LED Makers Tackle Costs

LEDs continue to get brighter, but the main trends in place for solid-state illumination include a quest for reduced manufacturing costs and initiatives to make over-enthusiastic LED lighting suppliers meet their own published specifications.

The December issue of Energy Efficiency & Technology reports that a maturing solid-state light industry is trying to field more economical products that live up to their own performance claims. IMS Research believes LEDs will account for 40% of the total global lamp market by 2013, thanks to longer lifetimes and better energy efficiency. Efficiency is a key in that experts say nearly 20% of the world’s energy resources go toward illumination.

However, the article notes that some experts figure it will be about 10 years before LED lighting will be able to compete on price with other energy-efficient lighting technologies, such as compact fluorescents. For example, it costs more to fabricate LEDs than ICs occupying the same amount of real estate. LEDs also use a fabrication process unlike that of ordinary ICs.

The article goes on to say that semiconductor manufacturing equipment trends are pointing to lower LED prices ahead: LED production capacity is growing quickly. So back and forth we go: The cost from materials and manufacturing process is still an issue, but there are some ways to bring that down in the future.