As the LED industry has become more mature, LED makers have been laying more emphasis on the chip quality. Due to the great amount of backlight applications in the LED industry and manufacturers’ increasing focus on the uniform light distribution, a lot of LED makers have encountered optical measuring problems. The field of LED lighting is now in dare need of better optical measuring equipment: with the increasing orders from Europe, America and Japan, clients not only focus on luminous efficacy but also stress more on the light uniformity, fidelity and color rendering.


Therefore, the LED industry needs adequate measuring equipment to fulfill the diverse demands. Compared to the measuring equipment of Taiwanese manufacturers which features high-sensitivity and achieves accurate results, the measuring equipment of American and European manufacturers, which meets international standards, costs much more. On this note, Instrument Systems, the largest optical measuring equipment manufacturer in the world, teaming up with its Taiwanese factor Rapitech, held a seminar on March 31, 2011 in Hsinchu, Taiwan, where it announced its new optical measuring equipment CAS120. CAS120 is designed to meet the great measuring need of LED production line and is a cost-down version of High-end measuring equipment CAS140CT, which is widely used by foreign laboratories and major manufacturers.

Ledinside had the honor to interview Richard Distl, CEO of Instrument Systems, and Dr. Thomas Attenberger, vice general manager of Instrument Systems, in which they remarked on the latest trend of LED measurement.

The trend of LED measuring equipment: increasing emphasis on total cost of ownership

Dr. Thomas Attenberger, vice general manager of Instrument Systems , Richard Distl, CEO of Instrument Systems.

CEO Richard Distl indicated that the expansion of LED companies in the past few years has resulted in significant growth in the LED measuring equipment market. Instrument Systems, with 20 years of history in the making and chose by big name companies such as Osram and Philips, holds high market share because of the accurate result its equipment generates, which is crucial when manufacturing products that meet international standards.


A lot of companies purchase Instrument Systems’ CAS140CT for their laboratories to measure their samples and evaluate their development plans. However, without measuring equipment in their production lines, their LED product quality and yield will not be able to compete with that of major manufacturers.


If LED companies continue to use the old LED measuring equipment, a lot of total cost of ownership(TCO) will be wasted on verifying and solving problems, and hence, TCO will remain high. Even though the new LED measuring equipment costs more, the benefits it brings will contribute to better yield and LED quality, which is very important.


Mr. Distl used a three-level pyramid to explain the situation: he pointed out that its measuring equipment is at the top of the pyramid, but it launches a mid-end measuring equipment to help more manufacturers to improve their LED quality, and distinguishes itself from those measuring equipment makers which are located at the bottom of the pyramid.

CEO Richard Distl


CAS120 is designed for LED production lines

The high price of CAS140CT will compromise the purchases from Taiwanese manufacturers, because their profit margin is lower compared to that of American and European manufacturers, which makes CAS120 a suitable choice for Taiwanese manufacturers. It is a cost-down version of CAS140CT with lower sensitivity, and it also meets the CIE127 standard and can fulfill the demand of mass production, which makes it a much better choice than other measuring equipment.


Mr. Distl pointed out that the difference that distinguishes Taiwanese manufacturers from Chinese manufacturers and manufacturers from other regions is that Taiwanese manufacturers not only are able to mass produce but also hold their products to a higher standard. Therefore, better measuring equipment can earn them more competitiveness and put them in a more advantageous position in the LED industry.


Dr. Thomas Attenberger further indicated that the appurtenances and components of CAS120 and CAS140CT are in good supply and they both operate with high stability and durability and require little system adjustment, which result in its outperformance against other average measuring equipment and can help LED production line maintain its high efficiency.

CAS120 is designed for LED production lines

Local maintenance team

Richard Distl indicated that companies can receive after-sales service and technology support from Rapitech, Instrument System’s partner in Taiwan. Rapitech owns its own optical laboratory, which enable them to adjust optical measuring equipment and ensure the equipment’s accurate results.

By Lowy Chang