Seoul Viosys begins mass production of rare-earth-free white light emitter, with chips as small as 10µm

Seoul Viosys has begun mass production of WICOP 3, a rare-earth-free white LED chip that can be as small as 10µm, breaking three decades of industry dependence on rare-earth materials such as yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG). The third-generation WICOP (Wafer Integrated Chip on PCB) architecture eliminates the package entirely and generates white light from gallium nitride (GaN) alone, with no rare earths, silicone resins, plastics or lead frames, cutting manufacturing costs to roughly half those of a conventional white LED. The move targets the ~$10bn white LED segment of the $15bn global packaged LED market, where WICOP 3 is claimed to be the first white opto-semiconductor to achieve white light in a micro-LED smaller than 100µm. In initial mass production, a 25µm x 10µm chip produced 0.015lm of white light with luminous efficacy near 100lm/W, versus 50lm from a conventional 1000µm x 1000µm chip, and the company is targeting 200lm/W within two years. Seoul Viosys, a unit of Seoul Semiconductor, expects the technology to enable new applications such as micro-emitters embedded in wallpaper or window glass, and believes it could create a market tens of times larger than today's $10bn white LED market. Watch for progress toward the 200lm/W efficacy target, adoption by lighting and display customers, and any capacity expansion as the company scales the sub-100µm white micro-LED platform.