Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest Onyx screen at Capital Cinema in Beijing, China on December 7. The 14-meter Onyx Cinema LED screen is 3D ready and the largest cinema LED screen launched by Samsung. “Our new Onyx display reflects a momentous step for the industry, as we usher in the next generation of cinema around the globe,” said Seog-gi Kim, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “We’re excited to partner with Capital Cinema to help showcase the new industry standard for picture qualit...

Six municipalities of New York State have partnered with RealTerm Energy to for LED streetlights conversion. The municipalities of Great Neck, Newark, Nyack, Goshen, Florida and Piermont to replace their current HID (high intensity discharge) streetlights to LED lights. In 2018, Governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo announced Smart Street Lighting NY, the energy efficiency project of New York State which aims to install at least 500,000 LED streetlights in New York by 2025. Following the project, the streetlight conversion of the six munici...

Epistar announced that it has achieved a victory in the petitions filed by Lowe’s Home Center with the United States Patent and Trademark Office which challenged the validity of five Epistar patents related to Epistar’s innovative LED filament bulb technology. The five patents are U.S. Patent No. 6,346,771, 7,560,738, 8,492,780, 8,587,020, and 8,791,467. These five patents are the subject of a pending patent infringement lawsuit brought by Epistar against Lowe’s, filed on April 28, 2017 in the United States District Court. Lowe’s petit...

Eaton announced that it has reached a settlement in the patent infringement lawsuit it filed against Cordelia Lighting and Jimway. The settlement ends a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia filed in 2016. As part of the settlement, Cordelia and Jimway will receive a license to the Eaton patents asserted in the District Court case. (Image: Eaton Lighting) “Protecting the intellectual property in our innovative lighting portfolio is something we take very seriously,” said Kraig Kasler, president, Lighting Division, ...

In Sydney, Australia, a giant command and control LED display was installed in its nearly completed new Rail Operations Centre (ROC). The LED display is claimed to be the world’s largest control room display with the largest number of pixels, according to the supplier NanoLumens, a U.S. based LED display provider. Critical Room Solutions (CRS), a specialist in command and control room installations, and Digital Place Solutions (DPS), have commenced discussions with Sydney Trains in 2017 to determine the display solution to allow the new control c...

Seoul Semiconductor announced that it has expanded its patent infringement litigation against Fry’s Electronics, a U.S. based consumer electronics retailer, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In September, Seoul Semiconductor filed a patent infringement lawsuit that accused Fry’s Electronics of selling LED TV products that violate 15 of Seoul Semiconductor’s patents for LED backlight unit process. In its amended complaint, Seoul asserts that the top brand televisions being sold in Fry’s stores infr...

Chinese autonomous vehicle developer XPENG Motors has announced a strategic partnership with NVIDIA and its China partner Desay SV for developing Level 3 autonomous driving technology tailored for the driving environment in China. XPENG Motors will self-develop the software for China's typical traffic conditions and user scenarios and will work with Desay SV to jointly develop the computing hardware platform for autonomous driving. The company plans to implement in various phases the L3 intelligent driving features in its new models starting in 2020. ...

High frequency operation of infrared light sources has been widely applied in automotive, industrial and consumer segments following the trend of 3D sensing. Targeting the growing market of related applications, Lumileds has demonstrated its IR LED products, LUXEON IR Domed and LUXEON IR Compact LEDs to be alternatives to VCSEL technology. Engineering teams from Lumileds and Melexis have developed an evaluation kit that allows LUXEON IR LEDs to be operated at high frequencies up to 40MHz. The intrinsic properties of the LUXEON IR...

Quanergy, a U.S.-based LiDAR sensors and smart sensing solutions provider, announced a partnership with LiDAR USA. Quanergy will provide its M8 LiDAR sensors to LiDAR USA for their UAV and mobile mapping systems. Quanergy and LiDAR USA see the integration of Quanergy’s M8 Ultra sensors in LiDAR USA’s UAV and mobile mapping systems as a definitive step toward making LiDAR-based mapping solutions more accessible and effective. “Using LiDAR to enable three-dimensional mapping has always been a core focus for Qu...

Plessey announced that it has been named a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Embedded Technologies category with its monolithic Micro LED displays. Plessey’s Micro LED display is based on monolithic GaN-on-Silicon Micro LEDs, which, according to Plessey, deliver seven times greater light output and five times better contrast compared with incumbent technologies. Plessey has been working with Vuzix to develop AR smart glasses applying its Micro LED technology. (Image: Plessey) Mike Lee, President of Corporate and Business Develo...

AIXTRON reported that the company will deliver its AIX G5+ C MOCVD systems to China-based InnoScience Technology for the development of GaN power devices. InnoScience Technology has ordered multiple MOCVD systems from AIXTRON to expand its production of GaN-on-Si devices for various applications. GaN power devices are used for applications such as efficient power supplies for PC and servers or LiDAR and wireless power transfer requiring high-speed switching. (Image: AIXTRON) In the scope of the increasing number of applicatio...

Philips Photonics announced that the company has reached a milestone of shipping one billion VCSELs thanks to strong growth in smartphone 3D sensing applications. With strong drives from the trends of proximity sensing and 3D facial recognition technology in consumer smartphones, the company also unveiled its plan to increase production capacity. According to Philips Photonics, it has doubled its production capacity by early 2018, which was in line with the company’s plan. Now Phiilips Photonics plans to further expand its production at the facility in Ulm, Germany...

U.S.-based LED lighting products producer MaxLite has announced that it would begin applying a temporary order surcharge after November 19th due to the significant escalation in international shipping rates and materials. The company will add six percent surcharge on top of the base price to all orders, purchase orders and quotes. According to MaxLite, it will adjust or cancel the surcharge when vessel supply and import costs stabilize. Meanwhile, MaxLite underlined that the product pricing will remain valid until the end of 2018. ...

AEye, a U.S.-based LiDAR startup, has raised a Series B funding of US$ 40 million from Taiwania Capital and existing investors including Kleiner Perkins, Intel Capital, Airbus Ventures and Tychee Partners. With its Series B round, the company has received a total funding of over US$61 million. The funds will be used to scale AEye’s operations to meet global demand for the company’s artificial perception systems for autonomous vehicles. AEye is uniquely structured to effectively scale through partnerships with contract manufacturers and Tier 1s ...

Infineon Technologies has announced the acquisition of Siltectra, a Dresden-based start-up which developed an innovative technology, named Cold Split, for processing crystal material. The company was acquired for EUR 124 million (US$141.38 million). With the acquisition, Infineon aims to adopt Cold Split technology to split silicon carbide (SiC) wafers, doubling the number of chips out of one wafer. “This acquisition will help us expand our excellent portfolio with the new material silicon carbide as well. Our system understanding and our unique know how on thin ...

At electronica 2016 Inova Semiconductors launched the innovative ISELED technology, a groundbreaking approach for interior automotive lighting. At the same time the ISELED Alliance was announced. The alliance aims to coordinate between its members and build an ecosystem for the ISELED technology whose core is a “digital” RGB-LED, with a tiny controller inside the LED package. This innovative approach reduces costs, simplifies control, and expands the functionality of LED lighting in the automobile significantly. (Image: ISELED) T...

On November 15, the Sensor Technology and Smart City seminar was successfully held at Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Co-organized by Shanghai Optoelectronics Trade Association (SOTA) and Shanghai Illumination Electric Appliance Trade Association (SIEATA), the seminar gathered top entrepreneurs, industrial experts and academicians in Shanghai to participate and exchange insights on the development of smart lighting technologies. Shanghai Wellmax Lighting (WELLMAX), a key member of the SOTA and SIE...

Osram has announced that it will present its state-of-the-art LED automotive lighting at the 2018 Essen Motor Show which will be held from December 1st to 9th. The company has launched new Osram LEDriving products for the replacement of halogen and xenon light. LEDriving work lights and additional headlights are new additions to the Osram portfolio. The new headlamps with novel LED technology offer greater output than the original headlamps. In addition, the LED retrofit headlamp can deliver low-beam, high-beam, daytime running lights, position lights and turn ind...

The LEDVANCE Supervisory Board has appointed Lawrence Lin as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director of LEDVANCE. Lin, who most recently served as Chairman of the LEDVANCE Supervisory Board, will continue to drive the transition of LEDVANCE to become one of the global leaders in LED-based general lighting. Lin brings a successful track record and vast international management experience into his new position at LEDVANCE. In his latest role since 2015, as Executive General Manager at MLS, he was instrumental in...

EpiGaN, the Belgian GaN-on-Si and GaN-on-SiC epitaxial wafer provider, has ordered a new AIX G5+ C system from AIXTRON to expand its production capability for large size wafer.   The new AIXTRON AIX G5+ C reactor will be installed at EpiGaN’s manufacturing site in Hasselt Belgium in the first quarter of 2019 and start to operate afterwards. The fully automated Planetary® MOCVD system features in-situ chamber cleaning and enables configurations of 8x6 inch or 5x8 inch epitaxial wafers to be automatically loaded and removed by ...

UK-based Micro LED producer Plessey has announced a partnership with EV Group (EVG), a wafer bonding and lithography equipment supplier. The aim of the collaboration is to accelerate the commercialization of GaN-on-Si monolithic Micro LED technology.

Lextar has announced that it is going to launch a series of VCSEL products for 3D sensing applications including facial and gesture recognition, people detection, and driver fatigue detection. Lextar’s VCSEL products include the PV88M component series which emit light for 3D depth-sensing module. The series provides various wavelengths, different levels of brightness and package sizes while offering a beam angle selection from 45 to 100 degrees. According to Lextar, the product can also be customized to meet the needs of its clients. (Image: Lextar) The ...

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation announced that it obtained a judgment recognizing an infringement for its red phosphor patent in China by Yantai Shield Advanced Materials (Shield). Mitsubishi Chemical has filed a suit in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court on January 23, 2015, accusing the Chinese company of infringement for the patents (No. ZL200480040967.7, No. ZL200710199440.4, and No. ZL201110066517.7) that are related to red phosphor. The patents are owned by Mitsubishi and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). Mitsubishi...

Nazdar Ink Technologies has announced its partnership with Focus Label Machinery, a UK based label printing company, for driving the growth of UV LED technology within the label converter market in the UK and EMEA. The two businesses are collaborating to demonstrate the efficiency of UV LED curing technology at Focus Label Machinery's Bingham, Nottinghamshire-based offices in the UK.

Velodyne LiDAR has announced that the company is going to present the future trend and development of LiDAR technology at IDTechEx Show. The discussions will focus on how LiDAR will enable advanced vehicle safety and performance for autonomous vehicles. (Image: Velodyne LiDAR) Velodyne LiDAR’s CTO, Anand Gopalan, and Director of Mechanical Engineering, Stephen Nestinger, will share their insights at the conference sessions discussing how LiDAR sensor involved in the performance and reliability required for autonomous vehicles to operate...

Veeco Instruments and ALLOS Semiconductors have continued their collaboration in developing GaN-on-Si epitaxy wafer for Micro LED production. The two companies have partnered to demonstrate the reproducibility of ALLOS’ 200 mm GaN-on-Si epitaxy wafer technology on Veeco’s Propel® MOCVD reactor. “To bring Micro LED technology into production, simply presenting champion values for a single metric is insufficient. It is essential to achieve the whole set of specifications for each wafer with excellent repeatability and yield,” ...

FLEx Lighting, a U.S.-based leader of front lighting for low power displays, announced that it has raised a US$9 million Series B fund from SABIC Ventures, Bascom Ventures, and others. With the funding, FLEx intends to expand its product portfolio with new sized displays while improving its global presentation. FLEx Lighting was founded in 2004 with its initial technology built by converting xenon light bulbs, fiber optics and plastic film into a compact system of LEDs and optical film. The company further developed a power-efficient and sunlight-readable fro...

Quantum dot developer Quantum Materials has announced its achievement of testing a 100% cadmium-free remote phosphor quantum dot LED technology that achieved a 91% Rec2020 color gamut coverage. Quantum Materials has been working with several LED producers, display manufacturers and chemical companies with the technology, aiming to bring the new solution to the current industry. A way for the solution to achieve wide color gamut display is to deposit red and green quantum dots directly on the surface of a blue phosphor driven backlight LED, Quantum Materials has developed...

Heliospectra announced that a Spain-based medicinal plant research center and an AgTech company have ordered its LED lighting solutions. The production shipment of their orders is scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to Heliospectra.

Micro LED displays require the use of red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs, achieved by mixing nitride LEDs and phosphide LEDs. This mixing causes blue, green and red LEDs to behave differently in terms of temperature and aging, which impacts the quality of image color. Moreover, blue, green and red LEDs each require specific electronic drivers, making integration more complex. (Figure 1: Red emission at 630nm of 100µmx100µm of full InGaN LED grown on Soitec’s InGaNOS) RGB LEDs composed of the same material inducing the same behav...