 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
Cyberlux Provides First Generation Emergency Lighting Product to Spectrum Brands |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Lattice Power Places Large Order with Aixtron
CompoundSemi News Staff
February 18, 2010...Lattice Power, a Chinese company based in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China placed an order for Aixtron MOCVD reactors in Q4 2009. Aixtron says that the order is one of the largest single orders that it has received from China.
Lattice Power reportedly plans to use the systems to produce power InGaN on silicon LEDs. The local Aixtron support team will commission the new reactors at the company’s purpose-built facility in Nanchang between the first and the fourth quarter of 2010.
The order was received during an official Chinese ceremony at the Hotel Adlon, Berlin, Germany on October 12, 2009, in which various import / export contracts between the Chinese government and the Federal Republic of Germany were signed in the presence of the Chinese Vice President, Xi Jinping and the former German Federal Minister of Economics, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
Mr. Sonny Wu, Chairman and CEO, Lattice Power, said, “During discussions it quickly became clear that Aixtron was the company that could deliver this large quantity of high performance production tools to our tight schedule."
“Aixtron’s delivery and support commitment secured our fast expansion plan for LCD backlighting and general lighting business," added Dr. Bo Lu, Executive Vice President of Lattice Power.
Aixtron Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Bernd Schulte, commented, “We believe they’re one of the best LED contenders with strong and outstanding technology on GaN-on-Silicon." Aixtron News Release
Panasonic Introduces Company's First LED-backlit TV
LIGHTimes News Staff
February 17, 2010...Panasonic has finally entered into the LED backlit TV market with the introduction of the VIERA® 2010 model line-up. For some time Panasonic has been heavily invested in HD LED TV's main competition in terms of picture quality, plasma TV. However, LED TV's are energy sippers while plasma TV's are energy hogs. Additionally plasma TV's can not be as thin as LED backlit TVs can. Panasonic points out that the edge-lit method of backlighting the LCD panel allows for the LED LCD HDTVs to become extremely thin. It also offers a wider color gamut than traditional back-lit LCDs. Traditional LCD TVs use fluorescent bulbs to provide the light source. However, when the LED edge lighting is combined with the IPS panel, Panasonic says that the viewing angle is improved, contrast is better, and there is lower power consumption. Panasonic Product News Release
Carmanah's Solar LED Aviation Lighting Illuminates World Cup Supply Site
LIGHTimes News Staff
February 17, 2010...Carmanah of Victoria, British Columbia reports having received an order from its South African distributor, Sun Solutions, to supply solar powered LED airfield lights to
Waterkloof Air Force Base in South Africa. The Air Force Base is home to the South African Presidential Squadron. It is a designated supply hub for World Cup 2010. Sun Solutions installed Carmanah solar taxiway edge lights, solar runway end lights, solar runway threshold lights, solar taxiway edge lights, and a solar LED windsock as part of a recent large-scale airfield upgrade required by the South African Air Force (SAAF).
Waterkloof has an 11,000 foot (3,350 meter) runway and a secondary 6,000 foot (1,500 meter) runway used by a wide variety of military aircraft to perform daily missions.
Carmanah News Release
LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
QD Vision Quantum Light Optic is Finalist for Edison Best New Product Award
LIGHTimes News Staff
February 17, 2010...February 11th marked the 163 birthday of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the traditional light bulb. Light bulbs remained largely the same for about 100 years since their invention, but in recent years alternative lighting technologies have begun to take over the lighting market
The Quantum Light Optic from QD Vision was named a finalist in the 2010 Edison Best New Product Awards today, the 163rd birthday of renowned inventor Thomas Alva Edison, at a press conference at the legendary Friars Club in New York City. Edison created many of the products and technologies taken for granted today.
at www.discovery.com/edisonawards, where it is archived and may still be seen. The list of Edison Finalists was read by Sarah Miller Caldicott, great grandniece of Thomas Edison, co-author of the book, Innovate Like Edison, and chair of the Edison Awards steering committee, and Ben Bailey, host of Discovery Channel’s Cash Cab program.
The Edison Awards are a peer-review honor similar to the Oscars. About 2000 members of the not-for-profit Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), America’s top executives and academics, vote for the award recipients. The awards symbolize the persistence and excellence personified by Thomas Alva Edison, inspiring America’s drive to remain in the forefront of innovation, creativity and ingenuity in the global economy. Thomas Edison created four industries without which modern life cannot function. The four, now among the world’s largest, are electric power generation, recorded sound, motion pictures, and electric light bulbs. Edison also made crucial contributions to a host of other industries including the storage battery, telecommunications, cement, chemicals, and mining. Edison Awards are judged on marketplace innovation, marketplace success, technological innovation, market structure innovation, societal impact, and design innovation.
The Quantum Light Optic, from QD Vision is a finalist in the Energy & Sustainability category, one of more than 10 categories honored by the Edison Awards. QD Vision boasts that the Quantum Light Optic enables LED lighting companies to produce lamps and downlight fixtures that combine the familiar warmth and color of incandescent bulbs with the energy efficiency of LED technology. It delivers superior color quality, high-power efficiency, manufacturing versatility, and significant cost savings. And, the Quantum Light optic avoids the major tradeoffs typical of all other lighting technologies.
“Innovation is more important now than ever," said Caldicott. “The finalists we announced today are the moving parts in the engine of economic growth. They inspire people to think outside the box and improve the lives of people around the world."
"My great, great uncle, Thomas Edison, mastered five different forms of innovation. Most often, we think of technological innovation as the only form of innovation, but actually there are many others. Edison knew this, and drew upon them all.”
The 2010 Edison Awards are sponsored by Discovery Channel, Google, The Nielsen Company (a leader in market research and intelligence best known for Nielsen ratings), and Strategyn, a leader in innovation management. The Edison Awards are associated with The Thomas Edison Papers at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey.
QDVision News Release
Toshiba Introduces Tiny High-power White LEDs
LIGHTimes News Staff
February 17, 2010...Toshiba Electronics Europe has introduced three new high-power white LEDs. Operating with a drive current of 350mA, the new TL12W03-D white, TL12W03-L warm-white, and TL12W03-N neutral-white LEDs provides typical luminous flux ratings of 90 lumens, 75 lumens and 100 lumens respectively.
The company says that they provide efficient, reliable alternatives to incandescent, fluorescent and halogen bulb technologies in general lighting designs.
The new LEDs are supplied in miniature surface-mount packages measuring just 10.5mm x 5mm x 2.1mm. All of the devices are suitable for both indoor and outdoor lighting applications operating at temperatures between -40C and 100C.
The company notes that the package technology was designed to ensure a low thermal resistance and improved heat dissipation characteristics. This simplifies thermal management in the target lighting design.
All of the new LEDs are rated for a maximum forward current (IF) of 500mA and a typical forward voltage (VF) at 350mA of 3.3V. The company rates the maximum power dissipation for the LEDs at 1.95W. Toshiba News Release
Philips Lumileds Receives ISO/TS16949 Certification
LIGHTimes News Staff
February 11, 2010...Philips Lumileds reports that that each of its three design, development and manufacturing sites have received ISO/TS16949 certification. ISO/TS16949 is an international standard for automotive industry suppliers that defines quality management system requirements.
The company notes that all three sites, San Jose, Penang, and Singapore, were certified within weeks of each other with zero non-conformities. representing an approach and commitment to quality that is consistent throughout the company.
The certification process reportedly requires two separate audit programs at each site. The first audit is to verify that the company and site are ready for a full assessment. The second audit is to confirm that the management system in place conforms to the requirements. Any non-conformance to the standards must be corrected prior to certification. Philips Lumileds News Release
LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Cree Raises Performance Levels for Certain XLamp XP LEDs
LIGHTimes News Staff
February 11, 2010...Cree announced adding higher-flux bins for warm and cool white XLamp XP-E LEDs and higher maximum forward currents for both XLamp XP-E and XP-G LEDs.
XLamp XP-E cool white LEDs are reportedly now available in the R3 bin. They offer 122-130 lumens at 350 mA and deliver up to 116 lumens per watt. Cree has also made its warm-white (3000 K) XP-E LEDs available in the Q3 bin. They provide 94-100 lumens at 350 mA. Cree has increased the maximum forward current for all XLamp XP-E to 1 A. The company indicated that this increase enables more design flexibility and higher light-output applications.
In addition, Cree raised the maximum forward current for its XLamp XP-G LEDs to 1.5 A. The XP-G LEDs deliver up to 493 lumens at 92 lumens per watt.
According to Cree, the XP-G LEDs offer high efficacy at high currents, which can allow new high-performance LED applications where more light in less space is necessary.
"While others continue to offer 100-lumen LEDs as their highest performance level, Cree is leading the industry in lighting-class brightness and efficacy," said Paul Thieken, Cree director of marketing, LED components. "Our lighting-class LEDs are designed to deliver the performance our customers need: hundreds of lumens, high efficacy, good quality of light and long lifetimes."
Cree News Release
Lite-On Technology to Begin Shipping LED Chips Used in LCD TVs in 2Q10
February 11, 2010...Lite-On Technology reports that South Korean TV vendors have obtained certification for its LED chips through LED backlight unit (BLU) maker Radiant Opto-Electronics. Lite-On is scheduled to begin volume shipments in the second quarter of 2010, according to a Digitimes article.
Lite-On says it is aiming to become a LED chip supplier for top-five LCD TV vendors. The company also hopes to have 5% of the LED backlighting market in 2010. Sales from the LED backlight market are expected to generate 5% of Lite-On's total revenues for the year, the company noted. Lite-On says that it is supplying LEDs for 20% of the global notebook-use LED backlights.
The company's January consolidated revenues rose 56 percent on year compared to NT$9.39 billion (US$293.05 million) compared to the previous January. Lite-On says that the on-year sales growth was a result of gains in market share and stronger end-market demand.
Lite-On's major business units remained stable from the previous month, but its optoelectronics (LED) business unit posted growth of 4% sequentially, thanks to increased demand for computer, communication and consumer electronics applications.
On an annual basis, January sales for the optoelectronics (LED), power supply and camera module business units grew at 76%, 56%, and 51%, respectively.
Lite-On Group CEO David Lin noted that revenues of LED and power supply will combine to exceed 50% of its total revenues in 2010, and revenues for the LED business are expected to grow 20-30% in 2010.
Our news features are reported
by the LIGHTimes staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - sslighting.net
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info8 -at - sslighting.net
or call +1 (512) 257-9888
|
|
Strategies in Light still the premier US LED event
Tom Griffiths - Publisher
February 19, 2010...When it comes to the broader LED industry and supply chain, Strategies in Light, held February each year in San Jose, California, is the place to be in the US for the latest market updates and technology. From its humble beginnings as a "here comes the LED technology" conference focus back in 1999/2000, Strategies has definitely shifted its strength into an exhibition platform (80+ exhibits this year). As the LED market has matured, the event has followed the trends "up market". Not that many years back, it was about the materials, processes and technologies that created LEDs. As the supply chain has consolidated and narrowed (as they always do), the 2010 event continued the trend to be less about "how you do them" and more about "how you put them to use", with a particular focus in the lighting space. If you engineer LED luminaires/fixtures, and are looking for the latest trends in "the ingredients" that make a better solid state light, or LED backlight, there was plenty to hear and see. We'll outline just a few of the nuggets for the broader LED industry and its applications.
As with any Strategies, major highlights always come from Strategy Unlimited's "Dr. Bob" Steele, and his High-Brightness LED Market Review and Forecast. True to the focus, his market numbers, which we always consider to be the best in the industry, are tallied from the package LED level. The 2009 numbers were, in a sense, no surprise. From Q3 2008 to 1Q 2009, the LED industry pretty much fell off the cliff. Bob's look at 18 publicly traded LED manufacturers showed a 29% drop during that period, and likely those represented more stability than the market in whole. The exciting thing was the bounce-back that occurred from Q1 2009 through the rest of the year, as numbers climbed 89% from their lows, finishing 2009 a modest 9.5% above the overall 2008 numbers. A near-death experience isn't so traumatic when the hindsight shows growth. Lighting and display-containing segments reflected good double-digit growth (24% and 17%), while traffic signals experienced an 18% downturn, which we would attribute to the combination of application saturation (most signals are now LED-based) and the tighter capital equipment budgets that most municipalities are working with.
While mobile phone handsets and smart phones showed an overall decrease, those stalwarts which have driven the LED market growth for much of the last decade have been replaced in their preeminence by LED backlights and displays. In 2008, only about 10% of the laptops on the market had LED backlighting. For 2009, that number had shifted dramatically up to 50% penetration of the technology in the new models. For 2010, predictions have ranged towards expecting 90-100% penetration into the notebook/netbook space. LED-based backlighting in monitors and TVs is shaping up to be a massive market-maker for 2010 as well. Numbers vary, ranging up to forecasts of 39 million LED-backlit TVs for 2010, but Bob felt more comfortable with something in the 22 million unit ballpark, representing about 15% penetration, and the start of a move that could be expected to lead to near 100% adoption over a fairly short span.
LED lighting is rightly generating a lot of buzz, and the market isn't disappointing. While anything but big in terms of its penetration, it is clear that momentum has arrived with 24% segment growth in 2009 and 32% predicted here in 2010. Overall, Strategies Unlimited is forecasting a 44% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the lighting segment looking out the next 5 years. That represents a growth in LED sales from less than $1B now to something more in the $5B range by 2014. General lighting, and especially TV and display backlighting, will be driving the LED industry to $8.2B, a predicted 53% growth, here in 2010. Even more exciting is Bob's expectation of a overall 30% CAGR for the HB-LED industry, reaching over $20B worth of 'packaged LED value' in 2014. Significantly, those TVs and displays will represent half of that 2014 industry revenue. With LEDs continuing their drop in "dollars per lumen" there would appear to be no doubt more than a little increase in some key capacity areas will be required, including substrates and in the LED chip production equipment arena. Companies like Aixtron and Veeco (the A to V's of MOCVD reactor-suppliers, which underpin the LED manufacturing technology) are seeing this ramp now, and reporting the revenue growth to match.
Interesting tech... There were also some technology highlights that caught our attention in the LED arena. The first was in a discussion with Eran Fine, CEO of Oree (not to be confused with "Cree" when looking at the name badges). Oree, which means "My light" in Hebrew, was showing "planar LED" technology that could find its way into a number of applications in the future. In the simplest description, Oree starts with existing commercial LEDs, and redirects the light across a reflective surface a little smaller than the size of a business card. The result is a glowing RGB-driven panel, that is initially targeted to bring direct-backlit capabilities, most notably local dimming, to the LED TV manufacturers, at a cost-point closer to edge-lit solutions. It also provides the manufacturers with the ability to deliver the thinner TV solutions that are the edge-lit technology has also made popular. We had the pleasure of meeting Oree's chairman, former CEO of Philips SSL business unit, Peter van Strijp. Mr. van Strijp's involvement pretty clearly indicates Oree's plans to move the technology into the "glowing panel" arena of general purpose lighting. Given the recent advances in LED efficacy, it's not unreasonable to assume that an approach like Oree's will be able to give OLEDs a run for their money for a number of years while that technology develops.
We also took advantage of the opportunity to spend a little time with both Bridgelux and Luminus Devices, two LED companies that are well positioned to keep a healthy pressure on the current top players in the arena. Bridgelux has just rolled out a wide offering of multi-chip packages that take a number of individual unpackaged LED die, and places them on a single compact board (think dime to half-dollar size). The packages take the "bright egg" approach that covers the full array with the yellow-orange toned phosphor, making it look somewhat like the yolk of a small egg. The company claims to be only one of two significant players that is still making progress on 'lateral chip' designs. Virtually all the others are focused on vertical designs, which are not yet as cost effective as the laterally oriented chips. With warm white efficacies of better than 75 lumens/watt, their new ES line is targeted at enabling LED replacement lamp developers to exceed the approximate 45 lm/w system efficiency requirements that are bundled into the latest Energy Star requirements. Bridgelux' RS series moves up the brightness curve, and is rated to provide 3000 lumens in warm white, and 4500 lumens in cool white from a roughly 50w input. They've taken the a design approach to maintain those lumens in a hotter platform (referred to as "hot" lumens), to allow luminaire developers to design their systems with LED test point temperature of up to around 60-degrees C (ouch... don't touch), which trickles down to real-world luminaire case temperatures instead of the more idyllic, but seldom achieved 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. To round out the line, they're also offering the LS series, which uses the "L" for "little", producing 240 lumens in warm white an up to 360 cool white lumens from a 4 to 4.5w input, and is targeted at MR-16 and decorative replacement lamps. Notably, their approach is promising pricing in reasonable quantities in the 1 to 1.5 cent per lumen range as a result of their lateral-chip manufacturing efficiencies. That compares favorably with some of the new offerings out there, including Cree's new MPL-EasyWhite multi-chip package which ballparks in the 2 cents per lumen range. Obviously, each will claim their advantages, but a competitive market is a healthy market for growth.
We've always been appreciative of technologies that have a clear market niche that can create immediate profits, and which can then be leveraged into broader and potentially more lucrative arenas. Luminus Devices has always been one our favorite examples of this, with their extraordinarily large "photonic lattice" chips that lent themselves marvelously to the DLP-TV arena. The PhlatLight brand smoked that market, commanding impressively quick market share, with performance to match. Unfortunately for Luminus, the DLP projection TV market completely dried up as the LCDs used in flat panel TVs and displays plummeted in price, with consumers voting for the thinner solutions as the prices neared equalization. While Luminus LEDs continue to capture market share in the "pocket" and now standard projector market, they had a bit of a rough road as one market dried up before their technology had really reached an adoption stage in the up and coming general lighting market. While well suited for the 'multiple kilo-lumen' oriented market that will eventually supplant those metal-halides hanging from our gymnasiums and factory ceilings, they hadn't gotten there yet and have suffered for it. Their new CEO, Keith Ward, is a big believer in how "LEDs will change everything about how we 'do' lighting' as the rate of innovation picks up speed." Amen to that. Keith's experience is in the "real" lighting industry, and he's keenly aware of the gaps that exist between the so-called "chipheads" the "lighting folks". It also turns out that Keith is heading a NEMA task force called Enlighten America that is 2 years into a 5 year plan to reach out to US building owners and operators with the "enhanced lighting energy efficiency = enhanced competitiveness" message. Keith is featured there on an introduction video that sums up the message succinctly (and notably, reaches towards the same audience that our SSL Summit series is beginning to bring in... more 2010-2011 series updates coming soon).
The future is bright indeed...
If you have questions about
the solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or
have
news or views to share, we want to hear from you! Feel free to contact
us anytime.
The main office line is +1
(512) 257-9888
Current SecondPage members may access extended content by logging in here
or Sign up for a LIGHTimes SecondPage membership now
Copyright 2001-2008 by CompoundSemi Online Inc.
Some content under license from Veriphos Communications LLC