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Veeco Launches TurboDisc K465i GaN MOCVD System
CompoundSemi News Staff
January 20, 2010...Veeco has introduced the new TurboDisc K465i gallium nitride (GaN) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) System for the production of high-brightness light- emitting diodes (HB LEDs). Veeco reports that its beta site customers rapidly qualified the K465i for volume production, and the Company has received orders for the system from multiple LED customers throughout the Asia Pacific region. According to the company the system is based on its production-proven K-Series platform and it combines high productivity with the capability to drive LED yields approaching 90 percent in a 5nm bin. Veeco says that the fully automated system requires only a short recovery period after maintenance and enables higher productivity and reduced cost of ownership compared to competitive tools.
According to Bill Miller, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, General Manager of Veeco’s MOCVD business, “With superior wavelength uniformity and excellent run-to-run repeatability, the K465i extends Veeco’s lead in capital efficiency – the number of good wafers per day for each capital dollar – for high volume LED manufacturers. We are extremely pleased that our beta site customers achieved world-class results in a very short period of time. Industry interest in the K465i is strong.”
John R. Peeler, Veeco’s Chief Executive Officer, added, “The K-Series is a robust, reliable, multi-generational MOCVD platform that is in production at more than 80% of the world’s key LED manufacturers.”
Company News Release
Department of Energy Announces Selections for SSL Core Technology Research, Product Development, and Manufacturing
SSLighting Design News Staff
January 19, 2010...U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced more than $37 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support high-efficiency solid-state lighting projects. This announcement outlined the sixth round of funding for the DOE's core technology research and product development, which has the goal of advancing the technical knowledge base of LEDs and OLEDs and SSL components, the developing a manufacturing base for SSL products in the U.S., and creating jobs. In addition to being the sixth round of the DOE's funding for SSL Core Technology, it marks the first time that DOE has funded solid-state lighting manufacturing development projects.
Three of the projects will receive $4 million to focus on the core technology research to advance the technical knowledge base of SSL for general illumination purposes. These projects will place particular emphasis on meeting efficiency, performance, and cost targets. Six of the projects will receive a total of $10.3 million to focus on the development or improvement of commercially viable SSL source, component, or integrated luminaire products. The eight remaining projects will get $23.5 million to focus on achieving significant cost reductions and enhancing quality through improvements in manufacturing equipment, processes, or monitoring techniques. The projects will also leverage $28.5 million in industry cost share.
DOE News Release,
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GE Merges LED and Fixture Businesses to Form GE Lighting Solutions
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 19, 2010...GE Lighting, a unit of GE Appliances & Lighting has merged with GE's (LED) systems operation, Lumination to establish GE Lighting Solutions. The new company combines Lumination, based at GE Lighting’s world headquarters in Cleveland, and its commercial and industrial fixture group, GE Lighting Systems in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
David Elien, previously president and CEO of Lumination, now serves as president and CEO of GE Lighting Solutions, while Paul Morse, formerly president of GE Lighting Systems, leads commercial efforts as vice president of sales and Hendersonville site leader. The full integration of the businesses is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2010.
“The value of energy-efficient lighting solutions has never been more apparent to businesses and consumers,” commented Michael B. Petras, Jr., president and CEO of GE Lighting. “Through GE Lighting and our new GE Lighting Solutions unit, we’ll continue to provide innovative GE-quality solutions for customers who want to optimize energy efficiency and pursue energy cost savings, while having less of an impact on the environment.”
“We like how GE Lighting Solutions positions us to do even more for customers right out of the gate,” added Petras. “We have a head start in these market segments because we’re combining our specialized LED application expertise and our penchant for quality with our outdoor fixture heritage and established distribution.” GE Lighting News Release
Bridgelux Names New CEO and Raises Additional $50 Million Series D Financing
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 19, 2010...Bridgelux, a developer and producer of LEDs and LED light engines for the lighting industry based in Sunnyvale, California USA, reports that William D. Watkins was named CEO, replacing Mark Swoboda. Mark Swoboda served as company president since June 2007, and he will remain the company president leading product development, R&D initiatives and sales and marketing efforts.
The company also announced that it has successfully raised an additional $50 million Series D financing, led by VantagePoint Venture Partners. DCM and all other existing investors also participated. The round, which is oversubscribed, also included new investors. The company says it intends to use the capital to aggressively develop its manufacturing technologies and expand its global manufacturing infrastructure to meet increasing market demand while continuing to drive its technology research and development activities.
Previously Watkins served as CEO at Seagate Technology, the largest hard disc drive and storage solutions company. During his 13 years at Seagate, Watkins, reportedly led growth strategies and improvements across all areas of the business, increasing revenue from $6.5 billion to over $13 billion in his five years as CEO. Prior to his position as CEO, Watkins served as Seagate's president and chief operating officer between 2000 and 2004, where he was responsible for the company's hard disc drive operations and transformed its manufacturing processes to yield significant increases in capacity and efficiency.
"Bridgelux experienced substantial growth over the past two years and has achieved scale and a perfect market position given the opportunity we have in the near term," said Bill Watkins. "We intend to seize this opportunity and dramatically grow the company. I look forward to working with the team to build upon the strong foundation they have established. In the coming weeks we will be announcing several initiatives that will further underpin our growth strategy as we pursue this huge market opportunity."
Bridgelux News Release
Aixtron participating in National German OLED Research Project, "So-Light”
CompoundSemi News Staff
January 18, 2010...Germany has started a new national Research and development project focused on the development of OLED displays and lighting. MOCVD equipment maker Aixtron will be among the eleven partners taking part in the 14.7 million Euro R&D project. The project called So-Light (Special organic Light) is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for three years. It will focus on specific OLED applications, such as special lighting systems and displays. The technological focus will be on novel materials (transport materials, triplet emitter, redox dopants and matrix materials), improved optical systems and on process technologies for small molecule based OLEDs. Aixtron says it will the lead in developing on process technologies for small molecule based OLEDs this area through the optimization of its proprietary OVPD (Organic Vapor Phase Deposition) technology. Other project will also produce application studies and demonstrator devices for specific applications such as automotive or architectural lighting and backlights for large displays.
Prof. Michael Heuken, Vice President R&D at Aixtron said, “OLEDs and its application for special lighting and signage purposes is one of our strategic research targets. The So-Light project partners share the vision that OLEDs will play an important role to provide environmentally friendly light sources combined with novel design opportunities.”
Novaled AG Dresden, Sensient Imaging Technologies GmbH, Westfälische Wilhelms University of Münster, Fraunhofer IPMS Dresden, Symboled GmbH, Fresnel Optics GmbH, Hella KGaA Hueck & Co, Siteco Beleuchtungstechnik GmbH, AEG-MIS mbH and the University of Paderborn are other partners in the project. Aixtron News Release
Research and Markets Releases Report About Future of Automotive Lighting
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 14, 2010...Automobiles have been utilizing LED lighting for some time, but according to Research and Markets the technology of LED-based automotive lighting is evolving faster than ever before. Research and Markets points out that as the techniques by which light is produced, displayed and distributed grow more sophisticated, so must the store of knowledge and the specificity of regulations. Research and Markets has added the the "Global Market Review of Automotive Lighting - Forecasts to 2015" report to its offering. The addition of LED headlamps and variable-beam adaptive headlighting systems that include LEDs is a relatively new phenomenon of the last few years. Research and Markets News Release, LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Welch Allyn Green Series Medical Exam Lights Now Available Worldwide
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 14, 2010...Welch Allyn has introduced the Green Series LED-based Medical Exam Lights. With the introduction of the lights in the United States and Canada, the lights are reportedly now available worldwide. The company contends that they are the first LED-based medical exam lights available domestically. Conventional medical exam lights use much less efficient halogen lamps. The new LED-based lights reportedly do not require bulb replacement and produce bright, white light with a color temperature of 5,500ºK. Welch Allyn says they offer caregivers with a superior light with high lumen performance and 50,000 hours of life. Company News Release LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Everlight Expects Taiwan LED Industry to See 30-50% Growth in 2010
January 14, 2010...Taiwan's LED industry has good prospects in 2010, with business operations expected to grow by 30-50% from 2009, Robert Yeh, chairman of Taiwan-based LED packaging service provider Everlight Electronics indicated in a Digitimes article. He projects that the company will increase it revenues by 30 percent in 2010. He also says that the fourth quarter gross margin will remain at 30 percent from the previous quarter of 2009. Yeh predicts that the company's revenues in the first quarter of 2010 will increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2009 amid rising demand from the large-size backlighting and general lighting markets. The article also states that LED chip maker Formosa Epitaxy (FOREPI) expects its revenues to increase by about 40% from 2009. Formosa will devote 45% of its capacity to general lighting, up from 20% in 2009, while the display segment will occupy 55% of its capacity, up from 50% in 2009, according to Amy Chien, special assistant to president. The Formosa revenue increase in 2010 is expected follow a similar increase in revenues compared to the 42 percent growth that happened in 2009 compared to the previous year.
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Lame news update: LED traffic signals and snow stories miss the big picture
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
January 14, 2010...December snows blew up some interesting news as a year-end reminder that even when you're doing things right, critics make their living off criticizing, not praising. In this case, the 'big news' was that LED traffic signals, the SSL industry's poster child of adoption curve success, don't melt snow. The reporting told us that because LEDs use so much less power (true) that they generate less heat than the old incandescent bulbs (true) and don't melt the snow off the traffic signal lenses (true) like the incandescent bulbs did (hmmm... do they? always?). The news made headlines that labeled them as "unintended consequences" as though this good idea was suddenly a bad idea because the new thing didn't do something that the old is presumed to have done. I call that 'missing the big picture'.
First and foremost, let's make it clear that the fact that LED traffic lights don't melt snow does not come as a surprise to anyone in the LED traffic signal business. They kind of knew this, and as I polled around some folks that are or were involved in the LED traffic signal market, this also wasn't a surprise to the customers (typically municipalities) either. One source reported that over a number of years, they had only gotten one request from a customer in Canada to propose a way to melt snow on the signals. In that case, the customer decided it wasn't worth the additional cost to deal with it. What, not worth the cost? They must have been looking at the big picture.
To simplify the discussion, although I truly tend to doubt that incandescent signals always melted the snow off (is that yellow light really on long enough to generate enough heat to melt accumulating snow), let's unconditionally grant that incandescents did and LEDs don't. I know first hand that it's not true, having lived in the Lake Tahoe California area for a winter a few decades ago. Good snowstorm, steady wind, and some traffic signals were obscured. Seems to me that's why they invented the brake pedal. But, let's go ahead and grant the old stuff a pass and claim they were always snow-free. From that position, we can launch into the other half of the story that wasn't reported... the LEDs are probably saving many more lives by simply being on in the first place, than they would ever cost due to rare snow obscuration events. Heck, one could claim that electricity is the culprit, if anyone has ever been injured in a traffic accident when the power failed and the signals went dark. It might sound something like, "Before these ee-lectric traffic signal thingies, we'd only have that old, reliable stop sign, and never have we seen one of them fail... well, except when people didn't see it and would run right on through it."
So here's the truth... the LED traffic signals seem to have an incredible ability not to fail (7+ years and counting for many). Incandescents failed regularly, but unfortunately not like clockwork. Given their on-off cycle, reports seem consistent that they would typically have a 8000 hour life span, or a year or two, depending on the cycling. That suggests that any individual signal could be expected to go dark for some portion of at least a, if not longer, once a year. If we make an optimistic guess that they would be dead at least 4 hours before the city repair crew got around to them when they failed during the day, and say something like 10 hours average when they failed at night, we have something we can get our heads around. Average of 4 and 10 is 7 hours per year, that any given signal is going to be dead... not signaling... presenting the opportunity for someone to run them and crash into someone else. If red and green are equally important, that's potentially 14 hours of "danger" per signal head each year. 14 hours with some certainty, versus a few hours if a once in a great while snow storm with just the right kind of snow and wind-angle combination hits on a particular year (presumably in the kind of storm that thins traffic to virtually zero, and if you're driving, common sense suggests no one can stop predictably). Bear in mind that much of the US, from the west coast, across the mid-south, and on to Florida rarely sees snow, and if it does, it won't ever reach the magnitude needed to block the light from a traffic signal. But those same states would see just as many incandescents fail for just as many hours each year. Heeellllooo? 7 years, some rare darkness on some heads due to a rare snow event every few years, versus a predictable period of dark from every signal everywhere, every year. Which one is dangerous? Can you hear us media? We lost one life in 2009, but how many did we save since those LED traffic signals were installed?
So, can we do better? Maybe, but at what cost to get to "never fails to signal"? $100K in this city, $200K in that one... Is that money best spent on preventing the possibility of snow accumulation in the next blizzard because one person in the US, as unfortunate as that is, had their death attributed to an obscured traffic signal in 2009? Could those hundreds of thousands perhaps be better invested in an extra ambulance in an underserved area, or perhaps in adding another police officer, or even more to the point, in adding a traffic signal to a current high-risk, uncontrolled intersection? Big picture.
As an industry, let's make sure we don't get caught up by what the critics may turn into the 'potential for the disaster' story of the day. It doesn't matter if it's "if you stare at an LED, it could blind you, and now we've installed them in our TVs!" or "they're talking about LED automobile headlights, and we all know that LEDs can't melt snow off of traffic signals, so what's going to happen in our cars!" Yep, we've kept that one in sight for years, and that one does need to be solved before LEDs can work there. We're keeping the big picture in mind, and we just need to share it every chance we get.
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