Jim Jenson, Vice President of marketing for Veeco's MOCVD business.

Jenson discusses the future of LED technology and it contributions to energy efficiency.

Jim Jenson is the Vice President of marketing for Veeco’s MOCVD business that serves the HB-LED industry. He has over 15 years of experience in the semiconductor, flat panel display and data storage industries.

In a recent PD&D fireside chat, Jenson discusses a brief history of Veeco Instruments, and the growing popularity of LED technology.

PD&D Design Daily: Can you provide a history/background information on Veeco? How did it get started in the LED industry?

Jim Jenson, Vice President, Marketing, Veeco Instruments: Veeco’s contribution to the LED industry began in late 2003 with the acquisition of the MOCVD equipment business of Emcore, which specialized in LED manufacturing called metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD).

This is the process of stacking layers of material that dictate the color and brightness of an LED device.

PD&D: What sort of innovations has it created to help increase the popularity of LEDs?

Jenson: Since that time, Veeco has taken MOCVD technology from R&D to high-volume LED manufacturing. Larger wafer sizes, automated wafer handlers and minimal system downtime allow Veeco to meet growing demands for mobile devices, backlit displays, industrial signage, general illumination and more.

Similar to Moore’s Law, the price of LED devices is decreasing as manufacturing efforts are perfected.

PD&D: What advantages of LEDs have helped create an increase in the demand for them?

Jenson: The current trend of lighting is using LEDs to backlight televisions and laptop screens. The long-life and high-brightness of LEDs maximizes the investment of these appliances and provides a reliable lighting solution due to their longevity as well as their dependability.

LED backlighting provides better light uniformity over the entire screen and shows truer colors, such as black areas, by being able to turn on and off individual lights behind the display panel as needed without affecting the quality or durability of the LED device. In addition, consumers love backlit TVs because they use less power, feature thinner screens and have no mercury.

PD&D: How do LEDs contribute to energy efficiency?

Jenson: LEDs are among the most popular type of ‘green energy’. Using significantly less energy than a traditional light bulb, LEDs have a shelf life ten times longer than compact fluorescents and far longer than typical incandescent bulbs.

Additionally, LEDs do not emit heat the way a traditional light bulb does, making them a suitable cost-saving and energy-saving application for cold-storage facilities, such as those found in supermarkets. The absence of mercury further makes LEDs an ideal environmentally-friendly lighting solution.

PD&D: What is causing the price of LEDs to go down?

Jenson: The cost of LEDs is directly related to the quantity of out-put but more importantly the quality of the devices. Previous MOCVD systems have lacked the uniformity and yield demands to enable LEDs to reach mass markets at a reasonable price.

The recently-introduced TurboDisc K465i GaN MOCVD System, capable of handling 4, 6 and 8” wafer sizes, enables the highest throughput of high-quality LED devices and lowers the cost of manufacturing for today’s high volume LED manufacturers.

By facilitating mass-production of high quality LEDs, new markets – such as general illumination – are able to be reached quickly and efficiently as a result of our automated MOCVD systems.

PD&D: Where does Veeco see itself in the future innovations/technologies of LEDs?

Jenson: Veeco’s main objective is to utilize our expertise to lower LED manufacturing costs by 4x and speed the adoption of this lighting solution for display backlighting and general illumination.

Veeco continues to invest heavily in R&D, a commitment enhanced by a recent $4 million Department of Energy grant, and continues to align industry roadmaps to ensure milestones are being reached in a timely fashion. The industry demands high brightness and high yield of quality LED devices on a mass-production scale.

Veeco’s current line of LED manufacturing systems address and exceed these expectations, as many of the top LED manufacturers have invested in Veeco’s manufacturing solutions. New systems are in development to further promote the broad adoption of energy-efficient LEDs. 

PD&D: What future technologies are possible with the popularity of LEDs?

Jenson: LEDs have the capability of surpassing current light applications as high volume manufacturing increases and the cost to consumers decrease. LEDs debuted in simple red and green notification lights on various appliances but have grown into applications such as mobile devices, street sign displays, such as traffic lights and crossing signals, automotive lighting and now dominate flat panel backlighting in television, laptop and computers.

The near future calls for LEDs to penetrate the general illumination market, allowing industries and households to benefit from the energy-saving and cost-reducing characteristics LED solutions provide.