Monocrystal, a global leader in synthetic sapphire growing and processing, will exhibit world’s first 300 kg KY sapphire crystal at Semicon China 2016 in Shanghai, March 15-17 at booth #2321, together with its traditional products for LED, consumer electronics and optics.

AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA; NASDAQ: AIXG), a worldwide provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that one of Korea’s leading electronics companies, LG Innotek has selected a AIX G5 WW (Warm-Wall) reactor for the development of silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxial wafers aimed mainly at power devices for automotive and renewable energy applications. The system configured for 8x6-inch substrates was delivered in the fourth quarter 2015.

Luxury car brands often incorporate innovative car light designs, such as dynamic smart LED headlights or eye-catching tail light designs to give their cars a more distinctive look, but super race car Buggati Chiron’s single LED light strip taillight design had some in the industry scratching their heads.

A group of researchers from the UK, including academics from Cardiff University, has demonstrated the first practical laser that has been grown directly on a silicon substrate.

OSRAM, a 100 year-old, EUR 5.1 billion (US $5.6 billion) /year German company, is one of the largest light manufacturers in the world.

Taiwan’s largest LED die manufacturer Epistar has filed a patent infringement complaint against Epileds in Taiwan’s courts for selling infringing products to downstream suppliers, the company announced in a recent press release.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that ANSI Accredited Standards Committee C78 reaffirmed six standards now available for purchase on the NEMA website. 

According to statistics, the majority of accidents occur at dusk or at night – poor visibility is often the trigger. Intelligent headlights adapt to the current traffic situation, and can be a remedy. In collaboration with industry partners, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a high-resolution illumination system with more than 1,000 LED pixels: It offers considerably more options for precise light distribution than previous solutions have and is also energy efficient.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Apple a flexible OLED display patent recently, reported MacRumors.

Li-Fi inventor Professor Herald Haas from University of Edinburgh, UK has been trying to convince the Indian government about the advantages of using Li-Fi integrated solar panels, according to a recent LiveMint report.

A team led by Prof. Tae-Woo Lee (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering) at POSTECH have fabricated highly-efficient, solution-processed fluorescence organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using pure-organic thermally-activated delayed-fluorescence (TADF) emitters. The research was published in Advanced Materials journal. This research is selected as a most significant paper and open to the public as a "Layman's abstract".

With just a tiny tweak, researchers at Kyushu University greatly increased the device lifetime of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that use a recently developed class of molecules to convert electricity into light with the potential for increased efficiency at a lower cost in future displays and lighting.

LED A-line lamps surged 226.7% during 4Q15 on a year-over-year basis. Meanwhile, halogen A-line lamps posted a year-over-year increase of 8.7%, and incandescent A-line lamps increased by 7.8 % while compact fluorescents lamps (CFL) dropped 56%. Compared to 3Q15, LED shipments rose 18.4 percent, halogen A-lines increased 0.8%, and CFL shipments saw a quarter-to-quarter increase of 6.5%. In contrast, incandescent A-line lamp shipments decreased 16.7% on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

Our friends at OLEDinfo have compiled news from several Korean sources confirming total investments in Samsung’s upcoming OLED TV panel fab might be higher than previous reports, and sheds light on the OLED technology the company will be utilizing.

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have for the first time experimentally demonstrated that copper nanophotonic components can operate successfully in photonic devices - it was previously believed that only gold and silver components have the required properties for this. Copper components are not only just as good as components based on noble metals, but, unlike them, they can easily be implemented in integrated circuits using industry-standard fabrication processes. "This is a kind of revolution - using copper will solve one of the main problems in nanophotonics," say the authors of the paper. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nano Letters.

NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) for current conditions in North America fell back in February, dropping to 44.4 from 50 the previous month as more panelists reported conditions eroded than improved. Compared to January, smaller shares of the survey panel reported both that business conditions improved (22% in February compared to 41% in January) and that they deteriorated (33% in February compared to 41% in January). A plurality of panelists (44%) claimed conditions were unchanged in February. A considerably smaller 18% held this view a month ago.

SoraaLaser, a world leader in commercialization of visible laser light sources, will present its innovative light source technology at Strategies in Light conference, March 1-3, in Santa Clara, CA. These advanced light sources feature unique performance properties such as collimated output and waveguide delivery, and provide compelling advantages over LED, OLED, and legacy sources in specialty lighting.

Three major Pilot Lines, which help SMEs take photonics technologies from lab into market, have been launched today by the Photonics Public Private Partnership (PPP). The Pilot Lines mean that thousands of high tech SMEs in Europe - who often lack access to advanced, cost-intensive infrastructures and expertise needed to manufacture new and innovative products – will be able to take their good ideas, scale-them up and validate them with the first customers for commercial production. The Pilot Lines will focus on health applications, flexible organic light-emitting diodes and sensors for the detection of chemicals in gas and liquids. 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a report on the performance of newly commercially available flicker meters. The purpose of the study was simply to report on the availability and performance of these meters. Flicker is garnering increased attention across the lighting community, and gaining a better understanding of why flicker matters and how much it varies among lighting products is becoming more and more essential to proper lighting design.

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a water purification plant that provides clean water far beyond the reach of the electrical grid - thanks to solar cells. With the help of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus, these small and portable solar cell stations have now been placed across rural Bangladesh.

Osram is putting the focus on sustainable growth and wants to take even greater advantage of the potential offered by semiconductor-based lighting technologies. Prior to that, another important strategic step, the carve-out process of the general lighting lamps business, got under way. Given Osram’s strong financial standing, the company is proposing a dividend of €0.90 per share at Tuesday’s AGM. In parallel, Osram has in the meantime also started a share buyback program of up to €500 million.

AquiSense Technologies (Europe) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of AquiSense Technologies LLC, has been selected to participate in the Biocontamination Integrated Control for Wet Systems for Space Exploration (BIOWYSE) project.

Pixelligent, the leader in high-index advanced materials, announced today its 2016 predictions for high refractive index applications in the electronics markets that it serves.

Following on from the BMW i8, the BMW 7 Series is another range of models from the Munich car manufacturer that Osram is now equipping with a laser module for the headlights. “We have succeeded in developing this new technology to such an extent that we have now taken it from a niche vehicle to a mass produced car – an important step in terms of market penetration”, said Hans-Joachim Schwabe, CEO Specialty Lighting at Osram. “With laser light as the next stage in automotive lighting we are once again demonstrating our competence in lighting systems and underlining our leading position in LED and laser technologies.”

Philips and its Chinese distributor Dalitek have ended their partnership.In a recent statement, Philips highlighted three major reasons behind the termination:

Lighting Science®, a global leader in next-generation LED lighting solutions, today announced that it received 35 new patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2015. These new patents – covering the fields of biologically adjusted and corrected lighting, light spectrum control, micro-electric optics, and advances in roadway infrastructure and other lighting fixtures – demonstrate that Lighting Science continues to set the global standard for light emitting diode (LED) and related innovation. “This new set of patents expands Lighting Science’s vast portfolio of issued patents to 366, with many focused on spectrum control and its effect on human health. Our research and development team, led by founder and Chief Technology Officer, Fred Maxik, set a high standard for innovation in 2015 of which we are extremely proud,” said Lighting Science CEO Ed Bednarcik.

The worst is thought to be over as 2015 comes to an end, a quick overview of developments in the past year show product prices have reached new historical lows in the past year. The elimination race has escalated with restructures becoming the new norm in the industry.

Seoul Semiconductor a global leading LED components manufacturer from Korea, and the Austrian company LUMITECH, a leading manufacturer of components for Human Centric Lighting announced a licensing agreement for PI-LED technology patents. These patents govern the industrial trade mark rights of LUMITECH’s PI-LED technology, which can implement tunable white from 2.500 to 7.000K with perfect colour rendering in a high and constant efficiency. Based on the license agreement, Seoul Semiconductor has the right to offer tunable white components based on the leading PI-LED technology, worldwide.

A research team from Sheffield University has recently published there latest findings of growing LEDs on semi-polar GaN or sapphire on Applied Physics Letter recently.

A sharp eyed Twitter user has spotted a code implying Li-Fi functions might be incorporated in later generation Apple iOS, reportedTechRadar and other media.