Illumitex, a U.S.-based company, says that it is now in beta production of a light-emitting diode (LED) that it claims can brighten PC screens while using less electricity. The company had raised $10.5 million in March in its first round of funding, and is expecting an additional $20 million early in the summer, according to CEO Matt Thomas. The product is expected to reach full production in September.

The company hasn’t disclosed details of its technology. But it essentially uses optics with a different shape that more efficiently extracts light out of the chip, Thomas said. “We think of [it] as an optical light-emitting device, as opposed to a semiconductor process that happens to create light,” he said. “We truly have some breakthrough physics.”

The chip structure extracts more lumens and reduces the internal refraction, delivering more watts in a smaller package, using conventional manufacturing methods, the company claims. Illumitex has reached more than 100 lumens per watt already, expects to reach 150 lumens per watt by the end of the year — which would make the lights 50 percent more efficient than other LEDs — and wants to hit 250 lumens per watt by the end of next year, Thomas says. That last goal would put it 15 years ahead of a U.S. Department of Energy target of the technology reaching 160 lumens per watt by 2025.

Illumitex’s LEDs also produce more uniform light than other LEDs, according to the company. And the light all comes out of the top of the device in one direction, which means the lights don’t need reflectors. This simplicity makes the lighting package smaller, a plus for manufacturers looking to make thinner devices. Additionally, as Illumitex delivers three times the usable light, manufacturers also can use fewer LEDs, making the footprint smaller still. Altogether, the LEDs get 10 times the light out of the same sized package, said the company.

The company is aiming at three primary markets: mobile displays, televisions and general lighting. Though still facing some challenges ahead, it will take some time to prove its advantages in the marketplace, said the company.