New Blue 'EZBright 700' LEDs from Cree

New EZBright(TM) 700 LED Power Chip Broadens Cree's High-Performance Chip Platform

Helping push the Solid State LED Grow Lighting industry forward, Cree, a leader in LED solid-state lighting components, today announced the release of its newest blue EZBright LED power chip. The EZBright 700 LED is the latest blue chip product based on Cree's flagship proprietary EZBright LED platform, which continues to set performance standards across a broad range of the LED marketplace. The EZBright 700 is the brightest, most cost-effective LED chip of its size with dominant wavelength bins covering ranges from 450nm to 470nm.

The EZBright 700 achieves a typical output of 260 mW at 350 mA and 440 mW at 700 mA. It is targeted for general lighting applications, including auto headlamps, streetlights, camera flash, projection lighting, personal lighting and indoor and outdoor display applications. The EZBright platform features a proprietary optical design that delivers an optimal Lambertian radiation pattern with reduced emission losses and high efficiency compared to Cree's other LED chip platforms. This high-efficiency design scales well with the size of the chip, a significant achievement for the industry.

"Cree recognizes the market need for high performance at low cost across a range of lighting applications," stated David Davito, Cree director of marketing for optoelectronics. "With the mid-size format EZBright 700, we're expanding the EZBright line to address a broader range of lighting markets."

About Cree, Inc.

Cree is a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors and devices that enhance the value of solid-state lighting, power and communications products by significantly increasing their energy performance and efficiency. Key to Cree's market advantage is its world-class materials expertise in silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) for chips and packaged devices that can handle more power in a smaller space while producing less heat than other available technologies, materials and products.

Cree drives its increased performance technology into multiple applications, including exciting alternatives in brighter and more-tunable light for general illumination, backlighting for more-vivid displays, optimized power management for high-current, switch-mode power supplies and variable-speed motors, and more-effective wireless infrastructure for data and voice communications. Cree customers range from innovative lighting-fixture makers to defense-related federal agencies.

Cree's product families include blue and green LED chips, lighting LEDs, LED backlighting solutions, power-switching devices and radio- frequency/wireless devices.

Lumileds unlock Solid State LED Lighting Efficacy


Philips Lumileds of San Jose, CA, USA claims that it has fundamentally solved the problem of ‘droop’, a phenomenon common to white power LEDs in which efficacy (lumens per watt) decreases as current increases. The breakthrough enables efficacy to continue to increase even as drive current increases. The new technology will be implemented in 2007 in the firm’s LUXEON LEDs, which already deliver light output at drive currents of 1000mA and higher. Sampling of products is expected to begin in the next 90 days, with full production in Q3/2007.

More light and higher efficacy for white LEDs are essential to opening new lighting markets and to expand the reach of LED lighting into residential lighting segments, says Philips Lumileds. Incorporating the new epitaxial technology will allow the firm to deliver what it claims will be the industry’s first high-power LEDs that deliver 70 or more lumens per watt at drive currents of 1000mA and higher.

“While 350mA devices continue to improve in light output, they cannot deliver the light output of devices operated at 1A, 2A or even higher,” says Frank Steranka, executive VP research & development. “Most LED manufacturers have acknowledged the need to move beyond the 350mA space and have recently announced devices that can operate at currents up to 1000mA. The LUXEON K2 already supports a maximum current of 1.5A, and with our focus on power LEDs we will continue to expand that operating range,” he adds.

Philips Lumileds says that, as part of its expansion efforts, including its new wafer fab in Singapore, it is adding the necessary equipment and technology to its production lines so that the new technology can be implemented quickly.