The "China path" of special LED light source: from slow development to major breakthrough

As a strategic new industry in China, semiconductor lighting is of great significance to energy conservation and environmental protection. China is a big country in the production, use and export of semiconductor lighting products worldwide. However, in the field of special LED light source, the market has been monopolized by foreign companies because of the high technical threshold.

Recently, the "super power high light density multi spectral special LED light source technology and application" jointly declared by Xiong Daxi team of the optical health center of the Suzhou Medical Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Suzhou science and medicine world Kai semiconductor limited liability company jointly won the first prize of the technical invention award of the China Optical Engineering Society.

Focusing on the LED application of the high-end market

Because of the huge market potential, the application of LED related industries is expanding rapidly from general lighting to almost all fields. Unlike general lighting, more and more attention has been paid to lighting applications in some special fields, and the market prospects are becoming more and more promising, and these applications depend on special LED light sources.

Xiong Daxi indicated that special LED light source is a kind of LED light source that pursues more light energy in small luminous area. It requires a high power and power density of the single mode group, and the intensity is similar to that of the laser. The special LED light source technology started in 2000, the development is very slow, the domestic companies have almost no production, but foreign, only OSRAM and the United States and langminas two high-tech starting point companies can provide.

The reason is that at that time, there was a lack of large size vertical structure LED chips at the time. At the same time, special packaging technology, heat dissipation technology, optical design and integration technology were not passed.

Since 2009, in order to break through the monopoly of foreign manufacturers in this field, Xiong Da Xi led the team with the strong support of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiangsu, Suzhou and high tech zones, focusing on the research and development and industrialization of special LED light sources, and made a new approach to the research and development of the design and manufacturing technology of super power LED light source. Great breakthroughs.

The research team has established the technical advantages, and combined with Suzhou science and medicine Shi Kai Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. to carry out the industrialization work and provide a solution for the ultra bright light density LED chip light source.

Xiong Daxi said: "we developed the special LED technology, focusing on the high-end and special market of LED applications, using different technical routes, producing a series of original technology and core patents, breaking the monopoly of foreign products, helping our country to lead the foreign countries in the field of new subdivision and enhance the core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry."

A new way of LED chip light source technology

With the efforts of R & D personnel, the scientific research team broke through various obstacles and finally formed a technical route with independent intellectual property rights.

Xiong Daxi said: "we have developed a 'quasi single chip' encapsulation technology for special LED light sources. We have developed a" quasi single chip "encapsulation technology, using a special technology, using a small size vertical structure chip to encapsulate it into a high power module.

This technology can not only produce high light output on the same luminous surface, but also can use small chips flexibly to enlarge the luminous area and increase the total light output.

"The maximum electrical power of the langminas single mode unit in the United States is less than 150W, and our single mode power can reach more than 600W. Foreign companies are based on the light source of a single chip technology. The luminescent surface is generally rectangular, and our chip, the luminous surface can be configured flexibly, and can match a particular optical system into any shape. Xiong Daxi said. At present, the product based on ultra high optical density integrated package module technology has become the mainstream of the market.

In previous special LED light sources, foreign manufacturers could only provide white light, or a monochromatic light in red, blue, and green. The team has developed a multi spectral high light density module in the face of the demand for spectrum in special fields such as biomedicine.

On a tiny 2.5 mm * 2.5 millimeter luminous surface, narrow band light of 16 wavelengths can be integrated, and the wavelength of each light can be arbitrarily selected. This technology uses electronic control instead of mechanical control, greatly simplifies the structure of all kinds of optical instruments, and brings revolutionary changes to many kinds of biological medical instruments, such as high end fluorescence microscope and ophthalmic full spectrum eye fundus detector.

At the same time, the team also studied the base material of the highly conductive vertical structure chip, the selection of high thermal solid crystal material, the thickness control of the solid layer, the baking temperature and time control, and the design of the package substrate. Based on these technology combinations, the thermal resistance of the 600W module can be as low as 0.10K/W and is in the leading level in the world.

Subdivision market is applied

Since the development of research and development in 2009, after years of improvement and accumulation, the product launched by the team has been gradually popularized in the market since 2010, and has been widely used in some segments of the market, some of which have become the mainstream products.

"The global 60%~70% stage lighting is produced in China with a total output value of hundreds of billions of yuan, and there are about 800 manufacturers. The former high-power density and high-power LED special light source was mainly provided by the American company. Since 2012, our products have entered the market and accumulated 200 customers, and the products in the United States have been marginalized. Xiong Daxi said. Not only that, the projection and display market, the long distance investment and the long distance lighting market have appeared in the Suzhou Medical Institute.

In 2014, under the support of the "resplendent plan" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the team officially launched the development of ultra - long - range lighting. Last year, the team developed a projable light based on high power and high brightness LED light, 3 of which had been successfully applied to a logistic support unit; the small LED searchlights produced in mass production had been used in the Kunming airport repellent warning car.

"Special LED light sources play an important role in modern molecular biology research and medical lighting, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation physiotherapy," Xiong Daxi said. Among them, the light source based on narrow band and multi spectrum has been applied to the multi band fluorescence microscope. In 2017, 11 sets are produced in small batch. The super resolution structural light microscope based on the special light source with high light density has been developed successfully. The imaging quality and imaging speed reach the international leading level. The cost is far lower than the competitor and the market prospect. It's very wide. "

Now, the team also aims at the emerging direction of light health based on LED. Xiong Daxi told reporters that the LED light health project includes light health defense, early prevention and detection of disease, light treatment of disease, rehabilitation, and light health therapy. In 2016, the National Key Laboratory of semiconductor lighting combined with the Suzhou Medical Institute, the center for light health research in Suzhou, is committed to developing and applying the special LED light source in the field of light health.

"At present, we have developed a number of infrared physiotherapy instruments based on infrared LED chips, including handheld and vertical, and three horizontal styles that are being processed and installed. Special LED with its unique advantages, especially suitable for the elderly health care therapy, wear light therapy physical therapy equipment, according to the size of our population, and the trend of population aging, the scale of this market will reach hundreds of billions. " Xiong Daxi said.

Source: Chinese science newspaper

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