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EFY Times.com (08-04-2010)http://www.efytimes.com/e1/creativenews.asp?edid=43420

CSIR Developing India's First Indigenously Fabricated

LED Chip

The 46 crore worth LED chipfabrication project aims at developingabout 100 types of LED chips by March2012.The Council for Scientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR) is making the first attempt inthe country to fabricate organic and inorganicLED chips for solid state lighting applications.The first version of the chip is expected tocome out by March 2012.According to Dr Chenna Dhanavantri,

Scientist F Group Leader, OptoelectronicDevices Group, Central ElectronicsEngineering Research Institute (CEERIPilani), the LED chips will be packaged withphosphor coating and converted into whiteLED. "This Rs 46 crore worth LED chipfabrication project aims to develop about 100types of LED chips in different sizes. Thetarget for luminous efficacy of the LED chip is25-50 lumens/watt," he adds.Joint effort by CSIR laboratories

National Physics Laboratory (NPL), NewDelhi, is the nodal laboratory for developinginorganic and organic LED chip. Besides NPL,four other CSIR laboratories are involved inthe project-CEERI, Pilani, is working oninorganic LED chip; Central ElectrochemicalResearch Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, andIndian Institute of Chemical Technology,Hyderabad, are developing organic LED; andCentral Scientific Instruments Organisation(CSIO), Chandigarh, is developing lighting

systems. Although the project was started in2007, it has been a major challenge for thescientists to develop an indigenous LED chiptechnology, as limited resources are availableto expand their knowledge base.Chip fabrication processFabrication of an LED chip is a lengthyprocess and involves processes in differentunits such as designing, epitaxial materialgrowth, reactive ion etching, n-type

metallisation, p-type metallisation,electroplating, backside thinning andpolishing, dicing, phosphor coating,packaging, etc.In the frontend process, single chips are usedas substrates for epitaxy, and subsequentlydifferent epitaxies such as LPE, MOCVD andMBE are employed to foster multilayer andpolynary thin film materials with differentthickness.In chip fabrication, first evaporation is done

according to the demands of the LEDstructural components and then metalelectrodes on both terminals of the LED aremade through photo lithographic and heattreatment on epi wafers. These are then cutinto LED dices after substrates and polishingwears down.Dr Dhanavantri, however, says, "We are facingsome technical issues in the fabrication ofinorganic LED chips such as p-type doping inGaN layer, p-type ohmic contact, efficient light

extraction, thermal management, substrateremoval techniques, phosphor coating, etc, forhigh brightness white LEDs."Boost for packaging & manufacturing"After the R&D for fabrication of LED chipand material characterisation technique isover, the technology will be transferred tosuitable Indian LED chip manufacturers andLED packaging companies," informs DrDhanavantri. Currently, many companies inIndia,like Kwality Photonics, Hyderabad,are

packaging LED chips after import them fromabroad. This indigenously fabricated chip willtherefore, provide new avenues to LEDpackaging and manufacturing business.KVK Gupta, managing director and CEO,Kwality Photonics Pvt Ltd, says, "We arelooking forward to collaborate with CSIR forpackaging the fabricated chips."According to Dr Dhanavantri, patenting thechip is one of the key objectives of CSIR. "But

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before that we need to achieve manymilestones. Also, we need to work out thelicencing policy," he adds.

Another LED chip fabrication attemptMeanwhile, De Core Nanosemiconductor, led

by a Punjab based techno preneur, DeepakLoomba, is setting up what it claims will bethe country's first semiconductor chip plant, atGandhinagar in Gujarat. The facility will

initially manufacture semiconductor chips forLED lamps."We are setting up an LED lamp plant inNoida in two months, where these chips willbe used. This will bring down the cost of ourLED lamps," says Loomba. The companyintends to invest Rs 900 crore on the

Gandhinagar plant.The Gandhinagar plant will have the capacityto produce 400 million chips annually.