Blue LED breakthrough with CVD Tom Foremski
US firm Emcore says it has achieved a breakthrough in the production of commercial quality gallium nitride based blue light emitting diodes which could eventually lead to high resolution colour LED based displays and other applications.
Emcore says that its breakthrough was achieved on the world's largest gallium nitride Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition system. The company hopes to reap a bonanza with its high volume process since the demand for nitride based bright blue and green LEDs currently outstrips the chip industry's production capacity.
US market research firm Strategies Unlimited, estimates that the worldwide LED market was almost $2bn in 1997. The gallium nitride blue-green LED market is expected to double this year to $140m.