Recently, BeyondUV Semiconductor (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd., a deep ultraviolet (UVC) LED light source and chip manufacturer invested by MLS LED, has been put into production on April 7, and it is expected that the equipment will be in normal operation by the end of April, and will be released in May. Cargo chips and LED packages. In terms of production capacity, it is estimated that the annual output of 300 million deep ultraviolet UVC LED chips will be produced.

 

As a new generation of disinfecting technology, UVC LED is considered to have broad market prospects. During the epidemic, UVC LED ultraviolet products have become the best-selling products for disinfection and sterilization due to their advantages of small size, low power consumption, environmental friendliness, and instant lighting.

 

At present, the market demand for UVC LEDs continues to increase, product technology continues to break through, and application scenarios continue to increase. According to LED inside estimates, the compound annual growth rate of global UVC semiconductor products is expected to reach 60% in 2019-2024.

 

MLS LED has been deeply involved in the lighting industry for many years, and has outstanding advantages in R&D capability and technology accumulation. In recent years, while consolidating the leading position of LED lighting and packaging, the company has also begun to seek breakthroughs in the field of high-end lighting application products. UVC LED is one of the key layouts of MLS. At present, the company is progressing smoothly in this regard, and has formed a number of technical advantages, with breakthroughs on the chip side and product side. With the accelerated release of the market potential of deep ultraviolet disinfection, MLS is also expected to expand its lighting ecological chain layout and seize this high value-added field.

 

Overcome the "problem" of UVC chips

 

While the epidemic has accelerated the development of the UVC semiconductor industry chain, UVC LED chips have always been a "headache" problem for domestic LED companies.

 

UVC semiconductors use high-frequency deep ultraviolet light sources, which put forward higher requirements on chip, packaging technology and material performance. Among them, chip technology is the main bottleneck and core competitiveness of deep ultraviolet semiconductor products.

 

At present, UVC LEDs still face the problems of photoelectric conversion efficiency, difficult epitaxial technology, low yield and high cost in terms of chip and epitaxy technology; and in terms of packaging technology, packaging materials UV resistance, thermal management technology, etc. still need to be further improved , the packaging efficiency and air tightness need to be improved. "

 

According to relevant information, in the first two months after the outbreak, the demand for epidemic prevention surged, and the supply of medium and high-power UVC LED chips was in short supply. In the first half of 2020, the price of UVC LED chips generally rose by 40%-50%, and even out of stock. A person in charge of a packaging company said bluntly, "Without the support of chip production capacity, it is difficult for UVC LEDs to achieve mass production."

 

Stimulated by market demand, domestic and foreign companies are actively investing in production, building production lines, and optimizing technological processes. Overseas manufacturers, including Nichia and OSRAM OS, are actively deploying the UVC semiconductor industry.

 

It is understood that up to now, the optical power of the low-power series chips produced by Beyonduv Semiconductor has reached 15mW@100mA, the optical power of the medium-power chip series has reached 30mW@200mA, and the optical power of the high-power chip series has reached 70mW@500mA, which is at the leading level in the industry. .

 

In addition, Beyonduv has also made relevant research and development layouts in the aspects of flowing water, static water, surface and air disinfection modules.