TSMC Solid State Lighting (SSL) plans to introduce LED chip products that do not require packaging, with brightness reaching 130lm/W in the second half of 2013. The new product is likely to save 20-40% of packaging costs, hence TSMC SSL may become the first firm to have LED chips with the price-performance ratio reaching 1,000lm/US$1.
According to Jacob Tam, president of TSMC SSL, indoor lighting accounts for around 60% of the total LED lighting market and the growth potential of the market in 2013 is exciting.
TSMC SSL began volume production in the third quarter of 2012 and despite its cooperation with US-based Bridgelux on 8-inch GaN-on-Si wafers, the firm has yet to introduce products. Tam noted that TSMC SSL has completed volume production of 8-inch silicon substrates using a different technology from Bridgelux. The process requires using flip chip technology after the production of the silicon substrates. The product ranges from 0.5-1.5W and can be applied to chip-on-board (COB) products without the need to add wire bonding costs during packaging. This product increases the price-performance ratio of high-power LED products, added Tam.
Tam noted that the firm is conducting R&D on a new product that may be launched to the market around second-half 2013 or the beginning of 2014. The new LED chip can integrate with the heat sinks while eliminating the downstream packaging process.
Tam stated that the current price-performance ratio of LEDs is around 200-500lm/US$1. The solution from TSMC SSL can enable the price-performance ratio to reach 1,000lm/US$1. Currently, many LED lighting fixture firms are interested in the new product, said Tam.
