Category Archives: LEDs

June 20, 2012 — LUXeXcel introduced its one-step 3D Printoptical printing process for plastic optics for lighting fixtures. The optics can be custom manufactured from a CAD model, on demand, at prices competitive with injection molding. The manufacturing process eliminates molds and tooling.

LTI Optics’ Photopia Parametric Optical Design Tools module enables creation of optical designs to achieve a prescribed distribution of light. All of the key aspects of the design that affect the light control are parameterized in ways meaningful to optical design. Lighting manufacturers can combine Photopia software for creation and verification of CAD models with LUXeXceL’s Printoptical technology for mass customized manufacturing. LUXeXcel reports that initial product development costs and working capital requirements are reduced with this system, enabling a wider product range.

Photopia was originally developed to “enable simulation study of alternative designs prior to incurring the high expense of tooling for an optic to be physically produced,” said Mark Jongewaard, president of LTI Optics. “Now as a software partner for LUXeXceL’s zero-tooling Printoptical manufacturing services, Photopia has a second value proposition to enable rapid custom variations of a proven design for immediate manufacture.”

According to Richard van de Vrie, CEO of the LUXeXceL Group, “The combination of Photopia software and Printoptical manufacturing is the digitization of plastic optics design and fabrication.  A Photopia design becomes a digital “mold,” enabling any correction or change to be implemented immediately.  The Printoptical manufacturing service is on-demand with an economic order quantity of one (EOQ1), so inventory is also digital, requiring minimal working capital and eliminating write-offs of obsolete stock.”

LTI Optics develops and sells the Photopia optical design software and provides optical design consulting services.  For more information, please visit www.ltioptics.com.

LUXeXceL Group BV, is the inventor and exclusive provider of Printoptical fabrication services, the new digital 3D printing technology which enables prototyping and manufacture of plastic optics for the lighting industry and other applications. For more information, please visit www.luxexcel.com

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June 18, 2012 – PRWEB — Daewon Innost achieved what it says is the light-emitting diode (LED) industry’s best thermal dissipation performance on its Glaxum LED Array family of chip on board (COB) modules. The proprietary Nano-Pore Silicon Substrate (NPSS) technology developed by Daewon Innost led to thermal impedance of 0.41°C/W.

Daewon Innost’s NPSS is created by applying semiconductor lithography to silicon wafers, allowing for 50µm-pitch interconnection between gallium nitride (GaN) LED chips; conventional metal-core printed circuit boards (MCPCBs) cannot drop below 300µm pitches. The COB modules are fabricated with high-efficacy, commercially available 1W LED chips. An LED chip supplier independently tested the modules.

“Our Glaxum module runs over 12°C cooler than the previous top performing COB module,” said Sungyuk ‘Stephen’ Won, CEO of Daewon Innost, noting that generally 1°C lower operating temperature = an extra 1000 hours of lifetime.

The Glaxum NPSS modules are available in models ranging from 3.5 to 100W. The models with lowest thermal impedance are Glaxum-MCL-GL-WC-020-002 (warm white) and the Glaxum-MCL-GL-CC-020-002 (cool white). Tested voltage and current value of Glaxum module is 16.6 V, 1.2 A, respectively.

Daewon Innost was founded in 2011 as a spin-off from Daewon SPIC, a leading company in the global semiconductor packaging industry, to focus on LED lighting. Learn more at http://www.dwinnost.com.

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June 18, 2012 — Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are breaking through in displays and lighting applications in the past 18 months, after a long run as a potential technology, reports NanoMarkets. OLED materials must meet growing requirements as OLEDs hit the market, allowing OLED materials suppliers to break out of their niche, specialty status in the next few years.

Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone products with OLED displays outshipped Apple’s iPhones in Q1 2012, notes NanoMarkets. LG and Samsung have launched OLED TVs, hitting stores in 2012, with more to follow.

OLED-based lighting is also already on the market, although almost entirely in the form of low-volume, luxury lighting. The industry is working toward larger panels for general and architectural illumination — higher-volume, price-sensitive applications.

As the addressable market for OLEDs grows, so it does for OLED materials. The number of modules is increasing, and OLED module average sizes are getting steadily larger. Add to this trend a shift in the relative importance of different applications as OLED is adopted, and substrates, transparent conductors, organic semiconductors, emissive materials, and encapsulation technologies will need to be rapidly tailored for different needs.

For example, OLED materials suppliers are developing longer-lifetime blue emitters that will strongly benefit the display sector, while quality white emission schemes are needed for OLED lighting applications.

Also read:

Novaled’s new OLED materials set could double OLED lifetimes

OLED manufacturers develop new color patterning technologies

Universal Display intros novel emission layer systems for OLEDs

“OLED MATERIALS OPPORTUNITIES 2012” is the latest update from NanoMarkets on the OLED materials markets. Analysts quantify the opportunities that are emerging from the booming OLED display industry and in the nascent OLED lighting market, where the key determinants of success will be device efficiency, lifetime, and reduction in total cost of ownership. The report also analyzes the strategies of some of the major players in this space, ranging from giant chemical firms such as BASF, DuPont and Sumitomo to important specialty firms such as UDC, Novaled, and Plextronics. It considers commercial implications of technology developments and predicts what they will mean to the industry overall. The report contains detailed volume and revenue forecasts for materials used for OLEDs broken out by material type and functionality, as well as by application and by deposition method wherever possible. NanoMarkets tracks and analyzes emerging market opportunities in energy, electronics and other markets created by developments in advanced materials. Visit http://www.nanomarkets.net for a full listing of NanoMarkets’ reports and other services.  

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ECTC


June 15, 2012

June 15, 2012 — San Diego, CA, hosts the annual ECTC (Electronic Component Technology Conference) every three years. Attendance at this year

June 14, 2012 – Marketwire — Light-emitting diode (LED) maker Luminus Devices Inc. is reducing thermal resistance in its Big Chip LED devices by 30% with new packaging technology.

Luminus Devices combined proprietary processes, new specialty materials and assembly equipment to achieve the thermal reduction. The thermal manangement improvement results in up to 20% higher brightness levels, while maintaining current reliability during operation. It also simplifies system-level design.

These higher-brightness LED chips will be used in applications such as projection displays, said Arvind Baliga, VP of engineering at Luminus Devices, where the chips can help shrink projector size and cost. Other possible applications include high-brightness wash lights and spot lights for entertainment.

Luminus is currently sampling products based on this new technology; production quantities will be available next quarter.

Luminus Devices develops and manufactures LED technologies and solutions. For more information, visit www.luminus.com

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June 13, 2012 — MicroSense LLC, maker of high-resolution capacitive position sensors, metrology modules, and high-sensitivity magnetic metrology tools, acquired SigmaTech Inc., developer of high-sensitivity metrology tools for light-emitting diode (LED), micro electro mechanical system (MEMS), and semiconductor manufacturing.

“SigmaTech’s customers and prospects will continue to be supported by the existing SigmaTech employees, all of whom will stay with the combined business,” said James Pelusi, Chairman and CEO of MicroSense.

MicroSense gains leading-edge wafer inspection tools for its metrology portfolio, with systems that integrate optical spectrometry, interferometry, SigmaTech’s patented auto-positioning back pressure (APBP) technology and other sensing tools. MicroSense will integrate its capacitance sensors into SigmaTech metrology platforms. SigmaTech took the 2011 Best of West award at SEMICON West. The MicroSense high-resolution capacitive sensor technology provides “an ideal path to increasing throughput” of SigmaTech metrology systems and expanding its applications, said Jacques Fauque, semiconductor industry veteran and founder of SigmaTech who will remain with the business and continue to lead its development.

MicroSense’s capacitive sensors enable precise, high-bandwidth measurements of solar wafers, hard disk drive (HDD) motors, air bearing spindles, precision X-Y stages, optical disks, automotive parts and machine tools. Leading equipment manufacturers around the world use MicroSense capacitive sensors in wafer lithography systems, solar wafer sorters, autofocus mechanisms, nanopositioning stages, metrology tools and flat panel display manufacturing equipment.

MicroSense supplies capacitive sensors, metrology modules, and magnetic metrology tools. Learn more at www.microsense.net.

SigmaTech offers automated metrology solutions for a broad range of standard and specific applications in the field of semiconductor wafers, materials and optics. SigmaTech has multiple system installations at many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturing companies and stands at the forefront of the dimensional wafer metrology industry. SigmaTech currently offers multiple gauging technologies that can be implemented to provide the optimal solution for virtually any customer application. Learn more at http://www.sigma9600.com/.

June 13, 2012 — Guangzhou (China) Lightfair Conference is the biggest lighting fair in Asia, with companies throughout the light-emitting diode (LED) lighting supply chain, including new Chinese MOCVD makers, International Solid State Lighting Alliance and China SSL Alliance. Citi analyst Timothy Arcuri notes trends at the show in LED manufacturing and pricing ahead of China’s subsidy program going into effect.

The NDRC’s demand rebate program is more positive than Citi originally estimated, because the rather meager RMB2.2B (~$350MM) would get more funds if this iteration of the subsidy catalog’s funds are depleted, expected to take only ~12-24months. Producers are even more excited by provincial-level subsidies, Arcuri says. In Guangdong, the province in which the conference took place, these will boost revenue for local LED producers to RMB5B (~$850-900MM) by 2015.

Major buyers like Kingsun (#1 China outdoor fixture maker) are finally coming to shop at the local LED makers, sourcing up to 60% of their LEDs domestically by 2013. Companies that months before were making Christmas lights are now making bulbs; bulbmakers are vertically integrating rapidly into fixtures. Lumens/W at these companies have increased dramatically even from last fall.

Citi heard of many examples of Chinese LED makers selling well below cost to gain an edge on the current first round of bids — there could be even lower prices for the next 4 rounds of bids through year-end.

The “gray market” for metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) tools is gaining steam, but province-specific. The thought has generally been that the existence of local subsidies for LED fab tools would drastically limit any impact of the grey market. Citi’s observed talk of stronger vendors within a given province buying new, unused, or virtually unused tools from weaker vendors (in most cases recertified by the tool vendor). As long as the equipment does not leave the province, local government is happy. Also, in many cases, the local government is playing “matchmaker” behind the scenes to force consolidation.

China’s LED fab tool utilization rate is around 35-40%. Citi estimates that ~60% of all reactors shipped to China are turned on, with ~60% utilization on these tools, implying overall utilization of ~35-40%. Tanlong Photoelectric (China) now has a working MOCVD tool and Nippon Sanso is officially entering China market to compete w/VECO and AIXG (Nippon has ~70% share in Japan with a strong reputation).

Timothy Arcuri is an alternative/renewable energy analyst at Citi.

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June 13, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Light-emitting diode (LED) company Cree Inc. (Nasdaq:CREE) is opening new technology centers in Shenzhen and Shanghai, China, expanding Cree TEMPO (Thermal, Electrical, Mechanical, Photometric, Optical) Services for LED lighting manufacturers evaluating LED luminaires.

The new technology centers will offer a range of TEMPO Services to meet the unique needs of lighting manufacturers in China, including the popular Cree TEMPO 21 and TEMPO Thermal Simulation Services. Cree’s experience indicates that many of the common quality issues and failure modes seen in Solid State Lighting products are not detected by currently available standardized tests. TEMPO 21 examines critical aspects of quality that commonly go unchecked such as chemical compatibility, driver spikes, dimmer compatibility and electrolytic capacitor analysis.

Also read: Cree LED test suite TEMPO 24 incorporates IES LM-79

Tang Guoqing, senior advisor, Cree Hong Kong Limited, said “TEMPO Services can give manufacturers competitive advantages by helping them avoid costly design mistakes and by providing access to a broad range of test environments that are, in many cases, cost-prohibitive for them to build and operate.”

Effective LED luminaire thermal design is essential to ensure reliability and optimum performance. TEMPO Thermal Simulation predicts the thermal behavior of LED-based fixtures, including junction temperature, heatsink temperature, temperature profile and airflow profile. TEMPO SPOT gives customers access to complex, costly equipment to measure the photometric performance of luminaires and replacement lamps. Every TEMPO Service delivers an accurate, easy-to-understand TEMPO report that includes all testing results and relevant performance data.

In addition to the new China centers, Cree currently provides TEMPO Services out of its U.S. Cree Technology Centers located in Durham, NC and Santa Barbara, CA. For more information on Cree Services, please visit www.cree.com/tempo.

Cree makes lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor products for power and radio frequency (RF) applications. For additional product and company information, please refer to www.cree.com.

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June 12, 2012 – Marketwire — Lattice Power Corporation started volume production of its new-generation gallium nitride (GaN) high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on silicon substrates.

Lattice Power says it achieves comparable performance in the volume GaN-on-Si LED chips as high-end chips on conventional sapphire substrates, at a much lower price point and with a well-established supply base of silicon wafers. Cost savings at larger-diameter wafers can be up to 70% over conventional LED products, Lattice Power asserts.

Twenty strategic customers have received the LEDs and will incorporate them into indoor and outdoor lighting applications. Also read: GaN-on-Si HB-LED demo from Lattice Power, ShineOn

Lattice Power’s silicon-substrate-based LED series encompasses four chip sizes: 28mm2, 35mm2, 45mm2, and 55mm2. Chip power ranges from 0.5 to 2W. The 45mm LED has an operation current of 350mA, producing 130-lumen cool white with an efficiency of 120 lumens/W.

Lattice Power recently launched production of smaller-size silicon-substrate LED chips for displays and signage.

Lattice Power is actively working on 150-mm GaN-on-Si technology and is expecting to transfer its production to the larger-diameter silicon substrates in 2013.

Lattice Power makes blue/white GaN-based LEDs on silicon substrates. The company is backed by leading venture capitalists, including GSR Ventures, Temasek Holdings, Mayfield Fund, AsiaVest Partners and IFC. For more information, visit www.latticepower.com.

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June 12, 2012 — High Tech Lights is participating in a nationwide “Reshoring Initiative” (http://www.reshorenow.org) by bringing job positions from China to the US for light emitting diode (LED) and laser diode (LD) scientists, manufacturing and assembly workers, and R&D staff.

High Tech Lights is offering 80 positions in a Las Vegas manufacturing and assembly facility, hiring over the next six months. The company worked with the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the Nevada Development Authority to develop a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility within the next three years.

“We’re motivating recruits to enter the skilled manufacturing workforce,” said Tony Jones, president, adding that the Made in America brand is important to the company. High Tech Lights sees manufacturing costs in China rising, and also notes more direct control of product by moving manufacturing to the US.

Learn more about "reshoring" or "insourcing" here: President Obama speaks on "insourcing" at Albany Nano-Tech complex

High Tech Lights designs, develops, manufactures and markets general illumination (lighting) products that exclusively use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as their light source. Website: http://www.hightechlights.com.

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