Vertical Divider

Seoul Semi Develops LED 
November 05, 2018
 
Seoul Semiconductor has been working with Japan’s Toshiba Materials since2012 to try to lower or eliminate the blue-light portion of the spectrum in commercial LEDs, with Seoul providing the LED production expertise and Toshiba providing phosphor materials.  When LED based light sources, such as those used in LCD smartphones, are viewed in a darkened room, the blue light opens an individual’s pupils to a degree that can damage the retina, and fluorescent lighting that is commonly used in office environments also has a high blue light component.  
 
Ideally the perfect light source should mimic the sun’s spectrum, but fluorescent lighting and general lighting LEDs only offer a 70% match to this ideal.  Seoul researchers have been able to develop LED’s with a 90% to 94% match to the sunlight spectrum and have been offering the components to lighting manufacturers with a few lighting products using the Seoul ‘Sun-like” LEDs being seen over the last few months.

Seoul expects to see demand for this product to increase, with a focus on high-end retail and art galleries, and you would expect almost everyone to want to move toward such a natural light product.  But there is a problem and that is cost, which is currently ~5 times the cost of a standard lighting LED, and while Seoul says they have the capabilities to produce 2 billion of such light sources/month (questionable…), we expect they have sold far fewer, although the company expect 100b won ($87.9m US) in sales from the product in 2020.  Hopefully Seoul Semi will be able to reduce the price as demand increases and while such a product is an exceptionally good idea, it will remain a niche product until a better price point is met.

Figure 1: Sun-like LED Spectrum Comparison

Source:Seoul Semiconductor