Micro-LEDs Achieve 'Superior Brightness' With Picosun's ALD technology

Picosun Group, supplier of AGILE ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions, reports superb results in boosting micro-LED performance using ALD passivation.

Micro-LEDs are a strong challenger to existing display technologies such as LCDs (liquid crystal displays), OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) or conventional LEDs (light-emitting diodes). Offering compact size, low power consumption, superior brightness and energy efficiency, greater contrast and color saturation, ultra-high resolution, flexibility and good reliability, micro-LEDs are currently actively studied and developed at the leading electronics manufacturers and R&D institutes around the world. Micro-LEDs are typically used for small screens such as those used in tablets, smartphones and smart watches, and the first large area displays have also been demonstrated already.

Still, the micro-LED technology has certain drawbacks that hinder its full-scale commercial breakthrough. The micro-LED screen consists or minuscule pixels producing green, blue and red light. Some steps in the manufacturing process of these pixels easily cause damage to their delicate nanometer-scale structures, which leads to loss of light intensity. ALD has now been proven to effectively fix these damages, not only restoring the light intensity but actually boosting it to superior levels. At Picosun customer site, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan, light-emitting intensity of micro-LEDs has been enhanced by 143.7% by using ALD passivation layers deposited with PICOSUN ALD equipment.

Horticultural white LEDs efficient at 3.10 μmol/J

Samsung Electronics has announced what the company claims is an industry-leading enhancement to its mid-power LED package, the 3.0x3.0mm LM301H for horticulture applications, such as greenhouse and vertical farming. At 3.10 micromoles per joule (μmol/J), the newly introduced 5000K LM301H now features the highest photon efficacy among today’s mid-power white LED packages, claims the manufacturer. This means lighting manufacturers can use 30 percent fewer packages in each luminaire to achieve the same efficacy level as the previous version of the LM301H, allowing for smaller and lighter lamp designs as well as lowered manufacturing costs.

Ikea and Sonos made the ultimate speaker lamp

Sonos and Ikea have fully unveiled the pair of speakers that the two companies have collaborated on for years. The Symfonisk table lamp ($179) and bookshelf speaker ($99) will both ship this August, and you’ll be able to control them with Sonos’ app, allowing each speaker to be fully integrated as part of a multiroom audio setup.  “The products will deliver something that both companies are super proud of,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said in a recent interview with The Verge, which also included Ikea’s global business leader Björn Block. “We’ve given it our utter most and utter best from the IKEA side and Sonos has done exactly the same from their end,” said Block.

Smart Lighting Market: Anticipating a CAGR of ~20%

The growth of the global smart-lighting market is primarily driven by the high demand of energy efficient lighting systems that provide better illumination while consuming less power. Additionally, factors such as modernization and development of infrastructure has facilitated the transformation of cities into smart-cities that has supported the growth of the smart lighting market. Individuals living in urban sectors prefer to invest in modular and intelligent lighting solutions instead of buying high-energy consuming lights.

Moreover, the growing demand for lighting systems equipped with wireless and sensor technology has further favoured the growth of the market. Global plans for pooling lighting network with low power consuming sensors and lowering costs of previously expensive LEDs has also led to the market growth. Moreover, as a result of declining prices, smart-lights have also become affordable to the general population.

New Demo video of the iHaper Desk Lamp

Micro-LEDs offer major power, weight, efficiency savings for airlines

As airlines seek to extend the range and missions of both their widebody and narrowbody aircraft, lightening the load with new technologies is a hot topic — as, indeed, is aircraft lighting, which requires not only power, wiring, harnesses and backend equipment, but also heat sinks. Collins Aerospace’s steerable micro-LED lighting system was enough of a gamechanger to take this year’s Crystal Cabin Award in its Material & Components category, and the system is indeed impressive not just in itself, but in the way that it can free up often constrained onboard power systems for other uses, including charging opportunities for passengers.

Who really invented the light bulb?

American inventor Thomas Edison is credited with devising the first practical light bulb in 1879. However, the story of the incandescent light bulb is not that straightforward, as it involved multiple scientists, who each made their contribution that eventually led to Edison’s crowning achievement: an affordable, durable, and safe incandescent lightbulb that could generate light for many hours.

In order to find the origins the lightbulb, we need to travel back in time more than 200 years to the lab of Humphry Davy, a prolific English chemist and inventor. In the year 1800, Davy attached two wires to a battery and two charcoal sticks at the other end, producing a bright arc of light between the charcoal electrodes.

Why do airplanes look like nightclubs now?

The travel journalist Paula Froelich remembers walking onto her first Virgin America flight and thinking, “What is this, a club?” When the airline launched in the US in 2007, industrial designer Adam Wells decided to avoid the sickly “yellow-green fluorescent lighting” standard on planes in favor of warm, pinkish-purple mood lighting, already a feature in Virgin Atlantic’s first class cabin. The goal was to make the often stressful experience of air travel more welcoming and relaxing — and possibly even pleasant.

Intelligent Lighting Solutions Are Easy To Install

Camera manufacturer Basler now offers lighting solutions for image processing systems. In cooperation with CCS, manufacturer of LED lighting for machine vision applications, Basler has developed a comprehensive portfolio of various lighting components. The lighting concepts are designed for Basler ace U and L cameras equipped with the company’s SLP feature. The patent-pending feature enables direct communication between the camera and the light source.

Dyson's $600 Daylight Tracking Light Is the Only Lamp I've Ever Had to Reboot

Best known for its vacuums, in recent years Dyson has expanded its lineup with products that have nothing to do with cleaning. The Lightcycle smart lamp ventures furthest from the company’s typical products. It’s a masterpiece of engineering, but in true Dyson fashion still comes with a staggering $600 price tag. It’s long been debated whether or not Dyson’s products are worth the premium. The company’s first bagless “cyclone” vacuums brought some much-needed innovation to a category that really hadn’t seen any in decades, and Dyson’s vacs genuinely outperform the competition. The same can be said for Dyson’s Supersonic hair dryer. At $400, it’s expensive, but after trying it, we walked away impressed.

The Science Of Reverse Mounted LEDs

One of the most artistic applications of electrical engineering in recent memory is the burgeoning badgelife movement. This is an odd collective of people who are dedicating their time to rendering their own accomplishments in printed circuit boards. Of the entire badgelife collective, one of the most visible efforts are in Shitty Add-Ons, with a particular focus on reverse-mounted LEDs. Yes, you can install SMD LEDs upside down, and if you have your copper layers right, the light will shine through the badge.

Signify agrees to acquire a Wi-Fi lighting controls specialist

Signify has agreed to acquire a small Hong Kong company specializing in Wi-Fi for wireless lighting control technology, marking the second time in a month that the world’s largest lighting company has drawn attention to a technology other than Bluetooth for such purposes. WiZ Connected and its 53 employees will join Signify, continuing to work from Hong Kong and selling under the WiZ brand. WiZ offers Wi-Fi–based lighting controls for the consumer, professional, and OEM markets.

New laser-passivation method increases efficiency of leading-edge LEDs

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL; Washington, DC) have discovered a new method to passivate defects in next-generation monolayer optical materials to improve optical quality and enable the miniaturization of monolayer-based LEDs and other optical elements. The NRL scientists developed a laser-processing technique to significantly improve the optical properties of monolayer molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), a direct gap semiconductor, with high spatial resolution. Their process produces a 200-fold increase in the material's optical-emission efficiency in the areas written with the laser beam. The resulting passivation is stable in air and vacuum.

How to control the lighting of your Razer peripherals

Sometimes it feels like, no matter where you look, PC gaming equipment is festooned with RGB lighting. If you use Razer gear, however, there’s an easy way to control it. If you’re not a fan of gaming’s fascination with multicolor lighting, then I’m going to show you how to shut off all of the LEDs on your Razer hardware. If you are a fan of RGB lights like I am, I’m going to show you how to control any new Razer peripheral that’s compatible with Chroma, Razer’s LED-syncing technology that supports a total of 16.8 million colors. And don’t worry: there are more guides in the works for other PC gaming peripheral brands.

Vancouver greenlights LED streetlights

And on the third Monday in April, the Vancouver City Council said: Let there be lights. Streetlights, that is. Let there be 13,500 of them — a project that will cost the city about $4 million upfront but cut its annual electricity bill in half. The city council gave the purchase the green light (or, technically, a whole lot of white lights) during its regular public meeting Monday. The new LEDs, shorthand for light emitting diodes, will replace all of the classic, cobra head-style streetlights within Vancouver city limits.

Replicating 1970s LED Displays

In 1971, Texas Instruments released something no one else had ever seen before. The TIL305 was an alphanumeric display, powered by LEDs. Sure, the technology of the early 70s meant the LEDs weren’t very bright, and the displays were expensive, but if you want a display that’s simply classic, and relatively low-power, you won’t be able to do better than a vintage alphanumeric LED display. As you would expect, new old stock TIL305s are still pricey, and now everybody has access to cheap PCB manufacturing capabilities and really small LEDs. The DIYTIL305 is an attempt to replicate the vintage stuff, and it looks great.

Birmingham: Streetlight replacement complete; interstate lighting next

A project to convert Birmingham’s 30,000 streetlights to LED lights is mostly complete, city officials say. The only lights that remain are some “specialty lights” throughout the city. All of the streetlights on light poles throughout the downtown area and neighborhoods have been converted to LED, said James Fowler, director for Birmingham’s Department of Transportation. This light conversion is part of an agreement between the city and Alabama Power signed in July 2016. The five-year agreement transfers maintenance of the city streetlights to Alabama Power.

Aputure RC LED light

The Aputure RC is a small fixture that looks a lot like a regular lightbulb. It even has a screw fitting so it can be used with domestic light fixtures. It’s designed for use in practical lights where it’s useful to be able to control exactly what light is in your scene. Inside, however, the Aputure RC is a lot smarter than a simple lightbulb. Illumination comes from a 5W RGBW LED and it integrates with Aputure’s new Sidus Link mesh network.

This Paris Fountain Comes With Swarovski Cut Crystal LEDs

Expensive decorative scaffolding, or a welcome addition to the French capital's most famous avenue? New designer fountains on the Champs-Elysees have reopened a debate in Paris about how to add modern twists to the city's beloved classic architecture. Located at a roundabout around halfway between Tuileries Garden and the Arc de Triomphe, the fountains were inaugurated by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo on March 21, and have divided opinion in the City of Light. Each fountain is comprised of a four-storey-high, bronze-alloy pole that supports three descending arms made of pieces of Swarovski cut crystal studded with LED lights that sparkle at night.

Pick the best LED light bulb for every room in your house

Light bulbs have an enormous, everyday impact on the way our homes look and feel, and with a flood of new LED bulbs filling the lighting aisle, you've got more options than ever. But how do you pick the right lights for the job? The trick is to think about how you typically put light to use in the different rooms in your home. That, more than anything, will dictate your lighting needs. For instance, you might benefit from an extra-bright bulb in your favorite reading lamp, but prefer a gentler, more candlelike glow from the lamp at your bedside.

Fairfax County Lights the Way to Savings and Energy Efficiency

Fairfax County government announced that while supplies last, up to five LED light bulbs per household will be given away at designated Fairfax County Libraries on six given dates in April and May. "You could save $75 a year by replacing your five most frequently used traditional incandescent bulbs with LEDs," stated Fairfax County, referencing findings by the U.S. Department of Energy. The LED Exchange program, now in its second year, is a partnership between Energy Action Fairfax and the library. Last year the county handed out a reported 8,000 light bulbs. The county held its first 2019 exchange on Saturday, April 6. The second is Tuesday, April 23, 6:30–8:30 p.m. at the Reston Regional Library, 11925 Bowman Towne Drive, Reston.

Find out why Fresno is installing new streetlights around town

Expect to see some new lights all around Fresno as the city sets out to upgrade all its streetlights. In a news release, the city says the “Light Up Fresno” program is a partnership with PG&E to convert existing streetlight bulbs to more energy efficient LEDs in all of the city’s 36,000 traditional streetlights by December. Work has already begun in southeast Fresno. There are about 2,000 ornamental streetlights that will transition to LED in a later phase.

Columbia to hold public hearing on lighting project

The city of Columbia is scheduled to hold a public hearing on a downtown lighting project on April 15. Several Columbia citizens told ABC 17 News they are not aware of the project. According to the city, the lighting project was designed to make Columbia safer. This is done by adding LED lights to downtown Columbia and lighting up the area. "We're hoping that some information on a pilot project can actually be returned," said Columbia Water and Light Advisory Board director Scott Fines.

New Pocket-Sized LED Fixture by Hive Lighting

Hive Lighting has just introduced their most portable omni-color LED light fixture, called Bumble Bee 25-C. It can be controlled using Hive’s S.H.O.T. system via a smartphone app or DMX. The light provides a powerful, high-quality output in a very compact and lightweight body, which is compatible with many light-shaping accessories. High-quality lighting contributes to the cinematic look of a video more than the actual camera used. This is an important sentence to think about when considering the next gear investment. LED lighting technology has advanced significantly and omni-color lights are getting smaller, more powerful, and have better color rendition.

LumiCharge – LED Lamp with Universal Cell Charging Station

Every year we try and find the best mobile phone charging solutions/gadgets at CES. Well, we just came across the most convenient way to charge and more with the second generation of the LumiCharge. LumiCharge is a game-changing LED lamp with a universal cell phone charging station built in. It all started a couple of years ago with a simple elegant solution for charging every device in the market – whether it was Android or iOS. The makers of LumiCharge ran into the issue of having multiple phones in their household and wanted to come up with a solution to have a product that everyone could use at home for all ages. Hence, Lumi Charge came into existence.

Dyson’s $600 task lamp is the closest you’ll get to natural light indoors

Dyson is releasing a task lamp that aims to bring more natural light into your life by closely mimicking the temperature, intensity, and quality of light that you get from the sun. The lamp, called LightCycle, is powered by an algorithm that mixes three cool LED lights and three warm LED lights to replicate the natural light of any GPS location on the planet during a specific time of day and year. The algorithm understands your precise location through the accompanying app. That means that using the same lamp in Iceland in winter at noon will yield a dramatically different color and type of light than in New York City on the same day and at the same time.

DMG Lumiere by Rosco unveils MAXI MIX LED light

The DMG Lumiere MAXI MIX LED uses a patent-pending MIX technology that features a proprietary blend of six LEDs: Red + Lime + Green + Blue + Amber + White. This enables the MAXI MIX fixture to generate a wide gamut of colors and create accurate Rosco gel matches that have been authenticated by Rosco’s color experts. Now, adding Lime to the color mix is a new twist on LED lighting. I do like “Lime” in my Corona beer so I’m sure a little Lime will look as good as it tastes.

This beastly LED light bulb puts out 4,000 lumens of eye-searing light

Due to the physical placement of LEDs within the bulb and the design of their electronics and heat sink, many LED lights are built with an unfortunate hang-up that causes light to shine primarily in one direction: away from the socket (i.e., straight up when installed in the typical lamp, or straight down when installed in a pendant). Is this what Thomas Edison had in mind? Absolutely not! SANSI proposes a solution in the form of its Omni-directional Bulb, a unique, unconventional, and exceptionally rotund lighting option that is designed to spread light more democratically.

Apple Bringing Mini LEDs to Macs and iPads

Apple will use mini-LED backlighting in its upcoming hardware lineups, according to a new report. The miniature LED chips will be 600 micrometers in size, or six tenths of a millimeter, according to DigiTimes, which cites prominent Apple-leaker Ming-Chi Kuo. According to Kuo, the chips are actually "quasi-mini" LEDs; they're larger than standard mini LEDs, but smaller than LEDs, which are often over a millimeter.

GE's newest LED light bulbs are as big as your head

Following a trend set by Philips and Ikea last year, GE Lighting is introducing a new lineup of large-sized, vintage-style LED light bulbs that are basically as big as your head. Available across the US at Lowe's, the bulbs range from $26 to $38 apiece and come in a variety of shapes and colors, complete with your choice of three different filament styles.

Running LEDs in reverse could cool computers

Removing heat from microprocessors is one angle scientists have been exploring, and they think they have come up with a simple, but unusual and counter-intuitive solution. They say that running a variant of a Light Emitting Diode (LED) with its electrodes reversed forces the component to act as if it were at an unusually low temperature. Placing it next to warmer electronics, then, with a nanoscale gap introduced, causes the LED to suck out the heat. “Once the LED is reverse biased, it began acting as a very low temperature object, absorbing photons,” says Edgar Meyhofer, professor of mechanical engineering at University of Michigan, in a press release announcing the breakthrough. “At the same time, the gap prevents heat from traveling back, resulting in a cooling effect.”

LED lighting adds up to big savings for Target

A lighting upgrade has paid off big time for Target Corp., helping it cut costs while also aiding the planet. Back in 2015, Target kicked off a test at about 100 stores in which it replaced the existing fluorescent light fixtures in its ceilings with LED lights. Flash forward to the present day, more than 2 million LED fixtures are in place across nearly all of Target’s 1,800-plus stores nationwide. The fixtures will also be installed in every new store the chain opens.

The dark side of keeping the lights on

Light pollution is the excessive and obtrusive light produced by humans at night. This light is from artificial sources, mainly electricity from houses, offices, streetlamps, billboards or car headlights. There are two main types of light pollution: point source, that is light directly from a source, and skyglow, the combined and accumulated effect of point source lighting that spreads through the atmosphere. This is the slight glow one can see on the horizon if looking towards a city from a rural area. Almost a quarter of global land area is now under light polluted skies. And 80% of the world's population now lives under such light polluted skies, meaning a third of humanity can no longer see the Milky Way.

Highly economical LED street lights tested in practice

Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed a novel, even more economical LED street light. They replaced conventional high-performance diodes by a special array of weaker LEDs and, thus, succeeded in reducing power consumption by another 20%. As a result, CO2 emission is decreased and municipalities might save millions of power costs. Pfalzwerke Netz AG, the local utility company, for the first time equipped street lights with the new light heads in the municipality of Maxdorf, Rhineland Palatinate.

Plessey improves method for making green LEDs

Plessey, an embedded technologies developer working in microLED technology for the AR and display markets, has developed its proprietary 2D planar gallium nitride on silicon process to emit green light without the need for color conversion techniques. To produce Green light, LED manufacturers typically apply phosphors or quantum dot conversion materials to native Blue LEDs. These materials then convert short wavelength, typically 450nm, blue light to red or green wavelengths with typically 10% to 30% efficiency.

World Micro Light Emitting Diode (LED) Market Forecast to 2024 -Expecting to Register a CAGR of 153.1%

The Micro-LED Market was estimated at 6.10 million units in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of 153.1% during the forecast period(2019-2024).

The micro LED market has witnessed an exponential demand since theacquisition of Luxvue by Apple in 2014, numerous companies haveinvestments into the development of Mirco LEDs including startups, suchas Playnitride, Mikro-Mesa, X-Celeprint, VueReal, and Lumiode. Accordingto research, the growing number of patents in this field, which wereestimated for more than 1,570 patents were filed during the 2000-2016period is expected to augment the market growth during the forecastperiod.

Mirco LEDs are an emerging display technology. Importantly, micro LEDsare a significantly brighter source, offering brightness three or fourorders of magnitude higher than OLEDs, which are capable of deliveringaround 1000 Nits (cd/m2), whereas micro LEDs offer hundreds of thousandsof Nits for the equivalent power consumption.


The major challenge existing today for the manufacture of micro LEDs isthe mass transfer process, which is the placement of gallium nitrideLEDs onto the substrate. One notable development of GaN-on-sapphiretechnology is using pick-and-place equipment. However, the deployment ofthis involves the individual placement of every LED on a pitch of lessthan 50m, which requires new and expensive equipment subjecting thecompany to productivity and cost issues.

Types of LED Lights Used in Various Applications

LED lights have become the go-to lighting solution for all types of applications. In recent years, LED lighting technology has developed significantly, giving consumers a greater range of options and even better versatility. Some of the previous concerns with LED bulbs in the past were the relatively higher cost, as well as insufficient illumination. These problems have been solved, and there is now an extensive selection of LED lighting fit for both residential and commercial use. LED bulbs are typically categorised according to specific characteristics. These features also define the suitability of each type of bulb for the intended application. The following are only a few of the different types available on the market today.

Cedar Rapids updating street lights

Parts of Cedar Rapids are starting to look brighter at night thanks to a $5 million project that involves replacing all street lights in the downtown and Kingston Village area. Alliant Energy and the city are working together to replace the lights. Alliant will own, operate and maintain the light polls while the city covers operating and maintenance costs, officials said.

Trump administration might undo Obama-era LED light rules

During President Barack Obama’s second term, his Department of Energy decided to extend a George W. Bush-era rule that encouraged a move to LEDs and other energy-efficient options. Under the department’s rules, specialty fixtures — large, decorative globes found in bathrooms, candle-shaped lights, recessed lighting, etc. — would also have to move away from incandescent bulbs. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, there are about 2.7 billion such light sockets in the U.S., so the change would have a significant impact on energy consumption in many homes.
However, the Trump administration believes that in issuing that rule, the Department of Energy overstepped its authority. That view is backed by the lighting industry, which has argued that the law was never intended to be applied to specialty bulbs. The Department of Energy under Trump has adopted this view as well and has issued a proposal that would reverse the agency’s previous position

RubberDucks Add Canal Park LED Lighting

The Akron RubberDucks have made a notable change to Canal Park, installing LED lighting ahead of the 2019 season. According to the team, the new lighting will exceed Major League Baseball standards by 125 percent. The 153 new LED fixtures were built by Musco Lighting and installed by Lake Erie Electric, Inc., located in Akron. The installation included the removal of the existing metal halide lighting fixtures with new LED sports lighting ones while using the existing poles and structures.

Distrelec now stocks Osram Opto Semiconductors’ LEDs

European distributor Distrelec has announced a new distribution agreement with multinational lighting manufacturer, Osram Opto Semiconductors, to add their extensive range of optoelectronic products to Distrelec’s online webshop. Osram Opto Semiconductors is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of solutions for the illumination, sensing and visualisation technologies. The company is renowned for its extensive range of LEDs for biometric identification, vital sign monitoring, horticulture, outdoor and general lighting as well as numerous automotive applications.

These New LEDs May Be the Future for Growing Marijuana

Metal halide and HPS (high-pressure sodium) lights have been the standard in growing cannabis for a long time, but LEDs have quickly proven to be more efficient. A light that uses less energy and has a low heat output has made LED lighting an attractive solution for many of today’s cannabis growers.
The fact that LED lamps emit more light per watt than incandescent bulbs allows the grower to use multiple LED lamps. The main concern with LEDs is price—the technology is more energy-efficient, but the initial cost of an LED can be a deterrent for a lot of growers.

UV-C LEDs Primed For Sterilization And Disinfection Applications

CEL’s new family of Deep UltraViolet (UV-C) LEDs are viable for use in a wide range of sterilization and disinfection applications including consumer goods such as self-disinfecting holders for toothbrushes and kitchen utensils as well as sterilizing wands for items such as smartphones, tablets and keyboards. Other applications include water treatment, sterilization of medical equipment and disinfection of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Denver’s night glow will turn from orange to white with 44,000 new LEDs

The conversion of about 44,000 outdoor fixtures to light-emitting diodes will leave the city of Denver washed in a neutral, whiter light. As the current sodium lights are removed, it might look as if someone’s removed an orange filter from Denver’s evenings. “It seems white, rather than a yellow glow. They called it a white-warm light,” said Nancy Kuhn, spokesperson for Denver Public Works. That change has raised health concerns in the past, but Denver officials say they’re using new technology that minimizes the effects of blue light.