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Lextar to Start LED Subsidiary in China
February 2, 2010...LED epitaxial wafer maker, Lextar Electronics, an AU Optronics subsidiary based in Taiwan, plans to invest US$20 million to set a subsidiary of its own in Suzhou, eastern China, according to an announcement by Lextar and a Digitimes article. The article indicated that Lextar's new subsidiary will initially focus on LED packaging, with operations expected to begin in H1 of 2011. The Lextar said its subsidiary may extend to MOCVD production of LED epitaxial wafers later. Lextar's board of directors has reportedly set the date for the company to merge with LightHouse Technology on March 15. The new entity will have paid-in capital of NT$3 billion (US$93.64 million). After the merger, Lextar plans to apply for listing on the emerging stock market. Lextar reportedly added 19 MOCVD machines towards the end of 2009 as a result of the boom in LED TV sales.
500 Megabits/Second with White LED Light
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 28, 2010...Researchers with Siemens (the company that owns Osram) have reportedly improved on their own record for wireless data transfer using white LED light. In collaboration with the Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin, they have achieved a data transfer rate of up to 500 megabits per second (Mbit/s), more than doubling the the previous record of 200 Mbit/s. The company says that wireless data transport using light paves the way for new applications in the home as well as in industry and transportation.
The researchers from Siemens Corporate Technology department in Munich used a white light-emitting diode produced by the Siemens subsidiary Osram, and succeeded in transmitting data over a distance of up to five meters of empty space.
Siemens News Release
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Hong Kong-based Wai Chi Holdings Ltd. Sets Up New Facility in Changzhou Hi-Tech District, China
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 28, 2010...Changzhou, China's National Hi-Tech District announced that Hong Kong-based Wai Chi Holdings Ltd. started construction of a new facility in Changzhou Trina Photovoltaic Industry Zone in December 2009.
Wai Chi Holdings Ltd. established Wai Chi Electronics (Changzhou) Ltd. in 2005 in Changzhou National High-Tech District with registered capital of US$20 million. Wai Chi Electronics of Changzhou was to engage in the production of pure green, blue, white and other high-end SMD LED and high-power LED products.
Wai Chi Electronics features a provincial-level LED Research and Development center. It has an annual production capacity of 480 million LED and 12 million backlight products. The company's sales revenue reached RMB60 million in 2008.
Yao Zhitu, Chairman of Wai Chi Holdings Ltd., said that the Changzhou National Hi-Tech District was selected for its excellent investment environment.
Wai Chi Holdings decided to expand production capacity to meet market demand. As part of the expansion, the holding company developed off-site expansion projects including building a new facility in the Trina Photovoltaic Industry Zone in Changzhou. The facility has a floor space of 85 acres. The first phase of the project covers a construction area of 30,000 square meters. The company says that once completed, the project will be able to produce 2 billion SMD LED and high-power LED products, 20,000 LED lighting products and 80 million LED backlights every year, with annual added sales revenue of RMB200 million.
Wai Chi Holdings Ltd. has production bases in four cities across the Chinese mainland and employs over 4,500, mainly engaged in producing LED backlight, LED lightning, LED display products, etc....
Wai Chi Holdings News Release
Avago Technologies Introduces Water-Resistant High-Brightness Surface Mount Tricolor LEDs for Indoor and Outdoor Full Color Signs
LIGHTimes News Staff
January 28, 2010...Avago Technologies has introduced a line of tricolor surface mount LEDs for indoor and outdoor full color signs and displays.
Avago’s ASMT-YTBO Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier (PLCC)-6 Blackbody and ASMT-QTCO industry standard PLCC- 4 LEDs have been enhanced to make them water-resistant. As a result, a protection cover is not needed saving money for indoor and outdoor display designers. The company boasts that the LEDs offer high contrast, a wide viewing angle, and better color control and reliability.
Avago says that the compact tricolor LEDs are ideal for use in electronic video screens and advertising signs used in transit malls, airports, and stadium scoreboards. Avago is a leading supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial and consumer applications.
Avago’s enhanced ASMT-YTBO LEDs provide full color display application designers with a 115-degree viewing angle in addition to better color control and contrast. According to Avago, the LEDs are specially designed to meet indoor and outdoor LED screen requirements for better screen resolution (greater than 12mm pixel size), and high-brightness performance. They also have six leads to enhance thermal management and allow individual color control of each chip to display a multitude of colors including white. The chips measure 4.4 mm by 4.4 mm by 3.5 mm. Avago says they incorporate silicone material to extend light output performance over time.
The compact ASMT-QTCO package incorporates a separate heat path for each LED dice to enable it to be driven at higher currents. As a result, these SMT LEDs can operate in a wide range of environmental conditions to provide customers with high reliability. Both tricolor LEDs are compatible with reflow soldering processes and have a moisture sensitivity level of 2a (MSL 2a) to make them ideal for use in SMT production environments.
Avago News Release
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
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The Challenge of the 'Tween' LED Lights
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
February 2, 2010...Kermit the Frog's famous one-liner was, "It isn't easy being green..." inspires us to suggest that, "It isn't easy being tween" here in the solid state lighting world. By 'tween' we mean sitting in the nether-world of purpose-built lighting that is conveniently enabled by LED lighting. A big opportunity for the LED lighting world is to put light, or particular kinds of light, in places and form factors where it didn't work (easily or cost-effectively) before. Examples could include the world of color changing, as well as "flat" lights, glowing panels, multi-directional and semi-omnidirectional bulbs and luminaires.
Color changing, and even fixed color RGB sources, are very understandable in what they do and why they work well. If you can generate a 'native' light color, instead of filtering a wider spectrum source, you'd expect to get a lot more efficient solution. Present a source with a full or nearly full spectrum (think halogen or metal-halide) and then throw a blue colored lens in front of it, and I've been told that you're effectively disposing of 90% of the lumens that you started with. Feed a current to a blue LED, and you get 100% blue photons from start to finish, and at efficiencies that are as good or better than the full spectrum source was for generating all its light. It's a no-brainer to understand why Hollywood, theater and entertainment lighting leaped onto LED-based sources from early on. We all know red-green-blue generates what our eyes perceive as "white" since true white is simply a real healthy mix of the full spectrum. The funny thing is that an RGB solution is still a little "peaky", and while our eyes appreciate the rich color it returns, the instruments do not. That shows up as a penalty when you compare RGB-generated white-lumens to incandescent, or in the case of fluorescents, phosphor-generated lumens. This isn't about the "CRI" thing (an important ongoing discussion on its own), but about the "white energy" in my layman's terms.
A good example of this comes to mind in the projector applications. About a year and half ago, we reported on our subjective experience with a Samsung pocket-projector powered by one of Luminus Devices PhlatLight LEDs. In case you're not familiar with it, the Luminus chips are around half a business card sized monsters that contain big red, green and blue LED die that are about a quarter of an inch square. They scale up and down from there, and also have phosphor converted white solutions as well, but the RGB family made it's mark in the DLP television wave as the source that provided much richer colors, and a 50,000 to 100,000 hour life, instead of the optimistic 5000 that your standard metal-halide through a color wheel solution did. What my eyes saw from this 200-ish lumen RGB LED projector was overall brightness perception that came a good way towards matching our 2000 lumen conference projector. When it came to color quality, there was no contest at all. The movie on the LED projector didn't have that washed out color look, and it just 'felt' better. Mark McClear of Cree, in a talk at last summer's DOE meet in Chicago, posed the question, "Why can't the standards acknowledge what we see with our eyes?" Namely that LED light can provide a higher quality that currently isn't reflected in the numbers.
There are other interesting "tweens" that we're having to come to grips with now. Most recently, we've seen several new Edison-based A-lamp designs hit the market. When we think A-lamp, we picture our very familiar 60, 75 or 100w incandescents, with the visible addition of the heat sink there between the base and 'globe' in the designs of most LED challengers. With the virtual completion of the DOE-generated "Integral LED Lamp" Energy Star specification, there is finally a reference point on what a "replacement" for a number of standard incandescent Edison-based bulbs should do. The spec is pretty comprehensive, and places the emphasis in the right places. For PAR/R replacements, generally recognized as the easiest 'replacement bulb' challenge for LEDs to tackle, the standards are about smoothness in the distribution, the width of the beam angle, and the brightness (center beam candle power) on the target. The MR specs follow the same approach, and since you can measure those characteristics for the 'average' incandescent solution, the bar was set to meet the distribution and output, and do it at X number of lumens per watt or better. PAR/R/MR lamps need to beat 40-45 lm/watt (the lower number for the smaller lamps), decorative/candelabra base need to beat 40 lm/watt, and A-lamps need to beat 50 lm/watt for less 10w of LED power, or 55 lm/watt for those greater than 10w. (You can see PDF slide copies of the presentation that Marc Ledbetter of the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory gave at the January 2010 LA SSL Summit here).
Then there's the tweens. They have the same efficacy requirements as the A-lamps, but drop the requirement for a particular distribution which allows things like A-lamp shaped directional lamps, as a very specific 'for instance'. Why would you want one of those? For one big reason, to replace standard incandescent A-lamps, and CFLs in the zillions of pendants and cans that they have found themselves in. Would R's work as well? Seems like they would, but for whatever reason, whether for looks or cost, or because the fixture had an attractive way to leak some of the light out in other directions, omnidirectional lamps are in there, and mostly being asked to send light in one direction. What an ideal fit for LEDs, since they really do like to send light out directionally, and those sockets are being served by 10-40lm/watt omnidirectional solutions right now (I'm guessing the light loss is likely on the order of 25-50%, so consider the range to be 5-30lm/watt out of the fixture). Here's the part that's not easy when being tween... describing it.
Humans seem to have gotten really used to the whole "Watt" thing, and the Energy Star specs acknowledge that by setting guidelines for what you can claim as an equivalent to incandescents of different wattages. And they have clearly set them with the intention that a consumer is not disappointed by the amount of brightness that they observe from the equivalent. Challenge number one comes in the form of potentially more perceived brightness coming from the higher quality LED solutions. There's already anecdotal evidence of people needing to "step down" in what they thought would be an equivalent in order to get the same overall impression of light and color. Challenge number two comes when you're a tween, such as the A-lamp form factor that is tailored to downlights. Or similarly, the one that will result from "a bulb really optimized for use in a table lamp" as Marc Ledbetter put it. (That would be one which cast the majority of its light downward towards the floor or book reader, with correct doses of side lighting to illuminate the shade and up lighting to give a nice ambiance to the room... in other words, "smart design"). But how do you describe the equivalence. If you say, "equivalent to a 75w incandescent in downlight applications" you an expect a knock at the door from the Energy Star police (not yet elevated to czar status) because you don't have a PAR/R or A-omnidirectional type of distribution. "Don't make the comparisons if you're 'other'," says the spec. Oh my. Do you not worry about being Energy Star, or not make the comparison? Tough choice. As an industry, let's keep giving it deep thought for ways to both draw the comparisons, as well as educate the coming masses that it's not about the watts anymore. Lumens and efficacy... lumens and efficacy... lumens and efficacy. Once we get that, hopefully we'll be ready to re-flash their programming to cover the whole "perceived brightness" thing. (Sigh).
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