Category Archives: LEDs

BUSINESS WIRE — Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) company Novaled AG founders Professor Karl Leo, Dr. Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth, and Dr. Martin Pheiffer received the Deutscher Zukunftspreis from German Federal President Christian Wulff.

The Deutscher Zukunftspreis, the Federal President’s Award for Innovation and Technology, is an annual prize honoring teams of creative people that realize breakthroughs in science and commercialize the results. The prize is worth EUR250,000. See this year’s nominees here.

Professor Leo is associated with Technical University and Fraunhofer IPMS Dresden. Dr. Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth is chief scientific officer at Novaled AG. Dr. Martin Pfeiffer serves at Heliatek GmbH (organic solar photovoltaics [OPV] cells manufacturer).

"This team’s…research topic…can help us achieve a transition in energy," stated Mr. Wulff. Dr. Blochwitz-Nimoth called the award a "strong endorsement" of Novaled and its partners, adding that organic electronics can "appreciably improve our lives."

The winning team made remarkable developments in the field of Organic Electronics. At the Technical University of Dresden, the three scientists have developed unique OLED technology designed to drastically reduce energy consumption and increase the lifespan of such products. This will enable novel visionary applications, which also save on resources, to become a reality in various areas of our lives.

Leo, Blochwitz-Nimoth and Pfeiffer have established and developed a cutting-edge organic electronics cluster in Germany (Saxony). The spin-off Novaled successfully entered the market with OLED technology and materials, which are now being applied in a new generation of colorful flat panel displays (FPDs) for smartphones and other apps, energy-saving lighting, and efficient and flexible OPV. The company is known for its Novaled PIN OLED technology, its proprietary OLED materials and the customized OLED products and services. Novaled has developed long term partnerships with major OLED producers throughout the world. With over 500 granted and filed patents, Novaled enjoys a very strong intellectual property position.

Operating on the market since March 2003, the company was founded by TU Dresden (IAPP) and FhG (IPMS) Dresden. Novaled

December 14, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Cree Inc. (Nasdaq:CREE) added 2 Cree TEMPO offerings to its LED design and evaluation services: TEMPO (Thermal Electrical Mechanical Photometric Optical) thermal simulation and photometric testing options.

The aim is to eliminate design, engineering, and manufacturing barriers to solid-state lighting manufacturers, said Mark McClear, Cree, director of global applications engineering.

TEMPO Thermal Simulation is a cost-effective way to model the thermal performance of prototype LED fixtures. The simulation predicts the thermal behavior of LED-based fixtures, including junction temperature (Tj), heatsink temperature, temperature profile, and airflow profile.

The quick-turn photometric evaluation option, joining Cree’s TEMPO SPOT service, allows customers to access complex, expensive photometric performance measurement equipment. Rapid photometrid analysis of prototype devices can help prevent design mistakes throughout development of luminaires and replacement lamps. Customers can choose integrated measurements from a 2-meter sphere or 3D measurements from a Type C Goniophotometer to visualize and predict the photometric performance of an installed luminaire.

Cree currently provides TEMPO Services out of its Cree Technology Centers, located in Research Triangle Park, NC and Santa Barbara, CA. Future TEMPO Service locations in Munich, Germany; Shenzhen and Shanghai, China; and Taiwan are targeted to open in 2012.

Cree makes lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications. Cree’s product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. For additionalinformation, visit www.cree.com.

December 14, 2011 — Altatech Semiconductor S.A. launched its first LED inspection system, the non-contact AltaSight LEDMax, for detecting, classifying and characterizing defects on wafers used in manufacturing light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Also read: Fraunhofer IZM’s packaging center installs Altatech CVD

AltaSight LEDMax is designed to detect process-induced defects (PIDs) from metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of epitaxial layers, patterning processes, and final inspection. A proprietary sensor technology filters out all background noise. Surface imperfections can be imaged with 1

Update, January 18, 2012 – Marketwire — inTEST Corporation’s Temptronic Corporation has closed on the acquisition of Thermonics, Inc. on January 16, 2012, pursuant to the agreement entered into in December 2011. The purchase price for the assets was approximately $3.8 million cash, which included net working capital of approximately $1.1 million.

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December 13, 2011 – Marketwire — Temperature management and semiconductor ATE company inTEST Corporation (NASDAQ:INTT) will acquire the assets and certain liabilities of Thermonics Inc. from Test Enerprises Inc. inTEST’s Temptronic Corporation, of the Thermal Solutions Group, will integrate the company.

The acquisition is expected to close in January 2012.

Thermonics develops precision temperature testing systems with emphasis on speed, accuracy, and reliability. The precision temperature forcing systems are used in semiconductor and other industries to verify product performance at a range of temperatures. Acquiring the company expands inTEST’s semiconductor and non-semiconductor customer base — addressing temperature-related problems in the test, manufacturing, conditioning and process control arenas, said James Pelrin, president of inTEST Thermal Solutions. Pelrin points out that the product ranges are complementary to those of Temptronic Corporation, which inTEST acquired in 2000.

Robert E. Matthiessen, inTEST Corporation’s president and CEO, noted that the thermal products expand inTEST’s served available market in non-semiconductor businesses such as Automotive, Aerospace, Industrial, and Telecommunications. "inTEST Corporation began 2011 with non-semiconductor related bookings of 18% for the first quarter; and the company has systematically expanded its product offerings, with our most recent third quarter non-semiconductor related bookings increasing to 41% of consolidated bookings…During the third quarter of 2011, nearly 60% of our Thermal Group’s bookings came from non-semi customers, driven by requirements from manufacturers of oscillators, industrial sensors, LEDs, equipment for the nuclear process industry, and military/aerospace applications."

inTEST Corporation is an independent designer, manufacturer and marketer of temperature management products and ATE interface solutions, which are used by semiconductor manufacturers to perform final testing of integrated circuits (ICs) and wafers. inTEST’s Thermal Solutions Group provides customized temperature test solutions. For more information, visit www.intest.com.

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December 12, 2011 — SEMI is looking for presenters for technical sessions and other opportunities at SEMICON West 2012, July 10-12 in San Francisco, CA.

SEMICON West 2012 will feature more than 40 hours of technical sessions and presentations across three show floor technology stages — the TechXPOTs — focused on critical industry topics shaping design and manufacturing of semiconductors, high-brightness (HB) LEDs, MEMS, printed and flexible electronics, and other related technologies.

SEMI is soliciting technical presentations in topic areas including:

Wafer Processing:

  • Emerging Architectures for Logic and Memory
  • Advanced Materials and Productivity Solutions
  • Advanced Lithography

Test:

  • Probe Card/Handlers
  • Semiconductor Test Strategies
  • ATE
  • Adaptive Test

Packaging:

  • Contemporary Packaging Technology and Productivity Solutions
  • New Packaging Solutions
  • Packaging Materials
  • Trends and Opportunities in 3D-IC
  • Testability and Thermal Management of 3D-IC
  • Interposer Solutions for Packaging

"Extreme" Electronics:

  • Opportunities in MEMS
  • High-brightness LED Manufacturing
  • OLED Manufacturing
  • Printed and Flexible Electronics

Submit an abstract (maximum 500 words) focused on the latest developments and innovations in these technology areas, inclusive of supporting data. The deadline for abstract submission is March 15, 2012. Submissions may be made online from the SEMICON West 2012 website at:  www.semiconwest.org/Participate/SPCFP.

On-line submission for abstracts is now available at: www.semiconwest.org/node/8311. Contact Agnes Cobar at [email protected] with questions.

SEMICON West is an event for the display of new products and technologies for microelectronics design and manufacturing, featuring technologies from across the microelectronics supply chain, from electronic design automation, to device fabrication (wafer processing), to final manufacturing (assembly, packaging, and test), as well as emerging technologies. For more information on SEMICON West 2012, please visit: www.semiconwest.org  

SEMI is the global industry association serving the nano- and micro-electronics manufacturing supply chains. For more information, visit www.semi.org.

December 12, 2011 — Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ:MENT) has combined technologies for thermal characterization and simulation with T3Ster hardware test products and its FloTHERM software, enabling better heat management in power semiconductor packages, such as LEDs.

T3Ster performs advanced thermal transient testing for semiconductor device packages and LEDs. FloTHERM provides electronics thermal simulation and analysis to predict airflow, temperature and heat transfer throughout electronics components, boards, and systems. Engineers can evaluate and test designs automatically before physical prototypes are built. The T3Ster/FloTHERM interface enables more accurate thermal simulation than working from vendor datasheets, MENT reports. The characterization is JESD51-14-compliant. JESD51-14 is a measurement methodology standard for the junction-to-case thermal resistance of power semiconductor devices.

When combined with the T3Ster product, engineers using the FloTHERM tool will benefit from both accurate thermal simulation models derived from real measurements and thermal package characterization testing.

The integrated thermal suite is designed to eliminate manual thermal characterization work and improve accuracty. The combined T3Ster hardware measurement and FloTHERM software simulation methodology optimizes heat management in devices, sub-systems and full systems. Component makers can optimize LED and IC package designs for effective heat dissipation. Device prototypes can then be characterized thermally to build accurate models for subsystem and system designs. Systems integrators can verify heat management strategy with physical measurements in T3ster.

LEDs are becoming more powerful, drawing more attention to heat in failure mechanisms, said Dr. Thomas Zahner, quality manager, Osram Opto Semiconductors, who is using the product. "OSRAM is devoting considerable attention to thermal design." Zahner notes that testing in bulk increases their statistical confidence in measurement results. Thermal attach issues are identified by the T3Ster product (from

December 9, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC or K&S) named Chin Hu Lim to its Board of Directors, also serving on KLIC’s Management Development & Compensation Committee. Lim is the managing partner of Stream Global Venture Catalyst Pte Ltd., a venture fund providing seed funding for start-up companies in the social media and interactive digital media space.

Lim has over 28 years of experience in the information and communication industries.
Previous experience:

  • CEO BT Frontline Pte Ltd., a subsidiary of British Telecom Group.
  • CEO of Frontline Pte Ltd., a Singapore exchange listed company with operations in Asia Pacific, South East Asia, China and India. 
  • Sales, marketing and management positions with Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

Lim has served as a council member of the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation, the IT Standards Committee and the National Infocomm Manpower Council. He was also a board member of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. He is currently a board member for the Changi General Hospital and G-Able (Thailand) Ltd., a leading information technology services company in Thailand.

Lim holds a bachelor of electronics & computer science degree from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia and a degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore.

MacDonell Roehm, Chairman of the K&S Board of Directors, welcomed Lim, praising his expertise in the information and communication industries, finance and Asian markets.

Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC) designs and manufactures semiconductor and LED assembly equipment. Learn more at www.kns.com.

December 7, 2011 – A number of big-name frontend equipment firms highlight TSMC’s annual supplier awards in 2011, many of whom are repeat winners. This year’s recipients were culled from 400 TSMC suppliers spanning equipment, materials, packaging, testing, facilities, IT systems/services, export/import services, and environmental/waste management services.

This year’s theme was "Collaborate on Technology Advancement," intended to highlight TSMC’s technology leadership, manufacturing excellence, and customer trust, according to the company. Perhaps that’s fitting, given how chip manufacturing is becoming increasingly complex and capital-intensive, so too the need for collaboration with suppliers also increases. And maybe that’s also why this year’s 12-name roster is an expansion from 10 the past couple of years, and only six firms in 2007-2008.

Among TSMC’s top 2011 suppliers are ASML and Lam Research, winners for the third consecutive year (Lam’s fourth in the past five years). Other consecutive names include Applied and Tokyo Electron (two straight years). Sumco has made the list three of the last five years. First-time winners for 2011 (in the past five years) include KLA-Tencor, Linde, Dow Chemical, and JX Nippon Mining & Metals.

The awards were also partly broken down by excellence in a particular function: e.g. AMAT was named for "excellent productivity," ASML for service, TEL for delivery support, Lam and BASF for tech development collaboration, and KLA-Tencor, Sumco, Linde, Dow Chemical for "performance."

TSMC also is handing out two separate "Supplier Excellence" awards, to Dainippon Screen for "environmental excellence" and Greene Tweed for "supply chain resilience."

Here’s the full list of TSMC’s 2011 "outstanding suppliers:

Supplier Excellence Awards

  • Applied Materials — Excellent productivity, PVD equipment

  • ASML — Excellent service, lithography equipment

  • Tokyo Electron Ltd. — Excellent delivery support

  • Lam Research — Excellent technology development collaboration, etching equipment

  • KLA-Tencor — Excellent performance, mask inspection equipment

  • SUMCO — Excellent performance, silicon wafer material

  • BASF — Excellent technology development collaboration, chemical material

  • Linde LienHwa — Excellent performance, gas material

  • Dow Chemical — Excellent performance, CMP material

  • JX Nippon Mining & Metals — Excellent delivery support, target material

Supplier Achievement Award

  • Dainippon Screen — Environmental excellence

  • Greene, Tweed — Local presence for supply chain resilience

by Gail Overton, senior editor, Laser Focus World

December 7, 2011 – Researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (Yongin, South Korea) and Seoul National University (Seoul, Korea) have demonstrated the first LEDs to be fabricated on amorphous glass substrates.

Because gallium nitride (GaN)-based LEDs grown on crystalline sapphire wafers are expensive and not amenable to large-sized wafer arrays, GaN LEDs on silicon substrates (GaN-on-Si) are an improved alternative. However, GaN LEDs on amorphous glass substrates offer even lower manufacturing costs, easier scalability to large-sized LED arrays, and potential use as emissive devices due to the transparency of the glass substrate material.

The first LED arrays fabricated on low-cost amorphous glass substrates have pyramidal-shaped emission layers

The secret to controlled growth of the five-period indium GaN/GaN (InGaN/GaN) multiple quantum wells that comprise the emissive layer in the pyramidal-shaped LED array is a thin-film titanium pre-orienting layer that is similar to the GaN hexagonal crystal structure. Following the pre-orienting layer and the initial low-temperature GaN layer (LT-GaN) is a hole-patterned silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer that further defines the nucleation sites for the emissive-layer growth stages using a local heteroepitaxy process. After polymerization of the pyramidal structures and a final indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode layer, the pyramidal LED devices were found to emit illumination in the range from 448

November 30, 2011 — MicroTech has developed a wet process station to etch patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) wafers in a way that increases light-emitting diodes’ (LED) light output and efficiency while increasing manufacturing throughput.
 
In the MicroTech wet etch system, gallium nitride (GaN) or indium gallium nitride (InGaN) coated wafers are submerged in the etch tank with a mixture of etching and buffering agents. Prior to submersion, a silicon dioxide mask is patterned via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). A lithography step exposes the pattern to etch. The sapphire etch process takes place between 260