Solid-state lighting (SSL) has become to change from being a niche market to penetrating residential markets. And compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) retro-fit is one of the potential market. The cost, size and reliability are important for CFL retro-fit applications. One could use either passive PFC (power factor correction) or active PFC to achieve a high power factor.

Ostendo Technologies Inc. and Technologies and Devices International, Inc. (TDI), part of the Oxford Instruments Group, announce their joint development on Semi-Polar (11-22) GaN layer on sapphire substrate wafers is now available.

Fairchild Semiconductor introduces two LED drivers, FAN5701 and FAN5702. Both them deliver 92 percent peak efficiency, extending battery life. The company said they are designed for mobile handsets, gaming devices, MP3 players and other small display applications.

CBC/Radio-Canada, located in Toronto, plans to accelerate the replacement of incandescent TV production lighting with more efficient and flexible LED lighting in studios across the country. CBC/Radio-Canada TV studio will become one of the first fully LED-lit TV news studios in the world after Senior Lighting Director Brad Dickson pushed to try the technology in designs for a new Radio-Canada news studio in Toronto.  

The US company Luminus Devices, Inc. has announced its expansion into the transportation industry through a partnership with ABS Lighting. Luminus' CSM-360 White PhlatLight LED powers ABS Lighting's new LED-based roadway fixture for use on roadway underpasses and in highway tunnels.

Philips Lumileds announced the release of two new LUXEON Rebel LEDs with correlated color temperatures (CCTs) of 2700K and 3000K that expand the company’s portfolio for indoor illumination applications in hotels, shops, restaurants, and homes. The new emitters use Philips' latest thin film flip chip (TFFC) and proprietary Lumiramic phosphor technologies. At the high operating temperatures found in applications like recessed lamps, the new emitters set efficacy benchmarks.

Chinese Yangzhou Zhongke Semiconductor Lighting Center Co. Ltd has ordered two CRIUS 31x2-inch configuration deposition systems from AIXTRON AG. Zhongke placed the order in the fourth quarter of 2009 and after delivery in the second quarter of 2010 they will be used for GaN high brightness LED production for streetlight and display backlighting applications. The local AIXTRON support team will commission the new reactors at the facility within the company’s research group, ISCAS, in China.

Planar Systems, Inc. has announced to ship the Clarity(TM) LED Series of LED-illuminated rear-projection video wall displays. With no consumable parts and a 60,000 hour life, the Clarity LED Series illumination system eliminates the ongoing costs and interruptions associated with lamp changes.

Lemnis Lighting has entered a joint venture agreement with Beijing-based Tsinghua Tongfang Co Ltd, to drive manufacturing and development of LED products for both the indoor and outdoor markets. Tsinghua also will expand its competitive strength in LED industry through the agreement with Lemnis.

Sharp Electronics of Japan has announced the Quadtron line of TV sets, the models range in size from 40-inches to 60-inches (40, 46, 52 and 60) and of the new models, four of them are 3D ready.

The University of California, Berkeley, USA has ordered one 4-inch Black Magic deposition system from AIXTRON AG. The Black Magic system was selected for its unique ability to grow both SiGe nanowires and CNTs uniformly, rapidly and repeatably, and will be installed in the Laboratory for Nano Materials & Electronics by the local AIXTRON support team in the first half of 2010.

LG Display of South Korea has exhibited an LCD panel whose color gamut was expanded by using quantum-dot LEDs for the backlight at SID 2010.

Taiwan No.1 LED chipmakers Epistar Inc. pay over NT$8.6 billion for a 47.88% stake in Huga Optotech Inc to boost strength of Taiwan’s LED industry. Epistar will acquire the Huga shareholding through stock swap, with an Epistar share for 2.23 Huga shares, and cash pay combined.

SmartFader is now available in North America providing customizable interactive LED flooring and wall tiles. TAL North America announced the availability of the SmartFader interactive floor lighting system for the North American market.  An instant hit at Light+Building in Frankfurt this April, the SmartFader utilizes LED technology in recessed “tiles” which will interact with their environment and is suitable for floor or wall applications.  

Universal Display Corporation (UDC) has unveiled its latest UniversalPHOLED technology and materials for energy-efficient displays and lighting at the Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium 2010. Universal Display also reported advances in performance of its white OLED on a commercial-scale 15 cm x 15 cm lighting panel using its efficient phosphorescent OLED technology and materials.

Diodes Incorporated has announced a multi-topology LED driver IC designed to increase the reliability of high brightness lamps in automotive, industrial, and commercial lighting systems. The ZXLD1370 LED driver controller operates in buck, boost, and buck-boost modes. It combines patent pending control loops and high-side current sensing to ensure accurate current control of LED strings.

Taiwan’s TV brands as Tatung, Teco, Chimei, BenQ and Heran will introduce new LED-backlit TVs to meet expected surging demand in the second half of 2010.

Osram appointed Don Klase to take over for Shottes as CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors Inc. Osram reports that both of the changes will go into effect June 1, 2010. Shottes' responsibilities will include heading the new Professional Lighting, Solid State Lighting and Light Management System groups as Senior Vice President.

It’s reported that Sujana Energy Limited, a subsidiary of the city-based Sujana Group, entered into a strategic partnership with Nichia Corporation of Japan. The two companies will collaborate to produce LED Lighting and Display Products, according to the agreement.

The Chinese Company LongDeXin, a joint venture by Zhejiang Longfei Industry Co., Ltd., and China Delixi Holding Group Co., Ltd., founded in October 2009 for the purpose of strategic cooperation, has ordered AIXTRON AG MOCVD systems.

Computex Taipei 2010, the largest B2B professional computer exhibition in Asia and the second largest in the world, will be held at the Taipei World Trade Center from June 1 to June 5 2010. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Sunon, which also coincides with the 30th anniversary of Computex Taipei.

Sony now shows off its new flexible OLED display that is 4.1-inches and just 80 μm thick. The screen is able to display the image even when fully rolled up and can be rolled around a pen or pencil in the office. Sony said the screen can provide 432×240 pixel resolution, but there are no plans to release it to market.

GE Lighting Solutions has introduced its new white Tetra(R) MAX LED Lighting Systems. Similar to the existing Tetra MAX LED line, the white color LEDs evenly illuminate medium-size channel letters with minimal installation effort, but now offer 43 percent more lumens per foot and a 43 percent wider viewing angle than the previous generation.

Cree, Inc., announces that the University of Central Florida (UCF) has joined the Cree LED University(R) program with the installation of energy-efficient LED lighting in the student union. UCF estimates it can save at least $10,000 a year in energy and maintenance costs in the Key West Ballroom simply by replacing recessed downlights and troffers with energy-efficient Cree LR6(TM) LED downlights and LR24(TM) LED troffers.

Luminus Devices and Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia, part of the global technology distributor Avnet, Inc., announced a partnership through which Avnet Electronics Marketing will distribute Luminus PhlatLight LEDs to customers in Asia.

The Research Center for Silicon Nano-Science (SNS) of the Advanced Research Laboratories (ARL) at Tokyo City University developed a silicon-based LED. It is made by embedding Ge microparticles (quantum dots) with a diameter of several tens of nanometers to 100nm in the i-layer of a Si-based device with a pin structure. The university claims that the light emitting device will help realize a silicon (Si) photonics because it can be produced by using a manufacturing process compatible with a CMOS process and possibly is capable of laser oscillation.

Ringdale of Austin, Texas USA, has signed an exclusive licensing, manufacturing and distribution agreement for the region of Japan with Sojitz Systems Corp. Under the terms of the agreement, Sojitz manufactured lighting fixtures for streets, parking structures, billboards, building exteriors, warehouses, offices, retail spaces, parks and restaurants will be based on Ringdale's ActiveLED technology.

QD Vision, a USA company, has purchased a patent portfolio from Motorola pertaining to the use of quantum dot technology in display and lighting products. QD Vision is a developer of Quantum Light nanotechnology-based products for solid state lighting and displays. Included in the acquisition is U.S. Patent No. 5,442,254 of James E Jaskie.

Silicon is a lower cost raw material, and it has greater economies of scale in manufacturing than sapphire wafers most often used. Hong Kong University and Taiwan National Chiao Tung University researchers attempted to grow (380-450nm) indium gallium nitride LEDs on Silicon. The researchers previously developed micro-scale patterning using a silicon nitride (SiN) mask. Now they find Silicon also has a higher thermal conductivity which gives it better thermal control than sapphire.

Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) has ordered AIXTRON AG 6-inch Black Magic Nanomaterial deposition system. The system has been installed and commissioned in the Materials Joining Laboratory.