The Semicon West tradeshow in July will include a segment on LEDs & Solid-State Lighting with a series of presentations that will highlight the latest market trends and solutions for increasing manufacturing productivity and reducing costs.
Many of these issues were discussed in our recent article entitled "Bringing down the cost of high-volume LED production."
Organized by SEMI, the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and PV industries, Semicon West takes place from July 11-16 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, with the exhibits open on July 13-15.
A one-day program on Wednesday July 14 is entitled “More Lumens per Dollar: The Road to More Efficient HB LED Manufacturing" and covers both front-end (morning) and back-end (afternoon) issues. As discussed in the article referenced above, Applied Materials, KLA Tencor and Ultratech will be reporting progress on developing technologies for HB-LED manufacturing.
Other technical talks on significant developments in manufacturing technology include UCSB startup Inlustra on progress in nonpolar bulk GaN substrates for fewer defects; the Chinese startup Lattice Power on producing blue LEDs on silicon; Philips Lumileds on research progress in device efficiency; EVGroup on applying wafer-level packaging technologies from the MEMS sector to LEDs; Op-Test on appropriate bare-die testing measures that feed back real-world results to process controls; QD Vision on controlling light color with quantum dots, and Articulated Technologies on a minimalist approach to packaging by laminating die between ITO and copper strips. Strategies Unlimited will also give a market overview.
On Thursday July 15, SEMI will also host two meetings for executives and technologists from the HB-LED sector to connect and to continue discussion on next steps for moving the sector forward. The meetings will discuss the kinds of pre-competitive collaborative efforts that have enabled growth in IC, FPD and PV markets, including technology roadmaps and cost models. It is also intended to have a kick-off discussion on where agreement on some basics outside core company IP might simplify production and help improve yields.
Target topics are specific substrate and carrier requirements for HB-LEDs, and where they differ from the CMOS sector, to begin to work towards some consensus that would enable equipment and materials suppliers to provide the industry with more cost effective tools with better yields. For example, with larger and more costly wafers and die, does it make sense to mark the backside for traceability? What challenges will carrier wafers, now emerging for back-end processing, face in both automation and traceability?
