At the Strategies in Light 2014 conference & exhibition in Santa Clara, CA, USA, EV Group (EVG) of St Florian, Austria, a supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment for MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), nanotechnology and semiconductor applications, and specialty materials firm Brisbane Materials Technology (BMT), which is based in both Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and Silicon Valley, have introduced a new anti-reflective (AR) coating solution based on BMT’s XeroCoat materials, which is designed to substantially increase lumen output of LED devices.
The jointly developed manufacturing solution, which leverages a combination of AR coating processing equipment and tunable, durable, inorganic coating material, enables lumen output increases of up to 8%, it is reckoned. The AR coating manufacturing solution can be seamlessly integrated with established production schemes, the firms say, allowing the coating of LED components at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.
“Improving light efficiency is a constant goal for LED chip and luminaire manufacturers in order to drive down the total cost of LED lighting,” says EVG business development manager Dr Antun Peic. “However, extracting further improvements in light output from the LED chip design and epitaxial layer growth process has become increasingly difficult and costly. As a result, any incremental improvements in light output that can be gained from other areas with minimal cost or disruption to the LED manufacturing flow can have a significant impact on reducing overall system cost,” he adds. “Through our partnership with BMT, we have developed a turnkey manufacturing solution that has achieved a significant breakthrough in improving LED light efficiency, which can help accelerate new applications for solid-state lighting such as smart lighting and smart building.”
Under a strategic cooperation agreement, EVG has optimized its precision coating systems for BMT’s unique materials and processes, enabling high-yield fabrication of AR coatings. The technology enables the creation of a nano-porous silicon dioxide (SiO2) coating from a liquid precursor at room temperature and atmospheric pressure on plastic and glass lenses and luminaires. The SiO2 film (which has undergone rigorous testing, including a 2.5-year accelerated aging test equivalent to more than 20 years of field application) is covalently bonded to the surface to give maximum durability and field reliability.
“Our collaboration with EV Group in the solar market over the past several years has proven the ability of our joint AR coating solution to provide significant improvements in solar cover glass transmission,” notes BMT’s founder & CEO Dr Gary Wiseman. “Our unique solution provides a simple and cost-effective way for customers to increase lumen output,” he claims. “Working with our equipment partner EVG, we provide the equipment, materials, and process as a turnkey solution.”
The large-area spray deposition method employed for this new process provides maximum processing flexibility as well as scalability, it is reckoned. “The large-area spray coating technology used in this process has been in commercial production in the display technology space for well over 10 years,” notes Paul Lindner, EVG’s executive director of technology. “This field-proven equipment solution, combined with BMT’s novel material, allows us to quickly and uniformly coat nano-scale films onto a large number of luminaires - a key requirement to meet the challenging volume and cost targets of our LED customers,” he adds. “In addition, spray coating allows for coating over a large range of form factors - for instance, lenses with highly curvilinear features - which is another important requirement for the LED luminaire market.”
The firms have a shared booth (#845) at Strategies in Light. In addition, Peic is presenting the joint ARC solution on 27 February (11:10-12am) on the exhibition floor.
