.7
Logic 85,928 89,547 91,488 93,927 5.2 4.2 2.2 2.7
Memory 67,043 78,611 81,029 84,343 17.6 17.3 3.1 4.1
Total Products – $M 305,584 333,151 344,547 355,272 4.8 9.0 3.4 3.1

The semiconductor industry directly employs nearly a quarter of a million people in the United States. In 2013, U.S. semiconductor company sales totaled $155 billion, and semiconductors make the global trillion dollar electronics industry possible. Founded in 1977 by five microelectronics pioneers, SIA unites companies that account for 80 percent of America’s semiconductor production.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. and Spansion, Inc. this week announced a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock, tax-free transaction valued at approximately $4 billion. The post-merger company will generate more than $2 billion in revenue annually.

“This merger represents the combination of two smart, profitable, passionately entrepreneurial companies that are No. 1 in their respective memory markets and have successfully diversified into embedded processing,” said Rodgers, Cypress’s founding president and CEO. “Our combined company will be a leading provider of embedded MCUs and specialized memories. We will also have extraordinary opportunities for EPS accretion due to the synergy in virtually every area of our enterprises.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Spansion shareholders will receive 2.457 Cypress shares for each Spansion share they own. The shareholders of each company will own approximately 50 percent of the post-merger company. The company will have an eight-person board of directors consisting of four Cypress directors, including T.J. Rodgers and Eric Benhamou, and four Spansion directors, including John Kispert and Ray Bingham, the Spansion chairman, who will serve as the non-executive chairman of the combined company, which will be headquartered in San Jose, California and called Cypress Semiconductor Corporation.

The merger is expected to achieve more than $135 million in cost synergies on an annualized basis within three years and to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings within the first full year after the transaction closes. The combined company will continue to pay $0.11per share in quarterly dividends to shareholders.

“Bringing together these high-performing organizations creates operating efficiencies and economies of scale, and will deliver maximum value for our shareholders, new opportunities for employees and an improved experience for our customers,” said John Kispert, CEO of Spansion. “With unparalleled expertise, global reach in markets like Japan and market-leading products for automotive, IoT, industrial and communications markets, the new company is well positioned to deliver best-of-breed solutions and execute on our long-term vision of adding value through embedded system-on-chip solutions.”

The closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions, including approval by Cypress and Spansion stockholders and review by regulators in the U.S., Germany and China. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. Cypress and Spansion expect the deal to close in the first half of 2015.

Jefferies LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisors and Fenwick & West and Latham & Watkins acted as legal counsel to Spansion. Qatalyst Partners acted as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati acted as legal counsel to Cypress.

SEMI projects that worldwide sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment will increase 19.3 percent to $38.0 billion in 2014, according to the SEMI Year-end Forecast, released today at the annual SEMICON Japan exposition.  In 2015, strong positive growth is expected to continue, resulting in a global market increase of 15.2 percent before moderating in 2016.

The SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts that wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is anticipated to increase 17.8 percent in 2014 to total $29.9 billion. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will increase by 30.6 percent to $3.0 billion in 2014. The market for semiconductor test equipment is forecast to increase by 26.5 percent, reaching $3.4 billion this year. The “Other Front End” category (fab facilities, mask/reticle, and wafer manufacturing equipment) is expected to increase 14.8 percent in 2014.

For 2014, Taiwan, North America, and South Korea remain the largest spending regions.  In terms of percentage growth, SEMI forecasts that in 2015, Europe will reach equipment sales of $3.9 billion (47.9 percent increase over 2014), Taiwan will reach $12.3 billion (28.1 percent increase), and South Korea sales will hit $8.0 billion (25.0 percent increase).

The following results are given in terms of market size in billions of U.S. dollars:

The Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) from SEMI provides comprehensive market data for the global semiconductor equipment market.

SEMI is the global industry association serving the nano- and microelectronics manufacturing supply chains.

Over 500 exhibiting companies from 20 countries and more than 40,000 attendees are expected to attend SEMICON Korea 2015, to be held February 4-6 at COEX in Seoul. Keynotes include ES Jung, EVP and GM, Samsung Electronics, on “Breaking the Limits of Semiconductor Technology through Open Collaboration,” Wen-Hann Wang, corporate VP at Intel, on “Inventing a Better Future: Intelligence Everywhere,” and Maciej Kranz, VP at Cisco, on “Internet of Everything: Turning Vision into Reality.” SEMICON Korea will bring together global leaders in semiconductor manufacturing to share critical new technological development and business opportunities. The event is co-located with LED Korea 2015, the largest exhibition in the world for LED manufacturing. Complimentary registration opens today.

Some of the largest projects driving the Korean equipment market this year include, but are not limited to, Samsung’s Line 16 and S1 line, and Hynix’s M10 and M11. In 2014, front-end fab equipment spending in Korea is expected to reach about $6 billion with another $7-8 billion forecast for 2015. In 2015, for fab equipment, Korea is forecast to outspend all regions except one.

Highlights include:

  • Semiconductor Technology Symposium (STS): With the theme “Breaking through the Limitations of Semiconductor Technology,” STS addresses the global trends and new technologies of the semiconductor manufacturing process, including: Lithography; Process Technology; Device Technology; Etching Technology; CMP Technology; Packaging; and Advanced Metrology and Inspection.
  • Supplier Search Program: Where global leading device makers like Intel, SONY and TI find new local business partners.
  • OEM Supplier Search Meeting: Local parts and components companies to pursue new business opportunities with top level OEMs.
  • Presidents Reception: Attracts more than 340 participants including industry leaders, decision makers and VIPs.
  • Standards: STEP: Equipment Data Acquisition, EDA; and technical chapter meetings (IC; FPD Metrology)

Premier sponsors of SEMICON Korea 2015 include: Lam Research, Applied Materials, Wonik, Advantest, TEL, Hanmi Semiconductor, Exicon, ASE, Hitachi High Technologies and PSK.

SEMICON Korea 2015 is the leading semiconductor technology event to explore the latest market trends and future developments for technology, featuring extensive technical forums, business programs and standards programs. A complete schedule of programs is available here: www.semiconkorea.org/en/Programs/ProgramCalendar

In conjunction with SEMICON Korea, LED Korea 2015 will hold a three-day technical conference to present the latest technical perspectives on LED manufacturing and applications.

Online pre-registration for visitors and programs is now in process for free entrance to SEMICON Korea 2015 and LED Korea 2015. For registration, please visit www.semiconkorea.org  and www.led-korea.org.

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today announced that it has established the NILPhotonics Competence Center, which is designed to assist customers in leveraging EVG’s suite of nanoimprint lithography (NIL) solutions to enable new and enhanced products and applications in the field of photonics. These include light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaic (PV) cells, where NIL-enabled photonic structures can improve light extraction and light capturing, respectively, as well as laser diodes, where photonic structures enable the tailoring of device characteristics to improve performance. The NILPhotonics Competence Center includes dedicated, global process teams, pilot-line production facilities and services at its cleanrooms at EVG’s headquarters in Austria as well as its subsidiaries in North America and Japan.

nanoimprint

“Nanoimprint lithography is an enabling technology for the design and manufacture of all kinds of photonic structures, which can significantly shorten time to market and lower cost of production compared to conventional technologies, such as electron-beam writing and stepper systems for optical lithography,” stated Markus Wimplinger, corporate technology development and IP director at EV Group. “For example, compared with conventional lithography, our full-wafer nanoimprinting technology can pattern true three-dimensional structures in the sub-micron to nano-range as well as features as small as 20nm, which opens up a range of new photonic applications. With our NILPhotonics Competence Center, we’re not just providing our customers with the most advanced NIL systems; we’re also working closely with them during product development to help them determine how best to optimize their product designs and processes to take advantage of the resolution and cost-of-ownership benefits that NIL brings.”

The new NILPhotonics Competence Center builds on more than 15 years of NIL experience at EVG with the largest installed base of NIL systems worldwide. EVG’s NIL equipment portfolio includes the recently introduced EVG7200 UV-NIL system, which supports EVG’s next-generation SmartNIL large-area soft NIL process for high-volume manufacturing. The EVG7200 with SmartNIL provides unmatched throughput and cost-of-ownership advantages over competing NIL approaches.