Technology News Articles

Technology News

LpR Article | Technologies | May 19, 2016
3-Pad LED Flip Chip COB by Flip Chip Opto
3-Pad LED Flip Chip COB by Flip Chip Opto Wafer level packaging and flip chip design are the most recent trends in LED manufacturing and packaging. These LED types are perfectly suited for producing COB modules. This combination already promises better thermal performance than standard SMD package based products. However, there is still room for improvements. Pao Chen, Director of Research and Development at Flip Chip Opto shows how a 3-pad flip chip LED further reduces thermal resistance, allows higher power and can help to reduce costs. Read more »
Technologies | OLEDs | Light Conversion | May 13, 2016
Research on OLEDs with Ultrathin Emissive Layers and a Spacer-Free Structure
Research on OLEDs with Ultrathin Emissive Layers and a Spacer-Free Structure Since C.W Tang demonstrated the first organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on a double-layer structure of organic materials in 1987, flat-panel displays and lighting applications based on OLED technology have grown dramatically because of their attractive features such as ultra-thin structure, light-weight and flexibility. To achieve a desirable OLED performance, a host-dopant system is adopted. This not only leads to an increase in material cost and device processing time, but also makes it difficult to control dopant concentration accurately. Therefore, OLEDs with dopant-free and ultrathin emissive layers (UEMLs) have aroused much attention. Shengfan Wu, Sihua Li, Qi Sun, Chenchao Huang & Man-Keung Fung recently published the results of their research on such ultrathin emissive layers (UEMLs) of phosphorescent materials for OLED applications. Read more »
Technologies | Smart Lighting + IoT | Apr 05, 2016
The “Internet of Light” – the Key to the “Internet of Things”
The “Internet of Light” – the Key to the “Internet of Things” The Internet of Things is the next industrial revolution. As a specialist for innovative lighting components and systems, Tridonic is convinced that lighting will play a decisive role in the Internet of Things (IoT). Therefore, Tridonic developed the toolbox net4more which will not only connect luminaires with each other, but deliver an added value that goes far beyond lighting. Where do we stand today? Read more »
Technologies | LEDs | White LEDs | Feb 25, 2016
Cree Announces Outstanding R&D LED Efficacy Combined with Superior Color Quality
Cree Announces Outstanding R&D LED Efficacy Combined with Superior Color Quality Cree, Inc. records another LED industry first with the demonstration of a single high-power LED delivering nearly 1,600 lumens at 134 lumens-per-watt (LPW) with similar color quality as an incandescent light bulb. With this result, Cree achieved a breakthrough 25 percent increase in lumens per watt (LPW) over production LEDs of similar color quality under operating conditions found in real-world LED lighting applications. This important milestone coupled with Cree’s latest SC5 Technology™ platform will lead to LED systems with increased performance, lower cost and better light. Read more »
Technologies | LEDs | GaN-on-Si | Jan 18, 2016
Plessey Builds LEDs in Cubic GaN on 3C-SiC/Si To Overcome The Green Gap
Plessey Builds LEDs in Cubic GaN on 3C-SiC/Si To Overcome The Green Gap Plessey, Anvil Semiconductors and the University of Cambridge announced today that they are working together to fabricate high efficiency LEDs in cubic GaN grown on Anvil's 3C-SiC / Si substrates. Cubic GaN has the potential to overcome the problems caused in conventional LEDs by the strong internal electric fields which impair carrier recombination and contribute to efficiency droop. This is particularly true for green LEDs where the internal electric fields are stronger and are believed to cause a rapid reduction in efficiency at green wavelengths known as "the green gap". The availability of cubic GaN from a readily commercialisable process on large diameter silicon wafers is as a key enabler for increasing the efficiency of green LEDs and reducing the cost of LED lighting. Read more »
Technologies | LEDs | Material Science | Jan 13, 2016
Uncovering Oxygen’s Role in Enhancing Red Eu-Doped GaN LEDs
Uncovering Oxygen’s Role in Enhancing Red Eu-Doped GaN LEDs Oxygen is indispensable to animal and plant life, but its presence in the wrong places can feed a fire and cause iron to rust. In the fabrication of solid state lighting devices, scientists are learning, oxygen also plays a two-edged role. While oxygen can impede the effectiveness of gallium nitride (GaN), an enabling material for LEDs, small amounts of oxygen in some cases are needed to enhance the devices’ optical properties. GaN doped with europium (Eu), which could provide the red color in LEDs and other displays, is one such case. Read more »
Technologies | Research | Light Generation | Health | Perception | Simulation Tools | Jan 04, 2016
Latest Research Publications in the Journal of Solid State Lighting
Latest Research Publications in the Journal of Solid State Lighting On December 24th and 29th, 2015, three new articles have been published in the SpringerOpen Journal of Solid State Lighting. The three articles are titled "Optical Role of Die Attach Adhesive for White LED Emitters: Light Output Enhancement without Chip-Level Reflectors", "The Importance of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells and Implications for Lighting Design", and "Towards Perceptual Accuracy in 3D Visualizations of Illuminated Indoor Environments". Read more »
Technologies | Luminaires | Outdoor Applications | Nov 26, 2015
Gunshot Detection for Lighting Fixtures
Gunshot Detection for Lighting Fixtures Cities and their emergency responders will soon have a new way to deploy gunshot detection technology and be able to respond to incidents and react faster to protect their residents. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between GE Lighting and SST, Inc., developer of the ShotSpotter™ crime detection and location suite, lays ground to embedding sophisticated ShotSpotter technology into GE’s intelligent LED street lights. Read more »
Technologies | Light Conversion | Quantum Dots | Nov 25, 2015
Cadmium-Free Quantum Dot Technology in LED Lighting
Cadmium-Free Quantum Dot Technology in LED Lighting Nanoco and its partner Marl International, a pioneer of the LED lighting industry, demonstrated four product lines based on Nanoco’s CFQD® quantum dot film technology last week at LuxLive. The CFQD® Quantum Dot technology as a revolutionary solution for high-end lighting applications in retail and specialty, architecture, and agriculture, where maintaining true-to-life color representations maximizes user experience and value. Read more »
Technologies | LEDs | Light Conversion | Sep 01, 2015
FAU Researchers Create the World's First White LEDs Based on Fluorescent Proteins
FAU Researchers Create the World's First White LEDs Based on Fluorescent Proteins LEDs are up to 80 percent more energy-efficient than normal light bulbs and last around five times as long as energy-saving light bulbs. As a result they are being used more and more frequently as a source of light. Nevertheless, white LEDs still have room for improvement, as current manufacturing processes are either very expensive or result in the lifetime of the LEDs being reduced. Researchers at FAU have now developed a new, rather unusual manufacturing method: their LEDs are partly made of fluorescent proteins. Read more »
Technologies | LpR Article
Solving the Phase-Cut Dimming Challenge
Solving the Phase-Cut Dimming Challenge The evolution of dimmable LED lighting is an ongoing subject and phase-cut dimming is often dissatisfactory. While some weaknesses may be acceptable in residential applications, they are definitely not acceptable in professional applications. Stage lighting, studio lighting, TV and movie lighting set the highest standards. Craig Sharp and Bill Trzyna, Research & Design Engineers at CCI Power Supplies LLC discuss which developments helped to overcome limiting obstacles and led to a solution that also satisfies stringent requirements. Read more »
Technologies | LpR Article
Street Lighting Evolution through LED Technology
Street Lighting Evolution through LED Technology Standard electronics is usually based on a relatively simple straight-forward technology. Outdoor lighting is more challenging in several aspects, especially robustness. This is also true for the electronics. Sandra Solán, R & D Manager from ELT Electronic Division has studied this technology in depth. To celebrate the IYL 2015 she will explain technical advances, benefits, strengths and technical challenges of current and future street lighting systems for an electronics manufacturer. Read more »
Technologies | LpR Article
A New Approach to the Design of Driverless AC LED Light Engines
A New Approach to the Design of Driverless AC LED Light Engines Driverless AC LED light engines have now become a commonplace item of commerce in the lighting industry. Nearly all of them use high voltage integrated circuit switching chips to intelligently change the number of LEDs in a string during a power line cycle so that the voltage of the LED string matches the instantaneous power line voltage. However, customers are demanding higher efficiency, lower cost, and especially a reduction in the flicker content of the emitted light. Peter W. Shackle, president of the consulting company, Photalume, describes some new circuits for AC LED light engines [1] that provide a non-dimming solution with reduced cost, increased efficiency and better light quality as perceived by the human eye. Read more »
Resources | Reports | Technologies | Controls | Jul 22, 2015
NLPIP Releases Report on Wired and Wireless Lighting Controls
NLPIP Releases Report on Wired and Wireless Lighting Controls The National Lighting Product Information Program (NLPIP) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center (LRC) recently released its latest publication, Lighting Answers: Comparison of Wired and Wireless Lighting Controls for Single Rooms. Read more »
Technologies | Thermal Management | Jun 24, 2015
Litecool Turns LED Packaging on Its Side
Litecool Turns LED Packaging on Its Side Litecool has produced LED packages in a vertical orientation rather than horizontal. This means that the dielectric layers only have a minor impact on the thermal performance of the LED package and allow the heat to escape more effectively through the metallic parts of the package. This has significant benefits for flip-chip packaging where dielectric layers are usually very close to the diode. Read more »
Resources | Roadmap | DoE | Technologies | SSL | Jun 15, 2015
DoE: Solid-State Lighting R&D Plan
The solid-state lighting (SSL) revolution signals a profound shift in how we will use and consider lighting and represents a huge opportunity to generate significant energy savings. The energy being used for lighting represents a significant portion of global energy use. Rising electricity prices, mounting concerns about climate change, and desire for energy independence are causing the global lighting market to shift toward more energy-efficient light sources. Read more »
Technologies | Electronics | May 27, 2015
Power Conversion Efficiency - Key for Stand-Alone Solar Powered Lighting in Nordic Regions
Power Conversion Efficiency - Key for Stand-Alone Solar Powered Lighting in Nordic Regions Stand-alone solar powered lighting solutions are made possible even in the Nordic region through a new, ground-breaking Danish project. An ideal collaboration between scientists from 4 different fields and private companies has succeeded in creating a system and a methodology that makes the impossible possible: Outdoor solar lighting which is not just a decoration. Read more »
Technologies | Optics | Material Science | May 12, 2015
ORNL Superhydrophobic Glass Coating Offers Clear Benefits - Maybe Also for Lighting Optics
ORNL Superhydrophobic Glass Coating Offers Clear Benefits - Maybe Also for Lighting Optics A moth’s eye and lotus leaf were the inspirations for an antireflective water-repelling, or superhydrophobic, glass coating that holds significant potential for solar panels, lenses, detectors, windows, weapons systems and many other products. The discovery by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, detailed in a paper published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C, is based on a mechanically robust nanostructured layer of porous glass film. The coating can be customized to be superhydrophobic, fog-resistant and antireflective. Read more »
Resources | Reports | Market | SSL | Feb 06, 2015
Overview of the Data and Development of Solid State Lighting Industry in China in 2014
Overview of the Data and Development of Solid State Lighting Industry in China in 2014 Driven by technology progress and market demands, the Solid State Lighting industry will enter another new round of rapid growth, towards the direction of higher efficacy, lower cost, higher reliability and wider applications. Cross-field integration is emerging, which will deliver products with advanced technology and added value. In 2015, the industry is expected to continue rapid growth, with the overall growth rate more than 35%. Read more »
Resources | Reports | Market | Technologies | OLEDs | Dec 11, 2014
Research and Markets Announces OLED Lighting Opportunities 2015-2025 Forecast
Research and Markets Announces OLED Lighting Opportunities 2015-2025 Forecast OLED lighting is an emerging solid-state lighting technology. It potentially provides a route into the large and growing global lighting market. The lighting market is however complex as it is a highly fragmented space thanks to the existence of a broad technology mix and a diversity of customer needs. Read more »
Technologies | Optics | Material Science | Jul 04, 2014
Novel Nanoparticle Production Method Could Lead to Better LED Lights, Lenses and Solar Cells
Novel Nanoparticle Production Method Could Lead to Better LED Lights, Lenses and Solar Cells Sandia National Laboratories has come up with an inexpensive way to synthesize titanium-dioxide nanoparticles and is seeking partners who can demonstrate the process at industrial scale for everything from solar cells to LEDs. Titanium-dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles show great promise as fillers to tune the refractive index of anti-reflective coatings on signs and optical encapsulants for LEDs, solar cells and other optical devices. Read more »
Technologies | Measurement | Jun 18, 2014
How Much Can the Color of Nominal CCT Vary?
How Much Can the Color of Nominal CCT Vary? The threshold at which a color difference becomes perceptible is defined by a MacAdam ellipse. A MacAdam ellipse is drawn over the color space in such a way that the color at its center point deviates by a certain amount from colors at any point along its edge. The scale of a MacAdam ellipse is determined by the standard deviation of color matching (SDCM). A color difference of 1 SDCM “step” is not visible; 2 to 4 steps is barely visible; and 5 or more steps is readily noticeable. Read more »
Technologies | Electronics | LiFi | Jan 14, 2014
Enhanced Data Transmission for Li-Fi Communications using LED Lighting
Enhanced Data Transmission for Li-Fi Communications using LED Lighting Despite continuous improvements in wireless communication technology, e.g. 3G, LTE, 4G etc., a looming crisis is anticipated due to a lack of sufficient radio frequency bandwidth to support the growth in demand for data transmission, in the so called “Spectrum Crunch”. Visible Light Communication (Li-Fi) offers an economical solution. LED lighting is now widely deployed and can, in parallel with its primary function, also be used for wireless communication. Li-Fi demonstrates significant improvements in security, safety and capacity over radio frequency communication, and ease of deployment as compared with fibre-optic cable. The LED link is untethered, enables links with many mobile devices, and is independent of any one host. Improvements to the data rate achievable using LEDs as the transmitter allows services based on Li-Fi concept to outperform other communication modes. Read more »
Technologies | Thermal Management | Jul 30, 2013
NRL Researchers Discover Novel Material for Cooling of Electronic Devices
NRL Researchers Discover Novel Material for Cooling of Electronic Devices A team of theoretical physicists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Boston College has identified cubic boron arsenide as a material with an extraordinarily high thermal conductivity and the potential to transfer heat more effectively from electronic devices than diamond, the best-known thermal conductor to date. Read more »
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