Researchers found a new method of photonic cooling by running LED with electrodes reversed. Researchers believe that this approach could improve cooling technology for future microprocessors, which will include various transistors in a small space that current methods cannot remove heat quickly enough. The finding was published on Nature on February 13 by a research team at the University of Michigan. Linxiao Zhu, the lead author on the research article, explained, “Usually for thermal radiation, the intensity only depends on temperature, but we actually have an additio...

Taiwanese LED companies announced their revenue of January 2019. Epistar and Lextar posted on-month revenue increase while Lite-On reported growth in LED products. Epistar registered a revenue of NT$ 1.27 billion (US$ 41.16 million) for January which increased by 6.56% MoM but dropped by 32.4% YoY. Impacted by the trade dispute and political uncertainty, business growth in the global LED market is not expected by the industry players. To cope with the sluggish market, Epistar has focused on Mini LED backlight products targeting high-end display applicatio...

U.S.-based instrument manufacturer Veeco announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2018. For 4Q18, the company registered a revenue of US$99 million, which dropped by 29.1% YoY. Veeco also reported a GAAP net loss of US$144.7 million, in comparison with US$8.5 loss in 4Q17. The non-GAAP loss was US$7.5 million. According to the company, the declined revenue and profit in the fourth quarter of 2018 was due to "Commoditization of the MOCVD market for LEDs in China.” In 2Q18, the revenue from China accounted for 45...

ON Semiconductor announced the introduction of the RSL10 Sensor Development Kit which is designed to provide a comprehensive platform for developing IoT applications with smart sensor technology. The RSL10 Sensor Development Kit brings together the highly integrated RSL10 System-in-Package (RSL10 SIP) with a range of advanced low power sensors from Bosch Sensortec. The development platform provides 9 degrees of freedom (DoF) detection and environmental monitoring, including ambient light, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), pressure, relative humidity...

According to the latest report of Trendforce, titled “ 2019 China IGBT Industry Development and Market Report”, China IGBT market scale in 2018 is expected to be RMB 15.3 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 19.91%. As HEV/EV demand and industrial demand enjoy large growth, China IGBT market scale will continuously increase and it is expected to stand at RMB 52.2 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 19.11%. HEV/EV Demand Market Ranks Top In 2012, as the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued Ener...

Osram announced a confirmation about the possible buyout by Bain Capital and Carlyle Group and revealed that it is engaged in detailed discussions with the interested parties. After Osram reported its declined business performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and said it has “taken a number of measures to improve revenue and returns,” the Germany company confirmed the market rumors that Bain Capital and Carlyle Group are eyeing the buyout of Osram. In November 2018, Bloomberg reported that the U.S.-based Bain Capital has been considering acquiri...

Signify has been increasing its investment in fast-growing areas including horticulture, solar, and LiFi as they go in line with the company’s sustainability principle. LiFi was particularly addressed as Signify has recently acquired Firefly LiFi, a LiFi company with offices in the U.S. and Germany. According to the news covered by LiFiReport, Signify has bought FireFly LiFi with the transaction completed in December 2018. The lighting company has also acquired a French LiFi company by the end of 2016 and started a trial in Paris with a French real esta...

Austrian sensing solution provider ams announced that it will showcase several industry-first technologies for mobile devices at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona during February 25 -28. ams will demonstrate state-of-the-art sensor solutions for mobile, computing and consumers including 3D sensing technology, behind screen solution color sensors and medical-level wearable devices. The industrial and automotive applications of these technologies will also be presented by ams. (image: ams) The 3D sensing technologies for mobile devices include active stereo ca...

According to LEDinside’s 2019 Micro LED Next Generation Display Key Technology Report, Micro LED possesses excellent features no matter in high brightness, high contrast, high response time and power saving, which are all better than LCD and OLED. With Micro LED, various applications, such as watch, mobile phone, automotive display, AR, VR, monitor, TV and large display will develop towards a higher level in the future. According to LEDinside, although Micro LED technology faces many challenges, compared with two years ago, the current technological progress has been much improved. The early patented technology has already appeared in the physical sample display machine. In the future, Micro LED’s commercialization will be driven by the growth of Micro LED technology. In addition, the manufacturing process of Micro LED is complex and the requirement becomes stricter. The raw materials, process consumables, production equipment, testing instruments and auxiliary fixtures used in the process require sophisticated specifications and relatively high precision.

According to LEDinside’s 2019 Micro LED Next Generation Display Key Technology Report, Micro LED technology development in the early days was based on patent layout. Sony, Cree and the University of Illinois have been the earliest ones for the layout. After the acquisition of LuxVue by APPLE in 2014, it led other companies to accelerate the development of the Micro LED field. In addition, manufacturers in different regions of the world have different strategies and developments for the layout of Micro LEDs. For example, Taiwanese manufacturers are mainly engaged in professional OEMs, and Korean manufacturers focus on strategic cooperation. Japanese manufacturers mainly develop within the group, and most European and American manufacturers focus on startups and academic institutions. Yet, the development of Chinese manufacturers is slower, and most of them are in the research and evaluation stage.

Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is planning to convert its public street lights into LED lighting, aiming to initiate smart city applications. The project proposed by Dublin City Council will replace up to 40000 city lights with LED and install smart city applications as well as restore 120 columns with heritage luminaires to original design. The cost is estimated to be EUR 80 million (US$ 90 million) and the project is currently at tendering stage. The city is famous for its ornate historical street light with Georgian style decoration including shamrocks and crest...

Seoul Semiconductor announced that its SunLike Series natural spectrum LEDs have been adopted for horticulture LED lighting by Rofianda, a Netherlands-based lighting solution company. According to Seoul Semiconductor, its SunLike Series natural spectrum LEDs produce light that closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight. Adopting the SunLike LEDs, the horticulture LED lighting by Rofianda achieved a full spectrum of light wavelengths from 380nm to 740nm which is similar to the spectral curve of natural sunlight. In co-operation with Rofianda, Seoul ...

Luminis partnered with Illuminart, a Michigan-based lighting design company, to set up lighting installation for the new Microsoft Technology Center in Detroit, USA. Microsoft has moved its regional technology and training center to downtown Detroit’s central business district. The new 45,000 square ft. (4180 square meters) space has functional rooms and common spaces. Elizabeth Williams, lighting designer at Illuminart, selected Luminis’ Syrios SY606 pendant, with both an up and downlight, as the predominant fixture throughout common spaces and corridors t...

Bright lighting is indispensable. However, the lights that accompany me every day are often underestimated and become simple consumables. The influence of lighting on life is actually bigger than imagined, and the same space is matched with different lights. It does create a completely different atmosphere. A bright LED bulb that makes the light more than just a lighting tool! Enriching the LED chip allows the bulb to have a life and bring life to endless possibilities. The simple way to use light to integrate life, the light bulb can be adjusted from candlelight to...

In the modern society, the majority of people spend about 90 percent of their time indoor, leading to the issue of lacking explosion to natural sunlight. This further causes disruption of people’s circadian system, which connects to sleep disorder and depressed moods that would negatively affect productivity for work and study. In order to solve the problem, human centric lighting (HCL) applications have attracted more attention. HCL mimics natural light with adjusted colors that shift from bright blue-rich white during the day time to keep people alert and focus to relaxin...

Followed the notice released by the end of January, Osram announced the results of its first quarter of fiscal 2019. The company posted a revenue of EUR 828 million (US$ 934.65 million) which declined by 15% YoY with revenue dropped in three of Osram’s business segments. The Opto Semiconductors division recorded an on-year decline in revenue of 17% and its revenue of automotive segment decreased by 11 % YoY. In the Digital segment, revenue fell by around 17% YoY due to weak market development in the general lighting segment. Olaf Berlien, CEO of Osram...

Last week at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2019 in Amsterdam, Korean electronics producers LG and Samsung both introduced their latest LED and OLED technologies for signage applications. Samsung presented a range of 8K digital signage products including QLED displays and the 2019 version of The Wall display while LG demonstrate a transparent and curving OLED signage as well as a full lineup of LED products. Samsung showcased a new 82-inch QLED 8K signage, a 292-inch The Wall display in 8K, Multi-Link LED HDR technology and semi-outdoo...

Plessey added a new horticulture lighting product to its Hyperion Grow Light. The new Hyperion Inter Light comes after its Hyperion top light range which saw over 10Ha of grow light installations in 2018. Plessey’s Hyperion Inter Light has been specifically designed to provide intra canopy light from LEDs for high wire cultivation of greenhouse vegetables and is installed within the crop to supplement existing top lighting. The Inter Light is suitable for use in hybrid systems with HPS and LEDs, promoting plant growth and fruit ripening speed. With a choic...

Lighting Science Group has spun off the biological lighting business into Healthe Inc. to carry forward the company’s circadian lighting product line with the aim to enhance people’s health with lighting. The new spinoff, Healthe, is launching new commercial products as well as incorporating the Lighting Science products that adopting the group’s technology to set up human-centric lighting environments. Healthe is riding on the momentum of growing demand as it continues to deliver well-being solutions using light as a platform. (Image: Healthe/Lighting S...

Signify, the largest lighting company in the world, reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year of 2018. With increased LED-based sales, the company announced improved adjusted EBITA margin for the fourth quarter of 2018. For the fourth quarter of 2018, Signify posted a revenue of EUR 1.73 billion (US$ 1.96 billion), dropped by 8.8% YoY. The adjusted gross margin was EUR 647 million (US$731.93 million) which declined 11.6% YoY. However, the adjusted EBITA of 4Q18 grew by 3.2% YoY at 214 million. For full year of 2018, the ...

Photonics West 2019 is the largest photonics exhibition in the world held annually in San Francisco. According to the exhibitors at the show, LEDinside learnt that the main technical challenges of VCSEL include power conversion efficiency (PCE), temperature drift, slope efficiency, and light field design. Most of the exhibitors at the show have achieved a power conversion efficiency of 40% for VCSEL products of 1-2W. Among them, Lumentum said it will continue to increase conversion efficiency to 43% in this year. LEDinside was honored to interview Somit Jos...

Photonics West 2019 is the largest photonics exhibition in the world with the most centralized visitors. As an international photonics industry event, Photonics West is annually held in San Francisco. During the show, deep UV LED, with its advantages of environmental friendly, long-lifetime, energy-saving, less heat loss and more, has attracted attention of visitors. The market of deep UV LED continues to expand as its product reliability and application demand increased. Nichia exhibited industrial laser and UV LED products at the show. The company’s ind...

Velodyne LiDAR announced that it has provided LiDAR sensors for a new autonomous driving technology from HoloMatic to provide autonomous parking service to free travelers from the burden of time-consuming searches for parking spots. The HoloMatic system, called HoloParking, is China’s first smart valet parking solution that operates 24/7 and in all weather conditions. Unlike parking assistance systems, HoloParking does not require the vehicle to be driven next to a parking spot. Rather, it allows a driver to leave a vehicle at the entrance of the parking lot. U...

Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have achieved new technology developments including foldable flexible perovskite LEDs and a core chip for 3D image sensors respectively, reported BusinessKorea. The research team at UNIST announced that it has developed foldable perovskite LEDs (PeLED) with a transparent material as electrode of the device. PeLED uses perovskite material as light emitting layer through electricity. In the study, resear...

With its advanced green laser diode, Osram is transforming smartphones into portable cinema projector. Green lighting is the crucial color for projection to deliver sharp and bright images as the human eye is most sensitive in the green spectral range. The brighter the green laser shines on a surface, the brighter and stronger the projected image appears to the viewer. Osram’s PLT3 520D achieves high pulse output for direct green laser diodes at 140 mW while offering eight percent of increased efficiency. These improvements make a smartphone capable of enlarging its displ...

Samsung Electronics announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year of 2018. The revenue and profit of 4Q18 declined due to global market uncertainty but Samsung still reached its annual goal in fiscal 2018. For 4Q18, Samsung posted a KRW 59.27 trillion (US$ 53.22 billion) quarterly revenue, which decreased by 10 percent YoY. The quarterly operating profit was KRW 10.8 trillion (US$9.7 billion), with an on-year decline of 29 percent. The yearly revenue for fiscal 2018 was KRW 243.77 trillion (US$ 218.9 billion) and operating profit cam...

Cree announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2019, ended December 30, 2018. Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was US$413 million, up by 12% YoY. GAAP net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was US$2 million, or $0.02 per diluted share. This compares to a GAAP net income of $14 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2018. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was $23 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net loss for the second quarter of...

After revealing its sluggish business performance, Osram announced that it will strengthen its automotive business by acquiring aftermarket specialist Ring Automotive. With the acquisition, Osram plans to expand its aftermarket portfolio and reach end customers via the distribution channels of Ring Automotive in the UK. In addition, Ring's specialization in electronic car accessories complements Osram’s product range. Moreover, Osram will give the ring portfolio access to the US market via the established Osram Sylvania channels and opens up new sales pote...

A research team consists of scholars from Taiwan and China has developed a microscopic imaging system for inspecting Micro LED display surface luminance. Currently the major luminance measurement systems focus on inspecting the total luminance of LEDs which do not meet the requirement of Micro LED as the luminance of each individual Micro LED chips need to be evaluated. To solve the issue, researchers from Xiamen University in China and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan proposed a method to accurately inspect the luminance of a whole micro-LED array a...

Seoul Semiconductor reported its 2018 fiscal year consolidated revenue of KRW 1194.2 billion (US$1.07 billion) with an operating profit of KRW 99 billion (US$ 88.6 million), as well as a net income of KRW 65.4 billion (US$ 58.53 million) to report two year consecutive sales growth. As a result of stabilization of Seoul Semiconductor’s new manufacturing plant in Vietnam and improved product mix, the consolidated fourth quarter revenue increased by 6% YoY to KRW 300.6 billion (US$ 269.04 million), while operating profit amounted to KRW 36.2 billion (US...