The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the competitive selection of three projects for solid-state lighting (SSL), in response to the SSL Manufacturing R&D funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0000561. The two-year projects will focus on achieving significant cost reductions while maintaining quality by improving manufacturing equipment, processes, or monitoring techniques. Total DOE funding for the three projects is $7.1 million and leverages an additional $5 million in private-sector funding from the three companies.
This is the third round of DOE investments in solid-state lighting manufacturing projects. These efforts are part of DOE's initiative to accelerate the adoption of SSL technology through improvements that reduce costs while maintaining product quality and performance. They will play an important role in encouraging U.S.-based manufacturing of SSL technologies—creating jobs, boosting exports, and promoting America's role as a global leader in energy efficiency.
The selections are listed below (final details are subject to negotiations):
Recipient: Cree, Inc. (Durham, NC)
Title: Low-Cost LED Luminaire for General Illumination
Summary: This project plans to develop an optimized LED fixture design for efficient manufacture that can be readily integrated into buildings and outdoor applications and uses fewer raw materials—all without compromising the performance of the light source. The project builds upon Cree's existing LED platform and has the potential to quickly reduce the cost of producing an already highly efficient LED fixture and allowing it to compete with existing fluorescent systems. The goal is to efficiently provide warm-white light over a minimum lifetime of 50,000 hours, while reducing the cost of manufacturing the major components and assembled products.
Recipient: KLA-Tencor (Milpitas, CA)
Title: High Throughput, High Precision Hot Testing Tool for HBLED Wafer Level Testing
Summary: This project plans to remove one of the major barriers to the adoption of high-efficiency LED lighting—namely, the difficulty of providing low-cost white light that has consistent color quality and brightness. Current practice is to separate LEDs according to color during the manufacturing process in order to maximize product yield. Unfortunately, this creates variation in light output and color quality of the product, leading to reduced performance and increased costs. KLA-Tencor seeks to improve the color consistency of LEDs by utilizing a measurement tool during manufacturing that reduces the variation in LED quality, improving performance and reducing cost.
Recipient: k-Space Associates (Dexter, MI)
Title: Optical Metrology for Volume OLED Manufacturing
Summary: Most monitoring of the OLED layers during the manufacturing process currently takes place after the fact, so that if problems are detected there's little or no chance to change the production inputs. This project plans to create a more efficient manufacturing process by building on KSA's existing optical monitoring technology to enable high-precision measurements of OLED layers during mass production. The tool will measure layer thickness and composition to ultimately control the efficiency, color, and lifetime of OLEDs. This development, a first for the industry, will serve as a platform for future large‐scale OLED production facilities, paving the way for a strong U.S. presence in OLED manufacturing.
Source: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/fundopps_060712.html
Nanosys and 3M to Develop Quantum Dot Technology for LCDs
Palo Alto, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn., June 6, 2012 – Nanosys Inc. and the Optical Systems Division of 3M Company are joining technologies to provide wide color gamut technology for consumer electronic displays, allowing Liquid Crystal Displays (“LCDs”) to display 50 percent more color.
3M and Nanosys will work together to commercialize Nanosys’ Quantum Dot Enhancement Film™ (“QDEF”) technology. QDEF is a drop-in film that LCD manufacturers can integrate with existing production processes. It utilizes the light emitting properties of quantum dots to create an ideal backlight for LCDs — one of the most critical factors in the color and efficiency performance of LCDs.
“Combining the world class-technology and materials expertise of Nanosys with the engineering, design and supply chain capabilities of 3M will unlock a powerful new color viewing experience for consumers,” said Jim Bauman, Vice President of the Optical Systems Division at 3M
Over the years, 3M technologies have enabled better LCD performance. However, color performance of LCD’s has gone largely unchanged. Current LCDs are limited to displaying 35 percent or less of the visible color spectrum. This means the viewing experience on an LCD is vastly different than what a person sees in the real world. Wide color gamut displays will allow consumers to enjoy more visceral, more immersive and truer to life color.
“We are working together to improve an area of display performance that has been largely neglected for the last decade,” said Jason Hartlove, President and CEO of Nanosys. “Improving color performance for LCDs with drop-in solutions will bring a stunning new visual experience to the consumer and a competitive advantage to the LCD manufacturer against new display technologies such as OLED. Working together with 3M and utilizing their outstanding design and supply chain capabilities will allow our QDEF technology to be widely deployed across all product segments and will ensure availability to all customers.”
A quantum dot, which is 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, can emit light at a very precise wavelength. The ability to control the spectral output of a quantum dot allows QDEF to create an ideal white backlight specifically designed for LCDs. Trillions of these quantum dots are packaged into a thin film that fits inside an LCD backlight unit. QDEF replaces a similar film already found inside LCD backlights, which means that adding QDEF to manufacturing processes requires no new equipment or process changes for the LCD manufacturer.
About Nanosys, Inc.
Nanosys, Inc. is an advanced material architect, harnessing the fundamental properties of inorganic materials into process ready systems that can integrate into existing manufacturing to produce vastly superior products in lighting, electronic displays, and energy storage. For more information, visit www.nanosysinc.com.
About 3M™ Company
3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in sales, 3M employs about 84,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 65 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.
3M and Nanosys will work together to commercialize Nanosys’ Quantum Dot Enhancement Film™ (“QDEF”) technology. QDEF is a drop-in film that LCD manufacturers can integrate with existing production processes. It utilizes the light emitting properties of quantum dots to create an ideal backlight for LCDs — one of the most critical factors in the color and efficiency performance of LCDs.
“Combining the world class-technology and materials expertise of Nanosys with the engineering, design and supply chain capabilities of 3M will unlock a powerful new color viewing experience for consumers,” said Jim Bauman, Vice President of the Optical Systems Division at 3M
Over the years, 3M technologies have enabled better LCD performance. However, color performance of LCD’s has gone largely unchanged. Current LCDs are limited to displaying 35 percent or less of the visible color spectrum. This means the viewing experience on an LCD is vastly different than what a person sees in the real world. Wide color gamut displays will allow consumers to enjoy more visceral, more immersive and truer to life color.
“We are working together to improve an area of display performance that has been largely neglected for the last decade,” said Jason Hartlove, President and CEO of Nanosys. “Improving color performance for LCDs with drop-in solutions will bring a stunning new visual experience to the consumer and a competitive advantage to the LCD manufacturer against new display technologies such as OLED. Working together with 3M and utilizing their outstanding design and supply chain capabilities will allow our QDEF technology to be widely deployed across all product segments and will ensure availability to all customers.”
A quantum dot, which is 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, can emit light at a very precise wavelength. The ability to control the spectral output of a quantum dot allows QDEF to create an ideal white backlight specifically designed for LCDs. Trillions of these quantum dots are packaged into a thin film that fits inside an LCD backlight unit. QDEF replaces a similar film already found inside LCD backlights, which means that adding QDEF to manufacturing processes requires no new equipment or process changes for the LCD manufacturer.
About Nanosys, Inc.
Nanosys, Inc. is an advanced material architect, harnessing the fundamental properties of inorganic materials into process ready systems that can integrate into existing manufacturing to produce vastly superior products in lighting, electronic displays, and energy storage. For more information, visit www.nanosysinc.com.
About 3M™ Company
3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in sales, 3M employs about 84,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 65 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.
