Epistar, Taiwan's largest manufacturer of packaged LEDs has decided to trial silicon-based wafers. The company is hoping to take advantage of cost savings in the backend of the LED manufacturing process to in turn broaden SSL deployment.

Add Epistar to a long list of LED manufacturers that are researching the possibility of building LEDs on silicon (Si) wafers rather than the sapphire or silicon carbide wafers that are widely used today. Epistar and Azzurro Semiconductors announced that the former had transferred its existing gallium nitride (GaN) LED structure to an Si wafer in just 16 weeks.

Si wafers offer many potential benefits, including lower-cost unprocessed wafers enabled in part by the broad IC industry. Moreover, a move to silicon wafers would allow LED makers to utilize the automated in depreciated IC fabrication lines once the epitaxial layers are grown on the Si substrate, thereby cutting costs in the backend of the manufacturing process. Cost reductions could accelerate the adoption of solid-state lighting (SSL)