The white LED is an indispensable backlight source for liquid crystal displays such as LCD TVs and mobile phones. Recently, LEDs have received increasing attention as light sources for lighting fixtures. A white LED made up of blue LEDs and phosphors and widely marketed today was introduced in 1996. Originally used as a component to realize the colorization of mobile phone LCDs, the white LED market continued to expand and technological innovations developed rapidly. Now white LEDs have been used as the main components of various products. At first, only a small number of companies were engaged in the white LED business, but now many companies have joined the competition.
After the process of white LED, can we form a huge market with broad development prospects? The author summarizes the development history of white LED according to the relevant reports published by Nikkei Electronics. As the first serial of the series, this article first introduces the part of the report published on February 25, 2002, “Breaking the monopoly pattern, white LED enters the competition eraâ€. This article reports the white LEDs that were almost “exclusive monopoly†before. Changes in the supply system. (The company name, ownership and position, plan, etc. are all the cases when the article is published)
Nichia Chemical Industries began offering white light-emitting diode (LED) patents to other companies.
From a de facto exclusive monopoly to a market where multiple vendors compete for price and performance - after 2002, the development of white LEDs became busy. Many manufacturers began to supply white LEDs with their own products and prices. Terminal manufacturers can make comparison choices from them. The white LED becomes a "normal part."
What directly reflects this change is the patent strategy of Nichia Chemical, which has been monopolizing LED supply. The company has not allowed other companies to use GaN-based LEDs and related patents for white LEDs based on such LEDs. However, after entering January 2002, the company even provided Citizen Electronics with a white LED patent license. At present, the patents provided by Nichia are limited to the combination of the use of phosphors and blue LEDs, that is, the technology required to manufacture white LED components using GaN-based LEDs (the use of these patents cannot produce GaN-based LEDs). Even so, the company's attitude has changed dramatically.
Based on the blue LEDs and phosphors provided by Nichia Chemical, Citizen Electronics develops white LED products using its own packaging technology. Nichia has expanded its product line by accepting its packaged white LED OEMs from Citizen Electronics, which has the advantage of packaging technology.
Nichia said in explaining the licensing agreement, "The reason is that the white LED market is expected to expand." The company believes that if the market is about to expand, if you continue to insist on monopoly supply, you will miss the opportunity.
a monopoly pattern collapses
In fact, the white LED market has begun to undergo tremendous changes. For terminal manufacturers, the white LEDs combined with GaN-based blue LEDs and phosphors provided by Nichia are almost the only choice. Toyota Synthetic and the US Cree, which previously had a three-legged relationship with Nichia in the blue LED market, intend to formally enter the market.
Toyota Synthetic has started mass production of white LEDs since December 2001. "The monthly production of white LEDs is expected to reach tens of millions after one year" (the company). It seems that it is necessary to establish a production system equivalent to Nichia. Cree also began sampling GaN-based LEDs for white LEDs with optical output power increased to more than twice that of the company's original products.
In addition to Nichia, Citizen Electronics, Toyota Synthetic and Cree, Taiwanese LED manufacturers are also looking for opportunities to get involved in the white LED market. For example, Taiwan's Lite-On Electronics is scheduled to launch white LEDs in 2002. Japanese manufacturers and Taiwanese LED manufacturers are actively testing and testing white LEDs using GaN-based LEDs. “Taiwan manufacturers have introduced about 100 MOCVD (Organic Metal Chemical Vapor Deposition) devices for the manufacture of GaN-based luminescent components, the basic components of white LEDs. If fully loaded, the supply will not be lower than Nichia and Toyota Synthetic (the head of marketing for LED manufacturers), the mass production system seems to have been established.
Products with doubled light efficiency are coming soon
LED manufacturers have been involved in the white LED market because white LEDs have large-scale markets such as mobile phones, PDAs and lighting fixtures. "In 2002, it will increase from 200 million in 2001 to 600 million, and will increase to 1.2 billion in 2003" (Citizen Electronics). LED manufacturers believe that the market will soon expand.
The reason for the expansion of the market is the increase in luminous efficiency and the decline in unit prices. A 30 lm/W product with nearly twice the luminous efficiency is coming soon. Nichia Chemical plans to start sampling in April 2002 and mass production in June 2002. Toyota Synthetic is scheduled to begin mass production of the same products before the end of 2002. For terminal manufacturers that have adopted white LEDs, it is expected to increase the brightness by about twice as much as the original product, or to reduce the power consumption by about half while maintaining the original brightness. The above is part of the relevant report of Nikkei Electronics on February 25, 2002. (Reporter: Okubo Satoshi, Nikkei Electronics)
The number of manufacturers of white LEDs has increased dramatically, leading to more intense competition. The focus of competition is on the brightness of the unit price and the brightness of the unit power consumption. The white LED is used from the backlight of the color LCD panel of the mobile phone. Not only will the use of PDAs, personal computers and lighting fixtures with a large amount of white LEDs be expanded, but conventional products such as mobile phones equipped with white LEDs are also expected to increase brightness and reduce power consumption.
Edit: Sophy
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