UV LED product developer Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. (SETi) announced that it successfully obtained a permanent injunction in a patent infringement lawsuit against Bolb and Quantum Egg (Q-Egg). SETi filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Bolb and Q-Egg in the U.S. District Court in California in September 2018, accusing the two companies of selling UV LED sterilizing devices that infringe six LED patents of SETi. The asserted patents in this litigation cover fundamental UV LED technology, encompassing UV LED sterilizer structu...

The South Korean equipment manufacturer Charm Engineering is extending its business towards Micro LED display and built partnership with Korea Photonics to develop related technologies. (Image: Pixabay) According to Charm Engineering, the company is expanding its display repairing business from OLED display to Micro LED display with its newly developed TFT array defective wiring repair equipment, reported ETnews, an online media in South Korea. The equipment provider also reported that it has signed a MOU with Korea Photonics Technology Institu...

KAIST research team has invented “transformative electronics systems” which can change shapes and stretch flexibly, enabling novel design for wearable products. The new study was published in Science Advance in November. According to KAIST, the transformative electronics consist of a special gallium metal structure, hermetically encapsulated and sealed within a soft silicone material, combined with electronics that are designed to be flexible and stretchable. The mechanical transformation of the electronic systems is specifically triggered by temperature change...

Rumors of Apple’s Mini LED products have been going on since April 2019 and the latest news is that the company will begin mass production of iPad and MacBook Pro with Mini LED backlight display in 2020. Other Mini LED-based products will come in two to three years. (Image: Apple) Apple’s new Mini LED products, including a 12.9-inch iPad Pro and a 16-inch Macbook which are said to be launched the soonest in the third and fourth quarter in 2020, will benefit the company’s supply chain covering chip makers, display producer and assembly com...

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan's largest and one of the world's leading high-tech applied research institutions, is going to showcase its latest developments at CES 2020 starring January 7, 2020, in Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center. (Image: ITRI) ITRI will present a wide range of innovative applications integrating AI, robotics and digital health technology, as well as its Micro LED technology. ITRI’s Micro LED display features its "pixel area release" technology, integrating sens...

Kubos Semiconductors from the UK and the UK Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC) announced that their partnership to commercialize cubic GaN epitaxy for the manufacture of high efficiency green and amber LEDs. Hexagonal GaN crystals have been widely used to fabricate blue LEDs, but achieving efficient operation in green devices is a problem. Large polarization fields in the active regions of these longer-wavelength structures reduce radiative recombination rates and limit LED efficiency. Targeting the issue, Kubos Semiconductors develops process based on gr...

Vertical farming breaks the limitation of growing crops and creates possibilities for food production everywhere. Supporting by LED tunable lighting and hydroponics system, vertical farms leverage their strengths to shrink the distance between growers and consumers, attracting strategic partners to launch innovative services. Singapore Airline, for example, collaborated AeroFarms, a U.S.-based vertical farm startup, for realize the Airline’s “From Farm to Plane” concept. AeroFarms has begun to supply fresh produce for Singapore Airline’s flight s...

Hitachi Vantara, the Silicon Valley-based digital infrastructure and solutions subsidiary of Hitachi, announced the application of an artificial intelligence (AI) based solution for airlines and airports to solve the challenges of crowd during the busy holiday season. The company’s technology aims to eliminate travel delays caused by congestion at check-in, security, retail and aircraft boarding areas. Hitachi Vantara has developed solutions that combine computer vision with video analytics using LiDAR and machine learning to help airline and airport staff identify whe...

Smart wearables including watches, glasses, headphones and others are considered rising stars in the consumer market with more and more big names launching products combining different functions for medical use, health care, entertainment and more. According to Trendforce, the global shipments of smart watches in 2019 are estimated to reach 62.63 million units. The requirements of wearable products include small size, light weight, low power consumption and environmental resistance. The progressing Micro LED technologies thus become critical for the development of smart wearables...

Samsung reported that two of the company’s research fellows have proved the potential of QLEDs for commercial purposes in a new study, which was published in ‘Nature’ on November 27, 2019. The research team managed to hugely improve quantum efficiency, as well as extend the lifetime of the QLED element by improving the structure of quantum dots. With the thick shell structure proposed by the research team, oxidation of the core and energy leak could be prevented. The study concluded that the method had improved quantum efficiency by 21.4% and increased the ...

Since the initial production began in the second half of 2018, Mini LED products including backlit panel and RGB displays are gaining more and more visibility in the industry with a wide range of applications launched in 2019 and the coming 2020. The LED industry players in Taiwan and China see the rising market of Mini LED and are putting their strength into product development and capacity increase. Epistar, as a Mini LED pioneer, has already shipped backlight product for high-end monitors, notebooks, automotive displays and smartphones. The company is going t...

Apple’s autonomous vehicle development, also known as “Project Titan,” seems to go on progressing with more and more related patents published. Patently Apple and appleinsider both covered that the company has won new patents of automotive applications. One of the new Apple patents is titled “Systems with Synchronized Windows,” describing a LCD integrated car window with adjustable transparency which enhance privacy. Apple noted in the patent that the vehicle window would include a light modulator layer such as a liquid crystal layer with polari...

Japan Display (JDI) announced the development of a Micro LED display. The prototype Micro LED display will be presented at “FINTECH JAPAN 2019,” which is taking place in Makuhari Messe from December 4 to 6, 2019. The 1.6-inch Micro LED display of JDI is based on LTPS backplane developed by the company and Micro LED chips from glō, a Micro LED technology provider. The display achieves a resolution of 265 ppi with a pixel number of 300*300. (Image: JDI) JDI also noted that the Micro LED display has a wide viewin...

In order to push the development of autonomous driving technology, worldwide LiDAR developers continue to release new products and build partnerships with different industry players. Apart from the mechanical LiDAR suppliers and US-based solid-state LiDAR makers, LEDinside also tracks the progresses of solid-state LiDAR makers around the world and the following is their update in the past year. Related reading:  Global LiDAR Companies 2019 Progresses: Solid-State LiDAR Manufacturers in the U.S. Global LiDAR Companies and Their Lates...

MaxLite has filed petitions for inter partes review (IPR) before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeking to invalidate U.S. Patent No. 9,897,265 and 9,723,662 owned by Jiaxing Super Lighting Electric Appliance, a Chinese contract manufacturer. (Image: MaxLite) MaxLite reported that the patents that are the subjects of these petitions are part of Jiaxing Super Lighting’s recently-announced patent licensing program for LED tube lamps. According to the petitions, these pate...

UV-C LED water disinfection solution provider AquiSense Technologies announced its partnership with SUEZ to provide the UV-C LED Water Treatment Technology for water disinfection directly at the point of use in critical laboratory applications. AquiSense and SUEZ have been engaged in close co-operation for over a year in a detailed joint development effort to deliver a laboratory water purification unit equipped with advanced UV-C LED technology. The new laboratory product offers a high-level microbial disinfection barrier directly at the point of use. T...

Canada-based automotive component provider Magna announced the acquisition of Wipac Czech, an automotive lighting engineering firm located in Czech Republic. The transaction was closed last week and will expand Magna’s engineering capabilities globally. Wipac Czech’s engineering team designs and develops automotive forward lighting, primarily for European exotic and luxury brand including Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce, McLaren, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Audi, Daimler, BMW and Porsche. (Image: Magna) “We see Wipac Czech playing an imp...

Signify announced that it installed Interact Industry in the newly developed warehouse facility of Pilkington Automotive in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, marking its entrance into the Industrial IoT space. This cloud-based, wireless connected lighting system is specifically designed for warehouses and manufacturing facilities. Pilkington Automotive, part of NSG Group, is one of the world’s largest suppliers of automotive glass. Its new European central warehouse meets the latest storage systems and warehouse design standards and is fully aligned with the company’s...

Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia reported that it has filed patent infringement lawsuits in Brazil for its YAG patent. Since Nichia’s Brazilian YAG patent has not expired and is still in force, the company filed two patent infringement lawsuits in the Judicial District of the Capital of the State of São Paul on November 13, 2019 against two Brazilian distributors, Karimex and Arrow, who sell Everlight’s LED products. At the same time, Nichia also accused ASUS Do Brasil, a Brazilian affiliate of ASUSTek, of infringing its YAG...

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890), a leading global innovator of LED products and technology, announced that it will auction its radio frequency (RF) semiconductor patent portfolio and its high power LED package patent portfolio. In the first auction, Seoul Semiconductor is seeking the top bidder for 98 patent assets related to power amplifiers and gallium nitride (GaN) RF semiconductors, including 55 U.S. patents. Three of the patents are licensed to the U.S. Air Force or the U.S. Army, confirming the value of the portfolio. This RF pate...

Increasing studies have indicated the effects of lighting on human well-being. Lighting design in healthcare facilities thus become even more critical to enhance patents’ condition and provide staffs suitable working environment. Based on the understanding and its expertise in lighting, Osram indicated that lighting design techniques play an influential role in the overall patient experience and healing process. The company thus introduced five trends in lighting design for healthcare facilities. (Image: Osram) Flexibility a Must Flexibility is identify as an indisp...

Signify announced the upgrade of its European specification portfolio of luminaires for office applications from CRI 80 to CRI 90 as standard. This step-up in Color Rendering Index will more accurately render object colors – displaying them even more precisely – compared to the standard CRI 80 products. Signify is the first lighting company to make the change to CRI 90 with a red color rendering index (R9 of 50 or higher) across the board of its office project luminaires in Europe. (Image: Signify) With office lighting design high on many organizatio...

Viavi Solutions filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to initiate an investigation under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, against LG Electronics, LG Electronics U.S.A., LG Innotek, and Optrontec. Viavi claimed that the LG group engaged in unfair trade practices by importing and selling in the United States certain mobile phones and tablet computers that infringe Viavi’s patents related to 3D sensing. Viavi also filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California asser...

Automotive lighting and electronics provider Hella announced a new lighting system with high resolution, Digital Light SSL | HD. With the new lighting technology, more than 30,000 pixels can be controlled intelligently and individually, enabling numerous new safety functions like optical lane markings. According to Hella, "Digital Light SSL | HD" is a consistent further development and miniaturization of existing matrix LED systems. Together with an enlarged light-emitting surface, the s higher number of pixels is the basis for a multitude of new functiona...

As Mini LED products entering the market, equipment producer FitTech, who experts in Mini LED probing, sorting and testing is expect thriving business in 2020. (Image: FitTech) Mini LED and Micro LED technologies became more mature in the past year, leading to higher demands and requirements for back-end manufacture processes such as testing and probing. Thus, FitTech is taking orders from LED companies in Taiwan and China. Taiwanese chip producer Epistar just revealed that it will increase investment in testing equipment in 2020. In addition, currently...

Chip provider Epistar announced that it will double its capital expenditure to gear up for booming demands with increasing Mini LED applications in the coming years. The Taiwan-based LED chip maker sees rising demands in Mini LED products in the near future and plans to prepare its capacity in advance. As a result, Epistar said that it plans to increase its capital expenditure to above NTD 5 billion (US$ 163.83 billion), comparing to the regular expanses of NTD 2.5 billion (US$ 82 million) in the past. Currently the two major applications of Mini LED a...

Many consider solid-state LiDARs the solution to realize autonomous driving technology as they are much cheaper and lighter compared to mechanical LiDARs. In 2019, many solid-state LiDAR providers have reported their technology developments and market expansion. Let’s take a look of the latest updates in solid-state LiDARs. Related reading: Global LiDAR Companies and Their Latest Progresses in 2019: Mechanical LiDAR Suppliers Quanergy Expands Business in Asia and South America Solid-state LiDAR company Quanergy has been proact...

Satco Products filed suit against The Regents of the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of New York to declare that the company does not infringe patents claimed by UCSB. In the press release of Satco, the company noted that it brought the legal action to seek a declaration that Satco Products, identified in the UCSB claim letters, do not infringe any of the ten patents asserted by UCSB. Satco also mentioned that it would aggressively defend its products and protect its custome...

Cree announced that it has extended its existing agreement with STMicroelectronics for silicon carbide supply with double value of the original agreement. In January 2019, Cree and STMicroelectronics revealed their long term partnership that Cree will provide its Wolfspeed silicon carbide wafers valued US$250 million to STMicroelectronics. The two companies now reported expansion and extension of the agreement to more than US$500 million. The increased wafer supply enables the semiconductor leaders to address the rapidly growing demand for silicon carbide power devi...

Semiconductor equipment providers Veeco and K&S (Kulicke & Soffa) announced their financial results respectively. The two companies both reported business decline for the previous quarter. K&S revealed its fourth fiscal quarter of 2019 which ended September 28, 2019. The Company reported fourth quarter net revenue of US$139.8 million, net income of $6.4 million and non-GAAP net income of $9.3 million. The revenue and gross profit of K&S in fiscal 4Q19 have dropped by 24.3% and 23.8% compared to previous year. However, compared to previous quarter, bo...