News

5 February 2010

 

SETI wins $500,000 SBIR award from NSF to advance deep UV LEDs

Sensor Electronic Technology Inc (SETI) of Columbia, SC, USA has been awarded a $500,000 Phase II SBIR award from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to further advance its deep ultraviolet (DUV) LEDs, which involve a proprietary and patent-pending approach to fabricate high-quality p-type cladding layers for enhanced output power and light extraction.

The mission of NSF's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs is to increase the incentive and opportunity for small firms to undertake cutting-edge, high-risk, high-quality scientific, engineering, or science & engineering education research that would have the potential of high economic payoff if the projects are successful.

The new Phase II project aims to develop and commercialize next-generation high-power DUV LEDs in the UV-B spectral range (280– 315nm). It targets boosting LED efficiency and lifetime through improvements in the material quality, doping and device design, leading to low-cost, high-power semiconductor DUV radiation sources with wall-plug efficiency exceeding 5% and operation lifetimes greater than 5000 hours.

Deep UV LEDs are currently available from SETI at wavelengths of 240–400nm and are primarily used in medical, bio-analytical, sensing, and homeland security markets. The firm says that the targeted enhancements should lay the groundwork for large-scale penetration of high-volume markets, such as global sanitation and disinfection.

SETI says that, once operating at this level of performance, deep UV LEDs offer an environmentally friendly UV light source without the scrap and toxicity issues surrounding conventional mercury-based lamps.

See related items:

Deep UV LED maker Sensor Electronic Technology attains ISO9001 certification

SET claims record performance for large-area single-chip deep UV LEDs

Search: Sensor Electronic Technology UV LEDs

Visit: www.s-et.com