AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that Epileds, a leading supplier of LED chip products, has qualified the Company’s AIX R6 tool for LED epitaxy mass production.

Lighting Science Group, a leading manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, announced today the appointments of three experienced sales leaders who will add broad business and industry expertise to its global sales team. Daniel Yasi joins the company as Senior Director of Commercial and Infrastructure Channels. Oscar Ibarra also joins LSG as Director of International Infrastructure Sales. Additionally, David Rubin joins the team as a Director of Commercial Markets. Dan, Oscar and David will play key roles in supporting and growing the Lighting Science product portfolio, with specific concentrations on expanding the commercial and infrastructure channels both domestically and internationally.

Exagan, a start-up innovator of gallium-nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology that enables smaller and more efficient electrical converters,announced it has raised €5.7 million (US $6.38 million) in first-round financing that will be used to produce high-speed power switching devices on 200mm wafers.

Merck, a leading company for innovative, top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials, laid the cornerstone for a new OLED materials production plant in Darmstadt today. Production of high-purity OLED materials for use in state-of-the-art displays and lighting systems is scheduled to start in the approximately 2,000 square meter building in July 2016. With the investment, which amounts to around EUR 30 million (US$ 33.78 million), Merck is strengthening its position in the OLED business. Merck aims to be a leading supplier of OLED materials by 2018. The company wishes to make use of its experience in the liquid crystals business, where it is the global leader.

Transphorm, an early stage semiconductor company focused on redefining power conversion, today announced a US $70 million investment round led by global investment firm KKR. KKR’s investment follows initial rounds of funding led by funds affiliated with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Foundation Capital, Google Ventures, Soros Quantum Strategic Partners, INCJ, Fujitsu, Transphorm will use this funding to support its growth, product innovation and expansion.

A source within Egypt’s Electricity Ministry has disclosed plans of distributing 1.7 million LED bulbs in the next four months, reported The Cairo Post.

Aledia, a developer and manufacturer of next-generation 3D LEDs based on its Gallium-Nitride-on-Silicon platform, announced today the closing of its Series B financing round and the execution of development and supply contracts with major LED buyers. 

LEDinside team would like to wish everyone in advance a Happy Dragon Boat Festival! We will be on holiday tomorrow, so apologies if there are no further article updates this week.

Adoption of LED automotive lights has grown over recent years, but traditional halogen and Xenon HID lights still dominate the headlight market, said the company CEO Pierre-Yves Lesaicherre during an exclusive interview with LEDinside at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (GILE), China from June 9-12, 2015.

Top Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar has been aggressive in its patent strategies, and has acquired key LED filament bulb patents to build up its core advantages, reported Liberty Times recently.

Osram is making further progress regarding its realignment. In an extraordinary meeting, the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG approved the carve-out of the general lighting lamps business. As an independent entity, the business will be able to operate more freely on the market and realize strategic options, such as partnerships, more easily. Jes Munk Hansen, until now CEO of the Americas region, will lead the lamps business in the future. "Today's supervisory board decision lays the foundation for our strategic orientation toward growth, innovation and technology leadership," said Olaf Berlien, Chief Executive Officer of OSRAM Licht AG.

Led by Young Duck Kim, a postdoctoral research scientist in James Hone’s group at Columbia Engineering, a team of scientists from Columbia, Seoul National University (SNU), and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) reported today that they have demonstrated—for the first time—an on-chip visible light source using graphene, an atomically thin and perfectly crystalline form of carbon, as a filament. They attached small strips of graphene to metal electrodes, suspended the strips above the substrate, and passed a current through the filaments to cause them to heat up. The study, “Bright Visible Light Emission from Graphene,” is published in the Advance Online Publication (AOP) on Nature Nanotechnology's website on June 15.

Pixelligent Technologies, producer of PixClear®, the leading producer of nanocrystal dispersions for demanding applications in LED lighting, OLED Lighting, and Optical Coatings and Films markets, announced today that it closed US $3.4 million in new funding. The funds will be used to support accelerating customer growth throughout the world and to increase its manufacturing capacity to 40+ tons per year starting in 2016.

Zhaga has published the latest editions of Book 1 and Book 7, two of the approved Zhaga specifications.

Cree announces the Connected Cree® LED Bulb’s compatibility with market leader in home automation, SmartThings, which is part of the Samsung Global Innovation Center. The news comes just four months after the Connected Cree LED Bulb’s inaugural launch and reinforces its position as the most compatible connected LED bulb on the market.

Definition of the concept of modulation frequencies for LEDs; a discussion on their applications to LED lighting; a describe LED lighting applications in which modulation frequencies pose possible health risks to users are addressed in this recommended practice. A discussion on the concept of dimming of LEDs by modulating the frequency of driving currents/voltage and present recommendations for modulation frequencies (flicker) for LED lighting and dimming applications to help protect against known potential adverse health effects is also addressed.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Lighting Systems Division published Temporal Light Artifacts (Flicker and Stroboscopic Effects), a position paper on temporal light artifacts (TLAs) that addresses what is commonly referred to as flicker and stroboscopic effects.

Released today, the seventh annual Socket Survey from North American lighting leader OSRAM SYLVANIA found 65 percent of Americans surveyed have purchased LEDs for use in their homes and the majority (64 percent) of those who did, purchased LED bulbs for use in sockets for general illumination. Of the respondents who were identified as LED bulb users, the most valued benefits of making the switch were reduced energy consumption (96%), longer bulb lifespan (93%) and cost savings (93%).

Shanghai Yaming Lighting Co, a trusted brand and pioneer in lighting technology development based in China, today marked the official opening of its regional headquarters at Dubai Silicon Oasis, the integrated free zone technology park.

Litecool (//www.litecool.co.uk), has opened a new clean room facility to research, develop, prototype and test new LED packaging technologies. The laboratory includes all the equipment needed to mount bare LEDs into packages, COBs and arrays. This will speed up time to market for new packaging technologies from Litecool.

Elec-tech International (ETI) recently announced it would be issuing 378 million shares through a private placement to raise RMB 4.5 billion (US $720 million) for flip chip LED and package related investments, according to a report from National Business Daily (NBD).

Lumileds CEO Pierre-Yves Lesaicherre and other high ranking company officers spoke to LEDinside recently about the company’s mid power LED strategy following the Go Scale Capital investment in the company at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (GILE) 2015, which took place in Guangzhou, China from June 9-12, 2015.

Halifax regional council has awarded a CA $37 million (US $30 million) contract to bidder G.J. Cahill and Co. to design, supply and install LED streetlights throughout the Canadian muncipality, reported Herald News recently.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published LE 6-2014 Procedure for Determining Target Efficacy Ratings for Commercial, Industrial, and Residential Luminaires. It was updated to explicitly include LED (light-emitting diode) technology and is of particular interest to recessed luminaire manufacturers, fluorescent lamp manufacturers, and HID (high intensity discharge) manufacturers.

Illumitex, announced the addition of Paul Hardej and Mathieu van de Sande to its team of horticulture lighting experts.

In an exclusive interview with LEDinside, Osram Opto speaks about its outlook for LEDs in the wearable application market. LEDinside’s latest report on IR LED market for surveillance applications reaches $ 120 million in 2015. Cree recalls some 700,000 LED T8 tube lights in U.S. and Canada. Philips Hue to be included in Apple HomeKit by September this year. A GE survey indicates the UK government is not doing enough to upgrade to more efficient electronic products.

A Cree distributor has voiced concerns over streetlight bidding requirements in Phoenix, the largest city in the State of Arizona, U.S., reported CBS 5.

A newly published study from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that improving the uniformity of lighting in parking lots can increase the sense of safety and security, as well as provide up to an additional 75% energy savings by lowering total light levels.

Global Tech LED, fast-growing south Florida-headquartered creator and manufacturer of energy-, money- and labor-saving LED new construction and retrofit outdoor, indoor commercial lighting systems, announces substantial further market and product-production expansion beginning this year.

Inspirato (www.inspirato.com), the world’s largest destination club, and global technology leader LG Electronics (www.lg.com) today launched an exclusive partnership that exemplifies the intersection of luxury travel and cutting-edge technology.