Plessey Acquires GaN-on-Si LED Technology

Plessey Semiconductor Ltd. (UK) has acquired CamGaN Limited, a University of Cambridge spin-out with novel gallium nitride (GaN) technology for high-brightness light-emitting diodes (HB-LEDs) fabricated on large-area silicon substrates. Plessey will move the technology to its 6" wafer processing facility in Plymouth, UK to produce GaN-on-Si HB-LEDs.
The newly acquired Plessey HB LED solution enables the growth of thin HB LED structures on standard, readily available silicon substrates. Current technologies use silicon carbide (SiC) or sapphire substrates, which are expensive and difficult to scale-up. Plessey’s GaN-on-silicon solution offers cost reductions of the order of 80% compared to LEDs grown on SiC or sapphire by reducing reject rates, minimizing batch time, and utilizing automated semiconductor processing equipment. These cost reductions will be achieved while enabling outputs in excess of 150 lumens per watt – a combination that will allow Plessey to offer the most cost effective solutions in the HB LED industry.
Michael LeGoff, Plessey’s Managing Director stated, “HB LED lighting represents the future of domestic, architectural, medical and automotive lighting. Achieving the goals of high efficiency and brightness is key to the rapid deployment of energy saving, solid state lighting. This new British technology provides cost and performance advantages that will constitute a game-changing step forward towards the replacement of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs with HB LED lamps.”