White LED Packages Use GaN-on-Si For Cost-Competitive Packaging
Toshiba is starting mass production of white LED packages that offer a cost-competitive alternative to current LED packaging options by eliminating the expensive sapphire substrate. The 1-W TL1F1 series measures 6.4 by 5.0 by 1.35 mm, emitting 112 lm at 350 mA. LED chips are typically produced on 2- to 4-in. wafers with an expensive sapphire substrate. Toshiba and Bridgelux have developed a process for manufacturing gallium-nitride (GaN) LEDs on 200-mm silicon wafers, which Toshiba has brought to a new production line at Kaga Toshiba Electronics Corp., a discrete products manufacturing facility in northern Japan. Deployment of Toshiba’s and Bridgelux’s new gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) technology to produce LED chips has allowed Toshiba to replace sapphire substrates and produce the chips on a more cost-competitive silicon substrate.