Sapphire Technology brings down LED lighting costs

Sapphire Technology made waves as the first South Korean company to introduce the single crystal sapphire ingot as a light-emitting diode (LED) substrate.

With new methods for growing single crystal sapphire ingots, Sapphire Technology continues to revolutionise the industry as it leads the way in expanding the application of these precious substrates.

Second to diamonds in hardness, sapphire crystals have excellent optical and heat bearing characteristics. It is ideal for use in compound semiconductor substrates, semiconductor equipment parts, optical and laser parts with a growing demand from mobile phone manufacturers for its screen application.

Sapphire Technology has a monthly production capacity of 1.3 million millimetres of sapphire ingots. The company corners a 30 per cent market share, which it aims to increase to more than 50 per cent within five years.

Sapphire Technology manufactured the world's first rectangular structured synthetic sapphire ingot in 1988. The patented vertical horizontal gradient freezing (VHGF) method of Sapphire Technology produces rectangular sapphire single crystals instead of the usual cylindrical shape. VHGF yields 50 to 60 per cent more than traditional methods of tooling a cylindrical shaped crystal.

The company has different furnaces for growing crystal sizes in high demand, from two to six inches. In sync with changing market demands, Sapphire Technology is developing larger 8- and 12-inch crystals for general lighting applications.