NS Nanotech (Ann Arbor, Michigan), a company that claims to be developing a highly efficient green LED technology, closed its first round of seed funding in 2019. Co-founder Seth Coe-Sullivan — who previously co-founded the seminal quantum-dot company QD Vision — said the company’s green LED technology is expected to deliver an order-of-magnitude improvement in efficiency for micron-sized devices, from today’s standard of less than 5% to more than 50% wall-plug efficiency.
Coe-Sullivan said the company had met its first technical milestone with the demonstration of a nano-LED that promises to close the “green gap” in LEDs, referring to the current low efficiency of green compared to other LED colors.
The company’s technology, which is based on IP exclusively licensed from McGill University of Montreal, Canada and the University of Michigan, has achieved nano-LED emission spectrum with a full width at half maxium (FWHM) of less than 5nm FWHM,
“resulting in the most saturated and stable LED spectrum the industry has ever achieved. The performance compares more closely to laser technology than any other LED or quantum dot solution,”
Coe-Sullivan said.
NS Nanotech technology provides for the fabrication of multiple 3D quantum disks within an AlGaN shell. Structures that emit blue and green light have a very narrow emission spectrum. (Figure: NS Nanotech)
The new LED is based on patented molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology that enables fabrication of components smaller and more efficient than current LED solutions, “while emitting brighter, more saturated, more stable, and more directional green light,” said a company news release. A unit will be demonstrated at the Society for Information Display’s online Display Week Conference and Exhibition, which begins on August 3rd.
The licensed IP was developed under the leadership of company co-founder Zetian Mi, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, who is a pioneer in nanostructure and epitaxial growth. The IP introduces new methods for growing nanoLEDs and their resulting structures. Mi said
“The new technology promises to dramatically reduce the power required for high-resolution displays,”.
The company intends to bring costs below the threshold required for integration of microLEDs into many end products, and expects green LED wafers to offer twice the efficiency of current solutions. The company also expects to be able to deliver economical LEDs that emit in the ultraviolet for water and air purification and sterilization of medical equipment. “By delivering to UV LEDs the same breakthroughs in cost and performance that it delivers to multicolor microLEDs, the company will be positioned to enable new classes of antiviral and anti-microbial purification solutions,” the company news release said. (KW)
Ken Werner is Principal of Nutmeg Consultants, specializing in the display industry, manufacturing, technology, and applications, including mobile devices, automotive, and television. He consults for attorneys, investment analysts, and companies re-positioning themselves within the display industry or using displays in their products. He is the 2017 recipient of the Society for Information Display’s Lewis and Beatrice Winner Award. You can reach him at [email protected] or www.nutmegconsultants.com.
