CrayoNano fast-tracks UV-C LED tech
Norwegian nanowire-LED firm signs agreements with SemiLEDs and two other un-named partners
Norwegian UV-C LED company CrayoNano has signed an agreement with SemiLEDs has signed an agreement to jointly develop the next generation UV-C LED for the disinfection market.
SemiLEDs is a well-known manufacturer of UV LEDs with capabilities for faster ramp-up to high-volume manufacturing of LEDs
“Following our agile business model and the increasing market demand, we must fast-track our development. SemiLEDs has over 15 years of industry expertise in chip processing and industrialization of UV LEDs. Their experience, capabilities and resources are complementary for the engineering of CrayoNano’s ground-breaking nanowire and hybrid material technology and enabling our development of new products based on it,” says Jo Uthus, CEO of CrayoNano.
This collaboration alleviates capacity and supply chain constraints that continue to choke the global supply.This partnership will add onto CrayoNano’s resources and capacities in Trondheim and de-risk the supply chain dependency, ensuring a successful market entry.
“Current UV-C LED products using conventional Sapphire based substrate are inefficient and high cost; the need for significant improvements in efficiency and performance is required for mass market adoption of UV-C LED for disinfection market," says Trung Doan, CEO, President and Chairman of SemiLEDs.
"One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures growth on graphene has shown unique characteristics for optoelectronic devices; CrayoNano’s nanowire and hybrid material technology is second to none, a real disruptor in this space. As a like-minded technology pioneer, SemiLEDs will contribute with engineering support and our unique patented know-how of chip processing, to bring the evolutions of CrayoNano UV-C chip products faster to the market and verify opportunities of further products,” says Trung Doan, CEO, president and chairman of SemiLEDs.
Under this agreement, CrayoNano and SemiLEDs will jointly develop products based on CrayoNano’s nanowire and hybrid material technology and SemiLEDs’ unique LED process technology, and process know-how to accelerate CrayoNano’s mid-to long term UV-C product roadmap. CrayoNano will own the products under the agreement, and innovations and R&D will remain in Trondheim, Norway.
IP deal and volume contract
CrayoNano has made further agreements with two un-named partners.
One is a licensing deal with a renowned LED industry player. Under this agreement, CrayoNano will have access to and use of more than 180 patents particularly in LED chip processing, fabrication, packaging, and manufacturing – supplementing CrayoNano’s patent portfolio covering nanowire and graphene-based technologies in general and UV-C LED products specifically.
The license agreement triples CrayoNano’s patent portfolio to more than 300 patents covering UV-C and LED technology. Under this IP license agreement, CrayoNano is expanding its Intellectual Property with complementary technology required for the industrialization of the company’s nanowire and hybrid material technology in mass-market, high-volume disinfecting UV-C LED products.
The second agreement is its first high-volume supplier contract, with an undisclosed manufacturer, for over one million units of UV-C LED packaged chips targeted for the water disinfection market.
The supplier is a specialist in semiconductor packaging technology and will manufacture a customised, high quality and performing package specifically for CrayoNano’s UV-C LED product series. The product specifications are co-designed with our key strategic customers, targeted at water disinfection in the point of use and point of entry applications. The product will be made available to selected key customers for a controlled market entry.
CrayoNano Fab2 Taiwan branch
To support it expansion, CrayoNano has established a branch in Taiwan in the city of Hsinchu with its well-established technology infrastructure and semiconductor community.
“By establishing in Taiwan, CrayoNano gets access to the talent and equipment in the region to execute the acceleration of our go-to-market plan. The proximity to supply-chain and R&D-partners are crucial for releasing CrayoNano’s disruptive nanotechnology-based UV-C LED products and will give us the agility to respond quickly to market changes,” says Uthus.
The CrayoNano Taiwan branch will be established as “CrayoNano Fab2” with a dedicated clean-room for full nanowire chip development, processing and packaging capabilities, allowing quick-turn technology transfers to high volume UV LED foundries.
“We are setting aggressive milestones for the CrayoNano fab2 to become fully operational during this year with Quality Assurance and testing, order fulfillment and technology development. As we are also extending our “Fab 1” operations in Trondheim, Norway with staff and equipment, we are positioning for massive scalability and growth in the next years to come,” says Uthus.
