Japanese pump and LED manufacturer Nikkiso will start mass producing UV LEDs with a wavelength between 255-350 nm in Spring 2015, according to a report by Japanese media Nikkei Technology.

The company aims to apply the UV LED in medical and biology applications including skin treatment and sterilization. Based in Hakusan, a city in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, Nikkiso has been one of the earliest manufacturers to enter UV LED production, and initially had an annual production capacity of 1 million UV LEDs.

The pump industry expert was one of the first in the industry to invest in the commercialization of AlGaN LEDs developed by this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates Isamu Asaki and Hiroshi Amano. Asaki is a professor at Meijo University and Nagoya University, while Amano was his student from Nagoya University. In 2006, Meijo University established a risky startup company UV Craftary Co. to commercialize Asaki and Amano’s AlGaN LEDs research results, and manufacture AlGaN LED products. Nikkiso was one of the company’s first investors and eventually absorbed UV Craftary in 2012. In other words, Nikkiso has been “receiving LED pioneers Asaki and Amano instructions through collaborate research projects” since 2006.

By adding Aluminum on GaN substrates to enlarge the buffer layer, UV LEDs are able of emitting light beams with shorter wavelengths (about 450 nm) than blue LEDs. When UV LEDs reach a wavelength of 260-270 nm, DNA functions will be disrupted because of light absorption peak properties, thus UV LEDs are ideal for killing most bacteria in sterilization applications. Additionally, another application field and hardening of resins, and analyzing wavelengths that are difficult to measure. Only a few manufacturers have entered the UV LED industry.

Nikkiso is already supplying UV LEDs with monitoring features, and has the highest dialysis accessory market share in Japan. The company’s UV LEDs are used as indicator lights in dialysis to detect the processing progress of body fluid waste, by measuring changes in body fluid light absorption. In the medical field, UV LEDs with a wavelength of 308 nm can be applied in skin treatments.

The company’s standard UV LED products include 265 nm, 285 nm, and 300 nm, and also offers customized products. UV LEDs with a wavelength of 285 nm and 300 nm have an input current of 350 mA and output power of 30 mW, while products with a light emission wavelength of 265 nm have a power output of 350 mA. These products power output level is 12mW. The company has not announced its light efficacy, but has very low light conversion efficiency, which requires significant improvements.

Aside from adopting SMD and TO-46 package and independent LED components, Nikkiso plans to provide sterilization modules for flowing water applications. The company aims to apply these developments in the company’s major product factory waste water processing products in the near future.