The Idaho Office of Energy Resources has applied for stimulus funds to enable Micron Technology, based in Boise, Idaho, to develop prototype LED lighting modules, according to an article on the Idaho Statesman website.
Micron manufactures semiconductor ICs including DRAM chips, and also produces LED drivers. The article says that the company plans to begin work on prototype LED lighting modules in the next three months. It will produce the prototypes by the first half of 2010, and full production is expected by 2011.
Mark Durcan, Micron's chief operating officer, is quoted as saying that the company's mass-manufacturing experience in semiconductors will allow it to dramatically lower the costs of LEDs by developing the same kind of output efficiencies that have made Micron a leader in its primary field i.e. DRAM.
The Comments section on this article make interesting reading…the majority of comments suggest this is not a great way to spend stimulus funds.
Another article by the same author, Rocky Barker, discusses other Idaho-related LED activity, including LED maker SemiLEDs, which is headquartered in Boise, with manufacturing in Taiwan.
