Avago aims for auto with robust AlInGaP chips
Semiconductor maker Avago Technologies has introduced a range of new AlInGaP-based LEDs designed for automotive lighting applications.
The robust single-chip designs of surface-mounted red, amber and orange emitters are tailored to tolerate harsh conditions and to produce a narrow viewing angle useful for turn signals and center height mounted stop-lights.
Avago says that the new product line, known as the HSMx-A46x series, has two significant advantages. One is that the LEDs can be soldered easily using conventional surface-mount techniques, thus keeping production costs low.
The LEDs are also very moisture-resistant, and can be kept in the open air for up to four weeks after being removed from their sealed packages.
As well as the automotive industry, Avago is aiming the new LEDs at applications in signal lighting.
Meanwhile, Avago s German rival Osram Opto Semiconductors claims to have dramatically improved the brightness of its white chips that are designed for use in car headlamps.
With LED-based headlamps only just becoming a commercial reality, this application is seen as a major opportunity for GaN chip manufacturers over the next few years.
Osram, whose "Ostar" LEDs have been certified for automotive use, claims that its new five-chip design delivers a typical brightness of 500 lm at a drive current of 700 mA.
A variation of Osram s Ostar lighting products, the five closely-packed chips are connected in series to deliver white light with a color temperature of 6000 K.
Osram says that the headlamp design, which will feature just three or four chips in the future, is already sampling, with volume production slated to begin at the end of next year.
