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. 

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.

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.

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.

Major advances in the field of organic electronics are currently revolutionising previously silicon-dominated semiconductor technology. Customised organic molecules enable the production of lightweight, mechanically flexible electronic components that are perfectly adapted to individual applications. Chemists at the Goethe University have now developed a new class of organic luminescent materials through the targeted introduction of boron atoms into the molecular structures. The compounds described in the professional journal "Angewandte Chemie" (Applied Chemistry) feature an intensive blue fluorescence and are therefore of interest for use in OLEDs.

The Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST), a program of the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has released a publication that proposes a new method of evaluating human perception of directly observed light source flicker. The publication, ASSIST recommends…Recommended Metric for Assessing the Direct Perception of Light Source Flicker, provides specific measurement procedures and calculations to objectively determine whether the amount of flicker from a light source is above or below the threshold of human perception. The metric is applicable to any waveform shape and frequency and is based on peer-reviewed laboratory and human factors experiments.

FUJIFILM Corporation (Fujifilm) and nano-electronics research institute, imec, have demonstrated full-color OLED by using their jointly-developed photoresist technology for organic semiconductors, a technology that enables submicron patterning. This breakthrough result paves the way to producing high-resolution and large organic Electroluminescent(EL) displays and establishing cost-competitive manufacturing methods.

Osram has obtained a favorable first instance judgment in a patent infringement lawsuit against the Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer ASUSTek Computer Osram had claimed that certain white LED such as those incorporated in first generation ASUS Nexus 7 tablets infringe its German patent DE 196 55 185. The District Court in Düsseldorf has awarded Osram an injunction and found that ASUS has to compensate Osram’s damage caused by the patent infringement. ASUS has filed an appeal against this judgment. Osram has initiated the provisional enforcement of the judgment against the provision of a security.

Shopping in a big department store can quickly devolve from a simple errand to an odyssey filled with frustration. What section do they put the bath towels in again? Is there a route to take that avoids the chemical attack of the perfume aisle on the way to kitchenware? Where do they put the on-sale jackets?

Sony is expanding its Life Space UX product series this month in Japan with the launch of a new Bluetooth speaker LED bulb.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced on May 5, 2015 the competitive selection of nine projects for solid-state lighting (SSL), in response to the SSL R&D funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001171. The one- to two-year projects will focus on the areas of Core Technology Research, which involves the application of fundamental scientific concepts to SSL technology; Product Development, which involves using the knowledge gained from basic or applied research to develop or improve commercially viable SSL materials, devices, or systems; and U.S. Manufacturing, which involves accelerating SSL technology adoption through manufacturing innovations and improvements that reduce costs and enhance quality and consistency.

Osram Opto has released new green LED products specifically designed for heart monitoring. The green LEDs for heart rate monitoring are probably similar to the ones used in Apple Watch for heart rate tracking. The mechanism used to measure heart rate is similar, in which it relies on measuring light absorbed by blood vessels and surrounding tissues. For further details about the new green LEDs please see Osram Opto’s full press release below:

Litecool (//www.litecool.co.uk), a innovator in LED packaging and thermal performance, announced today that it has filed a patent on a PCB-free LED package known as Lumen Block™. This new technology enables the assembly of LED arrays with no circuit board putting the LED package directly on the heat sink for ultimate thermal performance and cost reduction.

Imagine a future where our homes, businesses, and cities are powered completely by the most abundant and unlimited energy resource on earth: the sun. Harry Verhaar, the Philips Lighting Head of Global Public and Government Affairs, is doing just that by creating a blueprint for a future lit by solar-powered, energy-efficient lights. In 2003, Verhaar started the global initiative to phase out inefficient lighting technology in favor of LED lights and has since led Philips to become a world leader in the solar-LED market. With the recent release of PHILIPS NEW LINE OF CONSUMER SOLAR-LED LUMINAIRES, we spoke with Verhaar about the future of solar light and how Philips is playing a role in such an important endeavor.

OLEDWorks, the leading U.S. OLED light engine and panel manufacturing company announced that it reached an agreement  with Royal Philips , the global leader in lighting, to buy selected parts of its OLED light source components business.  

Research by scientists at The University of Manchester has revealed that the color of light has a major impact on how our body clock measures the time of day.

Technavio, a tech-focused research firm, has published a new report on the global OLED material market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.5% from 2015-2019.

A Michigan federal jury on Wednesday granted a favorable ruling to Everlight Electronics Corp. by declaring two of Nichia’s US LED patents to be invalid, according to Law360.

Most LED manufacturers were displaying UV or IR LED related applications at SPIE Photonics West, and many of these new applications covered LED chips, dies, package and other products.

Japanese LED manufacturer Yokowo has launched Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) Chip Scale Package (CSP) substrate to lower LED package costs, reported Nikkei recently.

Two years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook deemed OLED screens color saturation as “awful,” and lauded Retina display resolution and color performance as far superior, but this all might be changing for the company’s future iPads.

OLED taillights BMW showcased in its conceptual M4 car model at CES 2015 will be making its way to new BMW M series cars by 2016, according to latest market rumors.

The efficient conversion of light into electricity plays a crucial role in many technologies, ranging from cameras to solar cells. It also forms an essential step in data communication applications, since it allows for information carried by light to be converted into electrical information that can be processed in electrical circuits. Graphene is an excellent material for ultrafast conversion of light to electrical signals, but so far it was not known how fast graphene responds to ultrashort flashes of light.

Following up on promising results from pilot work, researchers at the VA Boston Healthcare System are testing the effects of light therapy on brain function in Veterans with Gulf War Illness.

Corning Incorporated today announced a collaborative agreement with OLEDWorks to develop unique, flexible, and conformable OLED lighting solutions using Corning® Willow® Glass as an integrated substrate.

The future of lighting will be laser, said Nobel Laureate in Physics Shuji Nakamura and fellow colleague Professor Steven DenBaars of University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) at an exclusive forum hosted by Taiwanese leading chip LED manufacturer Epistar on Wednesday at the company headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

AIXTRON SE, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of deposition systems for the semiconductor industry, today announced that it has acquired privately held Silicon Valley-based PlasmaSi, Inc. effective 1 April 2015. The purchase price is US $16 million and will be paid in cash.

A fully optimized production concept for LED components and light modules in which all the process steps are coordinated with one another could give rise to completely new types of LED and also reduce their manufacturing costs. The declared objective of the “InteGreat” project is therefore to research new approaches to the production of high-efficiency light emitting diodes along the entire production process, to remove the boundaries between the individual value-added stages and as a result to create new functionality and high flexibility. 

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, today announced that the City of Los Angeles (LA) will become the first city in the world to control its street lighting through an advanced Philips management system that uses mobile and cloud-based technologies. The new technology confirms LA’s Bureau of Street Lighting as a trailblazer in next generation LED street lighting with a new solution that saves energy, reduces maintenance and provides quality lighting that makes streets safer for LA residents. The technology also supports Mayor Garcetti’s Great Streets initiative, promoting the revitalization of neighborhoods through more pedestrian-friendly streets for LA’s citizens.