·   Nitronex has announced $6 million in private funding and has named Charles Shalvoy to the post of executive chairman and acting CEO.

·   NTT Photonics Laboratories has purchased a TSSE Closed-Coupled Showerhead MOCVD system for R&D in the area of GaN-based electrical and optical devices.

·   OptiLED opened its first office in Japan.

·   OptiLED announced plans to partner with the California Lighting Technology Center to develop lighting applications for LEDs in residential and commercial settings.

·   Osram has licensed InGaN-based white HB-LED patent(s) to Vishay.

·   Osram Opto showcases a number of developments at Lightfair International, including laboratory work on red, thin-film LED technology claimed to deliver performance of up to 100 lm/W at 20 mA.

·   Quintessence Photonics has filed patent application US2004066817, "High performance vertically emitting lasers."

·   French MBE machine manufacturer RIBER acquired ADDON, maker of components for MBE research machines and machines that produce OLEDs.

·   See-Power 's third line for surface-mount LEDs began mass production in April.

·   Super Vision has acquired rights to US Patent No. 4,962,687, "Variable Color Lighting System" owned by High End Systems and sues Color Kinetics for past and current infringement of this patent.

·   Sun Hwa Ent. announced that it will upgrade its production facilities in order to expand production of LEDs and LED-based products.

·   TIR Systems came under investigation by Canadian officials as part of an investigation of grants consultant, Neelam Makhija, of Toronto.

·   Toyoda Gosei published patent application WO 2004/032251, "White light emitting device," covering the use of purple LEDs and a mix of phosphors to generate white-light emitting LEDs.

·   Unity Opto has established a new production facility in mainland China and plans to boost LED production.

·   Unity Opto announced white LED contract deals with two unnamed US suppliers that include access to non-Nichia patented fluorescent powder technology.

·   Veeco Instruments announced orders from Russian epiwafer manufacturer Elma-Malachit, from Taiwan's South Epitaxy Corporation, and from China's Fujian Quanzhou Sanan Group Ltd.

   B.  New Products:

·   Agilent debuted the ChipLED, a surface-mount LED for mobile backlighting applications that is compatible with the industry-standard 0603 footprint.

·   Apex debuted a Rainbow "7 color" LED consisting of a surface-mount tri-color LED that can display all seven colors of the rainbow.

·   Asahi Rubber announced the availability of its LED White Cap product for converting a blue LED into a white light emitter.

·   Catalyst introduced the CAT37, an inductor-based white LED driver boost converter.

·   CEIEC has debuted super-bright blue, purple and white LEDs with 7 cd luminosity.

·   The China Fangda Group (China) reports that it has developed a powerful semiconductor chip for illumination purposes.

·   Dymax announced non-yellowing LED encapsulants that cure in 30-45 seconds.

·   Fiberstars announced "significant progress" in its development of its EFO lighting system, a DARPA-funded LED-based HEDLight (high efficiency distributed lighting system).

·   Forge Europa announced the QuadriLED line of three-chip emitters for backlighting applications.

·   Foshan NationStar announced a high-power white LED that has no optoelectronic saturation when operated at a current of up to 800 mA.

·   Giga Epitaxy has developed LED epiwafers grown by liquid phase epitaxy.

·   Global Lighting Technologies announced the MicroLens family of white LED light guides for backlighting applications.

·   iLight Technologies introduces the White Plexineon Series, a neon simulating light conversion system using high intensity blue LEDS.

·   Iwatsu released two series of HB-LEDs with luminosities of 7.5 cd and 5 cd.

·   LEDtronics has launched the PNL-1145 series of direct replacement LED lamps for incandescent high-voltage panel indicator lamps.

·   Linear Technology has released its LT3466 step-up dc/dc converter that can drive up to 20 white LEDs using a Li-Ion battery.

·   Lumileds has announced the Luxeon DCC, a fully-assembled LED-based RGB cold cathode fluorescent lamp replacement light source for LCD backlighting.

·   MAXIM has introduced the MAX1574 high-efficiency LED charge pump for driving up to 3 white LEDs in backlighting applications.

·   Osram OS launched the Colormix LED system combining its LINEARlight Colormix and OPTOTRONIC RGB Control System in a single lighting package.

·   Osram OS has developed color-on-demand LED technology for its SMT LED product portfolio.

·   Osram OS debuted the two watt white Golden DRAGON LED, with a luminous efficacy of 23 lm/W.

·   Sarnoff announced the availability of FabriLED LED signs that integrate superbright LEDs with woven fabric to create a messaging medium for trade shows, displays, and other applications.

·   Seoul Semiconductor (South Korea) and TridonicAtco (Austria) have developed the "Alpha Power LED", a HB-LED for use in technical and general illumination.

·   Shenzhen Lanke (China) has debuted their line of 1004WC ultra-bright LEDs with luminous intensity ranging from 3cd to 9cd.

·   TIR Systems launched LightScript™, a LED-based illumination solution for channel lettering in signage applications.

·   Vikay Ind. Ltd. announced a white LED with a luminous intensity of 2.4 cd to 3.5 cd.

  C.  Novel or Interesting LED Applications/Uses:

·   Beeman Lights has developed "turtle-friendly" LED lights for beachfront buildings.

·   Light Sciences, in collaboration with Agilent, is developing LED-light activated drugs for the treatment of cancer.

·   Orca Green Marine Technology debuts a low-power LED anchor light containing 2 Luxeon LEDs.

  D.  Market Information:

·   China's discrete semiconductor components production will reach 333 billion units by 2007, with semiconductor lighting being a strong focus; growth is being driven by sales to US markets.

·   Taiwanese LED manufacturers can expect the production value of LEDs made in Taiwan to top US$1 billion this year, retaining its position as #2 in world LED production.

·   Osram’s continued licensing of its white LED technology to Asian manufacturers has prompted an estimate that if four Taiwanese companies gain licenses, an oversupply of diodes and a collapse of prices will occur.

·   Increasing demand for camera-enabled cell phones with megapixel resolution will lead to a surge in demand for white HB-LEDs for higher light intensity flashes.

·   The Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy predicts energy use in Japan will peak in 2014 due to energy conserving technology, including LED lighting.

·   Strategies Unlimited released its report entitled "Asian Producers of High-Brightness LEDs (Taiwan, South Korea, China)."

·   Strategy Analytics released a report entitled "Gallium nitride laser diodes: markets and applications."

  E.  Overview Articles:

·   Blue LEDs were the focus of a review article published in the March 1, 2004 issue of Business Week.

·   Compound Semiconductor featured white LEDs in a March 2004 feature article entitled "Lighting Community Outlines Challenges for LED Industry."

·   The online news source Global Sources published an overview of automotive LED applications targeted by Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers.

  F.  Research Results

·   Ongoing progress in research on solid-state lighting lifetime performance at the Lighting Research Center at RPI was reported in LRC News.

·   National Chiao Tung University researchers have created a Cu-substrate AlGaInP red LED with a peak luminous intensity of 1230 mcd on an operating current of up to 800 mA.

·   NIST researchers have developed a LED-based tunable light source.

·   Purdue University researchers announced micro-scale cooling systems for miniature electronics.

·   Researchers at Sandia and UNM published a commercially feasible method for using nanocrystals as light-emitting devices for solid-state lighting.

·   USAF researchers from Kirtland AFB developed a laser to cool semiconductors.

  G.  Selected Events of Interest:

·   The Blue 2004 conference is held May 10-12 in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

·   Compound Semiconductor Week a new conference combing the CS-MAX and CSICS conferences, will be held October 24-28, 2004 in Monterey, Calif.

·   The LRC at RPI hosts a seminar entitled "LEDs: The Solid-State Lighting Revolution" on May 12, 2004

·   The Materials Research Society has announced its program for its Fall 2004 meeting, to be held November 29-December 3, 2004 in Boston, Mass.

  H.  Government Funding News and Opportunities:

·   Chinese Semiconductor Lighting Initiative: Information about China’s government-supported semiconductor lighting initiative is being released to media sources, including news about the development of four industrial base areas in Xiamen (Fujian Province), Dalian, Shanghai, and Nanchang. 

·   Crystal IS has been awarded two nitride-related SBIRs from DARPA.

·   DOE plans to request applications to fund multiple solid-state lighting product development projects.

·   DOE plans to select a partner organization to promote the solid-state lighting portfolio.

·   DOE NETL issued a presolicitation notice for Funding Opportunity Announcement No. DE-PS26-04NT42114, "Energy Efficient Building Technologies."

·   Formosa Epitaxy and the government of Taiwan have established a white LED consortium.  Figures for government supported efforts in Japan and Korea are also mentioned.

·   The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation has launched its new LED Traffic Signal Upgrade Grant Program.

·   The University of Strathclyde has won £2.6 million in funding for its micro-LED arrays announced last year.

·   Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to make LEDs the 6th pivotal industry to be urgently developed in its "Two Trillion, Two Stars" industry strategy.