17 Oct 2011

Two records were recently set in laboratory devices: Osram fabricated a red LED with an efficacy of 200 lm/W at 40 mA, while Intematix demonstrated a CRI of 98 using blended phosphor materials.

Osram Opto makes red LED with 200 lm/W efficacy

An LED prototype from Osram Opto Semiconductors R&D laboratory claims an efficacy record of 201 lm/W at an operating current of 40 mA. At a typical operating current of 350 mA, efficacy is still 168 lm/W. The red LED’s wall-plug efficiency is 61%. The increase in output was enabled by the company’s advances in thin-film technology.

A red LED of this type can be used in a color mixing (RGB) approach such as Osram’s Brilliant Mix concept. This concept allows the production of any type of white light, from warm white to neutral white to daylight white. Improvement in the red high-power component improves the ability to depict warm white with higher efficiencies. Alternatively, in red LED applications, fewer chips may be used to achieve the same brightness level as previous-generation LEDs.

Martin Behringer, of the LED development team at Osram Opto Semiconductors, said, “The results of this project can be extended to all the wavelengths in InGaAlP chip technology, so we anticipate a boost in efficiency in these light colors – even at 660 nm, which is the wavelength needed for plant lighting, for example. Probably we will be introducing the results of this development project across the entire wavelength spectrum into production in about a year’s time.”

Intematix combines phosphors for CRI of 98

Intematix Corporation, a Fremont, California-based provider of phosphor materials and components, announced that it has demonstrated a phosphor blend that provides a CRI of 98 and R9 value of 99 when applied to a reference LED package. The blend combines three separate phosphor material families, all offered by Intematix.

CRI is a light quality measurement grading how well a light source renders color on a scale of 1 to 100 with sunlight producing the CRI reference of 100. It is important to note, however, that phosphor-based approaches to very high CRI come at the expense of energy efficiency.

This offering is designed to provide LED lighting designers with higher-CRI options for applications in retail, hospitality, residential and museum lighting. "This benchmark gives our customers the ability to create the highest quality lighting designs and fixtures," said Yiqun Li, CTO and Executive Vice President at Intematix.

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