New Seoul Semiconductor. Non polar leds.

bshanahan14rulz

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'Bout damn time. Lasers get all the good substrates, finally we get some for use in our LEDs! Question is, who will be first to the market? Surprised Nichia and Cree are being quiet, but when they say things, those things are pretty sure to happen.
 

moozooh

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Something tells me this is not flashlight material at all. Cree already has 1500+ lm LEDs that consume 20+ W, and somehow I don't see that used even in custom assemblies.
 

Optical Inferno

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Seems like very interesting technology. I just wonder what the overall efficacy (lm/W) of this setup will be...As well, it's good to have less LEDs in a system cost-wise...but what about the appearance of said product?? May result in some "spottyness".

I guess new products can be developed around this technology to remove the "spottyness" but what about retrofitting existing products to reduce the number of LEDs? Hopefully, this technology will give rise to an increase in LED technology but I'll believe it when I see it.

Also, is it patented? Is that why Cree and Nichia haven't investigated it? Or is it for another reason entirely? Say... poor yield? poor performance? Just playing devils advocate here...
 

jorn

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Cree already has 1500+ lm LEDs that consume 20+ W, and somehow I don't see that used even in custom assemblies.
There are lots of huuuge "funny looking" leds on the marked, providing several tousand lumen. But a huuuuge 40-50W led running 20-30 V in a handheld flashlight wont work that well for the most of us. They are more for fixed lightning, streetlamps floody stuff etc.

Hoping this new seoul will be in a useful size for a flashlight. Removing a hotspot is no problems. Making something throw is hard.

Also, is it patented?
Yes.
"Seoul Semiconductor's patented nPola approach has been under development for over 10 years."
 

bshanahan14rulz

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however, lots of other makers have been trying to get their hands on semi-polar GaN either substrates premade or making their own. I don't think the idea of growing LEDs on a different plane cut of GaN is patented, though.
 

moozooh

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But a huuuuge 40-50W led running 20-30 V in a handheld flashlight wont work that well for the most of us. They are more for fixed lightning, streetlamps floody stuff etc.

That's exactly my point.
 

bshanahan14rulz

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Ok, let's break this down a bit. Let's simplify it. devices grown on non polar GaN can reduce the polarizing electric fields that suck efficiency out of our LEDs at higher currents. Basically, for the same amount of material, you can get more electricity to turn into light. That means more light is coming from the same area. That means the surface brightness is increased. That means that this LED has the potential to make some awesome flashlights IF they package it in such a way as to not increase the apparent size of the emitting area.

If they only make arrays with this technology, then yes, we won't be able to use those as efficiently. But why would you put top-of-the-line LEDs into an array when the ones we have now are perfectly fine? The whole idea of an array is to keep from overdriving a single die, but instead to moderately drive a bunch of dice. The harder you drive today's LEDs, the worse their efficiency gets.

It really boils down to what package will they put this new LED in, and whether or not the wavelength conversion is remote or directly applied to the die.
 
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