The new XP-E2 color LEDs are built on Cree’s SC³ Technology™ LED platform, which uses silicon carbide and combines advances in chip design, packaging, and phosphors, to provide higher lumens-per-watt and lumens-per-dollar compared to the original XP-E color LEDs. Cree indicated that switching to XP-E2 LEDs in existing XP-E LED designs, lowers system costs. The new XP-E2 color LEDs have the same XP footprint (3.45mm x 3.45mm) and are optically compatible with the original XP-E LED providing what the company describes as a drop-in-ready performance enhancement to shorten design cycle and improve customer time to market.

“We are excited that Cree is offering higher performance color LEDs in the XP footprint,” said Greg Campbell, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Lumenpulse. “The brighter XP-E2 color LEDs enable Lumenpulse to continue to provide innovative, high-performance LED lighting systems.”

The XP-E2 color LEDs have a maximum drive current of 1A and a viewing angle of 110 to 135 degrees. The royal blue version of the XLamp XP-E2 color LEDs at maximum drive current delivers up to 1409 mW. Also at maximum drive current, the XLamp XP-E2 color LEDs provide up to 109 lumens for blue, 253 lumens for green, 203 lumens for amber, 193 lumens for red-orange and 155 lumens for red. All have the 3.45mm x 3.45mm footprint. Cree says samples are available now and production quantities are available with standard lead times.

While improving the IQE of UV epitaxial wafers is a long-term prospect, Verticle contends that an alternative way to boost the overall output of a UV-LED is to drive more current into the UV-LEDs, and manage the resulting heat. The company states that heat-related droop is more of an issue in UV-LEDs than in blue, and therefore, the company reasons, one of the main challenges of UV LEDs is lowering junction temperature.

In order to operate at higher current injection conditions and dissipating heat more efficiently, Verticle’s UV-LED chip is constructed with a copper substrate. As shown in the accompanying image that contains both graphs, Cu base vertical chip’s thermal resistance (Rth) is 2K/W lower than GaN/Si vertical chip. As a result, junction temperature (Tj) of GaN/Cu is lower than GaN/Si. It is noted that the junction temperature difference is 2 degrees C at 350 mA current injection between two chips, however, the difference become larger (6 degrees C) at 1A current injection.

The company points to testing it conducted that shows that a vertical Cu-base UV-LED chip has higher radiant flux than a lateral chip fabricated with same epitaxial wafer. Furthermore, Verticle says that its UV-LED chip on a Cu substrate can be driven at a higher current than other vertical chips constructed with different substrate materials. For example, the company says that Verticle’s GaN/Cu UV-LED chip does not saturate over 1A, while GaN/sapphire UV-LED chip start to saturate after 500mA. This suggests that a GaN/Cu chip has higher heat dissipation capability compared with GaN on other substrates, giving Verticle’s Cu-base UV-LED chip distinct advantages for applications in which high current injection and good thermal properties are required.

Verticle’s hexagonal UV-LED chip’s (45 Mil size) radiant fluxes are measured at 416mW at 350mA current injection, 787mW at 700mA, and 1025mW at 1A for the 392 nm wavelength, respectively. In addition, the company notes that it's hexagonal "Honeycomb" chip shape offers a higher extraction efficiency when packaged with a circular lens as a result of the near circular beam profile.

“This is an exciting breakthrough, because lighting designers can take advantage of a high lumen package with high efficacy while using significantly fewer chips per fixture,” said Rahul Bammi, VP of Product Management at Philips Lumileds. “For example, a 50W PAR20 lamp can be achieved using only 4 LEDs. Alternatively, a 40W A19 lamp that previously required 14 LEDs can now be created using only 6.”

The new mid-power LEDs are offered across a full spectrum of correlated color temperatures (2700K-6500K) with a minimum CRI of 80. Versions with CRI 70 for outdoor applications and CRI 90 for high end indoor applications are planned for future release. The Luxeon 3535 2D line operates at 0.5W to 1W, delivering up to 130 lumen in the compact 3535 form factor. It is rated at 100mA and can be driven up to a maximum of 200mA. The Luxeon 3535 2D supports Energy Star® certification requirements up to 25,000 hours at 85°C and 150mA.

Philips Lumileds also introduced its first low-power LED solution today, the Luxeon 4014. The company designed this high efficiency rectangular LED specifically to address linear and omnidirectional lighting applications such as under-cabinet and cove, refrigerator lighting and the retrofit LED market. The Luxeon 4014 comes in a 4.0x1.4x0.7 mm package. It can achieve an efficacy of 160 lm/W at 4000K and CRI of 80.

Everlight's 62-217D comes in a standard 5630 package in a 0.5W (150mA) version for 40/60W bulb retrofits and a 0.2W (60mA) version that is suited for light bars. Both white top-view LEDs measure just 5.6 mm x 3.0mm and are very thin at just 0.65 mm. They are available across a complete ANSI CCT range of 2700K (warm white)to 6500K (cool white). The LEDs have a CRI of min. 80Ra and a lumens output of 50lm (for warm whit) and 55lm (for cool white). The cool white 0.5W version is offered up to 9000K CCT and achieves an efficiency of 115lm/W at 5700K.

Everlight boasts that it can produce more 200 million of its 62-217D (5630D) LEDs per month. The company says that this high capacity and throughput allows for strong cost competitiveness, consistent availability and short lead times. The 62-217D (5630D) series is Pb-free, RoHS compliant, matches ANSI binning. The LED series, which was already tested successfully to 3,000 hours, is currently undergoing LM80 testing to demonstrate its stable lumen maintenance.

Vision X Lighting recently launched its first product using a single Luminus LED called Light Cannon. Light Cannon can produce a usable beam of light at a distance of more than 1,000 feet.

"We couldn't be happier to announce our partnership with Vision X Lighting, a world-class company at the forefront of innovation," said Jim Hunter, VP & general manager of global commercial markets at Luminus. "At Luminus, we excel at providing our customers with high brightness LEDs that produce thousands of lumens. As demonstrated through our partnership with Vision X Lighting, we enable our customers to create exciting lighting products capable of delivering high brightness light at great distances with unprecedented center beam candle power."

The SFH 7776 sensor has a working range of up to 16 centimeters and compact size enables it use in smartphones and other mobile devices. Osram notes that thanks to the excellent sensitivity of the detector the component does not need lenses to bundle the emitted infrared light. This reportedly allows the sensor to have the small height of only 1.35 millimeters. With its black casing the sensor is virtually invisible even behind transparent phone covers. Its low power consumption is also an important factor in terms of its suitability for mobile devices – in standby mode it only needs 0.8 mA.

The very sensitive SFH 7776 has a very low detection limit of 0.002 lux (lx), and can therefore even be used behind dark casing panels. Designers can place the sensor anywhere and do not need a special translucent window.

“The SFH 777x series gives our customers a complete family of multifunctional sensors for an extremely wide range of phone covers,” said Dirk Sossenheimer, who is responsible for intelligent sensor applications at Osram Opto Semiconductors. Furthermore, the company says that the SFH 7776 is designed so that the ambient light sensor doesn´t react to short-term fluctuations in the brightness of various lamp types, caused for example by changes in the power supply frequency. This ensures that the display backlighting remains constant.

Osram claims that Crosstalk – an effect in which the emitted infrared light is reflected by the smartphone casing directly onto the receiver – is eliminated by the SFH 7776 in the component itself. For this reason, the company says that designers no longer need to provide separate optical barriers between the IRED and the detector.

Since the SFH 7776 covers the complete working range from 0 to 16 mm it would even react to direct contact (“zero distance detection”). The touch function of the display is therefore reliably deactivated even in marginal situations. “Overall, the SFH 7776 overcomes various challenges in terms of proximity and ambient light detection in the component itself, so designers can integrate the product in smartphones relatively easily," added Dirk Sossenheimer.

The five color versions of Duris P 5 are: “deep blue” (450 nm), “blue” (470 nm), “true green” (528 nm), “yellow” (590 nm) and “red” (615 to 625 nm). The LEDs employ LED chip technologies from Osram, based on either the InGaN (Indium Gallium Nitrite) material system or InGaAlP (Indium Gallium Aluminum Phosphite) depending on the wavelength.

The company says that low forward voltages and optimized light extraction result in high luminous efficacies for all of the new LEDs. The “deep blue” version, for example, delivers a light output of 140 mW (at 100 mA and 25 ºC), corresponding to a typical efficiency of 48 percent. Efficiency is defined as the ratio of the amount of light produced to the amount of power consumed.

As members of the mid-power class, the color versions of Duris P 5 are ideal for linear, area or omnidirectional lighting applications in which the light has to be distributed as uniformly as possible. Color mixing is also said to be much easier in applications involving several colors.

“The color Duris P 5 versions will give our customers even greater freedom in designing luminaires. A good example is the combination of white and colored mid-power LEDs within a luminaire,” said Martin Wittmann, Product Manager Marketing SSL at Osram Opto Semiconductors, and added, “The use of the Duris power class also reduces system costs while at the same time improving the distribution of light and simplifying thermal management.”

Like the white versions in the P 5 family, the package technology of the colored Duris versions allow them to withstand extremely harsh conditions and increasing corrosion resistance compared to conventional mid-power LEDs. The company says that the small component dimensions of only 2.6 by 2.2 mm also allow good optical control in connection with secondary optics.

Osram Opto Semiconductors points to architectural and signage applications as uses for the new LEDs. The company also mentions the possibile use of the Duris color versions in “remote phosphor” applications in which the converters needed to generate white light are not attached directly to the chip but are illuminated by “deep blue” LED from a certain distance, causing them to luminesce. The company says that this remote phosphor technology results in uniform distribution of light and high luminous efficacy.

The color Duris P 5 versions debuted at the Osram booth 1001 at Lightfair 2013