Editorial:
Newsflash: LED Desklight Worked! Plus: Vertical Thoughts, Part 2
... As the family was browsing the lighting section of a Lowe’s hardware superstore with our son leading the way, earnestly in search of a ceiling fan to match a new jungle-green bedroom paint job, there it stood… about 12 inches high (or 30cm for those more global in their... Read the editorial...
(if it resists... go here)
The
2010 Summit Series is ready to succeed... are you?
After the successful 2008 launch and 2009 continuation of the
Solid State Lighting Design Summit in
New Jersey, the feedback was consistent: Just what we needed, do it again soon.
The Summit brings together lighting decisin makers with industry thought leaders,
pioneers, and innovators from the across the solid state lighting eco-system.
Read the 2009 conference report...
Following
or changes in 2009, 2010 will continue to be all about quality, quality, quality.Showcase participants and sponsors are vetted to separate
the wheat from the chaff (have your IES LM-79 test reports ready!).
With revised dates for LA, the 2010 Summit has expanded to 3 venues, including
LA/Long Beach lined up for January, Mar/April for Taiwan and October for NY/NJ.
Look into the series information at www.SSLsummit.com
for the details. Sponsorships are available for the full series or just the US
events.
Importation Ban on Epistar's OMA, MB, and GB LED Products Now in Full Force LIGHTimes Staff
July 12, 2007...The United States International Trade Commission’s (ITC’s) exclusion
order prohibiting the importation of Epistar’s OMA, MB, and GB LED product
into the United States, is now final and in full force, Philips Lumileds stated.
The presidential review period for the exclusion order is over. The ITC issued
the order after it found that Epistar’s OMA, MB, and GB LED products infringe
on Philips Lumileds patents.
As a result of the ITC ruling and current litigation, Philips Lumileds reported
that it is notifying LED chip packagers, downstream customers and distributors
of the following key points: 1.) The manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale,
or importation into the United States of Epistar’s MB, OMA or GB LEDs
or products incorporating those LEDs is an infringement of Philips Lumileds’
patent rights. 2.) A manufacturer’s promise to “indemnify”
its customer against an action by Philips Lumileds will not prevent Philips
Lumileds from asserting its patents and seeking damages directly from that customer.
In the same way Lumileds said that indemnification will have no effect on exclusion
of the infringing products by Customs officials. 3.) According to Lumileds,
ignorance of infringement is not a valid excuse for a company. 4.) Lumileds
said that the ITC found that all of Epistar’s current and next generation
AlInGaP infringe Philips Lumileds’ ‘718 patent. For this reason,
Philips Lumileds stated in their latest news release that, the company, "does not believe that Epistar will be able to suddenly devise
a non-infringing alternative after having been unable to do so for the last
decade or more."
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City of Toronto and Cree to Team-up for LED City Initiative SSLDesign News Staff
July 12, 2007...Like Raleigh, North Carolina, the city of Toronto has teamed up with Cree as
part of the “LED City” initiative. The City of Raleigh and Cree
launched the LED City program in February to install LED lighting through its
infrastructure. According to Cree, the initiative “fosters collaboration
among municipalities as they deploy energy-efficient lighting to deliver cost
savings and environmental benefits.”
Cree explained that the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA)
will evaluate, deploy, and promote the use of LEDs across many lighting applications.
Through the collaboration LEDs will be installed throughout parks, parking garages,
and in architectural lighting. The citizens of Toronto will benefit from the
energy-efficient, mercury-free, and environmentally friendly LED lighting. Additionally
the LEDs will save money through lower electricity bills. The long life of LEDs
will lower maintenance costs and reduce the or virtually eliminate the need
for replacements.
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Youngtek Electronics to Run LED Sorting Service at Closer to Full Capacity LIGHTimes Staff
July 12, 2007...Several Taiwan-based LED makers such as Epistar and Formosa Epitaxy use the
LED sorting services of a company called Youngtek Electronics. The process of
automatic testing and sorting of LEDs takes significantly less time than producing
LEDs. Youngtek can sort literally hundreds of millions of units each month.
The company says it has an LED sorting capacity of 1.1 billion units each month.
Youngtek said it expects to sort over 800 million units in July and over 900
million units in August, according to a Digitimesarticle.
Youngtek saw a drop in its sorting capacity utilization in the first half of
the year when the number of units actually sorted was only 60 percent of its
capacity. However, the company said it expects to reach 83 percent of its sorting
capacity in the third quarter.
July 12, 2007...Dell is yet another computer maker to see the virtue of LED backlit panels
for notebooks. Backlight unit maker, Forward Electronics of Taiwan, will ship
LED-based backlight units (BLUs) to Dell for its 15.4-inch notebook panels.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) of Taiwan will supply the LCD panels for the notebooks.
Both CPT and Forward Electronics are subsidiaries of the Tatung Group. An article
in Digitimes and the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) indicated
that by the end of 2007, Dell will ship the 15.4-inch notebooks, focusing on
the high-end market.
Showa Denko to Grow Stronger LED Business
July 10, 2007...After market concerns surrounding the merger of Western Digital Corp. and Komag,
both hard disk drive makers and main competitors of Showa Denko, Showa Denko
stock fell 3.36 percent Monday. Showa Denko K.K., a Tokyo-based company involved
in the production of computer hard drives hopes to improve the company’s
profitability by selling high brightness LEDs, according to an article
in The Nikkei Business Daily. In 2006, hard disks made up 70 percent
of the company’s revenues from the electronics and information sectors,
and 18 percent of the company’s total revenues, and 41 percent of the
company’s operating profit. The company is hoping for future growth through
the production of high luminosity LEDs.
Enfis Expands Distribution Network LIGHTimes Staff
July 10, 2007...Enfis Ltd., a maker and developer of multi-watt LED light engines, reported multiple recent distribution deals including agreements
with Pacer International Ltd., Mobicon Group, and Roithner Lasertechnik. Enfis
said the recent distribution deals complements the company’s existing
catalogue suppliers including: Digi-Key, RS Components, and Farnell-in-One.
Pacer agreed to supply Enfis products and it agreed to integrate them in the
company’s display and laser solutions. Mobicon will promote and market
Enfis’ light engine solution to its existing and new customer groups in
Asia, especially the government, lighting designers, contractors, and luminaire
manufacturers focusing on energy saving and environmental friendly applications.
Mobicon said it also provide lighting system recommendations that integrate
Enfis technology. Also under the terms of the agreement with Mobicon, Mobicon
will develop total solutions to solve immediate market needs utilizing Enfis
plug-n-play light engine systems. Roithner Lasertechnik will represent Enfis’
products throughout Europe, concentrating on Austria and Germany. Enfis
News Release
Philips Lumileds Thin Film Flip Chip Technology Delivers High Performance LEDs LIGHTimes Staff
July 10, 2007...Philips Lumileds (Lumileds) of San Jose, California USA, has introduced new
thin film flip chip (TFFC) technology that can produce as much as 17 percent
more light output than its competition. According to Lumileds, the TFFC process
includes removing the sapphire substrate and roughening the chip’s light
emitting surface to improve light output efficiency. The company indicated that
the TFFC process technology is already utilized in the production of the Luxeon
Rebel and Luxeon Flash families.
LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Strategy Analytics Says CS Companies Need to be Flexible to Succeed CompoundSemi News Staff
July 9, 2007...Strategy Analytics (SA) released its regular overview of the compound semiconductor
industry news including microelectronics and optoelectronics materials and equipment
makers. SA’s latest report explains that much of the industry is concerned
with methods and strategies for manufacturing compound semiconductor products.
SA’s explains that in order to manufacture with a strategy that optimizes
the fab utilization, and profitability, while giving the customers what they
want, companies have chosen either outsourcing or internal manufacturing strategies.
Either way, intellectual property issues have kept patent lawyers busy. Some
have chosen the route of cross-licensing such as the Nichia-Stanley electric
deal. Others such as Philips (Royal Philips Electronics) have chosen to acquire
all of the companies and technology to produce the most advanced products in
a vertically integrated arrangement.
“When it comes to manufacturing, no single strategy will prevail.
Companies need to develop a methodical approach that takes account of fab utilization,
customer base and profitability among other factors, when considering the question
of outsourcing vs. internal investment," commented Asif Anwar, GaAs
service Director. “It is important to recognize and maintain your
existing strengths while maintaining the flexibility to consider external solutions.”
Stephen Entwistle, VP of the Strategic Technologies Practice, added, “IP
is another area where it is crucial to know your strengths and weaknesses so
that partnerships are two-way relationships.” SA asserts that flexibility
will be the key to success in the industry. Strategy
Analytics News Release
ABI/Precision Lighting Introduces Spotlight for Boating and Marine Environments LIGHTimes Staff
July 5, 2007...ABI/Precision Lighting has introduced the Primo Spotlight for boats and marine
environments. It is housed in 316 stainless steel, and has a fully articulating
head. The design offers the company’s exclusive TitanTuff gold accent
in the spot light with an extremely durable and water resistant design. The
light has a 2-inch base and has a maximum protrusion of 5 and ½-inches.
The light features an MR-ll LED bulb from Chip-Tech uses even less power than
other LED light engines. The lights can use a choice of xenon or a 9-LED retrofit
bulb. The suggested retail price of the sophisticated Primo Spot Light with
Chip-Tech MR11 LED Bulb from ABI/Precision Lighting is $105.54. Company
News Release
Osram Doubles Brightness of Ostar Headlamp LED Light Engines LIGHTimes Staff
July 5, 2007...Osram Opto Semiconductors has continued to develop its LED-based automobile
headlamps. The company has made further improvements to its Ostar headlamp LED
which go into the automotive headlamps. At 700 mA the company’s high power
Ostar LED light engine produces up to 620 lumens and consumes 12W. The company
says that its typical brightness is up to 500 lm. Osram is already making initial
samples of the Ostar LED headlamp light engine available. The company plans
to begin volume production of the light engines at the end of 2008.
LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.
Seoul Semiconductor Introduces Bright Flash LED LIGHTimes Staff
July 5, 2007...Seoul Semiconductor reported that it has launched an extremely bright ultra-mini
flash LED to replace Xenon lamps used as flash light sources for digital cameras
or 5 megapixel camera phones. Seoul Semiconductor indicated that an undisclosed
digital camera manufacturer will utilize its new flash LEDs in its cameras.
Seoul Semiconductor’s new flash LED called the FCW211Z series, boasts
very high brightness, an exceptionally small footprint, display of moving image,
and a long lifespan.
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Commentary & Perspective...
Newsflash: LED Desklight Worked! Plus: Vertical Thoughts, Part 2 Tom Griffiths - Publisher
July 11, 2007...As the family was browsing the lighting section of a Lowe’s hardware superstore
with our son leading the way, earnestly in search of a ceiling fan to match
a new jungle-green bedroom paint job, there it stood… about 12 inches high (or
30cm for those more global in their measurement standards), gleaming steel and
plastic… a little robot-dude that served as a desk lamp, pencil and notepad
holder. He rather resembled the Pixar lamp that hops around leading into that
company’s
animated movie blockbusters, which is probably what caught our eye most. He
was bulbless, but it was easy to see he accepted a standard intermediate base
Edison base (E-17 I believe, but don’t quote me on that part). Then we spotted
the box… he included an “LED bulb” as it was referred to, which was basically
an array of about 12 white LEDs in the general shape of your basic 12-volt MR-16
"volcano". The price was normal for a cool little desk lamp, and we were in
need of a bedtime reading light for his room. Since Lowe’s is one of those places
that makes it easy to return anything you don’t like, what the heck.
It worked! It produces a bright, clean beam at about a 30-degree spread with
a CRI of probably around 80, without being distinctively blue or yellow. Digging
deeper into the very simple user’s manual (mostly focused on the importance
on not losing the Allen wrench that tightens the little guy’s joints to keep
him upright), we found it to be manufactured by Holmes lighting for Lowe’s “Portfolio”
line. Holmes is part of a family of consumer brand name items that includes
Bionaire®; Crock-Pot®; FamilyCare®; Holmes®; MasterGlow®; Patton®; Rival®; Seal-a-Meal®
and White Mountain®; and they included an order form for the $7.99 replacement
“bulbs” in the future.
The package claims 0.012A, which comes out to about 1-watt, and highly scientific
finger poking didn’t find any warm spots. So far, so good. Why I’m excited is
that this represents the kind of real, useful, decent quality, fun product solution
that will build consumer confidence that LEDs are a good thing to use in lighting
around the house. The value is in the package and novelty here, but there is
value and not one just based on a vague promise that LEDs last “up to 10,000
hours” (much as cars last up to 100 years as I’ve seen them in museums, but
it tells me little about the operational cost over the useful life). Even with
an indeterminate life, if I assume several years, the cost of the bulb doesn’t
seem unreasonable as part of the novel fixture. Positive progress in perception.
Thank you Lowe’s and Holmes.
Vertical Thoughts, Part 2
In last week’s editorial, we mentioned the vertical integration moves that
we’re seeing in the solid state lighting market, with primary attention on Philips
recent acquisitions and some of GE’s past/present relationships. We received
at least one question on why Osram-Sylvania wasn’t part of the discussion, and
I can honestly confess that it was simply because my impression was that they
weren’t vertically integrated in the SSL space. Impressions are interesting
things, and sometimes we have to ignore them and dig a bit deeper to get past
them. In a bold move, we took a look at (get ready)… their website.
Interestingly, Opto Semiconductors and LEDs are lumped into a single category
separate from the applications that they may serve. The consumer section is
broken into Home Lighting, Luminaires, and Automotive Lighting. The professional
section includes the uses: General Lighting, Display/Optic Lighting, Automotive
Lighting; and the stuff: Electronic Control Gear, Precision Materials, and Opto
Semiconductors & LED. At the high level, LEDs are stuff, rather than being included
in the solutions. The impression doesn’t seem unfounded at that level. Once
you know you’re looking for LEDs, moving further into the LED
section lets you find that there are solutions for “Elaborate modules for
light advertising, lighting and decorative applications” as well as “LED luminaires:
LED made easy for everyone” which lists “Gadgets and pocket lights, Outdoor
luminaires, Mood lighting, Lighting and retrofits”. Got it. Applications. That’s
good. The click to “more info” on that latter one takes you to the consumer
luminaire section, with various mentions to the CFL or halogen technologies
in some of the other solutions, but no mention of LEDs. Visiting the “outdoor
luminaires” and we find a lone LED solution, the AquaLED (I’m thinking waterproof
maybe?).
The point of this tour? The paradigm seems to be that designers and architects
have to be looking for LEDs first, then answering the question “what can they
be used in?” Shouldn’t we be presenting LEDs and solid state lighting as merely
one type of light engine used to address specific applications? It comes with
strengths and weaknesses, as does any solution, and informing the specifiers
of those plusses and minuses lets them choose the best solution for their needs.
It’s almost as though the industry is apologizing for what LEDs aren’t good
at (yet) rather than just throwing them into the product mix, providing full
disclosure and letting the solution stand on its own. By the way, if there aren’t
any comparative product benefits (other than the fact it uses LEDs and that
means the specifier is a leading edge kind of individual, unconcerned by whether
it really works not), then don’t offer it as a solution.
Circling back to the vertical market look that led into all of this, it seems
clear Osram needs to be counted as a highly vertically integrated player in
the market. Osram Opto offers plenty of high performance packaged LED solutions
that stand right in the thick of the performance battle, including integrating
them into basic arrays that pack a lot of lumens in a little space. From there,
we also see light engines, modules and luminaires (when we look hard enough)
which pretty much defines a complete vertical offering from a company that knows
lighting and its customers.
If you have questions about
the solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or
have
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