Category Archives: LEDs

SEMI today announced the keynotes for the 2nd Vietnam Semiconductor Strategy Summit(September 16-17), an executive conference focused on Vietnam’’s growing role in the global semiconductor industry. The executive event held at the InterContinental Asiana Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, brings together key decision-makers shaping the future of the industry in Vietnam, and international participants from major companies in the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain.  Keynote presentations include Sherry Boger, Vietnam general manager, Intel Corporation, and Pham B Tuan, CNS, who will both provide their perspectives on current and future industry development in Vietnam.

In total for 2014 and 2015, SEMI estimates a spending of almost $4 billion on front-end and back-end equipment in the Southeast Asia region, and another $13 billion in spending on materials including $3 billion on fab related materials. In addition, according to the SEMI World Fab Forecast, Southeast Asia is home to over 35 production fabs covering Foundry, Compound Semiconductors, MEMS, Power, LED, and other devices. Specific to backend manufacturing, Gartner reports that the Southeast Asia microelectronics manufacturing market accounts for 27 percent of the world’s assembly, packaging, and test production square footage.

At this year’s summit, executives from leading microelectronics companies —and semiconductor equipment and materials companies — will meet with delegates representing Vietnamese government, academia, research, and industry to explore and discuss the key strategies and opportunities in the growing Vietnam semiconductor industry. The event includes:

  • Market Overviews: Presentations by Bettina Weiss, SEMI Headquarters and Clark Tseng, SEMI Taiwan
  • Semiconductor Manufacturing in Vietnam: Presentations by: Sherry Boger, Intel; Pham B Tuan, CNS; Solomon Ng, STMicroelectronics; Todd Curtis, Fab-Finder; and Cor Claeys, imec
  • Two Panel Discussions: Investor Perspectives (moderated by Eduard Hoeberichts, FabMax) and Education and Workforce Development (moderated by Bettina Weiss, SEMI)
  • Tabletop exhibition and discussions

“Vietnam is committed to the global microelectronics world and moving beyond backend,” said Kai Fai Ng, president SEMI Southeast Asia. As the first major new fab project in Vietnam, many challenges still remain, from infrastructure and process technology to device design and IP creation and protection. The SEMI Vietnam event provides a key platform to advance important discussions and decision-making in this promising and growing market.”

The connections and relationships forged during the Summit are expected to drive further growth over the next decade and beyond. Global stakeholders with an interest in Vietnam’’s semiconductor market, including those from the equipment, materials, and device and R&D communities, are invited to share their vision, insights and outlook with Vietnam’s local business, technology and educational communities.

The 2nd SEMI Vietnam Semiconductor Strategy Summit is organized by SEMI and co-organized by Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) and Ho Chi Minh City Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA).  The premier sponsor is FabMax. Individual registration costs US$750 for SEMI members and US$950 for non-members. Registration and additional information is available online at www.semi.org/vietnam.

Seoul Semiconductor announced the release of a new LED light engine with Acrich 3 technology on August 27, 2014. The new light engine is comprised of an LED module with Acrich MJT 5050 series LED, Acrich3 IC technology, and a heat sink and secondary optics. The Acrich light engine does not require a complex AC/DC converter and can be operated directly from the AC mains which simplifies designs, reduces component count and improves on the reliability of the luminaire. This new 30W Acrich light engine delivers a typical luminous flux of 3000 lumens at 120VAC operation at 5000K corresponding to a typical efficiency of 100 lumens per watt. When operated in a power compensation mode the Acrich3 technology can adapt to variations in the line-voltage as great as 20% and still deliver power-level regulation within 5% to ensure uniformity of the light output.

The new Acrich3 solution enables smart lighting control systems where the Acrich3 technology can interface through a wide variety of wireless networks such as IEEE 802.15.4, WiFi, and Bluetooth to control dimming, and further optimize on energy savings. This IP67 light engine is available in various color temperatures and beam patterns.

Seoul Semiconductor Executive Vice President of Lighting sales division, Jay Kim has stated that, “The payback period for streetlights can be significantly reduced with this new Acrich light engine. By eliminating AC/DC converters in streetlights, maintenance costs can be lowered and reliability can be improved without compromising on price, quality and energy savings to dramatically improve the lighting experience for customers. This product will enable the market to come up with the next generation of high quality, energy efficient and competitively priced LED lamps.”

Read more: Seoul Semiconductor moves in to the Top 5 global LED manufacturers

SemiLEDs Corporation, a global provider of vertical LED technology solutions, today announced sampling and volume availability of the first in its new Enhanced FlipChip, or EF, LED series.

The series launches with the EF-B40, a blue 40-mil flip chip that simplifies the packaging and integration process by eliminating wire-bonding while increasing both lumen-density and decreasing the lumen-per-dollar value proposition while enabling packagers to use standard surface mount assembly techniques.

“SemiLEDs’ unique flip chip approach combines a sapphire front surface and proprietary back side architecture that provides the electrical contacts exclusively on the bottom of the chip, making it fully compatible with chip-on-board (COB) surface mount processes,” Mark Tuttle, General Manager for SemiLEDs Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., explained. “Eliminating wire-bonds also lowers the profile of the chips, and allows them to be placed more closely together, which results in higher lumen-density and reduces the complexity of the optics. The EF series is an ideal platform for COB assemblies, or really for any approach that calls for either secondary optic design or high-density mounting.”

Flip chip construction presents what was originally the bottom sapphire layer in a horizontal LED structure as the top surface of the chip. By “flipping” the chip in this manner, the electrical pads become part of the bottom of the device rather than running bonding wires from the top surface of the chip down to the package or board. Not only are delicate areas of the chip protected by the clear sapphire layer, but by eliminating wire bonds, arguably the most failure-prone part of any LED assembly, both reliability and overall design flexibility of the packaged device are increased. In addition, individual chips may be more closely mounted, opening the door to more densely packed arrays of LED chips. The nearly continuous light emitting surface, unbroken by gaps, bonding wires, or top electrodes, can greatly simplify the mounting and mixing requirements of the optics, producing smooth lighting effects. In addition, in a flip chip structure, the heat-generating junction is positioned adjacent to the substrate, increasing thermal conductivity and allowing improved device performance at high currents.

The EF-B40 is available in wavelengths from 445 to 460nm, with outputs of up to 300 lumens at 1A as a packaged emitter. The SAC compatible chips are offered with standard Au bonding pads, or are available with an AuSn option to further reduce thermal resistance and add to system reliability. A 140-degree viewing angle makes the EF ideal for general and commercial lighting, while the lowered profile addresses the application needs of LED backlight, smartphone flash or LED projector.

SemiLEDs’ EF series of LED chips are RoHS compliant with production quantities available now.

Scientists have developed what they believe is the thinnest-possible semiconductor, a new class of nanoscale materials made in sheets only three atoms thick.

As seen under an optical microscope, the heterostructures have a triangular shape. The two different monolayer semiconductors can be recognized through their different colors.

The University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that two of these single-layer semiconductor materials can be connected in an atomically seamless fashion known as a heterojunction. This result could be the basis for next-generation flexible and transparent computing, better light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, and solar technologies.

As seen under an optical microscope, the heterostructures have a triangular shape. The two different monolayer semiconductors can be recognized through their different colors. Photo credit: U of Washington

As seen under an optical microscope, the heterostructures have a triangular shape. The two different monolayer semiconductors can be recognized through their different colors. Photo credit: U of Washington

“Heterojunctions are fundamental elements of electronic and photonic devices,” said senior author Xiaodong Xu, a UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering and of physics. “Our experimental demonstration of such junctions between two-dimensional materials should enable new kinds of transistors, LEDs, nanolasers, and solar cells to be developed for highly integrated electronic and optical circuits within a single atomic plane.”

The research was published online this week in Nature Materials.

The researchers discovered that two flat semiconductor materials can be connected edge-to-edge with crystalline perfection. They worked with two single-layer, or monolayer, materials – molybdenum diselenide and tungsten diselenide – that have very similar structures, which was key to creating the composite two-dimensional semiconductor.

Collaborators from the electron microscopy center at the University of Warwick in England found that all the atoms in both materials formed a single honeycomb lattice structure, without any distortions or discontinuities. This provides the strongest possible link between two single-layer materials, necessary for flexible devices. Within the same family of materials it is feasible that researchers could bond other pairs together in the same way.

A high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) image shows the lattice structure of the heterojunctions in atomic precision. Photo credit: U of Warwick

A high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) image shows the lattice structure of the heterojunctions in atomic precision. Photo credit: U of Warwick

The researchers created the junctions in a small furnace at the UW. First, they inserted a powder mixture of the two materials into a chamber heated to 900 degrees Celsius (1,652 F). Hydrogen gas was then passed through the chamber and the evaporated atoms from one of the materials were carried toward a cooler region of the tube and deposited as single-layer crystals in the shape of triangles.

After a while, evaporated atoms from the second material then attached to the edges of the triangle to create a seamless semiconducting heterojunction.

“This is a scalable technique,” said Sanfeng Wu, a UW doctoral student in physics and one of the lead authors. “Because the materials have different properties, they evaporate and separate at different times automatically. The second material forms around the first triangle that just previously formed. That’s why these lattices are so beautifully connected.”

With a larger furnace, it would be possible to mass-produce sheets of these semiconductor heterostructures, the researchers said. On a small scale, it takes about five minutes to grow the crystals, with up to two hours of heating and cooling time.

“We are very excited about the new science and engineering opportunities provided by these novel structures,” said senior author David Cobden, a UW professor of physics. “In the future, combinations of two-dimensional materials may be integrated together in this way to form all kinds of interesting electronic structures such as in-plane quantum wells and quantum wires, superlattices, fully functioning transistors, and even complete electronic circuits.”

This photoluminescence intensity map shows a typical piece of the lateral heterostructures. The junction region produces an enhanced light emission, indicating its application potential in optoelectronics. Photo credit: U of Washington

This photoluminescence intensity map shows a typical piece of the lateral heterostructures. The junction region produces an enhanced light emission, indicating its application potential in optoelectronics. Photo credit: U of Washington

The researchers have already demonstrated that the junction interacts with light much more strongly than the rest of the monolayer, which is encouraging for optoelectric and photonic applications like solar cells.

Other co-authors are Chunming Huang and Pasqual Rivera of UW physics; Ana Sanchez, Richard Beanland and Jonathan Peters at the University of Warwick; Jason Ross of UW materials science and engineering; and Wang Yao, a theoretical physicist of the University of Hong Kong.

This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the UW’s Clean Energy Institute, the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong, the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong, the Croucher Foundation, the Science City Research Alliance and the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s Strategic Development Fund.

The Plastics Electronics Conference and Exposition will co-locate with SEMICON Europa. Plastic Electronics 2014 (PE 2014) is themed “Enabling Applications beyond Limits in Electronics” and will be held at Alpexpo in Grenoble on 7-9 October. PE2014 is an ideal forum to meet technology leaders and professionals from industry, academia, and research organizations focused on developing the next-generation of plastic and organic electronics.

According to analysts, the plastics electronics market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $13 billion by 2020 driven by increasing applications in the semiconductor and electronics market. Applications like large area displays, solar panels and printed electronics are now responsible for a substantial portion of the PE market, and emerging applications like OLED, thin-film batteries, and sensors are emerging growth opportunities.

Manufacturability of Plastic Electronics has made major steps in the last year, moving from research level to industrial relevance.  Still, numerous barriers to commercialization must be overcome — from material development to integration, manufacturing, processing, and assembly issues. PE2014 covers these issues currently driving development and impeding progress.

Plastic electronics’ imminent transition from the R&D phase to the industrialization stage is highlighted by several keynote presentations at the PE2014 (www.plastic-electronics.org).  Fiddian Warman, founder and managing director, SODA, will present on, “How design type approaches can be effective in facilitating innovative technological development and open up new markets and opportunities,” and John Heitzinger, president, Soligie, Inc., will delve into “Advances in Additive Manufacturing of Electronics.”

The exposition and conference cover the entire span of Plastic Electronics —Hybrid and Heterogeneous Integration; Organic Electronics; OLEDs, Displays, and Lighting; and Flexible Photovoltaics — offering the latest developments for engineers, material experts, manufacturing professionals and industry strategists. Highlights are:

  • Business Case session —  speakers from imec, ISORG, Nokia, Philips Research, Plastic Logic, SODA, STMicroelectronics, Valeo, and Yole Developpement.
  • Manufacturing Panel Discussion on “Building a Leadership Position in PE” — panelists from Bosch, Cambridge, CEA, Joanneum Research, and Ynvisible.
  • Manufacturing Session — presenters from Applied Materials, Beneque, CEA Tech, Dupont Teijin Films UK Ltd, Joanneum Research, NovaCentrix, Roth and Rau B.V.,  Soligie, Universal Laser Systems, Ynvisible — as well as Cambridge University, the European Commission, and VTT (Finland).
  • Technologies/Materials Session — features speakers from Arkema, Arizona State University, CEA-LITEN, Corning, Fraunhofer, imec, and Sunchon National University.

The Plastic Electronics Exhibition & Conference 2014 is hosted by SEMI and representatives of leading industry companies, research centers and institutes. SEMI focuses its activities on roadmaps, standardization, research and statistics, conferences, exhibitions and public policy worldwide.  For more information on the conference, presenters, topics, events and exhibitors, visit www.plastic-electronics.org.

During the three days of SEMICON Europa 2014 (www.semiconeuropa.org), more than 8,000 visitors from all over the world are expected at the trade fair. The combination of SEMICON Europa with Plastic Electronics offers visitors and exhibitors excellent synergies and opportunities.

When ClassOne Technology introduced its new Solstice electroplating systems at SEMICON West last month they didn’t expect to actually sell their first production unit off the show floor, but that’s what happened. The company reported that the Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) at the University of Washington purchased the Solstice Model LT plating tool for installation at its facility in Seattle, Washington. The WNF is a national user center that is a part of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN). WNF is a full-service micro and nanotechnology user facility and the largest public-access fabrication center in the Pacific Northwest. It provides 15,000 sq ft of laboratories, cleanrooms, and user spaces focused on enabling basic and applied research, advanced R&D and prototype production.

“The Solstice LT was exactly what we’ve been looking for,” said Michael Khbeis, Ph.D., Associate Director of the WNF. “It’s a very flexible development tool with the capabilities we need to serve our customers and perform a range of advanced processes — Through Silicon Via (TSV) plating and MEMS are particularly important to us. Plus, the LT price was within our budget, so we made our purchase commitment right there at the show.”

“And WNF wasn’t the only one,” noted Kevin Witt, ClassOne’s VP of Technology. “The customer interest in Solstice at SEMICON was unprecedented in my experience. We had high-level discussions with more than a dozen serious potential buyers, and many of those look like they will turn into purchase orders in the coming weeks.”

To date, ClassOne has announced two Solstice models: The semi-automated Solstice LT features 1 or 2 chambers for development and pilot lines and starts at $350k. The fully-automated, cassette-to-cassette Solstice S8 provides up to 8 process chambers, throughputs up to 75 wph and starts at $1M — which is less than half the cost of equivalent 300mm tools from the large manufacturers.

ClassOne Technology, founded in early 2013, produces new wet processing tools; and its stated mission is to offer more affordable alternatives to the large systems from larger equipment manufacturers. The company specifically focuses on the needs of cost-conscious smaller-substrate users in emerging technologies such as MEMS, LEDs, Power Devices, RF Communications, Interposers, Photonics and Microfluidics. In addition to electroplating systems, ClassOne Technology also provides advanced Spin Rinse Dryers (SRDs), Spray Solvent Tools (SSTs) and more.

“We’ve been very gratified by the overwhelming customer response we received at SEMICON,” said Byron Exarcos, President of ClassOne. “We describe what we do as ‘advanced wet processing tools for the rest of us,’ and it’s evident that users are really understanding — and appreciating — the concept.”

Electro Scientific Industries, Inc., a supplier of innovative laser-based manufacturing solutions for the microtechnology industry, today announced that Richard H. Wills, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tektronix, Inc., was appointed to the company’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Wills was President and CEO of Tektronix from 2000 until 2008, and its Chairman from 2001 through 2008. He joined Tektronix in 1979 and served in a range of marketing, product development and management roles, including President of the Measurement Business and President of Regional Operations for both Europe and the Americas. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s degree in computer systems from Linfield College.

“Rick brings a wealth of technology and management experience, and his marketing background will be of great benefit as we transform ESI into a more market-focused organization. We look forward to benefiting from Rick’s insight and leadership,” said Edward C. Grady, Chief Executive Officer of ESI.

“I am honored to join the ESI board and to work with this excellent team,” Wills said. “ESI has been a leader in laser technology for many years, and I look forward to contributing to the future direction and growth of this global leader.”

ESI is a supplier of innovative, laser-based manufacturing solutions for the microtechnology industry. Their systems enable structuring and testing of micron to submicron features in smart consumer electronics, semiconductors, LEDs and other high-value components.

Quantum Materials Corporation today announced the purchase of five diverse sets of patent families from Bayer Technology Services GmbH, the global technological backbone and major innovation driver for Bayer AG of Leverkusen, Germany.

The patents acquired provide broad intellectual property protection for advances Quantum Materials has achieved in economical high-volume quantum dot (QD) manufacturing. In addition, the Bayer patents cover volume production technology for heavy metal-free (HMF) quantum dots and nano-particles; increasing quantum yields for HMF quantum dots; and hybrid organic quantum dot solar cell (QDSC) production as well as a surface modification process for increased efficiency of high performance solar cells and printed electronics. The patent families were acquired through a cash purchase agreement and financial details will remain private.

“We acquired these patents to not only expand our technology portfolio in heavy metal-free and QDSC production, but also to protect the advances we have made to date in the volume manufacturing of nanoparticles, including quantum dots,” said Stephen Squires, Quantum Materials CEO and president.  “Bayer is a research pioneer in the nanotech and QD fields and these early filings were awarded with broad claims. It will be very difficult for competitors to produce materials in volume similar to ours without breaching our patents.”

“Bayer Technology Services has been successfully working in the field of nanotechnology for more than 30 years. We are very happy that Quantum Materials is also using our patents to invest into new markets Bayer is not focusing on,” adds Dr. Guenter Bachlechner, Head of Technology Development and Senior Vice President of Bayer Technology Services GmbH.

The quantum dot-related patents extend Quantum Materials’ ability to synthesize numerous heavy metal-free organic periodic table groups in addition to its own inorganic Group II-VI composites. The company intends to incorporate each patent into its advanced production processes, including high yield InP/ZnS nanocrystals, a heavily researched QD in high demand in optoelectronics.

The solar-related patents describe the fundamental design of quantum dot solar cells and processes for optimizing quantum dots for solar and other printed electronics applications. The solar patents enhance Quantum Material’s licensed patent on printing OLED and QD solar cells and other printed electronic devices by gravure or high-speed roll-to-roll.

David Doderer, Quantum Materials VP of Research and Development, added, “The heavy metal-free organic nanomaterials expand our high performance product offerings, and the automated processes will bring down their cost so manufacturers can begin planning adoption into real products at price points that expand market penetration of quantum dot  technologies significantly. Combining the solar patents with our automated volume QD production process opens the door for us to establish joint ventures for Quantum Dot Solar Cell (QDSC) pilot plants worldwide.”

Intersil Corporation, a provider of power management and precision analog solutions, today announced the ISL98611 display power and LED driver for smartphones. The ISL98611 is the first power management IC that integrates the display power and backlight LED driver functions in a single chip. It significantly improves efficiency of both functions to increase smartphone battery life by an hour or more.

In addition to extending battery life, the ISL98611 also improves display brightness uniformity and color consistency. The highly integrated ISL98611 has a boost regulator, LDO and inverting charge pump for generating two output rails at +5V and -5V in a single device. It also includes a boost regulator with 3-channel current sinks for the LED backlight driver. This single-chip solution offers designers four key benefits:

  • Extended battery life: When used for web browsing and emails, a smartphone’s backlight LEDs and display power consume the majority of its battery power. The ISL98611 backlight LED driver delivers seven percent higher efficiency (up to 93 percent) than competitive multi-chip solutions and generates +/-5V display power supplies with greater than 88 percent efficiency at 15mA load using a 2.5x2mm2 size inductor, compared to 85 percent efficiency of the nearest competitor.
  • Improved display uniformity: The ISL98611 provides excellent LED current matching at very low LED current: it achieves +/- 2.2 percent matching down to 1mA and +/- 2.8 percent at 50μA.
  • Improved display color consistency: The ISL98611 includes hybrid dimming to eliminate white LED color shift issues at low LED current, which occur with DC dimming.
  • Smallest footprint: The ISL98611’s total display power plus backlight solution uses 24 percent less PCB area compared to the competition, while requiring only eight external components. This provides additional space to house the phone’s battery.

“With each new product generation, smartphone designers are challenged to add more features, reduce size and extend battery life,” said Andrew Cowell, senior vice president of Intersil’s Mobile Power Products. “The ISL98611 delivers the integration, extended battery life and display image quality improvement our customers want in their next-generation smartphone designs.”

USHIO INC. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary USHIO OPTO SEMICONDUCTORS, INC., headquartered in Tokyo, has signed a demerger agreement with Oclaro Japan, Inc. Through this agreement, USHIO OPTO SEMICONDUCTORS will acquire the LED, red, violet and part of the infrared laser diode business from Oclaro Japan. The acquired activity is primarily located in Komoro, Japan and includes approximately 80 employees.

Since it was founded five decades ago, USHIO has developed, manufactured, and marketed a variety of successful and highly popular lamps and solid-state light sources. USHIO has long been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial light sources. By this transfer, USHIO is aiming at further expansion of its solid-state light sources business. USHIO will receive transfer of the business related to the development, manufacture, and sales of semiconductor lasers and LEDs (other than Oclaro Japan’s optical communication business) from Oclaro Japan.

“Today, optical processes and applications have become more and more diversified and important in the industry. We at USHIO will provide a variety of light sources, including high-brightness and high-quality LEDs and LDs, as well as our existing lamp products to meet the diversified needs of our customers,” commented Shiro Sugata, President and CEO, USHIO INC.

“We are pleased to sign this agreement with Ushio, it was critical for Oclaro Japan to find a respected partner that would provide new opportunities to our Komoro employees and continued support and innovation to our customers.” commented Tadayuki Kanno, President of Oclaro Japan.

The closing of the transaction is expected to occur during the fourth calendar quarter of 2014.