CONNECTING THE COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR COMMUNITY
April/May 2012 Volume 18 Number 3
Editor-in-Chief David Ridsdale
+44 (0)1923 690200
Editor Richard Stevenson PhD
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News Editor
Dr.Su Westwater
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Director of SOLAR & IC Publishing Jackie Cannon
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Design & Production Manager Mitchell Gaynor
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Circulation Director Jan Smoothy
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Subscriptions Manager Debbie Higham
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Chief Operating Officer Stephen Whitehurst
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Directors
Bill Dunlop Uprichard – CEO Stephen Whitehurst – COO Jan Smoothy – CFO Jackie Cannon, Scott Adams, Sharon Cowley, Sukhi Bhadal
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Such a switch could be tempting, given that the total value of the power electronics market is tipped to top $35 billion by the end of this decade. However, in Roussel’s opinion, making
a move from LEDs to high power diodes and transistors is anything but trivial – and I agree.
If LED chipmakers are to make this transformation, they will have to first learn how to grow high- quality epiwafers on large diameter silicon substrates. Stresses and strains cannot be left unchecked, because they would cause the wafer to bow and prevent it from being processed through silicon lines. Once that’s mastered, there is still much more to do – to develop the expertise to manufacture high-quality devices.
So it’s possible that LED manufacturers operating in ten years’ time would enjoy more success by developing new chip technologies that can catapult light bulbs to even higher performance levels. This would threaten to change a habit that goes back many generations: Consumers would no longer replacing a bulb because it is broken, but instead insert a new one because it is far better. If that happens, at least some chipmakers will be generating healthy revenues in the following decade.
Richard Stevenson PhD Editor
This may prompt chipmakers with spare capacity to move into new markets. One scenario, discussed at the recent and highly successful CS Europe conference by Philippe Roussel of Yole Développement, is a possible move by LED chipmakers to GaN-on-silicon power electronics.
debbie.higham@angelbc.com jan.smoothy@
angelbc.com mitch.gaynor@
angelbc.com sharon.cowley@
angelbc.com
How quickly this market will grow is a very important question. And according to IMS Research, it’s going to be very fast, with shipments in the LED lighting market more than doubling in 2013, and then growing through to 2020 by an average of just over 50 percent a year.
Unfortunately, by then this market will start to stagnate. At that stage the penetration of LED lighting, at least in the developed world, will be very high, and thanks to the very long lifetimes of the chips, changing a bulb will be a rare event.
robin.halder@angelbc.com shehzad.munshi@
angelbc.com There may be trouble ahead E:
tbrun@brunmedia.com E:
jjenkins@brunmedia.com
The LED industry is a midst of a blood bath as overcapacity drives down prices. For LED manufacturers caught up this, these times are tough and painful. But there is hope ahead in the promise of a rapidly growing lighting market, which should help to swell chip revenues for the next few years.
jackie.cannon@
angelbc.com david.ridsdale@angelbc.com
editorialview
April/May 2012
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 3
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