NEWS ANALYSIS


Plessey thrusts LEDs into the market


As Plessey Semiconductors scales up commercial GaN-on-silicon LED production, where next for the UK technology pioneer?


IN APRIL THIS YEAR, UK-based semiconductor manufacturer, Plessey Semiconductors, sampled the industry’s first commercially available GaN on 6-inch silicon LEDs amid claims of a massive capacity ramp.


As promised, a raft of new, higher power LEDs has just been released and company executives have told Compound Semiconductor to expect much more. In the coming months, even higher power LEDs will be up for grabs, with the company then supplying its


GaN-on-silicon LEDs for incandescent replacement lamps next year. Come mid-2014, the company intends to move up the supply chain and, with an existing strategic partner, build lighting products, as well as LEDs. And by the end of that year, plans to install ten MOCVD reactors at the company’s facility in Plymouth should be well underway. The intentions are ambitious; can Plessey really deliver?


“Releasing the entry level product generated a lot of interest in our LEDs particularly for backlighting and indicator


applications, and other custom LED designs,” explains chief operating officer, Barry Dennington. “Customers have been interested in the GaN-on- silicon technology – it gives significant cost benefits – and that has opened up opportunities for us to quote new LEDs in the consumer space as well as signage.”


“There are literally hundreds of different customer requests and market applications, it’s a case of picking the right opportunity,” he adds. Right now, the company is intent on demonstrating


High quality growth of LEDs on silicon is difficult but with IP from Cambridge University spin-off CamGaN, UK, Plessey is delivering commercial grade products


24 www.compoundsemiconductor.net August / September 2013


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