News Article
Say Hello to Tiger Optics’ First Ever Ammonia Analyzer
The ALOHA analyzer has been designed specifically for HB LED-related applications
Tiger Optics, keeping pace with explosive growth in the High Brightness Light-Emitting Diode market, plans to introduce ALOHA, the world’s first ammonia analyzer designed and manufactured exclusively for HB LED-related applications, at the Semicon West trade show in San Francisco.
Tiger, a manufacturer of laser-based trace gas analyzers renowned for clean technology, already sells devices to HB-LED makers, tool manufacturers and the gas companies that supply ammonia, the favored source of nitrogen for the production of Gallium nitride (GaN) compound semiconductor wafers, a core component of HB LEDs.
“Since 2004, we’ve sold almost 100 units in ammonia service around the world,” said Lisa Bergson, Tiger Optics’ founder and chief executive. “We offer the most exacting and proven specifications in the field. With the surge in demand for HB LEDs, we realized that we could help our customers by designing an instrument tailored to their specific needs. We know that the purer the gas, the brighter the LEDs, and the bigger the margins for LED makers.”
High-brightness LEDs offer brighter, cooler light, with lower power consumption and longer life than traditional fluorescent lamps. Unlike fluorescents, HB LEDs use no mercury. Widely used in mobile appliances, such as cell phones, cameras, and the Apple iPad, HB LEDs are quickly gaining favor in larger devices. Demand is surging for HB LEDs to “backlight” the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) units of TV screens and computer monitors.
Indeed, “backlight” applications are projected to account for 56 % of the HB-LED market this year, according to Robert Steele, Director of the Optoelectronics Program with Strategies Unlimited, the market research firm in Mountain View, CA that produces the “Strategies in Light” annual HB-LED conference. Steele, writing for LEDs Magazine in March, projected worldwide HB-LED sales of $8.2 billion this year, up 52 % from 2009.
With its first-quarter sales, Tiger Optics surpassed its own goals for HB LEDs by 250 % and validated the bullish outlook of industry seers. Spurred by such customer demand, Tiger has developed the ALOHA analyzer, to deliver the compact footprint, sensitivity, robustness, low cost of maintenance, speed of response, and uninterrupted throughput that the HB-LED market demands and deserves.
