Graphene-on-SiC - ISOM

NEWS REVIEW
Plessey releases first 6-inch GaN-on-silicon
LED products
pleSSey has announced that samples
of its GaN on silicon leD products are
now available. the company says these
entry level products are the first leDs
manufactured on 6-inch GaN-on-silicon
substrates to be commercially available
anywhere in the world.
plessey is using its proprietary large
diameter GaN on silicon process
technology to manufacture the leDs on
its 6-inch MaGIc (Manufactured on GaN
I/c) line at its plymouth, england facility.
the use of plessey’s MaGIc GaN
line using standard semiconductor
manufacturing processing provides yield
entitlements of greater than 95 percent
and fast processing times providing a
significant cost advantage over sapphire
and Sic based solutions for leDs of
similar quality.
the release of the availability of plessey’s
GaN on silicon leDs was coincident with
a visit to the plessey plymouth facility by
the rt. Hon. Vince cable, Mp, Secretary
of State for business Innovation and
Skills and president of the board of
trade.
applications.” We will continue to make
progress in output efficiency and are
on plan to release further improvements
in light output throughout this year and
into next. the operating and unit costs
are on plan and we are seeing a number
of routes to enhance our cost advantage
over competing technologies,” continues
Dennington.
the MaGIc leD technology was
transferred from cambridge University
with the help of Dandan Zhu from the
cambridge centre for Gallium Nitride,
Simon Westwater and antoine pujol from
plessey Semiconductors. at cambridge,
the leDs are grown on a 6 x 2” thomas
Swan (now aixtron) reactor, whereas at
plessey, they are grown on an aixtron
crIUS II-Xl 7 x 6” platform.
leDs and the associated solid state
lighting solutions are due to become the
dominant form of lighting in all forms in
within the next five years.
Solid state lighting is an energy efficient
eco-friendly technology that will save
billions of tons of carbon emissions
when fully implemented.
there are also no recycling issues
that fluorescent lighting poses with
mercury content.
business Secretary Vince cable
comments, “the government is
supporting innovative companies like
plessey who are growing, creating jobs
and exporting their products all over the
world. that’s why we selected plessey’s
£3.25 million regional Growth Fund
bid for Government support, which will
create 100 new, high tech and highly
skilled jobs in the region.”
Michael leGoff, ceo plessey says, “We
are very pleased to welcome Secretary of
State Vince cable today. the department
of business Innovation and Skills has
been very supportive of our efforts to
date and with the launch of our first
range of leDs today we are now looking
towards aggressive growth in the solid
state lighting markets.”
“today is a significant step for us” adds
barry Dennington, plessey’s coo. “From
acquiring our first MocVD reactor in
august 2012 to having our first product
in april 2013 is excellent progress.
these entry level products will be
used in indicating and accent lighting
Spectrolab non-concentrator cell
raises the bar
Spectrolab has achieved a solar cell efficiency of 37.8 percent without
concentration. this is the common practice of having lenses or mirrors focus solar
rays on the cells.
this world record in ground-based solar cell efficiency was verified by the U.S.
Department of energy’s National renewable energy laboratory in Golden,
colorado. the cells use a new class of high-efficiency multi-junction solar
cell, created from two or more compound semiconductors, leveraging boeing
technology that makes such materials more reliable.
“We expect this solar cell technology will have significant benefits for space,
ground-based, and sensor applications,” says troy Dawson, president of Spectrolab.
Spectrolab believes this solar cell technology can attain higher levels of efficiency,
“possibly more than 45 percent even under low concentrations,” according to
Nasser Karam, the company’s Vp for advanced technology.
Spectrolab, which is part of the boeing Defence, Space & Security unit, is a
merchant supplier of high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells and panels for
concentrated photovoltaic and spacecraft power systems. Spectrolab offers sensors
and solar simulators, in addition to being a provider of airborne searchlights.
6 www.compoundsemiconductor.net April/May 2013