Category Archives: LEDs

The global semiconductor materials market decreased 2 percent in 2012 compared to 2011 while worldwide semiconductor revenues declined 3 percent. Revenues of $47.11 mark the first decline in the semiconductor materials market in three years.

Total wafer fabrication materials and packaging materials were $23.38 billion and $23.74 billion, respectively. Comparable revenues for these segments in 2011 were $24.22 billion for wafer fabrication materials and $23.62 billion for packaging materials. 2012 is the first time packaging materials revenues exceeded wafer fabrication materials revenues. A substantial decline in silicon revenue contributed to the year-over-year decrease to the total semiconductor materials market.

For the third year in a row, Taiwan is the largest consumer of semiconductor materials with record spending of $10.32 billion due to its large foundry and advanced packaging base. Materials markets in China and South Korea also experienced increases in 2012, benefiting from strength in packaging materials. The materials market in Japan contracted 7 percent, with markets also contracting in Europe, North America, and Rest of World. (The ROW region is defined as Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, other areas of Southeast Asia and smaller global markets).

2011-2012 Semiconductor Materials Market by World Region
(Dollar in U.S. billions; Percentage Year-over-Year) 

Region 2011 2012 %Change
Taiwan 10.11 10.32 2%
Japan 9.21 8.53 -7%
Rest of World 8.21 8.09 -1%
South Korea 7.27 7.33 1%
China 4.87 5.07 4%
North America 4.86 4.74 -2%
Europe 3.31 3.03 -8%
Total 47.84 47.11 -2%

Source: SEMI April 2013

Note: Figures may not add due to rounding.

The Material Market Data Subscription (MMDS) from SEMI provides current revenue data along with seven years of historical data and a two-year forecast. A year subscription includes four quarterly updates for the material segments reports revenue for seven market regions (North America, Europe, ROW, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China). The report also features detailed historical data for silicon shipments and revenues for photoresist, photoresist ancillaries, process gases and leadframes.

 

Plessey today announced that samples of its Gallium Nitride (GaN) on silicon LED products are today available. These entry level products are the first LEDs manufactured on 6-inch GaN on silicon substrates to be commercially available anywhere in the world. Plessey is using its proprietary large diameter GaN on silicon process technology to manufacture the LEDs onits 6-inch MAGIC (Manufactured on GaN I/C) line at its Plymouth, England facility. The use of Plessey’s MAGIC GaN line using standard semiconductor manufacturing processing provides yield entitlements of greater than 95% and fast processing times providing a significant cost advantage over sapphire and silicon carbide based solutions for LEDs of similar quality.

The release of the availability of Plessey’s GaN on silicon LEDs was coincident with a visit to the Plessey Plymouth facility by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Vince Cable, MP, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade. Business Secretary Vince Cable commented, “The government is supporting innovative companies like Plessey who are growing, creating jobs and exporting their products all over the world. That’s why we selected Plessey’s £3.25 million Regional Growth Fund bid for Government support, which will create 100 new, high tech and highly skilled jobs in the region.”

Michael LeGoff, CEO Plessey said, “We are very pleased to welcome Secretary of State Vince Cable today. The department of Business Innovation and Skills has been very supportive of our efforts to date and with the launch of our first range of LEDs today we are now looking towards aggressive growth in the solid state lighting markets.”

“Today is a significant step for us,” said Barry Dennington, Plessey’s COO. “From acquiring our first MOCVD reactor in August 2012 to having our first product in April 2013 is excellent progress. These entry level products will be used in indicating and accent lighting applications. We will continue to make progress in output efficiency and are on plan to release further improvements in light output throughout this year and into next. The operating and unit costs are on plan and we are seeing a number of routes to enhance our cost advantage over competing technologies.”

LEDs and the associated solid state lighting solutions are due to become the dominant form of lighting in all forms in within the next five years. Solid state lighting is an energy efficient eco-friendly technology that will save billions of tons of carbon emissions when fully implemented. There are also no recycling issues that fluorescent lighting poses with mercury content.

Gallium nitride has been described as “the most important semiconductor since silicon” and is used in energy-saving LED lighting. A new £1million (or US$1,530,700) growth facility will allow University of Cambridge researchers to further reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of LEDs, with potentially huge cost-saving implications.

A new facility for growing Gallium Nitride – the key material needed to make energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) – has opened in Cambridge, enabling researchers to expand and accelerate their pioneering work in the field.

Gallium Nitride LEDs are already used in traffic lights, bicycle lights, televisions, computer screens, car headlamps and other devices, but they are too expensive to be used widely in homes and offices. The main reason for this is that they are normally grown on expensive substrates, which pushes up the price of LED lightbulbs. The new Gallium Nitride growth reactor at Cambridge will allow researchers to further improve a method of growing low-cost LEDs on silicon substrates, reducing their cost by more than 50 percent and opening them up for more general use.

In addition, researchers are developing color-tunable LED lighting, which would have the quality of natural sunlight, bringing considerable health benefits to users.

University scientists are also starting to investigate the potential of Gallium Nitride in electronics, which it is thought could have similarly significant energy-saving consequences – perhaps cutting nationwide electricity consumption by a further 9 percent.

The reactor, which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), was opened March 28, 2013 by David Willetts MP, the Minister for Universities and Science. It marks the latest chapter in a decade-long research project to make LEDs the go-to technology for lighting, led by Professor Sir Colin Humphreys in the University’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.

In 2003, Humphreys and his team began experimenting with the possibility of growing Gallium Nitride (GaN) on silicon instead of costly sapphire and silicon carbide. After years of painstaking research, they finally developed a successful process, and in 2012 this was picked up by the British manufacturer, Plessey, which has already started to manufacture LEDs at its factory in Plymouth, based on the Cambridge technology. Plessey also hired three of Humphreys’ post-doctoral scientists to help transfer the process. It is the first time that LEDs have been manufactured in the UK.

Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said: "LEDs are highly energy efficient but expensive to produce, meaning their domestic use is limited. This excellent new facility will enable researchers to look at more cost-efficient ways to produce LEDs, saving money and benefitting the environment. It will also help keep the UK research base at the very forefront of advanced materials, which is one of the eight great technologies."

Making Gallium Nitride LEDs more cost-effective could unlock benefits far beyond energy saving alone. Humphreys is investigating the possibility of “smart lighting” – a system in which LED lights coupled to a sensor would be able to switch themselves on and off, or alter their brightness, relative to a user’s presence or levels of natural daylight in a room.

As their use increases, the beams from LEDs could be used to transmit information, for example from traffic lights to cars.

“It’s conceivable that the two could be developed to talk to one another,” Humphreys said. “Traffic reports, such as information about a road accident, could be sent to traffic light systems. They could then relay the details to drivers by transmitting it through the headlamps.”

Researchers also believe that LEDs could be used to purify water supplies in the developing world. Deep ultraviolet (UV) radiation kills bacteria and viruses. By putting a ring of ultraviolet LEDs around a water pipe at the point where it enters a home, it might be possible to kill off bacteria in the water as well as other undesirable organisms, such as mosquito larvae.

Further energy-saving with LEDs may also be possible. Humphreys and his team are currently investigating the so-called “green gap” problem which could improve the way in which they make white light. The LEDs currently used to make white light are in fact blue – the color is changed using a phosphor coating. This phosphor is, however, not completely energy efficient, and a better way of making white light could be by mixing blue, red and green LEDs together instead.

This, however, depends on resolving lower efficiency in green light compared with the other two colors. If this can be addressed, and LEDs made the standard for lighting nationwide, then it is estimated that there would be an additional electricity saving of 5 percent – on top of the 10 percent likely to be engendered by switching to LED technology in the first place.

 “If we can replicate devices with Gallium Nitride electronics, we believe that we could make them 40 percent more efficient,” he said. “That in itself would translate into a 9 percent electricity saving in the UK, if applied across the board.”

GaN LEDs

Gallium Nitride (GaN), grown on a silicon substrate, to manufacture light-emitting diodes. The material is critical to making LED lighting, which researchers and the Government agree could cut UK electricity consumption by 10-15 percent.

 Credit: University of Cambridge Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy

It’s no secret that Samsung is up against Apple in many ways, in products, sales and innovation. However, even in the face of Apple’s patent infringement lawsuits, Samsung is still climbing the charts. The electronics giant sold approximately $53 billion in revenue in the last quarter of 2012, in comparison to Apple’s $36 billion in revenue, though the profit margins both companies are seeing were relatively similar. And while Bloomberg is predicting Apple will post its lowest sales increase since 2009, Samsung is reportedly poised for big growth in a number of sectors.  

Samsung grabs No. 3 foundry spot

Samsung jumped into the foundry scene in mid-2010, and quickly became one of the anticipated long-term leaders in the sector. It’s now easily the biggest IDM foundry operation, with sales nearly 10 times that of IBM, IC Insights noted in January. IC Insights’ August update projected Samsung finishing in fourth place just behind UMC, separated by about $400 million, but anticipated Samsung surpassing the Taiwan rival in 2013.

Samsung followed a sparkling 82 percent growth in 2011 by nearly doubling sales again to $4.33 billion, putting it just shy of GLOBALFOUNDRIES which grew sales a solid 31 percent last year to $4.56B. In fact IC Insights believes Samsung will challenge GLOBALFOUNDRIES for the No.2 spot before 2013 is done, leveraging its leading-edge capacity and huge capital spending budget. With dedicated IC foundry capacity reaching 150,000 300mm wafers/month by 4Q12, and an average revenue/wafer of $3000, Samsung’s IC foundry capacity could pull down $5.4B in annual sales, the analyst firm calculates.

How did Samsung get so big so fast in the foundry business? It supplied chips to nearly half of the industry’s 750 million smartphones shipped in 2012 — application processors for the 220 million of its own handsets in 2012, plus the 133 million iPhones Apple shipped.

Thanks to the Galaxy S4, Samsung has 99% of the AMOLED market

Samsung has invested a considerable amount into the AMOLED market, which is now poised for steady growth, thanks to a growing demand for high-end smartphones and tablets. According to Forbes contributor Haydn Shaughnessy, Samsung now holds 99% of the AMOLED market.

AMOLED display shipments for mobile handset applications are expected to grow to 447.7 million units in 2017, up from 195.1 million units in 2013, according to insights from the IHS iSuppli Emerging Displays Service at information and analytics provider IHS. Within the mobile handset display market, the market share for AMOLED displays is forecast to grow from 7.9% in 2013 to 15.2 percent in 2017, as presented in the figure below. AMOLED’s market share for 4-inch or larger handset displays employed in smartphones is set to increase to 24.4% in 2017, up from 23.0% in 2013.

“Because of their use in marquee products like the Galaxy S4, high-quality AMOLEDs are growing in popularity and gaining share at the expense of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens,” said Vinita Jakhanwal, director for mobile & emerging displays and technology at IHS. “These attractive AMOLEDs are part of a growing trend of large-sized, high-resolution displays used in mobile devices. With the S4 representing the first time that a full high-definition (HD) AMOLED has been used in mobile handsets, Samsung continues to raise the profile of this display technology.”

Samsung anticipates MEMS pressure sensor market boom

Samsung has been ahead of its time in its adoption of MEMS pressure sensors, anticipating the state of the market and getting a jump on the competition.

Global shipments of MEMS pressure sensors in cellphones are set to rise to 681 million units in 2016, up more than eightfold from 82 million in 2012, according to the IHS iSuppli MEMS & Sensors Service at information and analytics provider IHS. Shipments this year are expected to double to 162 million units, as presented in the attached figure, primarily due to Samsung’s usage of pressure sensors in the Galaxy S4 and other smartphone models.

“Samsung is the only major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) now using pressure sensors in all its flagship smartphone models,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS and sensors at IHS. “The pressure device represents just one component among a wealth of different sensors used in the S4.”

Besides Samsung, few other OEMs have been using pressure sensors in smartphones. The only other smartphone OEMs to use pressure sensors in their products are Sony Mobile in a couple of models in 2012, and a few Chinese vendors, like Xiaomi.

Apple, which pioneered the use of MEMS sensors in smartphones, does not employ pressure sensors at the moment in the iPhone. However, IHS expects Apple will start them in 2014, which will contribute to another doubling of the market in 2014 to 325 million units.

But what about the patent infringement suit?

Six months after Samsung was ordered to pay an unprecedented $1.05 billion to Apple in the notorious patent infringement suit, Judge Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over two Apple v. Samsung cases in California, entered an order striking $450 million from the damages award determined by a jury in August 2012. This corresponds to 14 of the 28 Samsung products in question in the initial lawsuit. Koh disagreed with the notice date provided by Apple concerning its patents-in-suit, and, as a result, a new damages trial must be held, most likely after the appellate proceedings, which were sought by both parties.

The new trial could mean good news or bad news for Samsung. There is the possibility that the court could rule in favor of a reduction of damages to be paid. However, it is also just as likely that the court could rule Samsung owe Apple even more than the original $1.05 billion ordered in August.

Some analysts have speculated that, if the suit holds, consumers could see a jump in prices of Samsung, Google and Android devices. Only time will tell if will a price that the masses will be willing to pay. If it is, don’t expect to see Samsung slowing down any time soon.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd of Seoul, South Korea has introduced a new lineup of Zhaga-compliant LED H-Series linear modules with high efficacy and light quality, as well as color consistency for use in a wide range of LED lighting applications including ambient lighting and linear fixtures.

“Our new Zhaga-compliant H-Series is well suited to be used in a variety of high-performance light fixtures,” says Jaap Schlejen, senior VP, LED lighting sales & marketing, at Samsung Electronics’s Device Solutions Division. The new LED module series is one of several launches in a series of new LED modules with high light performance and efficacy, says the firm.

The H-Series features luminous efficacy of 145lm/W, which is claimed to be the industry’s highest in the LED module product category. The new module’s correlated color temperature (CCT) of 5000K provides an improvement of about 40 percent over a typical T5 fluorescent lamp and an improvement of 50% over a T8 fluorescent lamp, says the firm.

The H-Series consists of four types of LED module, each with a different form factor and luminous flux for various market needs. Fixture makers can connect multiple modules together for variations in luminous flux, without a gap between the modules.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced today that CEA-Leti, a research lab based in Grenoble, France, has selected Veeco’s TurboDisc K465i Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) system for its program with Aledia, its nanowire-LED partner.

Aledia is a start-up company spun out of the CEA-Leti labs in 2011 and based at the CEA site. It counts among its three founders two former CEA researchers, Xavier Hugon and Philippe Gilet. Aledia’s goal is to manufacture 3D nanowire-based LEDs for solid-state lighting applications on thin silicon wafer substrates, of 8 inches or greater in diameter, at a cost significantly below that of conventional planar LEDs. Nanowires are thin crystalline structures that, when electrically charged, can emit a broader spectrum of light than conventional LEDs, and can be grown on industry-standard silicon substrates. Aledia’s nanowire technology was originally developed at CEA-Leti, and Aledia and CEA-Leti continue to develop nanowire technology in close cooperation.

“We are confident that Veeco’s MOCVD system is the right equipment to help make this technology successful,” said Fabrice Geiger, head of CEA-Leti’s Silicon Technology Division.

According to Giorgio Anania, Aledia’s President and Chief Executive Officer, “The TurboDisc reactor will be an important element of our strategy to take this potentially game-changing technology towards the commercialization phase. In partnership with CEA-Leti, we selected Veeco because our analysis indicated that at this time their MOCVD systems showed the best financial returns for 8 inch wafer production on the market.”

Stung by plunging sales in Japan and declining demand in North America and Western Europe, global television shipments in 2012 fell, marking a major inflection point that will have a lasting impact on the market, according to an IHS iSuppli Worldwide Television Market Tracker Report from the IHS TV Systems Intelligence Service at information and analytics provider IHS.

Global shipments of all kinds of televisions in 2012 amounted to 238.5 million units, down 6.3 percent from 254.6 million in 2011. Shipments aren’t expected to rise back to the 2011 level until 2015, when they will amount to 253.1 million units.

Global TV market won't recover until 2015

“Television shipments in 2012 declined for the first time for more than a decade, sounding the coda for the flat-panel replacement wave that deluged the business throughout the 2000s,” said Tom Morrod, TV systems analyst at IHS. “This event marked a fundamental change in the growth trajectory of the market, with flat or minimal increases in shipments expected in the coming years—a sharp contrast to the double-digit increases seen prior to 2010. While some specific events contributed to the downturn of 2012, such as the fall of sales to the Japanese market, the decline reflects a fundamental slowdown in the television market, with liquid crystal display television (LCD TV) shipments falling for the first time ever. Although television shipments will stabilize in 2013 and growth will return in 2014, developed markets have become saturated with flat-panel televisions.”

Television market hits a wall in 2012

The TV market had been undergoing a slowdown prior to 2012, with shipments rising by 11.6 percent in 2010 and decelerating to 1 percent in 2011. By the beginning of this decade, most consumers in developed regions already had replaced their old cathode-ray tube (CRT) sets with flat-panel models, and many buyers in emerging economies had also made the switch. Combined with economic factors, and with issues related to government subsidies and the analog transition, the slowdown of the flat-panel replacement trend contributed to the major downturn in 2012.

The North American and Western European regions in 2012 both experienced significant shipment declines. Meanwhile, growth stalled in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Eastern Europe and China were the only regions to continue to enjoy rising shipments

The biggest reduction occurred in Japan, where shipments fell by 13.5 million units in 2012, accounting for the vast majority of the global decline of 16.0 million.

Point shaving

The decline in Japan was due to the end of the country’s “eco-points” subsidy program. Starting in mid-2009, the program gave consumers points for buying energy-efficient products—such as light-emitting diode (LED)-backlit LCD TVs. These points could then be redeemed to buy other items.

Between 2009 and 2011, eco-points generated an additional 25 million television sets sold in the Japanese market. With the revocation of this artificial stimulus, demand declined in 2012, and the Japanese TV market will continue to be severely affected for the next five years.

Regional woes

The decline in Western Europe was predominantly due to the economic situation, combined with the analog switch-off. Markets such as France, Italy and Spain have experienced severe declines following analog broadcast switch-offs in 2010 and 2011. At the same time, there were declines in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Greece because of financial challenges.

There was, however, some growth generated by the more prosperous Central European nations, with Germany in particular still continuing to show impressive growth.

In North America, the decline was caused by a mixture of economic factors and by the fact that consumers had increased their demand in 2010 and 2011. By 2012, however, buyers had expended their disposable income for television purchases.

Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific market stalled because of lower growth than expected in India, together with declining sales in established markets such as Australia.

The Middle East and Africa continued their overall growth, but strife in certain countries—particularly Syria—had a negative impact on television shipments.

Television market rebounds in 2014

In 2013, the global TV market will stabilize, with shipments remaining flat compared to 2012, as economic conditions even out. Shipments will rise by a scant 0.3 percent for the year.

However, shipments will return to growth in 2014 with a 2.8 percent increase. The Football World Cup, to be held in Brazil, will boost Latin America sales, while China is expected to continue to prosper.

By 2017, global television shipments will rise to 270.5 million units for a number of reasons—as Chinese manufacturers flood the Asia-Pacific markets with new models; as Japan, North America and Western Europe continue to recover; and as ultra-high-definition (UHD) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV uptake becomes more affordable.

LCDs fall for first time

The LCD TV market fell for the first time ever on an annual basis in 2012, with shipments declining to 209.8 million units, down slightly from 211.3 million in 2011. However, shipments are expected to return to growth and continue expanding through 2017 as new technologies like Smart TV and UHD increases.

Plasma TV shipments fell to 13.1 million units in 2012, down from 17.9 million 2011. This is partly due to Panasonic significantly reducing its supply of plasma televisions, and partly due to large-sized LCD displays becoming increasingly cost effective. North America continues to be a stronghold for plasma, as does China, but all regions experienced an annual decline in shipments. By 2017, it is anticipated that Plasma will be a niche product, and that the market will have almost completely transitioned to LCD TV and to OLED.

CRT-TV shipments slid to 15.5 million, down nearly 40 percent from 25.2 million in 2011. Global CRT shipments will cease by 2016, IHS expects.

Quantum dots will cascade into the marketplace. They offer lower cost, longer life, and brighter lighting, according to WinterGreen Research’s  new study Quantum Dot and Quantum Dot Display (QLED) Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2013 to 2019.  

“The commercialization of quantum dots using kilogram quantity mass production is a game-changer,” said Susan Eustis, WinterGreen analyst. “High quality, high quantity and lowest price quantum dots increase product quality in every industry. The rate of change means speeded products cycles are evolving.”

Once manufacturers learn to integrate higher efficiency luminescent quantum dots into their products, each vendor will need to follow or dramatically lose market share, reports WinterGreen. This level of change brought by quantum dot and quantum dot displays (QLED) represents a new paradigm that will create new industries, products and jobs in science and industry. The list of possible quantum dot applications is ever expanding. New applications are waiting for the availability of more evolved quantum dots.

Quantum Dot LED (QLED) commercial focus has remained on key optical applications: Optical component lasers are emerging as a significant market. LED backlighting for LCD displays, LED general lighting, and solar power quantum dots are beginning to reach the market. Vendors continue to evaluate other applications.

Quantum dots QDs are minute particles or nano-particles in the range of 2nm to 10nm diameter. Quantum dots are tiny bits of semiconductor crystals with optical properties that are determined by their material composition. Their size is small to the nanoparticle level. They are made through a synthesis process. QD Vision synthesizes these materials in solution, and formulates them into inks and films. Quantum Dot LEDs (QLED) enable performance and cost benefits.

The quantum dot cannot be seen with the naked eye, because it is an extremely tiny semiconductor nanocrystal. The nanocrystal is a particle having a particle size of less than 10nm. QDs have great potential as light-emitting materials for next-generation displays with highly saturated colors because of high quantum efficiency, sharp spectral resolution, and easy wavelength tenability. Because QDs convert light to current, QDs have uses in other applications, including solar cells, photo detectors, and image sensors.

QLED displays are anticipated to be more efficient than LCDs and OLEDs. They are cheaper to make. Samsung estimates that they cost less than half of what it costs to make LCDs or OLED panels. QLED quantum dot display is better than OLED. It is brighter, cheaper, and saves more energy. Energy-savings is a strong feature. Its power consumption is 1/5 to 1/10 of the LCD’s Samsung offers now. Manufacturing costs of a display are less than half of OLED or LCD. It has a significantly longer life than the OLED.

QLED quantum dot display uses active matrix to control the opening and closing of the pixels of each color. Quantum dots have to use a thin film transistor. Emission from quantum dots is due to light or electrical stimulation. The quantum dots are able to produce different colors depending on the quantum shape and size used in the production of materials.

Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and Nanoco Group plc (AIM: NANO) have a global licensing agreement for Nanoco’s cadmium-free quantum dot technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Dow Electronic Materials will have exclusive worldwide rights for the sale, marketing and manufacture of Nanoco’s cadmium-free quantum dots for use in electronic displays.

Pixelligent Technologies, a manufacturer of nanocrystal additives for the electronics and semiconductor markets, last week announced the launch of its PixClear Zirconia nanocrystals. When incorporated into existing products, the nanoadditives can dramatically increase light output and readability of modern touch screens and displays. PixClear, Pixelligent officials say, also increases the light output of products for lighting applications such as HB-LEDs and OLEDs.

Prior to Pixelligent, nanocrystal dispersions suffered from aggregation and were cloudy, difficult to process, and unstable, which prevented their commercial adoption. But Pixelligent officials claim their PixClear dispersions are something new: they’re perfectly clear. These clear dispersions allow Pixelligent to deliver precise control over the target applications’ optical, chemical and mechanical properties.

“Pixelligent is at the forefront of developing nanotechnology innovations that will revolutionize light management in display and lighting applications,” said Craig Bandes, President and CEO of Pixelligent.  “The launch of PixClear is a great example of our ability to identify a need in the industry and then create a high-quality and scalable solution that will dramatically impact the performance of numerous end-products.”

Pixelligent’s PixClear nanocrystal dispersions have been tailored to be compatible with a wide variety of monomers and polymers. PixClear’s synthesis and surface modification technology produces high-quality dispersions that can be incorporated into many of the most widely used polymer systems. This enables highly transparent formulations with nanocrystal loadings in excess of 80 percent weight, while reaching a refractive index as high as 1.85, levels that are unmatched in the industry to date. Additionally, it provides great flexibility for index matching dissimilar materials and when using modern high-speed polymer film forming techniques.  

In their official release, Pixelligent claims the advantages of PixClear nanoadditives include a high refractive index, high transparency at visible wavelengths, low haze coating, improve scratch resistance, and an easy integration into existing manufacturing processes.

The global LED lighting market will be worth $25.4 billion in 2013, representing 54% growth on the 2012 figure of $16.5, while the LED lighting penetration rate will also rise to 18.6%, according to a new DIGITIMES Research Special Report titled "Global high-brightness LED market forecast."

The report describes how the luminous efficacy of LEDs continues to rise, with manufacturers likely to be well ahead of the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) development targets of 129 lm/W for warm white light LEDs and 164 lm/W for cold white light LEDs.

LED lighting product prices are likely to drop by 20-25% in 2013, as LED component performance/price ratios rise from 2012’s 500 lm/US$ to 1,000 lm/US$ in 2013.

Looking further ahead to 2015, the US DoE targets are for LED component costs to drop 37% from 2013 levels, while 60W-equivalent LED bulb costs are to drop by 38% from 2013 levels by 2015. LED lighting prices would then be at a price point even more acceptable to general consumers.

Lighting policy in many countries is also critical to the development of LED lighting, and this effect has been most marked in the Asia region. For example, Japan now has the highest LED lighting market penetration rate of any region, with the rate set to rise to 73.8% by 2015; South Korea’s Korea Association for Photonics Industry Development (KAPID) projects that the country’s LED lighting industry will have an output value of US$7.8 billion by 2015, 5.6 times the figure for 2012; while China’s LED lighting market is growing by 30% per year, which will give the country nearly one third of total global output value for LED lighting in 2015.

All of these factors will drive major growth in the LED lighting market, which will beat even the significant gains forecast over the last one to two years. "In addition to the rise of LED TV applications, LED lighting will begin to replace conventional lighting technology in the market. LED lighting will take 38.6% of the global lighting market by 2015," predicts Jessie Lin, author of the report. DIGITIMES Research in fact projects that the global LED lighting market will be worth US$44.2 billion by 2015.

global lighting market