Category Archives: LEDs

NIKKISO CO. has announced that it has initiated shipments of commercial LED product samples emitting at a range of wavelengths in the UVB and UVC spectral regimes for industrial, biomedical, and environmental applications. NIKKISO offers several power levels and package types to meet a wide variety of applications, and the company is working closely with customers in several market segments to develop customized product solutions.

UVB and UVC LEDs offer substantial advantages over UV lamps including mercury free operation, direct on-off modulation and instantaneous analog power control, compact and lightweight form factor, flexible emission wavelength, directional illumination, low voltage and direct current drive. Applications of UVB and UVC LEDs include biomedical instrumentation and dermatology, curing of industrial resins and inks, and air purification and water sterilization.

Nikkiso’s proprietary semiconductor technology enables the world’s highest performance, power and efficiency, with industry leading reliability in the UVB and UVC regime. Power levels up to 40mW per package are available, with customized multichip assemblies capable emitting more than 1W. The devices can be utilized in stand-alone light sources, or integrated seamlessly as OEM components into end customers’ final product solutions.

Lynk Labs Inc., a AC LED technology company from circuits to systems has been granted another key patent by the US Patent Office. The patent covers vertical market segments of AC LED technology from the core AC LED circuits and powering methods to the lighting system level.

The AC LED Patent # US 8,531,118 B2 entitled AC Light Emitting Diode And AC LED Drive Method And Apparatus adds to a family of 12 other US and International approved patents in a similar field of AC LEDs and AC LED lighting Systems that use high frequency AC to drive AC LEDs directly or with rectified AC in LED lighting systems.

The 13 patents within this particular family encompass vertical market segments from core AC LED circuits and drive methods on up to lighting systems in various forms according to Lynk. “We’re at a major turning point and facing accelerated demand and acceptance for AC LED technology globally now,” said Mike Miskin, CEO at Lynk Labs. The AC LED and HV LED market is still in the early stages but facing rapid, high growth opportunities that will compete with DC LED solutions in all power level applications from miniature lamps to very high power luminaires such as high bay and street lights according said Lynk. Lynk has built up a very broad and diverse technology offering and IP portfolio globally around AC & HV LEDs that can address any lighting application.

“Our AC LED technology and product offering is now supported by a solid and established infrastructure that includes AC LED chip and package manufacturing to rapid delivery and design of integrated AC LED total solutions for OEMs with our key strategic partners like Epistar & Thomas Research Products. We are positioned to maximize the value proposition AC LEDs will offer in the global lighting market over the coming years,” said Miskin.

A partnership among the University of Virginia’s (UVa) Schools of Education and Engineering and the Charlottesville Public Schools has led to the launch of Buford Engineering Design Academy, a laboratory school for advanced manufacturing. In conjunction with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 30, National Science Foundation (NSF) leaders, UVa faculty and UVa and Buford students toured the site and saw the school’s capabilities.

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The new academy is the culmination of work undertaken in a project called the FabLab Classroom, an NSF Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project led by Glen Bull, professor at UVa’s Curry School of Education, and co-director of the Center for Technology and Teacher Education. The FabLab Classroom provided elementary and middle school students with fabrication technologies such as 3-D printers and computer-controlled die cutters. The students learned science through engineering design using these advanced manufacturing technologies.

Based on the promising results of the pilot, the Commonwealth of Virginia provided seed funding to design a laboratory school for advanced manufacturing. The funding provided by NSF and the Commonwealth of Virginia was matched by $1.4 million contributed by the Charlottesville Schools. The school will serve as a laboratory for integration of engineering design into science teaching while also serving as an experimental platform for preparing the next generation of science teachers to use these technologies.

“We like to see this kind of impact from a research project where NSF has made an investment,” said NSF Assistant Director Joan Ferrini-Mundy, who leads the agency’s Education and Human Resources directorate. “As there is more and more emphasis on teaching engineering concepts in K-12 classrooms, it’s crucial that we understand the most effective strategies for student learning. The resources brought together through this partnership are building on the initial project and increasing its scope and reach. That’s very exciting.”

The Buford Engineering Design Academy is the first public school to become part of the Commonwealth Engineering Design Academies, a laboratory school partnership with UVa’s Schools of Education and Engineering. The project pairs the expertise of UVa professors with Charlottesville-area public school teachers and students. As part of their professional development, middle-school teachers affiliated with the project spend a half day teaching at Buford and a half-day at UVa learning about advanced manufacturing and advanced manufacturing education.

The Buford Engineering Design Academy–to be followed by similar high-tech labs at Charlottesville High School and Albemarle County’s Jack Jouett Middle School and Albemarle High School–will be linked via video to the partner lab at UVa, enabling UVa professors and students to offer lessons and develop innovations for the participating laboratory schools.

This unique network of labs, professors, teachers, and students has already attracted a television crew from Japan; in addition, a representative from China’s National Center for Educational Technology will spend a year in Charlottesville to follow the project.

The school has opened its doors at a time when there is increased emphasis on the “engineering” part of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education research. Not only are engineering technology and applications of science part of the Next Generation Science Standards, but technologies such as 3-D printing are increasingly available and affordable.

“The next-generation science standards call for making science and engineering equal, but there are no science teachers today trained to teach science and engineering and, even more importantly, there are no professors of science education prepared to train teachers to teach science and engineering,” says Bull. “We wanted to change this.”

To help set the stage for K-12 schools successfully adopting science and engineering teaching and technologies, Bull is working with a group of teachers assigned to NSF through the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program. Led by elementary science, engineering, mathematics and robotics teacher Kaye Ebelt, the teachers have established a lab within NSF’s Engineering directorate that parallels classroom manufacturing technologies found in the Lab School. The Einstein Fellows meet with the Lab School teachers each week to pioneer new pedagogical approaches to incorporating engineering design into science teaching. After these approaches to science teaching are piloted in the Lab School, they will be disseminated nationally.

There is more work ahead on the road to bringing this coursework to schools around the country.

“Integrating engineering design into science teaching is an important but challenging goal,” said Bull. “The engineering design academies provide a test bed for developing effective practices.”

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today introduced the EVG720 automated UV nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) system. Providing full-field imprint lithography with an integrated soft stamp/template fabrication capability, the EVG720 system enables throughputs of more than 60 wafers per hour with the lowest cost of ownership (CoO).  Capable of printing nanostructures as small as 40nm in diameter over a large area in volume production, the EVG720 system is ideally suited for use in manufacturing optics, photonics, light emitting diodes (LEDs), microfluidics and other bioMEMS devices, as well as advanced data storage devices. Several systems have already been installed, evaluated and accepted at customer sites.

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The EVG720 UV-NIL system—EVG’s most advanced dedicated NIL system—utilizes a next-generation UV-NIL process designed specifically to address the needs of high-volume manufacturing (HVM).  It provides an unmatched combination of high throughput, ease of use and high resolution—enabling volume manufacturing of nanoscale structures at the lowest CoO.  EVG’s UV-NIL solutions, including the EVG720 system, are designed to work with a wide variety of resist materials.  This open materials platform approach provides customers with a high degree of flexibility and process customization.

In addition, the EVG720 has an integrated stamp replication capability, which minimizes tool footprint and avoids increased capital equipment costs associated with stand-alone replication systems.  EVG’s soft working stamps have optimized releasing properties that extend the life of the stamp and enable ideal imprint results on both flat and rough substrates.  Traditional stamps wear down quickly or require additional surface treatment after each imprint and result in increased defectivity on the substrate that leads to yield loss, as well as increased costs from continuous replacement.

“We recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach to NIL can’t address every customer’s unique manufacturing requirements,” said Gerald Kreindl, business development manager at EV Group, “which is why EV Group has created a complete NIL solutions portfolio that encompasses all widely accepted imprint techniques—UV-NIL, hot embossing, micro contact printing, step-and-repeat, full-field, and roll-to-roll imprint.  In addition, we are continuously working to improve the imprint lithography infrastructure by collaborating with companies and research organizations throughout the imprint lithography supply chain.”

EVG’s latest developments in nanoimprint lithography and other processing solutions will be on display at the company’s booth #4B-207 in the Makuhari Messe International Convention Complex in Chiba, Japan at the SEMICON Japan show December 4-6 as well as attend the company’s presentations during the show’s technical program.  EVG will present “EVG’s HVM solution updates for automotive and smart phone applications,” during the Exhibitor Seminar on Wednesday, December 4 from 2:30 – 3:20 p.m. at the International Conference Halls, Room 103.  In addition, Masaya Kawano, head of technology Japan / applications engineer for the Technology Division of EV Group Japan, will present “Latest wafer bonders which drive 3D-IC technology” at the Proposals to the Assembly Technologies to Drive 3D-IC session on Friday, December 6 from 1:45 – 2:00 p.m. at the TechSTAGE West, Hall 1.

Rubicon Technology, Inc. today announced that Warren S. Stewart III has joined the Company as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, effective immediately. Mr. Stewart was formerly Vice President, Sales, at Cree, Inc., in Durham, North Carolina. He will provide leadership to Rubicon’s global sales and marketing team, reporting to Raja M. Parvez, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Warren Stewart’s experience forging strong relationships with leading manufacturers in the LED industry and driving sales growth make him an excellent addition to Rubicon at this pivotal stage,” said Mr. Parvez. “With the recent launch of our line of large-diameter Patterned Sapphire Substrates (PSS), we are bringing an all-new value proposition to the world’s most sophisticated LED chip-makers. Warren’s depth of industry experience and his proven leadership skills will provide an advantage in the further development of our global customer relationships,” he concluded.

Read more: Rubicon launches first commercial line of large diameter patterned sapphire substrates

Mr. Stewart served as Vice President, Sales, at Cree, Inc., from 2005 to 2013 and was employed by Cree since 1997 in increasingly responsible sales management roles. Previously, following his service as an officer in the United States Navy, he gained international experience in advanced materials with Superior Graphite Co. He earned an M.B.A. degree from the International University of Japan in Niigata-ken, Japan, and a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

“Rubicon’s reputation in the sapphire industry for product quality, innovation, and reliability has created an excellent platform for the next stage in the company’s development,” said Mr. Stewart. “I am delighted to join the team now, when Rubicon is facilitating even greater efficiency for its LED customers with large-diameter polished wafers and PSS and, at the same time, is enhancing its capabilities for premium quality optical sapphire.”

Dow Corning introduced new Dow Corning MS-2002 Moldable White Reflector Silicone at Strategies in Light Europe 2013. This highly reflective white material extends the excellent photo-thermal stability and high-moldability that typifies Dow Corning’s award-winning optical-grade Moldable Silicone family to the reflective elements of LED lamp and luminaire applications. Dow Corning MS-2002 Moldable White Reflector Silicone targets reflectivity as high as 98 percent to help further boost light output from LED devices, improve overall energy efficiency and prolong device reliability.

“Dow Corning is committed to driving new innovations in current and next-generation LED lighting designs and expanding opportunities for solid-state sources to compete with traditional illumination sources in more demanding high-intensity lighting applications,” said Hugo da Silva, global industry director, LED Lighting at Dow Corning. “Our advanced new Dow Corning MS-2002 Silicone extends the design, processing and performance benefits of our Moldable Silicone portfolio beyond transparent LED lens elements to include the reflective elements of LED lamp and luminaire applications.”

Like other products in Dow Corning’s line of high-performance LED silicones, its advanced new Dow Corning MS-2002 Silicone delivers mechanical, thermal and optical stability at temperatures exceeding 150° C. That means, unlike epoxies, polycarbonate, acrylic and other conventional LED materials, Dow Corning MS-2002 Moldable White Reflector Silicone retains superb color, reflectance and mechanical performance over the lifetime of an LED lamp or luminaire without yellowing or physical degradation. As the market demands LED sources to deliver more intense light from comparatively smaller package sizes, these qualities are highly desirable for reflective LED materials.

The easy processability and high moldability of Dow Corning MS-2002 Moldable White Reflector Silicone also greatly expands design latitudes for LED lamp and luminaire applications. With its high reflectivity and bright white color, this new high-performance silicone product does not require the additional mixture of liquid silicone rubber or color pigmentation. Its extreme thermal and optical stability enables development of parts with direct contact with LED dies without air gaps between the die and optics, avoiding design limits common with organic LED materials.

Dow Corning MS-2002 Moldable White Reflector Silicone also exhibits excellent feature reproduction, which allows mold undercuts or co-molding with Dow Corning transparent materials. It is a high viscosity, high 84 Shore A hardness, fast-curing material able to produce fine details and deliver good resistance to environmental aging.

Dow Corning MS-2002 Silicone, as well as other products from Dow Corning’s portfolio of solutions for LED lamps and luminaires, are being featured at the company’s booth (Booth B25) at Strategies in Light Europe.

EV Group (EVG), a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS, nanotechnology and semiconductor markets, today introduced the EVG PHABLE exposure system, which is designed specifically for manufacturing photonic components.  Leveraging EVG’s expertise in photolithography, the EVG PHABLE system incorporates a unique contactless lithography mask-based approach that enables full-field, high-resolution and cost-efficient micro- and nanopatterning of passive and active photonic components, such as patterned structures on light emitting diode (LED) wafers, in high-throughput production environments.

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The EVG PHABLE exposure system is the first fully-automated production equipment to feature PHABLE (“photonics enabler”) technology from Eulitha AG, a pioneer in lithography tools based in Villigen PSI, Switzerland.  Integrating Eulitha’s full-field exposure technology with EVG’s well-established nanolithography production platform provides a unique solution for the automated fabrication of photonic nanostructures.

The EVG PHABLE system combines the low cost-of-ownership, ease-of-use and non-contact capabilities of proximity lithography with the sub-micron resolution of lithography steppers to provide low-cost automated fabrication of photonic patterns over large areas.  This makes it ideally suited for patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) or to enhance the light extraction (and thus the efficiency) of LED devices.  The EVG PHABLE system includes a unique Displacement Talbot Lithography approach that enables it to produce features ranging from three microns down to 200 nm with effectively no depth-of-focus limitation or stitching effects that can arise from using steppers on substrates with rather poor total thickness variation.  As a result, it can be used to pattern substrates up to six inches in diameter in a single exposure step.  This approach also enables the EVG PHABLE system to maintain consistently high patterning throughput independent of the size of the processed wafer, as well as maintain very large exposure gaps (up to several hundreds of microns) between the mask and wafer, thereby avoiding process-related mask contamination.

“We are excited to enter the commercialization phase of our collaboration with Eulitha,” stated Hermann Waltl, executive sales and customer support director at EV Group.  “The EVG PHABLE system broadens EVG’s micro- and nanopatterning process portfolio, providing a unique, very cost-efficient solution to our customers in the LED, optics and photonics markets.  The novel equipment clearly demonstrates the synergies of our respective technologies.”

The EVG PHABLE system can produce both one-dimensional patterns, such as lines and spaces, as well as two-dimensional patterns, such as hexagonal or square lattices.  Thus, it supports a variety of approaches to enhance the light extraction from LEDs.  These include LED surface structuring, PSS, photonic crystal applications, nano-wire LEDs and optical gratings.  The system can also be configured for photovoltaic, optics or biomedical manufacturing applications.

Eulitha AG is a spin-off company of the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland.  It specializes in the development of innovative lithographic technologies for applications in optoelectronics, photonics, biotechnology, and data storage.  It produces and markets nano-patterned wafers and templates using its unique EUV interference method and state-of-the-art e-beam lithography tools.  PHABLE is the brand name of its new photolithography platform, which includes exposure tools and wafer patterning services.

The new Z5-M1 series from Seoul Semiconductor has been optimized to deliver maximum efficacy and luminous flux with an industry standard 3535 surface mount package. The new Z5-M1 combines high light output, reliability, and color uniformity to deliver up to 132 lumens per watt at 350mA, (85°C junction temperature, 80 CRI minimum) in warm white (3000K). In cool white (6000K), the Z5-M1 delivers up to 150 lumens per watt at 350mA (85°C junction temperature, 70 CRI minimum). The Z5-M1 series is available in the full Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) range of 2600K – 7000K and two CRI options to provide lamp and luminaire manufacturers with maximum flexibility.

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The advancements made in chip architecture and phosphor technology are the key ingredients to the performance enhancement of the new Z5-M1 series. The improved efficacy helps lighting manufacturers use fewer LEDs in their system designs which translate to lower system costs. The Z5-M1 can be operated from 150mA to 1.5A making them suitable for a wide range of general illumination applications from street and area lighting to replacement lamps to high output flashlights. This new product also features excellent color uniformity over angle based on a new phosphor coating technology which enables high quality directional light sources. J.B Choi, President of the Lighting Division for Seoul Semiconductor, said: “The efficacy enhancements in the new Z5-M1 series not only ensure a reduction in luminaire development costs incurred by our customers, but also enable the best possible color over angle homogeneity with the new phosphor coating technology.”

Seoul Semiconductor manufacturers and packages a wide selection of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for the automotive, general illumination lighting, appliance, signage and back lighting markets. The company is the world’s fifth largest LED supplier, holding more than 10,000 patents globally, while offering a wide range of LED technology and production capacity in areas such as “nPola”, deep UV LEDs, “Acrich”, the world’s first commercially produced AC LED, and “Acrich MJT – Multi-Junction Technology” a proprietary family of high-voltage LEDs.

SemiLEDs Corporation today announced the introduction and release of the 10-Watt M63 RGBW integrated 6363 LED. The 4-channel M63 RGBW delivers over 410 total lumens of combined red, green, blue and white light output. The compact 6.3mm x 6.3mm dimensions enable the M63 RGBW to fit in a wide range of color-changing applications, including entertainment (stage lights, backdrops and spotlighting), large scale displays, and color-adjustable luminaires for building facade, wall washing or specialized interior luminaires.

Read more LED news

“The M63 RGBW demonstrates a new level of LED product integration from SemiLEDs,” commented Dr. Ilkan Cokgor, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing for SemiLEDs. “By combining three colors, plus an independent phosphor-coated white emitter, onto a single LED package, our customers will be able to better optimize the optical and thermal properties of their design, while minimizing the manufacturing complexities of their luminaires or large scale displays. This integrated approach is enabled by our well-validated and robust metal vertical LED product portfolio, which can be reliably driven harder to deliver higher than average lumen density and increase the lumens per dollar,” Dr. Cokgor added.

The integrated package is the first to bring together SemiLEDs vertical, white chip, and ceramic packaging technologies. Measuring just 6.3mm on a side (39.7 square mm/.06 square inch), the compact multi-color LED opens the door to arrays with cumulative lumen-densities in excess of 6000 lumens per square inch. Beyond just the size and potential for high-lumen densities, the square footprint also greatly simplifies color mixing and integration with secondary optics, including narrow beam spotlights which benefit from the symmetry and depend upon minimized source sizes. When compared to a strictly RGB source, the addition of discrete white to the color changing LED architecture enables a broader spectrum and more natural white palette to be projected. The white source in the M63 RGB delivers 100 lumens per watt at a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 6300K to 8000K. By its nature, an RGBW LED should include a cool-white source to compliment the additive nature of the colors in the integrated device.

“Every current technology trend is towards higher integration, both to reduce component count and simplify the final design, and that carries with it a ripple effect that continues into process engineering and manufacturing,” continued Dr. Cokgor. “As a result of its broad technology offering, SemiLEDs is in a somewhat unique position to reliably deliver these higher levels of integration, as reflected in our new M63 RGBW. High quality LED manufacturers will continue to differentiate and add value to the industry by driving increasing integration at both the component and subsystem level,” he concluded.

The lighting control systems marketplace has been in a state of transition in recent years. Changing energy efficiency codes, new construction project increases, wireless technology benefits, increases in LED lighting adoption and conservation initiatives have been the key factors driving the growth of the lighting control systems market in the US. The total United States lighting controls market is estimated to be well over $1 billion by the end of 2013. This figure includes lighting controls, devices, systems and gears. The market is expected to show a considerable growth through the forecast period. The systems market is expected to grow at a much faster rate.

Title 24 in California is at the forefront of establishing a national standard. By January 2014, this change in code will require automatic daylight harvesting controls be added to many commercial buildings. Additionally, occupancy sensing functionality will also be mandated for many applications. This change in code is the most significant driver in the market, as end-users tend not to adopt control technology improvement unless mandated.

Due to the increasing complexity of lighting control system specification, design, sales and installation, value-chain participants have had to adapt to the changing market dynamics. This circumstance has led to a number of end-users looking at alternative sales channels and other value-chain participants adjusting their business model appropriately. One such example is a change in the electrical distribution model. In recent years, many electrical distributors have established sales channels through energy audit teams, specifically targeting the retrofit marketplace. Some of these distributors include Graybar, Gexpro, Rexel, Facility Solutions Group (FSG), Crescent (CESCO), among others.

“The market is very much in a state of transition,” states principal analyst Anthony Miller. “I expect a great deal of consolidation and a change in the structure of how manufacturers sell to and support their customer base.”

Project specification can be influenced by a variety of different value-chain stakeholders. Lighting specification can occur by architects, lighting designers, electrical engineers, manufacturers, sales representatives, lighting agents or value added resellers (VARs).

The key participants in the distributed lighting control systems market include Acuity, Lutron, WattStopper, Encelium, Enlighted, Daintree, Redwood Systems, Digital Lumens, among others.