02 August 2007
IQE plc, the leading global supplier of advanced wafer products and wafer services to the semiconductor industry, has become a [founding] partner in a £3.3 million research project which will focus on developing energy efficient solid-state light sources. The project, codenamed NoveLELS, is being backed by the UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly part of Department of Trade and Industry).
Dr Drew Nelson, IQE Chief Executive, commenting:
"There is a growing need and urgency to develop energy efficient light sources with a number of governments already taking steps to limit or ban the use of inefficient incandescent lighting within the next ten years.
The $100 billion global lighting market is dominated by three major companies, GE, Philips and Osram, who, along with most G8 governments, are investing heavily in programmes to develop alternative sources for illumination."
The consortium of nine partners consisting of two universities, four SMEs and three large aerospace companies will come together to develop high efficiency and high brightness solid-state light sources, based on novel GaN LED chip technology. These will be trialled for use in aircraft cockpits, exterior lighting and consumer LCD devices. The UK Government and Technology Strategy Board has shown strong commitment to the solid-state lighting sector and hence towards energy reduction through the support of funding in excess of £1.7 million for this project.
In addition to IQE, the consortium comprises Airbus, AgustaWestland, GE Aviation, Exxelis, Mesophotonics and Enfis. Two world leading research groups at University of Bath and Brunel University will lead the research of novel LED chips and phosphor technology.
The project seeks to commercialise high power solid-state LED sources and is focussed on the improvement of efficiency and quality of the light from these new light sources. A major project goal is to stimulate the commercialisation of advanced GaN epitaxy and LED chip manufacturing in conjunction with advanced phosphors and thermally efficient packaging to create novel LED arrays and light engines for solid-state lighting applications.
The use of photonic crystal technology will result in the achievement of high luminous efficacy. This technology was pioneered by Mesophotonics along with novel epitaxial processes, pioneered at University of Bath in conjunction with IQE and advanced phosphor technology, developed at Brunel University. Tailored spatial profile will provide key benefits in terms of energy efficiency and optical coupling efficiency.
A significant spin-off from the project will be the trial of a new method of GaN based LED chip production which is expected to dramatically reduce the cost per Lumen of solid-state light sources. The new methods will achieve this by increasing the yield of LED chip production and allowing the scaling of production to larger epitaxial wafer sizes without significant loss of yield through new GaN epitaxial processes pioneered at the University of Bath.
The end users of the technology in this project are in the aerospace and LCD backlighting markets and will provide a critical benchmark for the LED outputs. The end users will also be evaluating the use of this new LED technology within their applications. Adoption of LED technology by the partners into these markets will be a measurable output from the project. In addition the expected improvement in light quality and energy efficiency will allow the LED arrays and light engines to be used in other markets such as architectural, commercial office, entertainment and retail lighting as well as eventually being used in the home.
NoveLELS project manager; Dr Gareth Jones, CTO of Enfis Group plc stated that:
"By supporting this large collaborative project, the UK Government is stimulating both essential research and IP generation which will promote the UK to the forefront of leading research on a global level along with enabling a commercialisation route for epitaxy, chip fabrication and LED array manufacture within the UK."
ABOUT THE PARTNERS:
IQE plc
IQE is the leading provider of epitaxial foundry services to the compound semiconductor industry. IQE’s strategic focus is to become the number 1 player in each of its targeted markets, so as to maximise economy of scale benefits deriving from its large scale commercial epitaxy tools. IQE has an unrivalled track-record in successfully commercialising epitaxial innovation across a number of market segments.
AgustaWestland
AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is a technology leader in its markets and has an unrivalled range of rotorcraft products designed to satisfy the requirements of commercial and military customers. The Company’s products range from the innovative 2.5-ton light single-engine AW119 Ke to the 16-ton three-engine AW101 helicopter. AgustaWestland has its main operations in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Airbus UK Ltd
Airbus UK is responsible for the design, development, and manufacture of high technology wings for all the Airbus family of aircraft including the External Lighting system, which includes such lights as the high output Landing, Taxi, Take-Off and Runway Turn-off lights.
Brunel University
The phosphor group at Brunel was established 38 years ago and is the only academic group in Europe/USA that has carried out research on phosphors over this period. The Group specialises in the design and synthesis of novel phosphors with tailored size and morphology for a wide variety of uses.
Enfis Ltd
A wholly owned subsidiary of Enfis Group plc. Enfis specialises in the design and manufacture of high power LED arrays and light engines for solid-state lighting and backlighting applications. Enfis has expertise in the integration of LED technology into high power and high efficiency LED arrays and integration into high efficiency plug and play digital light engines to control and power the LED arrays.
Exxelis Ltd
Exxelis Ltd is a Glasgow based developer of materials, processes and components for LCD display industry. It is developing novel, highly efficient LCD backlighting solutions which combine the functions of several layers in the backlight into a single film, addressing the key issues of cost, performance, size and weight. Exxelis was started in April 2004.
Mesophotonics Ltd
Mesophotonics Ltd was launched in 2001 to design and develop photonic crystal nano-devices and take them to market. A University of Southampton spin-out company, its team has unique skills in modelling and understanding sub-wavelength structures. Mesophotonics specialises in the development of novel photonic quasicrystal structures and their applications to photonics and sensing in general.
Systems division of GE Aviation
As a major avionics supplier, the expertise of the Systems division of GE Aviation (formerly Smiths Aerospace) lies in aerospace applications of hardware, software and systems. GE is a recognised leader in Flight Display products, both for main displays and standby instrumentation. GE has the optical and environmental test facilities and skills necessary to evaluate the resulting products suitability for use in an airborne end system.
Contacts:
IQE plc
+44 (0)29 2083 9400
Drew Nelson
Phil Rasmussen
Chris Meadows
College Hill
+44 (0)20 7457 2020
Adrian Duffield
Jon Davies
Noble and Company
+ 44 (0) 20 7763 2200
John Llewellyn-Lloyd
Sam Reynolds
NOTE TO EDITORS
IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers with products that cover a diverse range of applications, supported by an innovative outsourced foundry services portfolio that allows the Group to provide a 'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers.
IQE uses advanced crystal growth technology (epitaxy) to manufacture and supply bespoke semiconductor wafers ('epi-wafers') to the major chip manufacturing companies, who then use these wafers to make the chips which form the key components of virtually all high technology systems. IQE is unique in being able to supply wafers using all of the leading crystal growth technology platforms.
IQE's products are found in many leading-edge consumer, communication, computing and industrial applications, including a complete range of wafer products for the wireless industry, such as mobile handsets and wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, base stations, GPS, and satellite communications; optical communications, optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mouse, laser printers & photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products, barcode, high efficiency LEDs and a variety of advanced silicon based systems.
The manufacturers of these chips are increasingly seeking to source wafers from specialist foundries such as IQE in order to reduce overall wafer costs and accelerate time to market.
IQE also provides bespoke R&D services to deliver customised materials for specific applications and offers specialist technical staff to manufacture to specification either at its own facilities or on the customer's own sites. The Group is also able to leverage its global purchasing volumes to reduce the cost of raw materials. In this way IQE's supply services, provide compelling benefits in terms of flexibility and predictability of cost, thereby significantly reducing operating risk.
IQE operates six manufacturing facilities located in Cardiff (two) and Milton Keynes in the UK; in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Somerset, New Jersey in the USA; and Singapore. The Group also has 11 sales offices located in major economic centres worldwide.