Category Archives: LEDs

Transistors in ultra-high definition displays (UHD) possess particularly fine structures. Only extremely pure sputtering targets are suitable for use as the input materials for the fine conductor paths. “UHD-ready” will be the motto when Plansee present their ultra-pure coating materials at Touch Taiwan.

Ultra-high definition is a digital video format that transmits images at widths of up to 4000 pixels. Display manufacturers are now supplying the necessary hardware in the form of UHD screens. The advent of UHD technology is bringing with it more stringent requirements with respect to the purity of the materials used, such as molybdenum.

Molybdenum is a key component of the layer system in a thin film transistor and helps to determine the color with which an LED is illuminated. There are several million of these transistors in a single UHD screen. Ulrich Lausecker, Head of the Coating Business Unit at Plansee explains: “Any foreign particle in the thin film material is huge in relation to the fine transistor structures. Even the slightest contamination of the molybdenum layer can cause whole pixels to fail.”

The company is one of the leading manufacturers of molybdenum sputtering targets. When processed, these targets form key layers in the transistor system. Plansee is the only manufacturer to supply molybdenum at a guaranteed purity of 99.97 percent. As a rule, the material is even purer than this. Which means that Plansee’s sputtering targets are ready for ultra-high definition technology.

In-house production guarantees the highest levels of material purity

This is made possible by the proprietary production process. At Plansee, this starts with molybdenum trioxide, in other words shortly after the ore has been processed. In-house reduction processes then allow to convert this to extremely pure molybdenum powder. And Plansee is also responsible for further downstream process steps such as pressing, sintering and forming sputtering targets. Before the sputtering targets are delivered to the customers, Plansee bond them in their own machine shops in Asia.

Because all the production steps are kept in house, Plansee is able to control the quality of the material right from the start in a way that no other target manufacturer can.

“Even the raw material itself comes from part of our family,” said Lausecker. “The Plansee Group has a 14 percent stake in the Chilean company Molymet, the largest molybdenum ore processor in the world.”

Global demand for precursor, a material used in manufacturing of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), is set to more than double from 2012 to 2016, as the market for LED lighting booms, according to a new report entitled “Precursor for LED MOCVD–Market and Industry Analysis,” from Displaybank, now part of IHS.

The market for precursor used in the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) manufacturing process for making LEDs will rise to 69 tons in 2016, up a notable 114 percent from 32 tons in 2012.

“The boom in the precursor market reflects the rising operating rate of MOCVD as the LED lighting market grows,” said Richard Son, senior LED analyst at IHS.

Precursor is a core material that ensures the optimal light efficiency for each LED epi layer. It is used in the MOCVD process, which is the most important process in manufacturing LED chips. Major precursors include trimethylgallium (TMGa), trimethylindium (TMIn), trimethyl aluminum (TMA), triethylgallium (TEGa) and C2Mg2. Among these, TMGa is the most widely used and commands about 94 percent of total demand.

Read more: Epi-wafer market to grow to $4 billion in 2020 as LED lighting zooms to $80 billion

Global shipments of MOCVD equipment are on the rise, with shipments expected to climb by 17 percent in 2013.

The largest buyers of MOCVD equipment—South Korea, Taiwan and China—account for about 80 percent of the global demand of precursors. China, which is generating the highest growth in installation of MOCVD equipment among the three countries, is expected to make up 45 percent of the global demand of precursors in 2016.

In the nascent stage of the LED market, Dow Chemical Co. was the unrivaled leader in the precursor market. However, with the recent growth in precursor demand, new players have been investing in R&D and manufacturing facilities while aggressively breaking into the market with low prices for similar-quality product. Such developments will intensify competition further among precursor makers.

Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased during the second quarter 2013 when compared to first quarter 2013 area shipments, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.

Read more: Quarterly semiconductor sales increase 6%, outperforming industry forecast

Total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,390 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 12.3 percent increase from the 2,128 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. New quarterly total area shipments are 2.3 percent lower than second quarter 2012 shipments.

"Total quarterly silicon shipment volumes accelerated in the most recent quarter in contrast to the first quarter” said Byungseop (Brad) Hong, chairman of SEMI SMG and director of Global Marketing at LG Siltron. “As such, silicon shipment volumes for the first half of this year are trending at a slightly higher level than the first half of 2012.”

Quarterly Silicon Area Shipment Trends
Semiconductor Silicon Shipments* – Millions of Square Inches

 

Million of Square Inches

 

Q2 2012

Q1 2013

Q2 2013

TOTAL

2,447

2,128

2,390

*Shipments are for semiconductor applications only and do not include solar applications

 Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which in turn, are vital components of virtually all electronics goods, including computers, telecommunications products, and consumer electronics. The highly engineered thin round disks are produced in various diameters (from one inch to 12 inches) and serve as the substrate material on which most semiconductor devices or "chips" are fabricated.

All data cited in this release is inclusive of polished silicon wafers, including virgin test wafers, epitaxial silicon wafers, and non-polished silicon wafers shipped by the wafer manufacturers to the end-users.

The Silicon Manufacturers Group acts as an independent special interest group within the SEMI structure and is open to SEMI members involved in manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon or silicon wafers (e.g., as cut, polished, epi, etc.). The purpose of the group is to facilitate collective efforts on issues related to the silicon industry including the development of market information and statistics about the silicon industry and the semiconductor market.

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

Colors are playing an increasingly important role in the automotive sector. Consumers can not only choose the exterior color of the vehicle, you can also tailor the interior lighting to the customer’s individual taste. Thanks to the very wide blue color range of the new RGB MultiLED from Osram Opto Semiconductors, lighting designers have a virtually unlimited choice of colors for ambient lighting, including customer-specific colors. Color design now covers cluster lighting to an increasing extent, notably in combined instruments such as speedometers and RPM indicators, in infotainment and GPS displays, as backlighting for switches and in accent, ambient and trim lighting. Vehicles are fast becoming objects of individual design.

The main feature of the new MultiLED from Osram is a very broad blue color range with a wavelength of 447 to 476nm and high brightness. Deep saturated blue tones can now be produced thanks to the use of three LED chips in red, green and blue (RGB). Other properties of the MultiLED, such as its integrated ESD (electrostatic discharge) protective diode (2 kilovolts), its improved corrosion resistance, and its longtime market availability, make these LEDs ideal for use in automobiles. The MultiLED was developed specifically for applications in the automotive sector and meets all the requirements of an automotive certified component.

OSRAM multi-chip LED

All shades of blue

The new MultiLED consists of a red chip, a green chip and a blue chip (RGB LED). At 370 millicandelas (mcd), the blue is much brighter than in other multi-chip LEDs on the market. This brightness is a significant advantage because the sensitivity of the human eye causes the color blue to be perceived as darker than it actually is.

Read more: LED revenues grow even as prices fall through 2016

"The new LED can offset this darker perception so that customer brightness requirements can be met for all color ranges," said David Rousseau, LED Product Marketing Manager at Osram Opto Semiconductors. "What’s more, a short-wave blue color has a pleasant saturated appearance. We have now succeeded in implementing this color range in an RGB LED version."

The three independently controllable LED chips in blue, red and green in the MultiLED are available in different brightness groups thanks to finely defined grouping (known as binning). They can be individually combined to produce a large color spectrum. All three chip colors are the product of leading-edge technology: blue and green in UX:3 technology, red in the latest thin-film technology. The light is extracted from the chip with very high efficiency, resulting in high luminous intensity. In the upper blue wavelength range, for example, a level of up to 560 millicandelas is achieved at an operating current of 20 mA. Luminous intensity in candelas (cd) corresponds to luminous flux in lumens (lm) emitted by a light source in a particular solid angle. The typical thermal resistance between the chip and the solder point is 127 K/W for blue and green, and 96 K/W for red.

 

Cree, Inc. today announced a technology breakthrough for the LED street lighting market. The XSPR LED Residential Street Light delivers better lighting while consuming over 65 percent less energy at an initial cost as low as $99 for common applications. The new Cree XSPR street light is marketed as a replacement for municipalities and cities using outdated high-pressure sodium fixtures up to 100 watts and can deliver payback in less than one year.

“With the low initial price of the XSPR street light and the dramatic energy savings, wholesale replacement of existing street lights becomes a simple choice,” said Al Ruud, Cree vice-chairman, lighting. “Utilities and city managers can now improve the lighting in their neighborhoods, save energy and see payback in less than a year. Why would anyone choose otherwise?”

Extending the technical breakthroughs of the XSP Series LED Street Light portfolio, the 25-watt and 42-watt XSPR street light is designed to replace up to 100-watt high-pressure sodium street lights, reducing energy consumption while improving lighting performance. Cree’s NanoOptic Precision Delivery Grid optic technology achieves better optical control than traditional street lighting fixtures and efficiently delivers white uniform light for safer-feeling communities.

“Street lighting is our city’s largest single energy-related cost, and the XSPR street light appears to dramatically change the economics of LED relative to traditional lighting technologies,” said Dan Howe, assistant city manager, City of Raleigh, N.C. “This breakthrough technology can change the total cost of ownership equation, encouraging municipalities to transition sooner to LED with less risk, and redirect resources to other important community needs.”

Ultratech, Inc., a supplier of lithography, laser-processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high-brightness LEDs (HB-LEDs), announced last week that it has moved Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech to Waltham, Mass. The new facility will expand its operations for next-generation atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment development and enable leading-edge scientific research. After acquiring the assets of Cambridge NanoTech last December, Ultratech invested in a new facility to enhance ALD development. With this new facility, Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech now has greatly enhanced its capability to develop innovative process technology for ALD applications.

ALD is an enabling technology which provides coatings and material features with significant advantages compared to other existing techniques for depositing precise nanometer-thin films.  This technology is expected to be in high demand in volume manufacturing environments for integrated optics, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMs), implantable devices in the biomedical sector and batteries and fuel cells in the energy market.

Ultratech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Arthur W. Zafiropoulo stated, "By creating a new facility and leveraging the valuable Cambridge NanoTech intellectual property, we have further enhanced our ability to advance the development of next-generation ALD solutions.  In addition, we have retained the same team that Cambridge NanoTech customers have worked with in the past.  The completion of the new facility marks our successful integration of the Cambridge NanoTech assets into Ultratech’s nanotechnology product group.  By investing in the expansion of these operations, we expect to generate increased revenue in new and existing markets.  Ultratech, and our ALD unit, Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech, will continue to focus on technology solutions that support our global customers’ advanced product and technology roadmaps."

Ultratech/Cambridge NanoTech is located at:

130 Turner Street, Building 2

Waltham, Massachusetts   02453

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $74.65 billion during the second quarter of 2013, an increase of 6 percent from the first quarter when sales were $70.45 billion. This marks the largest quarterly increase in three years. Global sales for June 2013 hit $24.88 billion, an increase of 2.1 percent compared to June 2012 and 0.8 percent higher than the May 2013 total. Regionally, sales in the Americas jumped 8.6 percent in Q2 compared to Q1 and 10.6 percent in June 2013 compared to June 2012, marking the region’s largest year-over-year increase of 2013. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

"There’s no question the global semiconductor industry has picked up steam through the first half of 2013, led largely by the Americas," said Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. "We have now seen consistent growth on a monthly, quarterly, and year-to-year basis, and sales totals have exceeded the latest industry projection, with sales of memory products showing particular strength."

Quarterly sales outperformed the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization’s latest industry forecast, which projected quarter-over-quarter growth of 4.6 percent globally and 3.4 percent for the Americas (compared to the actual increases of 6 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively). Total year-to-dates sales of $145.1 billion also exceeded the WSTS projection of $144.1 billion. Actual year-to-date sales through June are 1.5 percent higher than they were at the same point in 2012.

Regionally, sales in June increased compared to May in the Americas (3.5 percent), Asia Pacific (0.4 percent), and Europe (0.1 percent), but declined slightly in Japan (-0.9 percent). Compared to the same month in 2012, sales in June increased substantially in the Americas (10.6 percent), moderately in Asia Pacific (5.4 percent), and slightly in Europe (0.8 percent), but dropped steeply in Japan (-20.8 percent), largely due to the devaluation of the Japanese yen.

"While we welcome this encouraging data, it is important to recognize the semiconductor workforce that drives innovation and growth in our industry," continued Toohey. "A key roadblock inhibiting our innovation potential is America’s outdated high-skilled immigration system, which limits semiconductor companies’ access to the world’s top talent. The House of Representatives should use the August recess to work out their political differences on this issue and return to Washington next month ready to approve meaningful immigration reform legislation."

Later this month, IC Insights’ August Update to the 2013 McClean Report will show a ranking of the top 25 semiconductor suppliers in 1H13.  A preview of the top 20 companies is listed in Figure 1.  The top 20 worldwide semiconductor (IC and O S D—optoelectronic, discrete, and sensor) sales leaders for 1H13 include eight suppliers headquartered in the U.S., four in Japan, three in Europe, three in Taiwan, and two in South Korea.

The top-20 ranking includes three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC) and four fabless companies.  IC foundries are included in the top-20 semiconductor supplier ranking because IC Insights has always viewed the ranking as a top supplier list, not as a marketshare ranking, and realizes that in some cases semiconductor sales are double counted.  With many of our clients being vendors to the semiconductor industry (supplying equipment, chemicals, gases, etc.), excluding large IC manufacturers like the foundries would leave significant “holes” in the list of top semiconductor suppliers.  Overall, the list shown in Figure 1 provides a guideline to identify which companies are the leading semiconductor suppliers, whether they are IDMs, fabless companies, or foundries.

There were numerous changes within the top-20 semiconductor ranking in 1H13 as compared to the top 20 ranking of 2012.  Some of the companies rising in the ranking included SK Hynix, which moved up three places and into the top 5; Broadcom, which edged into the top 10; Elpida, which was officially purchased by Micron on July 31, 2013, shot up seven places to 17th place; and MediaTek, which jumped up four positions to make it into the top 20 (now ranked 18th).  In contrast, Fujitsu dropped five places and fell out of the top 20 ranking, going from being ranked 17th in 2012 to 22nd in 1H13.  The other company to fall out of the top 20 ranking was fabless supplier Nvidia, which went from being ranked 18th in 2012 to 21st in 1H13, even though the company posted a two percent increase in year-over-year sales.  Another “casualty” in the top 20 ranking was Sony, which fell to 16th place in 1H13 from the 12th position in 2012.

Micron’s acquisition of Elpida was completed on July 31, 2013.  It is interesting to note that if Micron and Elpida’s 1H13 sales were combined, the “new” company would have had $6,699 million in total sales in 1H13 and would have been ranked as the fifth-largest semiconductor supplier worldwide.  Now that the two companies are officially combined, look for Micron to move up in the ranking of top suppliers over the remainder of 2013 and in 2014.

Figure 1

In total, the top 20 semiconductor companies’ sales increased by 4 percent in 1H13 as compared to 1H12, one point better than the total 1H13/1H12 worldwide semiconductor market increase of 3 percent.  It took semiconductor sales of just over $1.9 billion in 1H13 to make the top-20 ranking.

As shown in Figure 2, there was a 64-percentage-point range of growth rates among the worldwide top 20 semiconductor suppliers in 1H13 (from +38 percent for SK Hynix to -26 percent for Sony).  The continued success of the fabless/foundry business model is evident when examining the top 20 semiconductor suppliers ranked by growth rate.  As shown, the top 10 performers included three fabless companies (Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Broadcom) and three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC).

Figure 2

Figure 2 illustrates that two of the three top-20 ranked companies that registered a double-digit sales decline in 1H13 were headquartered in Japan (Renesas and Sony).  Japan-based Fujitsu also registered a double-digit decline (-19 percent) in 1H13 to drop out of the top 20 ranking.  However, it should be noted that the conversion of Japanese company semiconductor sales from yen to U.S. dollars, at 95.47 yen per dollar in 1H13 versus 79.70 yen per dollar in 1H12, had a significant impact on the sales figures for the Japanese companies.  Still, Sony would have logged a double-digit (12 percent) semiconductor sales decline even if its sales results were not converted to U.S. dollars while Renesas would have posted a two percent increase in semiconductor sales if the numbers were expressed in yen.

Unfortunately for AMD, it cannot attribute its extremely poor 1H13 sales performance (-25 percent) to currency conversion issues.  However, the company’s 3Q13/2Q13 guidance is for a 22 percent surge in sales, a significant rebound but one that still may not prevent the company from posting another full-year decline in sales in 2013 (AMD registered a steep 17 percent sales decline in 2012).

More details on the 1H13 top 25 semiconductor suppliers, including a look at the companies’ 3Q13 expectations and guidance, will be provided in the August Update to The McClean Report.

 

Despite a major surplus in the light-emitting diode (LED) market, top suppliers are increasing their capital spending and production because of government incentives and in order to cash in on an expected boom in the lighting business.

Global shipments of metal organic chemical vapor-deposition (MOCVD) equipment—tools that are essential for LED manufacturing—are expected to rise by 17 percent in 2013, according to Alice Tao, senior analyst, LEDs and lighting for IHS. This will be the first annual growth for the MOCVD market since 2011, and will represent a major turnaround from the 70 percent plunge of 2012.

At the same time that growth is being projected, factory utilization rates are increasing for major LED companies in Asia. In South Korea, for instance, utilization rose to about 75 percent in the second quarter, up from 60 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, utilization for some Taiwanese and Chinese companies reached 90 percent in the second quarter.

The spending and boosting of utilization rates alike are occurring despite a glut of supply that has plagued the market since 2010. The surplus started when LED suppliers made major investments in capacity in 2010 and 2011, stemming from the efforts of local governments in China to subsidize MOCVD purchasing. Governments are helping fund the procurement of MOCVD by to 80 percent of the total price of the equipment.

Many of these companies also are increasing production in the belief that they can capitalize on upcoming fast growth in the market for LEDs used in lighting.

“The global market for LED lighting is expected to double during the next three years,” noted Tao. “The prospect of this massive growth is irresistible to LED suppliers, who don’t want to be caught short of supply during this expected boom. But given the rising investments in manufacturing equipment, the acute LED oversupply already in existence is expected to continue through 2016.”

The supply of LEDs, measured in terms of manufactured die, is expected to exceed demand by 69 percent in 2013 and in 2014. The glut will decline slightly to 61 percent in 2015 and then to 40 percent in 2016.

Major LED suppliers include San’an, Elec-tech of China, Samsung and Seoul Semiconductor of South Korea, Epistar of Taiwan, and other companies including Philips Lumileds of the United States and Osram of Germany.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article stated that Mike Splinter became president/CEO of Applied Materials in 2005. This is incorrect. Mike Splinter became president/CEO of Applied in 2003. The correction has been made to this article. Solid State Technology regrets the error.

Mike Splinter, chairman and chief executive officer of Applied Materials, was awarded the 2013 Robert N. Noyce Award, presented annually by the Semiconductor Industry Association, for outstanding achievement and leadership in support of the U.S. semiconductor industry. Splinter has been on the SEMI International Board of Directors since 2005.

The award is one of the industry’s highest honors and celebrates the memory of Robert Noyce, co-inventor of the integrated circuit and co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel Corporation. The award will be presented at the annual SIA Award Dinner to be held on November 7, 2013.

"We applaud the SIA for recognizing Mike Splinter for his enormous contributions to the semiconductor industry,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “As the first recipient of the Robert N. Noyce Award from the SEMI Board of Directors, his selection underscores the critical contributions of equipment and materials suppliers to the continued health and progress of the semiconductor industry."

With a portfolio of more than 10,000 patents, Applied Materials is a key equipment and technologies supplier that helps build the advanced microchips and displays essential to today’s top-selling electronic devices. Mike Splinter was named president and chief executive officer of Applied Materials in 2003 and chairman of the board of directors in 2009. Splinter is a 40-year veteran of the semiconductor industry and has led Applied Materials to record revenue and profits during his tenure.

Prior to joining Applied Materials, Splinter was an executive at Intel Corporation where he held a number of positions in his 20 years at the company, including executive vice president and director of Sales and Marketing and executive vice president and general manager of the Technology and Manufacturing Group.

Splinter began his career at Rockwell International in the firm’s Electronics Research Center. During his tenure, he became manager of the company’s Semiconductor Fabrication Operations and was awarded two patents. Author of numerous papers and articles, Splinter earned both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.