After a surge in 2010 and oversupply in 2011 that suppressed 2012 fab, LED makers will see a leveling out of supply and demand into better equilibrium, according to NPD DisplaySearch. Demand will shift from LCD-backlit LEDs to LEDs for lighting.

Barclays Capital analysts attended Lightfair International and gleaned several trends in LEDs and OLEDs for lighting, including an interesting phenomenon around MOCVD utilization rates and new orders.

Bridgelux and Toshiba reported a 1.1mm² LED chip fabricated on an 8" GaN-on-Si wafer, emitting 614mW, <3.1V @ 350mA. The companies will collaborate on commercializing GaN-on-Si LEDs, and Toshiba has invested in Bridgelux.

In light of “challenging industry conditions” in the LED and PV manufacturing sectors, Applied Materials (AMAT) decided to restructure its Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) segment.

SEMI presented US Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI) with its 2012 North American Government Leadership Award for his leadership and support of the US microelectronics and photovoltaic manufacturing value chain.

SEMI’s Paula Doe covers the “commodity market” of LEDs, including capacity utilization at LED fabs, automation in manufacturing that could improve yields, LEDs fabbed on silicon and GaN instead of sapphire wafers, and more.

University of Warsaw, Poland, researchers will grow GaN materials on a new AIXTRON SE Close Coupled Showerhead MOCVD reactor in a 3 x 2” wafer configuration.

AIXTRON SE’s long-time customer Formosa Epitaxy Inc. (FOREPI) ordered several MOCVD systems: 4 CRIUS II-XL systems in a 19 x 4” wafer configuration and 2 G5 HT reactors in a 14 x 4” wafer configuration.

Sapphire wafers grown using ARC Energy’s Controlled Heat Extraction System furnaces for Trinity Material was certified for high-quality LED chip production at two leading LED chip companies.

Showa Denko KK will transfer 70% of its gallium-nitride (GaN)-based blue light emitting diode (LED) chip business into a new company, TS Opto Co. Ltd, with Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd.

The phosphor market is largely a game of scale and relationships, as much of the intellectual property (IP) around phosphors was created in the 1970-80s (at least for select element combinations) and protection has by now expired, analysts from Barclays Capital.

Lumichip Limited, an LED manufacturer, expanded its commercial operations in Finland and opened a new development center in Espoo, Finland.

OEM Group began shipping a multi-tool order to a major LED manufacturer, including Spray Ozone Tool and Spray Acid Tool semi-automated batch surface preparation systems.

Luminus Devices Inc. unveiled its round LED architecture, meeting the circular aperture designs of many optical devices.

Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nichia Corp., seeking enforcement of a patent covering LED metallization technology, and asked that 2 Nichia patents on LED phosphor technology be rendered invalid.