Conversion and expansion of chip manufacture at the Penang and Regensburg plants OSRAM Opto Semiconductors will be stepping up its production output significantly by converting its two chip manufacturing facilities to 6-inch wafers while expanding both plants. A new production building is currently under construction in Penang, Malaysia, while in Regensburg, Germany, the available space is being reallocated. The two facilities will each be converting to the new manufacturing technology, introducing 6-inch wafers to replace the current 4-inch wafers. These measures are exp...

The European LED manufacturer Optogan welcomes Russia‘s President Dmitry Medvedev in the recently set up LED production plant in St. Petersburg. During his official visit the President was able to convince himself of the luminous power produced by the German LED chips used in the Russian built LED lamps. The recently opened St. Petersburg sister plant to the Bavarian based Landshut company, builds energy efficient LED components and light fittings to fulfil its rapidly growing domestic demand. These lighting elements are now already to be found in p...

Philips’ StyliD LED spot has been awarded the prestigious gold iF product design award. As part of the next generation of LED retail lighting, the StyliD produces sparkling warm light which creates an appealing atmosphere inside a store and helps merchandise to stand out as　well　as　lowers the cost in both maintenance and energy use in comparison with traditional lighting.   According to the iF jury report: “With the StyliD LED luminaire range Philips realized the first truly variable LED solution that meets the requirements of having both opti...

It’s said that Austin Scientific business of Oxford Instruments has secured an order with a major HBLED manufacturer in the US in mid-February. The order, worth $770k to the Texas based business, is for a number of cryopump systems that the customer will use to support its continuing expansion.  ...

Recently, GT Solar has received its fourth order valued at $41.6 Million dollars for its advanced sapphire crystallization furnaces from new Asia-based customer. The furnaces ordered by the new manufacturer will initially produce 85 kilogram boules. During its recent Q3 FY11 quarterly earnings call, GT Solar announced an enhancement to the advanced sapphire furnace that will increase the output capacity to 100 kilograms per cycle....

It’s reported that based on two-year cooperation begun from 2008, Cree has continued to sign a two-year extension of the strategic agreement with Zumtobel Lighting GmbH  to bring LED lighting innovation into Europe markets.

AIXTRON SE worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, has a number of stock option programs in place that grant the members of the Executive Board and employees the right to purchase AIXTRON shares under certain conditions. Under the terms of the stock option plan 2007, stock options can currently be exercised. New shares resulting from exercised options are not entitled for dividend for fiscal year 2010 and will therefore be traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the separate ISIN DE000A1H30A0 until and includin...

It’s reported that Octa Light, which is a privately-held company owned by major investors Monbat PLC (50.5% shareholding) and Octagon International (49.5%), held an official opening ceremony for the first high-power LED assembly line in Bulgaria in mid February. The new facility includes a 4000 sq.m build area, laboratories, clean rooms and lighting-fixture manufacturing areas. It also launched its first packaged LED named Bullstar. The first Bullstar LEDs offer full color-binning according to the ANSI standard, including cool white (6500K, 5700 K), n...

UL was announced to acquire Lighting Sciences, Inc. (LSI), in support of the growing Solid State Lighting market. LSI will become part of UL’s Verification Services business, which provides performance testing, inspection and auditing for product manufacturers and retailers worldwide. UL is proactively developing its capabilities in photometric testing to be prepared for and drive the transformational shift to SSL (LED) technologies. LSI will help bolster UL’s already strong position as the leader in this growing market by increasing UL&rsqu...

City of Ann Arbor recently teamed up with DTE Energy to install 58 new LED fixtures in the neighborhood bounded by Hill Street, Packard Street, South Forest Avenue and Wells Street.   According to city officials, the new fixtures are expected to cut energy usage by nearly 50 percent and reduce the city’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by 25,000 pounds. Besides, the lower street light bill from DTE will save the city about $5,600 annually, repaying the city’s investment in four years....

Reportedly, Taiwan LED manufacturer Unity Opto Technology, is expected to become a major supplier of LEDs for backlight modules to a Chinese TFT-LCD panel maker, Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology. Unity Opto will build a new plant in Beijing in April, with the new LED facility expected to have a monthly capacity of some 200 million LEDs by the end of 2011. In addition, it has also begun shipping LEDs to another major Chinese TFT-LCD panel maker TCL.  ...

Fairchild Semiconductor will showcase more than 20 innovative solutions for energy-efficient electronics applications at the electronica China 2011 show, in the Shanghai New International Expo Center, between 15 – 17 March. The company will conduct both static and active demonstrations on LED lighting, automotive, power supplies and motion control. Besides, Robin Zhang, chief technical marketing manager, Technical Application and Support Centre at Fairchild Semiconductor will present, 'Fairchild's mWSaver™ Technology Offers Best-in-Class...

Currently, the State of Arkansas is requesting bids for the supply of LED lamps used in poultry houses as part of the Advanced Lighting Technology for Poultry Growers program. The project requires approximately 34,500 LED lamps, divided equally into PAR-38 (max. 10W, min. 600 lm), PAR-30 (max. 10W, min. 400 lm) and R-30 (max. 10W, min. 400 lm) types.  And bids will be opened on Tuesday March 15 at 1.30 pm Central Time.  ...

Reportedly, Rochester public utilities  has made a plan to expand its LED street light program to including another 400 plus city lights. This is one of three neighborhoods in Rochester where RPU has tested the new LED street lights. These LED's have been up for three to four months. And almost all the residents we talked to appreciate the change. RPU says not only do they look much different than typical street lights, the light itself is different. According to RPU's Tony Benson , "a little whiter light. Lot of people say it's a cl...

The sailors and Marines of The US Navy have engaged in TechSolutions program, in which they are encouraged to submit their ideas for technology innovations. According to the Inhabitat site report, the US Navy’s submarine fleet is getting an overhaul of its internal lighting system — from fluorescent lighting to more energy efficient LED lighting. Therefore, the TechSolutions program is proven to be an illuminating exercise. The idea came from a sailor’s recommendation: “One crew member complained that the lights produced a noisy hum. As a r...

After last eighteen months evaluated by the Indian Railways, MIC Electronics Ltd, a Hyderabad based LED manufacturer, has successfully been the only company in the country which has been accorded by the Research, Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Ministry of Railways for the Energy Efficient LED based Luminaires to be fitted in the Air Conditioned Coaches of the Indian Railways. All Air Conditioned Coaches & Sleeper Coaches manufactured by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai and Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapuralat...

Philips EnduraLED / AmbientLED 12.5 watt is announced to receive ENERGY STAR certification.   The Philips AmbientLED lasts 25 times longer and uses 80 percent less energy than the 60-watt incandescent bulb it is designed to replace. It features 806 lumens, 2700K, a CRI of 80 and a six year warranty.  Ed Crawford, General Manager of Lamps for Philips Lighting North America, said that “This LED bulb represents an important milestone for the lighting industry and for LED adoption, as it will give utilities the confidence to supp...

Albeo Technologies has acquired three patents covering thermal and integrated chip technology from USPTO.   Jeff Bisberg, Albeo's CEO, said that "We are pleased that the USPTO has recognized our intellectual property by granting these patents.  The Albeo team is innovating with the objective of replacing high performance fluorescent and HID with LED technology. The implementation of the patented ideas deliver higher value LED lighting solutions that reduce maintenance and energy costs."    Currently, the company is develop...

Because of the continuing rapid demands of LED production in Taiwan and China, Johnson Matthey, the designer and manufacturer of hydrogen purifiers, has shipped its purifiers to new and expanding fabs for LED production.  It’s said that Johnson Matthey's state-of-the-art PSH Series bulk hydrogen purifiers can provide 99.9999999% pure hydrogen for wafer fabrication. And the HP Series purifier product line is the most popular and provides the purest hydrogen.  According to Stuart Bestrom, Sales Manager for Johnson Matthey’s Gas Pur...

MSi Solid State Lighting is proud to announce the appointment of Luke Classen as Regional Sales Manager for the Northeast United States.  Classen will be headquartered in the company’s Chicago, Illinois offices. . About the company Considered the world leader in solid-state lighting technology for miner's cap-lights for the past decade, MSI has provided hundreds of thousands of LED mine lighting products to the gold and platinum mines throughout the world. Today, MSi is leveraging their LED expertise, and in collaboration with the leading opti...

Indian Western Railways will replace the destination signboards on outstation trains with LED boards to provide train number, next stop and station name. The system will be supported by Global Positioning System. Initially the LED boards will be installed in 600 coaches at Rs. 8 crore and later used in all trains. According to railway sources, it is the first time when WR is going install these boards. It will be GPS-enabled and in future passengers will able to see railway information inside the trains. Besides, this system is remote-controlled and programmable....

Recently, Rutland village has benefited a lot from LEDs. Market Overton Parish Council in Rutland reported the savings after LED bulbs were installed, replacing the usual sodium system. According to Deputy chairman, Andrew Stewart , the parish council's average monthly energy bill had gone down from about £80 to about £15 since the changes. Maintenance costs are also expected to be around 90% cheaper than in previous years. What’s more, 80% of their street lamps have been fitted with time switches to turn the lights off between the hours of m...

It’s reported that Fremont City Council has made a contract with Novato-based Republic Intelligent Transportation Services Inc. to install LED lights along Stevenson Boulevard, as part of the city's LED Street Light Retrofit on Stevenson Boulevard Project. And the contract between City of Fremont and Republic ITS will be $172,874. The project will replace all existing HPS street light heads with LED ones from Murietta Drive adjacent to the Interstate 880 interchange to Mission Boulevard. The project encompasses a 3.1-mile stretch of...

Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) has selected Cooper Lighting's Streetworks™ OVH LED Luminaire for a large-scale upgrade of 972 of the Islands' existing 200-watt High Pressure Sodium street lights street lights. Receiving stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to fund the project, the new lighting system will consume 103-watts per fixture and is estimated to provide energy savings of 56% compared to the older system. The Virgin Islands WAPA engineers hoped to achieve a model for energy sa...

Sharp's new 10W Mini Zeni series radiates with even more efficiency, whilst retaining very good light quality (CRI values of up to 87) and a long service life with its compact and cost-effective design.  

Ledzworld Technology, an innovative R&D and manufacturing company of high-end LED retro-fit lamps for professional users, launches its new LED retrofit MR16 , a low power-consumption 6.5W LED lamp that produces an industry- leading high output of 450 Lumen. The lamp has an efficacy of >70 Lumen/W at a colour temperature of 3000K.  

To support commercial greenhouses production, GE and The Government of Canada recently announced they are each investing $1.3 million, for a research project with Les Serres St-Laurent (Savoura) and McGill University, to develop innovative LED lighting technology, which will enable Canadian greenhouse growers to become more profitable and competitive in the global marketplace....

Kyma Technologies Inc of Raleigh, NC, USA, has made a breakthrough on its new high-volume AlN template manufacturing tool by producing what is said to be the world’s first 300mm (12-inch) diameter AlN-on-silicon template for GaN. It claims that its process is the first that is capable of direct insertion into existing LED and power device production processes that grow GaN and related alloys such as InGaN and AlGaN. The new AlN template tool was designed and constructed by chief engineer Dr Bob Metzger, and it was incorporates many of the features...

According to Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, it has made a partnership with Oxford Instruments PLC, a U.K.-based high-tech tool systems company, to set up a research center for LED, which will focus on wafer-level packaging processes and integrated micro-structure technologies for high-brightness LEDs. ITRI President Shyu Jyuo-min pointed out that “With Taiwan’s most advanced Microelectromechanical Systems Open lab, ITRI will provide the best research and development capability in the field of LED packaging.”...

It’s said that the Future Lighting Europe conference will be held on 5th-6th April 2011 at Radisson Blu Hotel, Amsterdam.   Rogier van der Heide, Vice President of Philips Design and Chief Design Officer of Philips Lighting will present at the conference and show his opinion on LED innovations.   He will lead a session discussing the challenges faced by the lighting industry and provides his view on the LED technologies in the future, as well as the importance of the Open innovation approach. Besides, he will share his insight into the stan...