In brief: LEDs-on-Si and WIN Semiconductors
Aixtron joins LED-on-silicon project
Aixtron has joined a Belarus-based project investigating LEDs fabricated on silicon substrates, a technology with the potential to dramatically reduce global energy consumption.
The three year program will investigate whether silicon can replace either silicon carbide or sapphire, both more expensive substrates, as the first choice for LED production. Success could lead to a reduction in LED prices, and consequently an increase in the LED market for general lighting applications.
Many nations today run LED-based solid state lighting (SSL) projects. Benefits of SSL include low energy consumption and infrequent replacement of the source, due to the very long lifetimes associated with LEDs.
The project, funded by the International Science and Technology Center in Russia, will be undertaken in the Laboratory of Semiconductor Optics, Stepanov Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
WIN Semiconductors sees rise in orders
Taiwan-based GaAs foundry operation WIN Semiconductors is seeing its orders rise, according to a report at Digitimes.com.
Total capacity of 6-inch GaAs wafers is forecast to reach 8700 units this year, up from 2300 last year, claims the report.
Chan-Shin Wu, WIN s CEO, is reported as saying that the company is now running at full capacity, with 85 device manufacturers using the foundry. He forecasts full-year revenue of NT$900 million ($26.7 million) this year.
The report adds that Wu expects monthly capacity to ramp from the current level of 720 6-inch wafer equivalents per month to 1600 by the end of this year.
