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segment,” said Lineback. “I’ve had more
calls on that [than anything else] in the
last year. Some of it was inspired by the
economic downturn, with people looking
for markets that might have stronger
growth. And some of it is just realizing
that LEDs are showing up everywhere.
“And, of course, the Holy Grail for
LEDs is room lighting,” he continued.
“That puts big dollar signs in everybody’s
eyes.” Up and down the electronics food
chain, from wafer fabrication equipment
manufacturers to chip makers, everyone
is looking hard at this category, Lineback
noted.
IC companies are looking at what types
of tools are needed, and whether they
can apply their IC manufacturing technologies
to the LED segment and other
emerging optoelectronic markets.
This much is clear:
LEDs are the fastestgrowing
segment of the
microelectronics market.
Currently, the LED portion of optoelectronics
is the second-largest segment
of the category. Image sensors are
the largest, accounting for $6.4 billion in
revenue in 2009. However, analysts expect
these two segments to switch places
over the next 5 years.
The primary growth driver in the LED
market is high-brightness (HB) LEDs.
They are finding their way into thin monitors
and televisions, providing back lighting
for the displays. But the huge growth
in this market will come when HB LEDs
begin to break into room lighting.
“LEDs (are expected to) replace fluorescent
lighting in offices,” said Lineback.
Such lighting already is available commercially,
though the cost is in the hundreds
of dollars, compared to a few dollars for a
fluorescent light or an incandescent bulb.
Opportunity knocks
This expected growth could be an
opening for micromanufacturers. For a
closer look at what the LED opportunities
are for U.S. micromanufacturers, visit
the Web site for the U.S. Department of
Energy’s Solid-State Lighting program
at www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl.
Charged with advancing the development
and market introduction of energy
efficient white light sources for general illumination,
the DOE site lists a number
of R&D projects in progress at universities
and private companies throughout
the country.
For instance, the Georgia Institute of
Technology is working on the epitaxial
growth of gallium nitride (GaN) LED
structures on sacrificial substrates, which
could easily be removed from the GaN
LED by using a wet chemical etchant.
Or take a look at the project being
undertaken by Cree Inc., Durham, N.C.
Building on its experience with thin-film
LED products and packaged LEDs, Cree
is working on photonic-crystal LEDs—
specifically to improve light extraction efficiency
compared to conventional LEDs.
Plus, a project undertaken by Philips
Lumileds Lighting Co., San Jose, Calif., is
focused on electrical injection efficiency
and optical extraction efficiency improvement,
high-power LED package design
and reduction in package thermal resis-
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