Category Archives: LEDs

By Richard Gaughan, Small Times Contributing Editor

Mar. 20, 2007 — A growing emphasis on control of matter at the nanoscale has uncovered a wide range of opportunities for unprecedented generation and manipulation of matter and information. The tools of nanotechnology and nanoscience are being used to create coatings with unique thermal and wear resistance properties, to develop particles capable of identifying dysfunctional cells and delivering therapeutic agents within the body, and to implement quantum computing schemes that promise unprecedented performance. But these applications will not see widespread adoption until manufacturers are confident in both the technology and the logistical stability of the supply chain. That is, nanotechnology developers have to demonstrate to their customers not only that the solution is technically viable, but that it is, and will continue to be, available in quantities required for commercial applications.

How can this process be intelligently guided?

A consortium of European government agencies, corporations, universities, and trade associations, The Merging Optics and Nanotechnologies (MONA) project, is cooperating to develop a plan to guide the development of nanophotonics. Following the lead of the semiconductor industry, they are generating a “nanophotonics roadmap,” a document that will identify milestones and plot the path for market acceptance. The semiconductor industry has found such roadmaps useful in at least a couple ways: first, to institute a de facto cooperative effort among different companies, and second, to generate confidence within the customer base that products with certain capabilities will be generally available on schedule. The nanophotonics roadmap has the same goals.


Photo: The Merging Optics and Nanotechnologies (MONA) project

MONA is seeking involvement from additional parties, both within and outside Europe. As a first step, they have developed a Frame of Reference document that establishes a baseline description of the intersection between photonics and nanotechnology. Beginning with definitions of optics and nanotechnology, the document identifies challenges associated with developing the technology.

As part of the effort to include and solicit input from a variety of organizations, the MONA project sponsored a workshop on building a nanophotonics roadmap. About 80 attendees heard presentations from around the world on the current state of nanophotonics, then separated into working groups to further define the issues.

The group that discussed electronic-photonic convergence is confident that it will occur, if for no other reason than because the semiconductor electronics industry will need the help of photonic solutions to stay on track on their own roadmap, particularly in the area of both on-board and on-chip interconnects. Because the relevant metric is performance over cost, and silicon manufacturing offers the lowest cost, the working group felt that the foreseeable steps on the roadmap should focus on producing silicon nanophotonics. The first three applications are likely to be fiber-to-the-home integration, high performance server clusters, and multicore microprocessors.

Another working group discussed international collaboration, and concluded that necessary cross-border cooperation has already begun. Thomas Pearsall, General Secretary of the European Photonics Industry Consortium and facilitator of the discussion, feels that more emphasis on international cooperation is necessary. “In a little bit of time we’re going to have something that looks like a roadmap,” he said, “and I think we need to open it up to a critical discussion because the markets are international and the applications are international.”

A working group focused on commercialization considered such issues as technological milestones that need to be reached in order to trigger new applications. For example, high data rate highly secure communications with quantum crytptography will be triggered by a single quantum dot capable of emitting qubits, photons in a single well-defined quantum state. How long will it take for nanophotonics to move from first market to applications? The answer, of course, varies wildly depending upon the technology. For example, quantum dots are already in use for imaging applications, but there are many other applications with longer-term target dates for market acceptance.

The final working group considered the steps necessary to move nanophotonics from laboratory to high volume production. How do you generate products at a low enough cost to drive high volumes, which the group defined as one million to ten million devices per year? A necessary precursor will be the realization of a common library of design and process tools, most probably for CMOS devices. But there is a lack of identification of the current processes used by different players in the industry, a necessary step to defining needs for the industry. Government and cooperative industrial research organizations will probably be critical in helping to define a framework for precompetitive activities.

The discussions of the four working groups are representative of the types of issues to be addressed in the roadmap, issues about which the MONA project seeks additional input.

Mar. 20, 2007 — According to David Huff, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association, emerging nanophotonics technologies offer the potential to greatly expand the use of optoelectronics in consumer and computing applications. Huff delivered this message during his keynote address at the Nano-Giga Challenges 2007 Conference at Arizona State University. The conference addressed developments in nanotechnology as it applies to electronics, optics, sensors, chemical, thermal, and bio-medical applications.

“When you engineer light and materials at the quantum level, you can shake the bounds of classical optics and physics,” said Huff. “By enabling the development of high bandwidth, high-speed and ultra-small optoelectronics components, nanophotonics is allowing us to change the realm of the possible.”

Huff discussed markets for nanophotonic technology, led by consumer and computer applications; key advances, such as nanowaveguides, that may offer new life to existing silicon photonics applications; and new quantum effect devices, such as light ‘freezing’, which will offer unique optical processing capabilities that cannot be implemented with any technology today.

Despite the fact that silicon fabrication techniques can be applied, the assembly of these devices is still quite expensive, Huff said. Defects in the devices must be addressed to fix loss and performance issues, and less expensive techniques must be developed for device integration and interfaces. “Nanophotonics offers many more capabilities than I was able to address in my talk, including sensor, bio-medical, optical refrigeration, displays, and solar energy,” explained Huff. “It will be fascinating to see which applications pan out in the market.”


Crossbow’s new business unit will focus on wireless sensing. (Photo: Crossbow Technology)

Mar. 16, 2007 — Crossbow Technology, Inc., supplier of wireless sensor technology and inertial MEMS sensors for navigation and control, announced the formation of its wireless sensor business unit. The new unit is focused on commercializing the company’s MEMS-based wireless technology, popularly known as “Motes,” for environmental monitoring, asset management, and physical security applications.

The wireless business unit will be led by a former Intel executive, Michael Dierks, who joins Crossbow in the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer. Dierks will oversee the wireless sensor business unit, corporate development, and Crossbow’s international expansion, which currently includes operations in Europe, China, and Japan.

Mr. Dierks was previously a Director, Strategic Investments, at Intel Capital where he developed and led Intel’s investment strategy in the areas of MEMS, nanotechnology, and RFID, and more recently Intel’s renewed focus on consumer internet. Some of Mr. Dierks’ investments include Iridigm (acquired by Qualcomm), Nanosys, RF Code, Six Apart, and Crossbow.

March 13, 2007 – Blaze DFM, an electrical design for manufacturing (DFM) company, has closed its Series B round of funding for $10 million. Blaze also disclosed the completion of the previously announced merger with Aprio Technologies. The combined company will continue on as Blaze DFM Inc. New to the ranks of Blaze investors are El Dorado Ventures and Mobius Venture Capital, both of whom are previous investors in Aprio and are adding fresh capital to Blaze’s Series B round. Lightspeed Venture Partners, who led Blaze’s Series A funding, also participated in this latest round.

Blaze provides electrical DFM software solutions that maximize parametric yield for sub-100nm chips. Parametric failures — chips that fail to meet timing and power specs — have been described as the most critical yield-limiting factor facing designers today. Maximizing parametric yield has become the top priority at many of the largest chip companies worldwide. For high-volume parts, improvements in parametric yield can measure in the tens of millions of dollars in incremental revenue and reduced cost.

“We strongly believe in the DFM market, and Blaze is the company that is best positioned to lead the way,” comments Tom Peterson, general partner at El Dorado, who will join Blaze’s board of directors. “Aprio’s technology is synergistic with Blaze’s electrical DFM vision and the combination presents a very compelling investment opportunity.”

According to the companies, the combination of Aprio’s litho simulation and analysis engines together with Blaze’s electrical analysis and optimization technology will result in the most comprehensive electrical DFM offering available from any commercial vendor.

“The magnitude of this round of funding is a testament to Blaze’s strategic vision and ability to execute,” says Jacob Jacobsson, president and CEO at Blaze. “We achieved our first customer tapeout just a little over a year after the company was founded. Our first production customer followed just a few months later. In only our second full year of operation, we booked multiple millions of dollars in customer orders from companies such as STMicroelectronics and Qualcomm.”

Blaze was founded in October 2004. First customer tapeout was achieved in December 2005. Blaze was reportedly the first DFM startup to successfully deliver customer silicon in March 2006.

(March 9, 2007) MUNICH, Germany; SUZHOU, China; JOHOR, Malaysia; and THIEF RIVER FALLS, MN &#151 Qimonda AG plans to expand its assembly-and-test facilities for memory ICs in the Suzhou Industrial Park, west of Shanghai. Growth in front-end capacities led to requisite back-end expansion, said Kin Wah Loh, president and CEO.

March 9, 2007 – Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s largest consumer electronics maker, revealed today that it plans to sell its 16.2% stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) over the next few years. The stake is currently valued at around US$8.5 billion.

The plan involves Philips selling $1.75 billion in shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and another $2.5 billion worth of depository shares on the New York Stock Exchange while TSMC repurchases an additional $1.5 billion of its shares from Philips. All of these transactions are planned for this year.

TSMC will either repurchase Philips’ remaining shares by 2010 or Phillips would consider selling them to institutional investors, the companies said in a joint statement.

Philips shares rose 0.5% to €28.12 ($36.94) in Amsterdam.

The divestment plan follows Philips’ sale of an 80.1% stake in NXP Semiconductors BV, its own former semiconductor division, to a group of private equity investors led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $5.58 billion last August.

TSMC is the largest contract chipmaker in the world by revenue. Its chips are used in products such as mobile phones, digital cameras, and computers. The chipmaker’s customers include several major players in the global high-tech sector.

In January, TSMC reported earning a record NTD127.01 billion ($3.86 billion) in 2006, up 35.7% from NTD93.58 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 19.1% to NTD317.4 billion ($9.66 billion) from NTD266.56 billion in 2005.

March 5, 2007 – Worldwide sales of semiconductors remain on pace at 9% year-on-year growth, though they were also down ~1% from December along seasonal norms, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

Global chip sales totaled $21.47 billion in January, down 1.2% from December but up 9.2% from a year ago. All regions saw a sequential decline, most notably in the US (-2.5%) and Japan (-2.2%). Year-on-year, growth was driven by the Asia-Pacific region (15.2%), with Europe (9.4%) keeping up with overall, and the US (-0.1%) and Japan (3.8%) lagging behind.

The three-month moving average slipped into the red in January, to -2.3% for the period Nov.-Dec.-Jan vs. the previous three months of Aug.-Sept.-Oct. 2006. Again, most of the decline was in the Americas (-7.1%) and Japan (-7.5%), likely due to a cooldown from the consumer-oriented holiday period, while the Asia-Pacific region (1.5%) managed to squeak out positive growth.

SIA president George Scalise pointed out that January’s semiconductor sales reflected typical seasonal patterns of strong Y-Y growth but a modest sequential decline. He noted consumer confidence is on the uptick, buoyed by recent gains in personal and disposable income.

DRAM sales led the way in total sales in January ($3.6 billion), up 72% Y-Y and 2.3% sequentially, probably spurred by the introduction of Microsoft’s Vista operating system that carries more system memory requirements.

Chip prices continue to slide, he added, benefiting PC users — desktop and laptop average selling prices fell more than 9% in 2006.

Scalise also noted that final tallies for cell phone shipments in 2006 exceeded estimates (1.02 billion shipments), and inventory concerns appear to have worked themselves out, paving the way for 10%-15% growth through 2007, and driving nearly $40 billion in semiconductor demand (based on average semiconductor cell phone content of $40/phone).

Chip sales, January 2007 (US $B)

Market……….Current month…….vs. prior month…….vs. year-ago

Americas……….3.71………………….-2.5%…………………-0.1%
Europe………….3.48………………….-0.4%………………….9.4%
Japan……………3.79………………….-2.2%………………….3.8%
Asia Pacific…..10.49…………………-0.7%………………..15.2%
TOTAL………….21.47…………………-1.2%………………….9.2%

Chip sales, three-month moving average (US $B)

Market………..Aug/Sep/Oct……..Nov/Dec/Jan……….% change

Americas…………3.99…………………..3.71…………………….-7.1%
Europe……………3.54…………………..3.48…………………….-1.7%
Japan……………..4.10…………………..3.79…………………….-7.5%
Asia Pacific…….10.34…………………10.49…………………….1.5%
Total………………21.97………………….21.47……………………-2.3%

(March 5, 2007) NISKAYUNA, N.Y. &#151 GE Global Research and OLED-manufacturing equipment supplier TOKKI Corporation (Tokyo) partnered to use plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) film encapsulation technology and manufacturing equipment to build organic electronics, such as OLED flat panel displays, in thinner and more cost-effective packages.

Nanotech development is beginning to benefit from methods popular in the pharmaceuticals industry

By Paula Doe

Like many nanotech companies, Intematix Corp. has an innovative new material-in this case yellow phosphors that convert blue LED light to white. But potentially far more interesting than the material itself is the automated research technology the company developed to design it. The new technology affords the nano niche the same kind of high-speed mass screening that has revolutionized pharmaceuticals development.

Intematix is not alone in its use of automated research for nanotech development. Japan’s JSR Corp. is selling a specialty polymer for electronics applications that Symyx Technologies Inc. developed using its high-throughput synthesis and screening system. Symyx says it is increasingly working not just with giant chemical companies, but also with smaller companies across a wide range of technologies.

Dramatic production improvements

Meanwhile, Intematix has gotten plenty of attention for its growing phosphor business. It has started producing commercial volumes of the phosphors to meet the growing demand for low-power lighting in portable electronics displays and says sales have tripled during the past year.

The company developed the new phosphor to meet required specifications in only 14 months. It accomplished this by using combinatory synthesis to make tiny dots of thousands of candidate compounds, and massive parallel screening with automated tools to select the ones that worked best. In doing so it also avoided the prior method of using Ce-doped YAG yellow phosphors. Intematix co-founder Xiao-dong Xiang did the early groundbreaking work on combinatory synthesis with Peter Schultz, who was affiliated with Affymax (which spawned Affymetrix) and founded Symyx to apply the approach in materials science.


Symyx pioneered the automation, miniaturization, and parallel processing of thousands of experiments.
Click here to enlarge image

While the high-volume screening method has significantly influenced drug discovery over the past decade, it hasn’t yet had much impact on other applications. The process still starts with modeling-choosing materials thought most likely to have the desired characteristics. “But in materials, our knowledge is not enough to pinpoint the parameters exactly, so we have to experiment,” says Xiang, who is now Intematix’s chief scientist.

His company created a behemoth machine it calls a “discovery engine” to deposit and anneal thin films-applying multiple materials in overlapping continuous gradients of varying composition, for the physical equivalent of a phase diagram-with thousands of possible variations of composition on a square centimeter of substrate. Intematix developed an automated x-ray microprobe that can resolve crystal structure and composition finely enough to analyze each dot on the matrix to screen the variant compositions. A noncontact, microwave-based microprobe analyzes optical and electrical functionality. The screening tests generate a global image to show the results in patterns of color. Xiang explains the dramatic acceleration this affords: “The complete cycle for a phase diagram of one million pixels is one day, or a week for the entire analysis-for what could otherwise take years,” he notes. “But the real challenge is to select the right application,” Xiang adds. “The process still takes a lot of time and money.”

Enabling quick market response

Conveniently, many customers came requesting new phosphors for white LEDs.With IP particularly tangled, new entrants in Taiwan and Korea muscling in, and new applications requiring phosphors that can withstand higher temperatures and produce warmer light, this happens to be a market of significant volume with many opportunities. The market for white LEDs in cell-phone displays is now largely saturated, but backlights for mid-sized (7-inch) displays for portable DVD players and car navigation systems are currently driving demand, says Intematix CEO Magnus Ryde. He adds that low-power backlights for laptops are likely to be the next driver, and demand for solid-state lighting is also picking up as quality improves and costs decline. “We’re seeing quicker adoption than anticipated in solid-state lighting,” he says, “in part because China is pushing ahead really aggressively to cut energy costs.”

Of course even in the bulk chemical industry, where Symyx has been developing high-throughput synthesis and screening systems to speed research on catalysts for a decade, the first major commercial products have reached the market in just the past couple of years. Symyx discovered new catalysts that enabled the Dow Chemical Co. to commercialize its Versify plastomers and elastomers, and ExxonMobil to develop the more efficient catalyst it plans to put into production in refineries this year. In addition, Dow used Symyx tools to develop the catalysts enabling its new Infuse specialty polymers. Both Dow and ExxonMobil say the automated synthesis and screening of micro quantities of hundreds or thousands of candidate materials greatly accelerated their development of major products. Dow reportedly brought its new Versify products to market in four years, about half the usual time, and has said it would never have found these catalysts using conventional research methods. ExxonMobil says in its annual report that the high-throughput approach doubled its R&D output.

New benchtop systems are starting to make the synthesis and screening tools more modular and more affordable for smaller companies and smaller markets. Isy Goldwasser, Symyx’s president, says, “As we develop more modules, it’s increasingly bringing down the cost of entry for using the high-throughput approach.” But a user will still have to invest from $500,000 to several millions of dollars to build an automated system, he points out, so it only makes sense for developing materials with markets of at least tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars, or for companies that can use the tools to develop several different products at the same time. “In the future, though, the price may drop by twofold to fivefold,” suggests Goldwasser. “That would enable a whole new range of applications.”

Symyx has started to sell some systems to university labs and has supported startups applying its technology to new areas. Besides its catalysis tools, the company has been working on performance materials and has developed automated systems for testing small samples for such qualities as adhesion, strength, compatibility and stability. It spun out Visyx to develop sensor technologies to measure oil conditions in cars and trucks and invested $13 million in Intermolecular, a start-up by some former Applied Materials executives developing applications for the semiconductor industry.

Intematix, meanwhile, has also applied its system to the design of catalysts that use smaller amounts of costly metals for fuel-cell applications. Work for DOE that involved screening hundreds of catalysts for releasing hydrogen from chemical storage systems found three candidates that worked almost as well as ruthenium-for about 3% to 5% of the cost. Other research has developed alloys of 10% to 30% platinum to replace pure platinum catalysts in methane fuel cells, using a thin film coating on a nanostructure for efficient exposure of the catalyst. The company aims eventually to develop phase-change materials for nonvolatile memory.

SEOUL, South Korea– Synova received tool orders from a Korea-based organic LED (OLED) manufacturer and a U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer’s Korea facility. The equipment provider will also open its Seoul micromachining center (MMC) this month.

For OLED mask manufacture, the Korean company ordered an LSS 1200 system to replace a chemical-etch process. The LGS 200A laser grinding system will replace grinding wheels for thin-wafer edge grinding in the U.S. manufacturer’s Korean location.

The level of interest and activity in Asia, particularly Korea, has grown in the past few years for Synova, said Frederic Pasche, Asia-Pacific sales manager. The company’s Seoul MMC will give prospective and current customers in the region demonstrations, sample testing, and applications development services and support.