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Veeco Awarded $4M in R&D Matching Funds from DOE for SSL Manufacuturing
CompoundSemi News Staff
January 25, 2010...Veeco Instruments Inc.was awarded $4 million in R&D matching funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by the U.S. Department of Energy for solid state lighting projects.
The company of Plainview, New York USA, produces metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems.
Veeco is among 8 companies to share in $23.5 million for research and development of manufacturing equipment, processes, or monitoring techniques used in the production of solid state lighting. The research and development efforts among the eight companies is focused on achieving significant cost reductions and enhanced quality of solid state lighting products.
(Ref: LIGHTimes Article).
Congressman Rush Holt, who represents New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District commented, “In a few years, LED lighting will be everywhere, and New Jersey should be in the forefront of creating the jobs that will make it happen”
Veeco’s proposal was aimed at driving down the cost of high brightness LEDs through the advancement of its metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technology.
Veeco says that the overall objective of its two year program is to develop high-volume MOCVD systems that provide a 4X reduction in the cost of epitaxial growth for LED devices, with the ultimate goal of a 10X reduction in LED costs. Veeco will partner with Sandia National Laboratories on this project.
According to John Peeler, Veeco’s CEO, "The funding will support the retention and creation of jobs in Veeco’s Plainview, N.Y. and Somerset, N.J. facilities."
Veeco News Release
Marl Receives Passenger Comfort Innovation Award for Intelligent LED Technology
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 26, 2010...Marl International of Ulverston, UK has been awarded the Passenger Comfort Innovation of the Year award for its 'Sci-Light' LED lighting technology, at the 2009 Railway Interiors Expo 'Innovation & Excellence' Awards, held on 25th November 2009 in Cologne, Germany. Porterbrook Leasing Company successfully tried Marl’s winning Sci-Light LED lighting on a Class 323 unit used in the West Midlands area. Marl says that theT Sci-Light system replaces a 36W or 40W fluorescent tube with an intelligent LED system having a maximum power rating of 21W. Marl International News Release, LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
LedEngin Inc. Offers 365nm UVC Power LED Which Provides 700mW from Single Emitter
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 26, 2010...LedEngin Inc., a Santa Clara-based provider of UV LED emitters,
has made available 365nm UVC LED emitters in single and multi-chip packages. The company claims that it is the first LED manufacturer to deliver record flux numbers up to 700mW at 365nm. The company further boasts that the newly available UVC LEDs have the highest flux densities available today equating to 2300 mW/cm2. These products can be utilized in applications for adhesive and paint curing, sterilization, skin treatment, forensics particle detection, currency verification, fluorescence and blacklight blue.
"Our new 365nm UVC LEDs utilize LedEngin's proven highly reliable LED packaging technology with low thermal resistance, UV- resistant glass lens, and compact form to produce the most robust, highest flux density UV LED available today," said Uwe Thomas, Director of Technical Marketing, LedEngin. "Customers have been waiting for this specific wavelength to replace expensive, power-hungry and toxic Mercury lamps in a range of curing, medical and security applications. Our LEDs deliver the performance to shorten curing times, improve visibility in forensics and security applications and increase detection distances."
LedEngin 365nm emitters feature rugged, reliable performance in a compact form factor, which the company says provides record flux densities with exceptional optical system efficiency. The RoHS compliant devices has a
surface-mount ceramic package with integrated non-degrading glass lens. It is rated with a JEDEC Moisture Sensitivity Level 1 for unlimited shelf life.
LedEngin News Release
QD Vision Receives $3 Million from DTE Energy Ventures for LED Technology Commercialization Ramp Up
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 21, 2010...QD Vision, Inc. of Watertown, Massachusetts USA, a developer of Quantum Light™ nanotechnology-based products for solid state lighting and displays, reports that DTE Energy Ventures has invested $3 million in the company. QD Vision says that the funding will support its market expansion of quantum dot-based nanomaterials that enable very signficant efficiency gains in solid-state lighting and flat panel displays.
The investment follows a $10 million initial close of funding announced last month by the company.
Knut Simonsen, president, DTE Energy Ventures, said DTE Energy is pleased to partner with QD Vision and its highly talented team. “QD Vision’s Quantum Light™ platform will help lighting and display manufacturers reduce the carbon footprint of their products even as they continue delivering higher quality, better efficiency and lower costs for customers,” Simonsen said. “This technology promises to set a new standard for these multi-billion dollar global industries.”
Mike McNalley, Director of Energy Efficiency and Business Energy Services, DTE Energy, said “We look forward to creating more LED lighting options for our customers with QD Vision products. We plan to encourage QD Vision to team up with Michigan based LED lighting companies and broaden their market reach.”
QD Vision’s first product which was unveiled in 2009, is a Quantum Light optic for a new high- efficiency, high-color-quality LED lamp developed by Nexxus Lighting, Inc. The company points out that the Quantum Light combines the warmth and color of incandescent bulbs with the efficiency of LED technology. QD Vision expects to ship the lamps in the first quarter of 2010. The lamps can be directly installed in standard Edison sockets used by today’s incandescent bulbs. Meanwhile, QD Vision is actively working with several major manufacturers to design its Quantum Light optic into a number of SSL lamps and fixtures.
Company News Release
New Audi A8 Lights Road with LEDs from Osram Opto Semiconductors
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 21, 2010...The new version of the Audi A8 sports LEDs from Osram Opto Semiconductors (Osram). The LEDs are responsible for the dipped and full beams as well as for other specific lighting functions. Osram points out that the LEDs are highly efficient and have a long-life, which exceeds that of the vehicle. Plus, they reportedly emit light similar to daylight, which the company says improve motorists’ safety.
According to Osram, the light emitted from the LEDs illuminates the road surface with perfect definition, without glare, and it enhances perceptions of contrast.
Osram says that the LEDs make replacement virtually unnecessary, and their improved efficiency is ultimately reflected in the gas mileage and the car's CO2 emissions.
As with other current Audi models, the A8 features LED daytime running lights installed in the headlamps. In the new high-end A8 Osram LEDs now take on further lighting functions in the headlamps in addition to dipped and full beams are based on the energy-saving LEDs from the Ostar headlamp product platform. The motorway beams, cornering lights and all-weather lights are handled by LEDs. Osram notes that the individual light sources visible in the headlamps distinguish the Audi noticeably from other automobiles at night. Osram Opto Semiconductors News Release
LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Magnalight.com Adds Multi-Purpose Underwater LED Light
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 21, 2010...Larson Electronics’ magnalight.com has introduced the LEDEUL4 underwater LED light for wet area and submerged applications. The 12-watt LED light can be configured with visible, color, or infrared LEDs. It operates on a range of 9-32 volts and produces up to 720 lumens. The round light measures 4.25 inches in diameter and 1.25 inches thick and is mounted with three through holes. It features an aluminum housing with anti-corrosive coating. The sealed junction box design eliminates the need for ‘bedding’ concerns and ensures watertight and moisture tight design. According to the company, the new LEDEUL4 LED underwater light is rated for operation to 60 meters in depth. The specialized housing design with sealed off junction box guarantees watertight operation above and below water. While many LED underwater lights can operate only underwater for cooling purposes, the LED-EUL4 underwater LED light can operate above or below water. Offered with several different LED options, including white, blue, green, amber and infrared LEDs. The light draws only 1 amp on 12 volts and runs on 9-32 volts, which makes it suited for low voltage operation on line supply or battery banks. Larson Electronics News Release, LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
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
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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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