Category Archives: LEDs

June 11, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL), enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, announced record-breaking performance of its white organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting technology at the 2012 Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition.

Also read: Universal Display intros novel emission layer systems for OLEDs

Advances in white OLED device performance, reported for both flexible OLED and rigid glass formats, using Universal Display’s all-phosphorescent OLED architecture, may accelerate the commercialization of a variety of novel white OLED products for specialty and general lighting application.

“White OLED lighting has great potential to transform the way we use and experience lighting. With our power-efficient UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, OLEDs can play a meaningful role in reducing the energy impact of lighting, and, with advances in our flexible OLED technologies, OLEDs have the potential to enable innovative design concepts with novel form factors,” said Steven V. Abramson, president and CEO.

Believed to be a record for a flexible lighting panel, the 15cm2 white OLED lighting panel demonstrates a power efficacy of 47 lumens per Watt (lm/W) at 1,000 candelas per square meter (cd/m2) with an outcoupling enhancement of 1.4X. The white OLED panel, built on plastic substrate using the company’s novel single-layer barrier technology and highly-efficient UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, operates at a color rendering index (CRI) of 83 and a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 3470K. This advance is a significant milestone toward the commercialization of thin, lightweight, rugged and flexible white OLED lighting.

Based on enhancements in materials and panel design, the 15cm2 all-phosphorescent white OLED panel, with a CRI of 85 and CCT of 3030K, demonstrates 70 lm/W and an operating lifetime of 30,000 hours (to 70% of an initial luminance of 1,000 cd/m2) with an outcoupling enhancement of 1.75X.

Universal Display’s phosphorescent OLED technology and materials offer up to a four-to-one power advantage over other OLED technologies, resulting in record energy-efficient OLEDs, the company reports.

Universal Display Corporation (Nasdaq: PANL) is a leader in developing and delivering state-of the-art, organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies, materials and services to the display and lighting industries. To learn more about Universal Display, please visit www.universaldisplay.com.

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June 11, 2012 — After high growth and limited supply in 2010, then a price slump and oversupply in 2011, the light-emitting diode (LED) sapphire substrate supply should find a supply/demand balance in 2012, shows Displaybank. The overall LED industry is showing positive signs of recovery due to the decreased price of LED lighting and LED lighting support policies from governments.

Figure 1. LED substrate use by region, year (Thousands of mm). Source: "LED-use Ingot, Substrate Industry Analysis & Market Forecast" Report, February 2012, Displaybank.

2012’s balance of demand and supply is based on the downward-stabilized price of sapphire wafers. More ingot suppliers are coming online, with new entrants in Korea and China, providing a broader supplier base for LED makers.

Figure 2. LED substrate price trends by wafer size, monthly. Source: "LED-use Ingot, Substrate Industry Analysis & Market Forecast" Report, February 2012, Displaybank.

Large corporations are becoming sapphire ingot suppliers in Korea, which could push changes at existing ingot makers. For instance, the vertical integration of LED upstream and downstream industries was completed as Samsung Electronics merged Samsung LED. As a result, Korea is expected to have competitiveness ranging from LED ingot to the industrial sector of all LED lighting and application product areas by cost reduction and capacity expansion, Displaybank reports.

In China, new LED-related companies continue to open, with LED support policies from the Chinese government. Existing companies are also aggressively expanding their capacities. China is expected to be the biggest supply and demand market for LEDs, especially as consumers of LED lighting.

Displaybank analyzed overall status and forecast regarding the sapphire ingot industry through manufacturing technology and processing of the ingot used most widely as LED-use ingot, major ingot makers’ status and new companies’ trend, capacity analysis by maker, market price forecast and demand prediction, in “LED-use Ingot, Substrate Industry Analysis & Market Forecast.”

This report was written for LED ingot and substrate companies, Epi-wafer/chip-related companies, package companies, companies interested in opening LED application business, and those belonging to LED-related parts and materials sectors. Learn more at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=733&cate=8

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June 7, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) added 3 new models of its TurboDisc metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems for high brightness light emitting diode (HB-LED) production: TurboDisc MaxBright M and MHP, and TurboDisc K465i HP.

MaxBright M is a modular and more compact version of the multi-reactor system, with up to 15% smaller footprint. Its layout configuration flexibility accommodates various fab spacing requirements.

MaxBright MHP (pictured above) is a high-performance version of the MaxBright M, with as much as 20% within-wafer wavelength uniformity improvement. The system incorporates new thermal and flow technologies to improve LED yields, and Veeco reports that it offers lower cost of ownership than MaxBright.

K465i HP is a high-performance option for Veeco’s single-reactor MOCVD system which delivers up to 20% within-wafer wavelength uniformity improvement compared to the K465i and lower cost of ownership. It is available as a field upgrade for existing systems.

All 3 of the new MOCVD tools are available in 2”, 4”, 6”, and 8” wafer configurations.

Veeco makes MOCVD, MBE, ion beam, and related equipment for the manufacture of LEDs, power electronics, hard drives, MEMS and wireless chips. For information, visit www.veeco.com.

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June 5, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: PANL), maker of UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, introduced new red, green, and yellow UniversalPHOLED products during the 2012 Society for Information Display (SID) Display Week in Boston. The new offerings include novel emission layer material systems with enhanced performance to provide OLEDs with additional advantages for smartphones, TVs, and solid-state lighting.

“Our ongoing innovations in new materials and technology have allowed us to expand our product line-up that include new high-performance emissive layer systems for red, green, and yellow,” said Steven V. Abramson, president and CEO, Universal Display. “These next-generation systems contain our proprietary, highly efficient UniversalPHOLED emitter materials as well as novel host systems. These host systems combine our proprietary, cost-effective host materials with host materials from partner companies.”

Universal Display’s phosphorescent OLED technology and materials have demonstrated a four-to-one power advantage over other OLED technologies, resulting in record energy-efficient OLEDs. The new red UniversalPHOLED system, with CIE color coordinates of (0.66, 0.34), offers a luminous efficiency of 29 candelas per ampere (cd/A) with an operating lifetime of 600,000 hours (to 50% of initial luminance). The new green UniversalPHOLED system with CIE coordinates of (0.31, 0.63) offers 85 cd/A and an operating lifetime of 400,000 hours. The yellow system with CIE coordinates of (0.44, 0.54) offers 81 cd/A and 1,450,000 hours of operating lifetime.

Since 2003, the company has offered UniversalPHOLED emitters for commercial applications, and today offers a line of red, green, yellow, and light blue emitters for use in OLED display and lighting products. Recently, the company introduced high-performance host materials to its product line. The company’s proprietary hosts can be used alone or, as recently developed, in combination with complementary hosts from its material company partners. Designed to optimize the performance of the company’s UniversalPHOLED emitter products, these host systems have also been developed to provide cost-effectiveness in display and lighting applications.

Universal Display is the recognized leader in high-performance, energy-efficient phosphorescent OLED technology and materials, as well as related OLED technologies that deliver manufacturing and device performance advantages. With a comprehensive patent portfolio and technical expertise that cover these and other OLED technologies worldwide, Universal Display licenses its state-of-the-art OLED technologies, sells its proprietary UniversalPHOLED materials, and provides customized technology development and transfer services for its OLED display and lighting customers.

Universal Display Corporation (Nasdaq: PANL) makes organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies, materials and services for the display and lighting industries. To learn more about Universal Display, please visit www.universaldisplay.com.

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June 4, 2012 — Displaybank published a 2009-2014 analysis of light-emitting diode (LED) packages, the finished LED components used in various applications. While LED package units will grow steadily through the forecast period, revenues will remain mostly flat from 2010 to 2013.

Figure. LED package sector growth by units shipped and by revenue through 2014. SOURCE: LED Industry Outlook – Package (2009~2014), Displaybank.

LEDs are achieving near 100% penetration in mobile device displays, emerging as a major segment of lighting, and replacing CCFLs in television backlights. Market penetration is increasing for internal and external automotive lights, as well as signage applications.

LED light sources can offer higher performance and lower power consumption than traditional technologies. The technology is also considered more environmentally friendly, and can reduce costs for some applications.

The report,

June 3, 2012 — Light-emitting diode (LED) specialist Marl International Ltd. will install the DEK Horizon 03iX print platform to adapt to new circuit board size requirements up to 620mm long. Along with the Horizon 03iX platform, Marl International will also use the VectorGuard stencil system, a stencil tensioning technology. Marl will use Nano-ProTek to reduce cleaning requirements and increase quality.

The screen printing tool suite offers high accuracy to enable consistent thermal conductivity for high-output LEDs, said David Moorhouse, operations director, Marl International. Lighting-grade LEDs need to meet the theoretical lifetime performance set in the market, he added.

The Horizon 03iX offers 12s cycle time, process alignment capability at 2 Cpk @ ±25µm 6-Sigma and machine alignment capability of 2 Cpk @ ±12.5µm 6-Sigma.

DEK is a global provider of advanced materials deposition technologies and support solutions including printing equipment platforms, stencils, precision screens and mass imaging processes. For more information, visit DEK at www.dek.com.

Marl International Limited specializes in the design, manufacture and supply of visible LED indication, illumination, components and systems.

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June 1, 2012 — Singapore’s R&D organization, A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) and semiconductor supplier NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) will collaborate on 200mm gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) process and technology development for high-voltage power devices, targeting end use in computing and communications, aerospace and automotive applications.

GaN-on-silicon devices will achieve better cost and scale at larger-diameter wafers. GaN-on-Si combines the higher operating temperature/power/frequency capabilities of GaN with the existing large-wafer supply chain of Si and CMOS wafer fab processes.

The work will be carried out in IME’s state-of-the art 200mm engineering fab, which offers GaN metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) capabilities.

The Institute of Microelectronics (IME) is a research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). IME’s mission is to add value to Singapore’s semiconductor industry by developing strategic competencies, innovative technologies and intellectual property; enabling enterprises to be technologically competitive; and cultivating a technology talent pool to inject new knowledge to the industry. Its key research areas are in integrated circuits design, advanced packaging, bioelectronics and medical devices, MEMS, nanoelectronics, and photonics. For more information about IME, please visit www.ime.a-star.edu.sg or learn about A*STAR at www.a-star.edu.sg.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) provides high-performance mixed-signal and standard semiconductors for automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing applications. Additional information can be found by visiting www.nxp.com.

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June 1, 2012 — Kyma Technologies Inc., crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) and gallium nitride (GaN) supplier, demonstrated a 10” (250mm) aluminum nitride (AlN) on sapphire template, manufactured on its proprietary plasma vapor deposition on nanocolumns (PVDNC) technology. The 10” sapphire substrate was provided courtesy of Monocrystal.

Photo 1. Kyma’s new 10” diameter PVDNC AlN on sapphire template with smaller diameter (6” and 4”) products.

AlN templates replace bare and patterned sapphire substrates for manufacturing blue, green, and white GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Photo 2. Monocrystal’s 10” sapphire substrate vs 2” sapphire substrate. Source: Monocrystal.

LED manufacturers are transitioning from 2” to 6” wafers, Kyma Technologies reports. While 10” and 12” wafers remain primarily in demonstration phase today, LED makers will be moving to the larger wafer diameters in the next few years, the company predicts. Larger wafers produce more die per wafer, making tool utilization more efficient and achieving higher volume production.

Kyma has demonstrated 12” AlN-on-silicon (Si) templates that can be used for GaN growth. The company commissioned a high-volume PVDNC tool in early 2011 and has qualified customers on it for 2” processes, said Ed Preble, Kyma CTO.

Monocrystal supplies sapphire products for LEDs and metallization pastes for the solar manufacturing industry. For more information, visit www.monocrystal.com.

Kyma makes crystalline nitride semiconductor materials including gallium nitride (GaN), aluminum nitride (AlN), and aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) and related products and services. For more information about Kyma Technologies, visit www.kymatech.com.

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June 1, 2012 — OSRAM AG will build a new light emitting diode (LED) assembly plant in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. LED chips fabbed at its Regensburg, Germany and Penang, Malaysia wafer processing facilities will be packaged at the new back-end facility in Wuxi starting in late 2013. The plant will accommodate up to 1600 employees.

An OSRAM LED package diagram showing the chip and package.
An actual OSRAM LED package.

This will free up the Regensburg and Penang wafer fabs to exclusive manufacture LED chips. Wuxi will also augment the Penang plant by manufacturing general, automotive and industrial lighting products for key segments of the Chinese market. The new facility gives Osram more access to China, which it calls “the lighting industry’s largest single market worldwide.” Wuxi is near Shanghai.

In fiscal 2011, about one-fifth of Osram’s revenue came from the Asia-Pacific region. Osram employs about 16,000 people there, its largest regional workforce. Roughly half of these workers are in China. Osram has marketed products in the region for about 80 years.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors manufactures optoelectronic semiconductors for the lighting, sensor and visualization sectors. Learn more at http://www.osram-os.com/osram_os/EN/

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May 31, 2012 — Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) company Novaled debuted a class of n-doped electron transport layer (ETL) materials for OLED TV and mobile displays.

Novaled’s new generation of materials includes NET-164 and NET-142 hosts, and NDN-77 and NDN-87 ETL dopants. The air-stable dopants can be paired with either of the host molecules to tailor the OLEDs’ efficiency, voltage and lifetime for a specific display application.

Combinations can address short product lifetimes induced by low driving voltage and higher charge carrier density in the emission zone. Novaled claims that the materials system can double expected lifetime over the previous OLED stack, with air-stable production. The system eliminates complications from air-sensitive N-side dopant materials in mass production and handling.

Novaled uses evaporation processable outcoupling layers — thin NET-61 layers in n-doped ETLs — for maximum efficiency in white PIN OLEDs. Crystallizing outcoupling enhancement layers leads to corrugation of the reflective cathode, reducing plasmon absorption losses.

Novaled will highlight recent advances in OLED display and lighting at the Society for Information Display’s (SID) 49th International Symposium & Exhibition, Booth #3313, June 3-8 in Boston. Dr. Jan Birnstock, VP Technology & Products at Novaled, will present a paper on June 6 about Novaled’s new class of OLED materials for OLED TV and OLED mobile display applications.  Dr. Sven Murano, Product Senior Manager at Novaled, will present a paper on June 7 about Novaled’s outcoupling materials for high-efficiency white OLEDs.

Novaled AG researches, develops, and commercializes technologies and materials that enhance the performance of OLEDs and other organic electronics. Commercially active since 2003, Novaled was founded in 2001 as a spin-off of the Technical University and the Fraunhofer Institute of Dresden. For more information, please visit www.novaled.com.

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