Lately, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (SMM) has teamed up with a research team from Tohoku University’s Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM) headed by Professor Masato Kakihana, to successfully develop a new silicon-containing oxide-based red phosphor for use in white LEDs. The new phosphor is less expensively than earlier red phosphors and is expected to contribute to higher performance in white LEDs as sources of illumination. The collaborative R&D program succeeded in developing the first oxide-based pho...

Japanese Nanoco Group has made great breakthrough on a 1kg batch of green cadmium-free quantum dots for a major Japanese corporation, triggering a US $2 million payment to Nanoco. The green quantum dots were produced at Nanoco's production facility in Runcorn, Cheshire. It marks major technical achievement by Nanoco because green dots are significantly more challenging than red ones due to their smaller size. The Japanese corporation plans to incorporate Nanoco's red and green quantum dots including the backlighting of LCD displays and LED-based general li...

Recently, a team of researchers from North Carolina and Japan have jointly made a breakthrough on UV disinfection using LED technology. As we know, aluminum nitride (AlN) is used in LEDs, based on its strengths which can handle a lot of power and create light in a wide spectrum of colors, particularly in the UV range. But AlN LEDs to create UV light have been severely limited because the substrates that served as the foundation for these semiconductors absorbed wavelengths of UV light that are crucial to applications in sterilization and water treatment technolo...

Recently, Panasonic has lit up around 100,000 ‘wishing star’ LED lights on Tokyo's Sumida River to embrace the ‘Symphony of Light’ event. The two-day event was held on the bank of the river, which runs through central Tokyo. The company, which announced record losses of £3.4bn, created the art installation alongside the lights of the Tokyo Sky Tree as part of the Tokyo Hotaru (Firefly) Festival. For the event, Panasonic created a special kind of orb called an "Inoriboshi" (prayer star) that incorporates one of the compa...

Nichia has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany at the District Court Düsseldorf against Zenaro Lighting GmbH ("Zenaro"), which is a German LED lighting company mainly owned by Everlight, and the German distributor REGO-Lighting GmbH on April 27, 2012. In the lawsuit, Nichia is seeking permanent injunction, rendering account, damages, recall and destruction against an office light of Zenaro (product number: OL-Deluxe/QL2/P44/LF/D50/SR/M/CE/ZN) including white LED tubes (product number: SL-Cobra/T5 048DC/C/P10/L...

Bridgelux Inc. and Toshiba Corporation announced that Bridgelux and Toshiba have achieved the industry’s top class 8” GaN on Silicon LED chip emitting 614mW, <3.1V@350mA with 1.1mm square chip, just months after they have engaged in a joint collaborative agreement this year. Bridgelux and Toshiba will further accelerate their development efforts for LED chips, which have seen increasing demand for LCD panels and lightening systems world wide. Toshiba has also made an equity investment in Bridgelux with the intent to jointly pursue an innovative t...

As Japan closed its last nuclear reactor a few days ago, the country’s electricity shortage is estimated to surge to 13% this summer. And industry executives estimated the power shortage may run up to 20% if the summer heat rises higher than expected. But it brings new opportunities to Taiwan Delta Electronics Inc., Lextar Electronics Corp. Since the March 11 earthquakes of 2011, Japanese market for the energy-saving lamps has been thriving. LED lamps in Japan’s market is estimated to spike 69% to 373.8 billion yen (US$4.6 billion at US$1:80 yen) this yea...

Recently, researchers from Japan and California have jointly made a breakthrough on blue and green LEDs to reduce efficiency droop. According to the research team, they designed low droop and high efficacy LEDs by altering the direction of the crystal structure within semiconductor films. Droop refers to significant drop in efficiency at extreme currents. It is one of the major factors that retard the growth of the solid-state lighting market. Household bulbs generate white light due to the mix of wavelengths with the hue produced from blue and green LEDs. These valuab...

Recently, NGK Insulators Ltd has made a breakthrough on LED Luminous Efficiency with a gallium nitride (GaN) wafer. The company claims that the new GaN wafer can realize twice as high a luminous efficiency as existing LED light sources (200lm/W). According to the company, it realized a transparent and colorless wafer with a low defect density by using its own liquid phase growth method for a single-crystal growth process. Generally, existing LED devices have an internal quantum efficiency of 30-40% (with a current of 200mA). However, under the help of a resea...

Recently, Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) has announced to set up a joint venture with Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. (Toyoda Gosei), for GaN LED Business by the end of 2012. SDK is producing and selling a wide variety of LED chips, including aluminum-gallium-indium-phosphide (AlGaInP), gallium-arsenide (GaAs), gallium-phosphide (GaP), and GaN. It will split its business in gallium-nitride (GaN)-based blue LED chips, and transfer 70% of shares in the new company to Toyoda Gosei. The joint venture will be established in the area of GaN LED chips being pr...

Recently,Toshiba International Corporation has launched new PAR38 and MR16 lamps to its LED lighting line. The new PAR38 1100 Series is a direct replacement for 90 to 110W halogen lamps, offers outputs of up to 1170 lumens, and uses up to 75% less energy than halogens. It’s is available in 2700K, 3000K, 3500K, and 4000K. And the new MR16 450 Series is a direct replacement for 35W halogen lamps, offers lumen outputs of up to 475 lumens, and uses up to 80% less energy than halogens. It comes in 2700K, 3000K, and 4000K color temperatures. Both models...

The sales of LED celling lights have boomed from the aftermath of the Great East Japan earthquake, with energy efficient appliances performing particularly well. According to GfK, LED celling lights have seen a remarkable increase, with their unit sales share soaring from 2.9% in March 2011 to 50.1% in March 2012. In terms of value, there was a notable rise of 64.1% over the same period of analysis, marking the first time sales of LED celling lights have exceeded fluorescent celling lights in both units and value. In 2011, the overall celling light market experienced...

According to Nichia, the company has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Harvatek and the German distributors MSC Microcomputers Systems Components Vertriebs GmbH, "Gleichmann & Co." Electronics GmbH and Glyn Jones GmbH & Co. Vertrieb von elektronischen Bauelementen KG, at the District Court Düsseldorf in Germany on March 29, 2012. The court found with judgments of the same day that Harvatek and said distributors infringe Nichia's patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) (hereinafter called "YAG patent") concer...

The the joint venture relationship between Mitsubishi Electric and Osram will be constructively dissolved in the process of the merger. However, in consideration of the solid 23-year relationship, Mitsubishi Electric and Osram have agreed to maintain ties in the areas of sales and production, and continue to be strategic global partners in the lighting business.

According to Taiwan-based Delta Electronics CEO Yancey Hai, the company has under its talks with several Japanese customers for contract orders for LED bulbs as well as solar power generation and storage systems, as they’re plagued by an estimated 20-30% shortage of power supply following the mandatory suspension of commercial nuclear plants in Japan. Hai pointed out that inquiries for the said products from Japanese customers are expected to keep increasing in the short term. And the company is optimistic about business outlooks in the second quarter of this year. ...

Taiwan lamp maker China Electric Mfg. Corp., has intended to sell more than 200,000 LED lamps in Japan through its shareholder Mitsubishi Electric Co., Ltd., and distributors in 2012, nearly triple that sold in the world’s No.3 economy in 2011. The general manager, Z.W. Chang has pointed out that the LED lamps the company will promote in Japan include downlights as well as 9W and 12W light bulbs, estimating the sales will help drive up the company’s LED revenue by 200% from last year’s. According to Chang, LED lamps are becoming popular...

Taiwan-based Delta Electronics Inc. and AcBel Polytech Inc. have gained LED lightings orders from Japan, to help Japanese enterprises fight against upcoming price hikes of electricity caused by upcoming suspension of nuclear power plants. Reportedly, Japan has ordered a total of 54 commercial nuclear power plants to suspend operations by the end of April for periodical maintenance. However, due mainly to the public’s fear about radioactive contamination in the environment, it didn’t come out the concrete timetables for resumption. In addition, electricity ...

Sharp has added a new white high-performance LED series to its Pico Zenigata LED portfolio. The line-up now comprises three different series that shine with luminous flux levels of up to 72.5 lumens and with an efficiency of up to 125 lm/W. With just a single LED, the types of the GM2BBxxQK1C series achieve luminous flux levels of up to 24.5 lumens and an efficiency of up to 125 lm/watt. Luminous flux and efficiency of the other two series were improved accordingly: above all the GM2BBxxQKAC (2 LED dies) reaches up to 46.7 lumens with an effective powe...

A Japanese research group led by Chihaya Adachi and Kenichi Goushi, professors at the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (OPERA) of Kyushu University, has developed a high-efficiency phosphorescent OLED device without using any rare metal. It has an external quantum efficiency of higher than 5%, as one of the highest in the world for phosphorescent OLED devices that do not contain any rare metal.   Because phosphorescent materials can realize an internal quantum efficiency of 100%, they are popular in being using in high-efficiency OL...

Recently, Panasonic has made a donation of 2,000 Solar LED Lanterns to 15 NPOs and NGOs working toward the solution of various social issues in Cambodia. As a member of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), Cambodia is experiencing firm growth, but due to its long civil war, it still faces problems such as in education and healthcare. In particular, electricity in particular has only a 24% spread (Source: The International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2011). And the gift of solar LED lanterns to NPOs and NGOs active in education, healthca...

Recently, Japanese LED product supplier Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd. has filed a lawsuit with the Taoyuan District Court in northern Taiwan, accusing its Taiwanese counterpart Formosa Epitaxy Inc. of infringing on two patents asserted by the Japanese firm related to GaN-based LED chip production. According to Hsu Hung-sheng, a lawyer for the Japanese firm, said his client has sought damages from Formosa Epitaxy and requested the court issue an injunction to bar the Taiwanese defendant from manufacturing and selling the disputed LED products. Additionally, not...

Panasonic’s LED Clear Light Bulb (LDAHV4L27CG) and HD Integrated Camera (AW-HE120) are received two Gold Awards, the highest honor in the iF Product Design Award at the recent iF Design Awards 2012 presented by iF International Forum Design based in Hannover, Germany. This year there were a total of 4,322 entries from 48 counties in all award categories, and 1,218 products were selected by the panel of judges. Among these, 100 products were recognized with the prestigious Gold Awards. The Gold-winning LED Clear Light Bulb provides...

Japanese Kyushu Sangyo University’s professor Taro Ochiai has developed LED traffic lights which can be seen by colour-blind drivers. Prof Ochiai starts to study LED application in 2003, when they first began to be used in traffic lights in preference to regular light bulbs. Sources has shown that colour-blindness affects around 8 per cent of males and 0.5 per cent of females, with most people with the condition experiencing problems differentiating between red and green. As a result , Colour-blind drivers reported that the LED signals were more difficult for the...

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp has added two daylight- and incandescent-color cylindrical (T-type) LED light bulbs to its "E-core" series. According to the company, the brightnesses of the daylight products are 600lm, and 485lm for incandescent-color products, equivalent to the brightness of a 40W incandescent light bulb. Both of them have rated power consumption of 7.4W. It is the first time that the company has announced to release a T-type LED light bulb. The external diameter, length and light distribution angle of the 7.4W T-type product are ...

Lately, Japanese LED Company Rohm Co Ltd has launched an E17-base small krypton gas (MiniKrypton) LED light bulb, "LDA4L-G-E17". The new LED light bulb is smaller, and the shape of its globe (semispherical cover) is closer to a sphere. By employing an LED module (light source) having a chip-on-board (COB) structure, the light distribution angle realize 180°. What’s more, the new product, which is equivalent to a 25W MiniKrypton light bulb, is made by using Rohm's own light-diffusing material for its globe. Other features inc...

Taiwan Delta Electronics is to promote its own-brand LED lamps in Japan and mainland China in 2012. Delta has worked as a contract supplier to Japan’s LED lamp brands to tap the market, and will begin selling own-brand lamps in Japan throughout B2B channels, according to the company’s executives. In particular, the company has recently introduced a 130-gram, 1,000-lumen light bulb for Japan’s and mainland China. The bulbs are lit by chips from Epistar. The company thought that because of further markdown of LED light bulbs to points acceptable...

Recently, Japan's Tazmo has designed a new A4 in size (210x297mm) flexible Inorganic LED panel with quite efficient at 30 lm/W. The company has utilized a coating process - which is easily adapter for I-LEDs as they have a simpler element structure when compared to OLEDs. I-LED is different from LEDs as they use the EL (electroluminescence) phenomenon. And the new panel can easily be bent....

Recently, NetLED system developed by Tokyo-based lighting tech startup Net LED Technology Corp. will go on sale in Japan on February 20,marking Japan gets the world’s first cloud-based LED lighting system. The 40W lights of 40,000-hour lifespan come with built-in Wi-Fi: users can control each tube over the web after installing the NetLed app on a smartphone, tablet, or computer. It’s possible to dim the lights and to turn them on or off. Users can control individual, multiple, or a set of lights (which can be located in separate rooms) via the app,...

Recently, Sharp has developed the second generation of its 10W Mini Zeni white-light LED arrays, featuring 47% higher luminous efficacy of up to 106lm/W in standard operation, greater luminous flux of up to 900lm, and a (typical) color rendering index (CRI) of 82. According to the company, it has retained the 15mm x 12mm x 1.6mm dimensions, along with an aluminium ceramic plate as carrier material. The flat surface of the ceramic plate and the existing soldering points make it possible to attach the modules to a suitable heat sink, without too much effort or additional conne...

Endo company Icon International is introducing Japanese new track LED lights to the U.S. grocery sector. According to the company, the series of RS track LED lights is the first of Endo’s 2600 products that ICON will be bringing to the U.S. market. Michael Goeller, ICON president, introduced that “The RS light provides energy savings of 75% over conventional lighting and almost 30% over existing LED lights. It has higher lighting output and sells for 10-20% less than existing LEDs.” About ICON International ICON designs...