Celebrating Macroblock’s20th anniversary and facing the rise of 5G era, Macroblock this year helds a whole day symposium with interesting topics regarding 5G era LED displays and HDR challenges and solutions. Furthermore, the demonstration zones also roll out advanced LED display technologies for the 2nd half of 2019. Fig.1 Comprehensive LED display solution demos at Macroblock’s Symposium Macroblock spreads outthe demo zones into 4 zones: 1. 5G Future-High Frame Rate Demo 2.Highly-integrated LED Display Driver IC Demo 3. 16-Channel L...

LEDs can be lit on by urine without electricity! A Japanese professor developed a fuel cell which can be powered by urea, a component of urine, to light up LEDs. The approach would offer light source when being in places without electricity such as in the mountains or in times of disaster. The Japan News reported that Keiichi Kaneto, a visiting professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology, created an electricity generable sheet which contains an alloy of copper and nickel and was coated by resin. The sheep reacted to urine drops and could then illuminate a small blue L...

Velodyne Lidar announced the acquisition of Mapper.ai, a mapping and localization software developer. Velodyne Lidar aims to leverage Mapper technology to accelerate development of Vella™, the software that establishes its directional view Velarray™ lidar sensor. The Velarray is the first solid-state LiDAR sensor that is embeddable and fits behind a windshield, as an integral component for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Mapper’s entire leadership and engineering teams will join Velodyne, bolstering the company’s growing software deve...

Seoul Semiconductor announced the results of a series of experiments that demonstrated a higher growth rate and higher flavonol (a type of antioxidant) content in crops grown under SunLike Series natural spectrum LEDs than those grown under standard white LEDs. The experiments were conducted on lettuce using SunLike Series LED lighting and standard white LED lighting of the same color temperature and light intensity. After two weeks of crop growth, the fresh weight and flavonol content of the lettuce were measured and compared. The fresh weight of lettuce grown unde...

Nichia announced that it has filed patent infringement lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on July 19, 2019 against Lighting Science Group (LSG), a US-based manufacturer of LED lighting products, as well as its affiliates, Health and VividGro. In its lawsuits, Nichia has asserted 13 patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,838,693, 7,348,602, 7,750,337, 8,120,057, 8,309,375, 8,309,948, 8,344,402, 8,530,250, 8,728,916, 8,796,721, 9,444,011, 9,865,773 and 10,276,751) against the three entities. The patents cover various manufactur...

LED technology enables a wider range of lighting applications, including various types of luminaires. A German company, LUCEM, created a material of light-emitting concrete which is made of layers of transmitting optical fibers. The material allows designers to break the limitation of luminaires for more flexible and creative architecture and interior design. (Image: LUCEM) The products are mixture of fine concrete and optical fibers. The company used thousands of fine optical fibers that are only 0.5 mm diameter, put them layers by layers with the specially designed...

The rumors of Apple using Micro LED in its Apple Watch continue. This time, it was said that the strategic appliance of Taiwan’s PlayNitride and RiTdisplay will provide their Micro LED technologies including chips and display modules for the Apple Watch, according to the report of Taiwan’s Economy Daily News. PlayNitride’s expertise is Micro LED technology has been recognized by worldwide partners. At SID 2019, PlayNitride showcased a 7.65-inch full color transparent Micro LED display, a flexible Micro LED display and a wearabl...

UV LEDs cover a wide range of applications including light curing, medical treatment and disinfection. And now, UV LEDs are put on drones to spew UV light in subway stations and trains for sanitization. An online magazine, Yanko Design, reported that Korean designers at Off Garage Studio created a UV LED integrated drone as a “space care system,” providing autonomous sterilization service. Equipped with sensors and UVC LEDs, the drone is designed to flies smoothly around the station and emits UV LED light in the subways to efficiently and e...

Unity Semiconductor (UnitySC), the France-based semiconductor inspection solution provider, announced that it has demonstrate the capability of detecting topographic defects on GaAs wafers for VCSEL in LiDAR and 3D recognition applications. On top of common Surface Scanning Inspection Systems (SSIS) and Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) systems, UnitySC noted that it is able to find out defects that are not visible on standard optical inspection systems. These defects do not scatter or absorb light, and can only be revealed by their topography but the...

Casambi, the expert in wireless lighting controls based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), has teamed up with Seoul Semiconductor to provide lighting designers with precision control of LED lights that match the spectrum of sunlight. The development puts true human centric lighting in the hands of designers for the first time. Casambi’s wireless control technology can now be used with Seoul Semiconductor’s innovative SunLike Series LEDs, whose spectra match to real sunlight, to realize human centric lighting. “Human-centric lighting” describes...

Scientists at Linkoping University working with colleagues from China have shown how to achieve efficient perovskite LEDs. In an article published in Nature Communications, they provide guidelines on fabricating high-quality perovskite light emitters for high-efficiency perovskite LEDs. Since solution-processed perovskites contain large amounts of defects, which are mostly halide vacancies, efficient control of the perovskite crystallinity is required for high-performance optoelectronic devices. The research group at LiU, under the leadership of Senior Lecturer Feng G...

Automotive applications including exterior/interior lighting and displays are the targeted area of several LED companies. Rising development of alternative fuel vehicles and self-driving technology push the deployment of LEDs in automobile as the features of higher lifetime and lower energy consumption have become even more critical. As results, several Taiwan-based LED companies have deepened their engagement in automotive LED applications, focusing lighting, sensing technology and display. Tesla supplier EOI continues to expand its automotive product portfolio and...

Smart glasses and AR devices have been targeted by Micro LED display technology and were considered to be the first applications entering the market. Previously LEDinside has collected news about Apple’s patent applications related to Micro LED and AR smart glasses. However, rumors said that Apple might have dropped its AR glasses project. Apple’s project of AR/VR headset development might have been suspended due to immature capability of building 5G connectivity and data, according to the report of Digitimes. The report said that the team was dis...

Osram announced that it Austrian company ams has approached with the interest of a public takeover of Osram with a value of EUR 38.50 (US$ 43.36) per share. However, right after Osram’s announcement, ams decided to withdraw the offer as the company did not see “sufficient basis” for continually talking with Osram. According to Osram, ams showed the interest of acquiring Osram by EUR 38.5 per share. The announcement noticed that to support the offer, ams will need a temporary bridge-loan facility of EUR 4.2 billion (US$ 4.73 billion) and a capital i...

A research team led by a professor from Department of Optics and Photonics at Taiwan’s National Central University revealed a new production method for Micro LED epitaxy wafer. The team developed GaN thin film wafer under low temperature via an approach of high-energy physic. According to the researchers, the method would cost only one tenth of the current Micro LED production cost and could be applied for mass production. (Image:NCU) By combining data analysis and semiconductor manufacture process, the researchers aim to find innovative approaches for M...

The City of Wilmington in Delaware, US and Ontario Airport in Canada, have switched to smart LED lighting system. The City of Wilmington collaborated with Delmarva Power on a new citywide smart lighting system. The project begins in July 2019 with the installation of 215 LED street lights and 50 smart sensors in West Center City, North Market Street, and Baynard Boulevard. The final goal is to convert all 7,050 streetlights to LEDs. With the project, the city aims to save up to US$150,000 per year by converting all the streetlights into sensor-equipped...

Last week LEDinside reported that more and more vertical farming startups have received funds from worldwide investors, marking the great potential of the high-tech farming business. Within a week, another US-based vertical farming company, AeroFarms, announced that it has raised US$ 100 million in the Series E funding round. According to the report by the Financial Times, the funding round was led by IKEA’s parent company, Ingka Group, bringing the total funding to US$ 238 million. Other investors include Wheatsheaf, ADM Capital, Mission Point Cap...

Vertically integrated LED manufacturer Lextar released its revenue of June 2019, which came to NT$845 million (US$27.2 million), up by 15.1% MoM and down by 7.02% YoY. Lextar began restructure in 2018 by drastically cutting off fixtures business and turning into high margin products including Mini LED backlight, display, automotive products and other. Currently, the company is processing Mini LED shipment steadily and plans to increase the share of Mini LED backlight product to 10% by the fourth quarter of 2019. It was also reported that panel manufacture...

In 2008, MEAN WELL officially released the first LED power supply – CLG-150 series and stepped into the potential LED market. Until now, the selling quantity of LED related products is uncountable. Having a special opportunity, MEAN WELL received several pieces of the CLG-150 products which were manufactured in 2008. A detailed investigation and analysis were executed, and the result is shared below. The number of the components could be from dozens to hundreds depends on the wattage and topology of power supply. Each component is applied to the ...

Seoul Semiconductor (Seoul) filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Conrad Electronic, a European retailer of electronic products, in the District Court of Düsseldorf in Germany. Seoul reported that the LEDs in backlit mobile phones sold by Conrad are infringing the company’s patent for LED light extraction technology. The patent covers fundamental LED chip fabrication technology to extract light efficiently, significantly enhancing brightness. Conrad is currently selling hundreds of different models of Korean, U.S. and China mobile phones. Ac...

AlGaN-based DUV-LEDs are receiving much research attention due to their potential use in sterilization, water purification, phototherapy, and sunlight-independent high-speed optical communication. Scientists are investigating ways to improve their efficiency in converting electrical energy into optical energy. Deep UV LEDs made from AlGaN efficiently transfer electrical energy to optical energy due to the growth of one of its bottom layers in a step-like fashion. This finding, published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, can lead to the development of even more...

Researchers at the German Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have produced nanowires with operating wavelengths that can be freely selected over a wide range by altering the shell structure. Fine-tuned nanowires are able to improve efficiency of various optoelectronic components, making LEDs more colorful and solar cells more efficient, in addition to speeding up computers. The research results were published in Nature Communications in June. Nanowires can be used for miniaturized photonic and electronic components in nanotechnology. Applications include optic...

Micro LED technology breakthroughs continue to progress in order to tackle challenges occurred in different manufacture process. At Micro LEDforum 2019, professionals in industry introduced their progresses of various technologies for a wide range of Micro LED applications. Yen-Hsiang Fang at Consortium for Intelligent Micro –assembly System (CIMS) of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) presented the developments of the organization. ITRI began to build up its full color Micro LED display technology since ...

With its expertise in Micro/Mini LED display and fine-pitch display, LED driver IC company Macroblock sees profit growth in 3Q19 despite that tepid Chinese Market. The increasing demands of fine-pitch LED display and Mini LED backlight display pushed Macroblock’s revenue for 2Q19. With orders for niche products, profit margin of the company may come to 35 percent. For Mini LED backlight, Macroblock has expanded the product portfolio from driver IC to module, providing holistic solutions for clients. New equipment will be installed in 3Q19 and prod...

LEDinside’s annual event, Micro LEDforum, has again gathered many experts in the industry and academia to share about their technological expertise and provide penetrating insights of products and applications in the current Micro LED landscape. The event started with Roger Chu, Research Director of LEDinside, delved into the development of the panel industry. He pointed out that panel production has outpaced market demand, causing furious competition and pushing manufacturers to focus on developing new display technology or improving the functionalities of the...

The US International Trade Commission has concluded a patent infringement investigation according to the complaint filed by Philips Lighting (now named Signify) in 2017. The Commission ruled Feit Electric Company, Lowe’s Companies and Satco did not infringe Philips Lighting’s patents but ruled against MSi Lighting, reported lightED magazine. In 2017, Philips Lighting filed a complaint accusing nine lighting companies of infringing its patents. The accused companies included members of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAE...

The expanding horticulture LED lighting business marks the development of high-tech farming including vertical farming which has attracted increasing investment recently. Vertical farming companies from Europe and the US have reported funds from worldwide investors. Berlin-based vertical farming startup InFarm has raised a US$100 billion fund in its Series B investment led by Atomico with other existing investors including Balderton Capital, Astanor Ventures, Cherry Ventures and TriplePoint Capital joining. Founded in 2013, the Germany company has developed the ...

Connected lighting system integrating smart control and tunable light opens a room for health care applications. Hospitals in Berlin, Germany and Barcelona, Spain, showed the benefits of implementing connected LED lighting systems. At Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron hospital, a human centric lighting system which can tune the lighting spectrum to match natural daylight was installed in the intensive care unit. With seven LED engines and the combination of single-peak LEDs phosphor-converted LEDs, the system enables light emission to match the visible range spa...

Soon after Osram’s announcement of the bidding offer from Bain Capital and the Carlyle Group, the German company said that it will support the public takeover offer. On July 4th, Osram announced that its Managing Board and Supervisory Board decided to support the legally binding transaction offer for the public takeover of all the shares of Osram by Bain Capital and the Carlyle Group. Osram and the consortium have also concluded an investor agreement that includes comprehensive commitments. “Bain and Carlyle are the right partners for Osram at the rig...

Osram announced a confirmation of receiving a binding offer from Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group, the US-based private equity firms who have been in talk with the German company for a buyout since the end of 2018. According to Osram, the inventors have offered an amount of EUR 35 (US$39.5) per share for the buyout, which will be approximately 3.4 billion euro ($3.8 billion) for concluding the investor agreement and to make a public takeover offer. Osram said, “The responsible decision bodies will discuss and decide on this offer shortly.” Osram has b...