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    1. LEDs & SSL Design
    2. Packaged LEDS

    Dow Electronic Materials acquires LED phosphor maker Lightscape Materials

    May 18, 2012
    Dow has expanded its portfolio of materials for the LED market with the acquisition of Lightscape’s specialty phosphor technology.

    Dow Electronic Materials has acquired Lightscape Materials, Inc., a private, US-based research company with intellectual property in specialty phosphor technology for the LED market. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

    Major investors in Lightscape Materials included Wisepower, a Korean company, and Silicon-Valley based SRI International, a nonprofit R&D organization. Lightscape was a spin-off from SRI.

    The acquisition enables Dow to add phosphor technology to its existing LED technologies portfolio. In October of 2011, Dow announced the formation of a new LED Technologies business segment to focus on current and future demand for LEDs in the solid-state lighting market.

    In addition to the newly-added phosphor materials, Dow’s portfolio includes metal-organic CVD precursors, which are used to deposit LED layer structures from which the devices are fabricated. Other products used in LED manufacturing include photoresists, related ancillaries for lithographic processing, metallization processes for electroplating, and pads and slurries for chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP).

    "The novel phosphor compositions developed by Lightscape Materials enable improved quality, reliability and output color of LED light-based systems," said Leo Linehan, global general manager for Dow Electronic Materials’ Growth Technologies business.

    "We look forward to helping customers incorporate these advanced phosphors into their processes, while providing the local service, support and supply they have come to expect from Dow." Linehan added, "We are equally pleased to have the expertise of Lightscape co-founders Gerard Frederickson and Yongchi Tian as part of our LED Technologies team."

    Wisepower CEO Gi-Ho Park said, "Dow’s investments in LED-related materials and their global marketing reach was a factor in our decision to choose Dow [as the purchaser of Lightscape]," said Park. "Lightscape is a unique phosphor player capable of delivering novel phosphors crucial to high-CRI LED packages."

    SRI Ventures vice president Norman Winarsky said, "It is gratifying to see SRI’s technology develop into products that meet important market needs. Lightscape, the latest success in SRI’s series of spin-off ventures, is built from a strong legacy of lighting innovations that include the first color TV phosphors."