The corresponding combined revenue opportunity for MBE and MOCVD is estimated to be around US $6.1 billion for the 2012-2020 periods, shows Yole Développement.

Boosted by LEDs, semiconducting (SC) GaAs substrates will lead growth of the GaAs market. In 2011, semi-inductive (SI) GaAs substrates held ~56% (M$) of the overall GaAs substrate market (SC GaAs held ~44%), a trend that is likely to reverse in the short term.

EPIC, the European Photonics Industry Consortium, announced at its annual general meeting that Carlos Lee has been appointed as director general, succeeding Thomas Pearsall, who has led the association since its founding in 2003.

Veeco Instruments Inc. recently participated in an investment signing ceremony at the 2012 Korea Investment Forum in New York City to commemorate the Company’s substantial investment in a new R&D facility in Seoul, Korea to advance high brightness light emitting diode (LED) technology.

Positives for LED makers -- improved utilization rates in Taiwan, growing LED lighting demand -- will not immediately equal more orders for MOCVD tool suppliers, reports Barclays Capital. The analysts expect 525 MOCVD tool orders in 2012, most in the second half of the year.

Veeco Instruments Inc. debuted the SPECTOR-HT ion beam deposition tool for thin-film deposition in optical products, such as lasers, telecommunications chips, and more.

LED-IT Fusion Technology Research Center of Korea tapped Veeco for a TurboDisc K465i GaN MOCVD system for research and development of LEDs, including green LEDs and UV versions.

Cree Inc. (Nasdaq:CREE) achieved 254 lumen/watt on a white-light, power LED in research. The correlated color temperature is 4408 K.

Edwards Limited uncrated the STP-iXR1606 series magnetically-levitated turbo-molecular pumps (TMP) with fully integrated onboard controllers. Its new rotary design improves throughput by about 40% at high gas flow rates; nearly 90% percent in maximum gas flow.

Power electronics will grow to $15 billion in sales of discrete components in 2020, says Lux Research. New materials -- SiC and GaN -- are taking a 22% market share for $3.3B in sales. Expect this year to set a record for funding to power electronics companies.

An LED manufacturing joint venture is the “final due diligence” Viper Networks Inc. will execute with its targeted acquisition: a profitable LED manufacturing company in the US.

Barclays Capital finds that LED manufacturing and materials patents will soon run out, potentially draining value from material/chip/package suppliers and turning LEDs into commodities.

Kopin Corporation achieved record 1290cm²/V.s electron mobility and 240ohms/square sheet resistance results from GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) materials.

LED replacement lamps for legacy lighting sources will see 30% unit growth 2012-2016, says Strategies Unlimited. But ASPs will fall 14%/year in that time.

LED revenues are slowing down in 2012, after two years of remarkable growth, according to Strategy Analytics. LED fab equipment spending and epitaxial substrate demand in the LED sector will decline in 2012.

Strong demand for MEMS sensors, CMOS image sensors, LEDs, fiber-optic laser transmitters, and power transistors enabled the OSD semiconductors market to grow by 8% in 2011, hitting a new record revenue and beating out the overall IC market, according to IC Insights.

342 MOCVD tools for LED manufacture will ship in 2012, compared to 654 last year, IMS Research reports in its most recent GaN LED Quarterly Supply and Demand report. Without China, the market would be nearly still.

SEMI is seeking papers for technical sessions and presentations at the upcoming SEMICON Europa 2012, October 9-11 in Dresden, Germany. Technical presentation abstracts are due April 30.