Plainview, New York-based Veeco Instruments (News - Alert), Inc., which provides equipment to make light emitting diodes (LEDs) announced on June 13 that it has received $4 million in R&D matching funds from the U.S. Department of Energy. The purpose of the funding is to find a way to reduce the manufacturing costs, and increase the brightness and efficiency, of LEDs by using novel materials, substrates and deposition technologies.

This follows a commitment last week by U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu to provide nearly $15 million in grants  to support eight new research and development projects that will accelerate the development and deployment of high-efficiency solid-state lighting technologies like LEDs and OLEDs. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have the potential to be ten times more energy-efficient than conventional incandescent lighting and can last up to 25 times as long.

The projects selected by DOE are located in four states across the country – Arizona, California, New York, and North Carolina – and are focused on advancing core R&D goals, developing new products, and expanding domestic manufacturing capacity to help the U.S. remain competitive in the growing technology market.

Veeco’s grant fell under the category  Solid State Lighting (SSL) Manufacturing . The other grant in this category was a $2.9 million award to Moser Baer Technologies, Inc., of Canandaigua, New York – a large optical storage media manufacturer. These projects will address the technical challenges that must be overcome to make LEDs and OLEDs cost-competitive with other lighting options.

This is the seventh round of DOE funding for solid-state lighting core technology research and product development, and the second time that DOE has funded solid-state lighting manufacturing projects. These efforts are part of DOE's initiative to accelerate the adoption of SSL technology through improvements that reduce costs and enhance product quality and performance. They will also play an important role in encouraging U.S.-based manufacturing of SSL technologies, creating jobs, and promoting America's role as a global leader in energy efficiency.

Kyma Technologies, a leading provider of crystalline nitride semiconductor materials based in Raleigh, North Carolina, will be supplying material and services to Veeco as part of this development project.

Kyma President and CEO, Dr. Keith Evans, stated, “We very much appreciate the opportunity to work with Veeco on this exciting project to accelerate growth in the LED market.  Kyma’s materials product line is designed to enable better energy efficiency and overall performance of LEDs and power electronics – critical requirements for furthering growth in solid state lighting, solar, and several other green technology markets.  In order for these materials to be accepted commercially, there needs to be an appropriate process equipment infrastructure, which will be furthered by this project.”

U.S. Congressman Steve Israel, (2nd District of New York), commented, “Long Islanders face some of the highest energy costs in the country and every bit of savings makes a difference. Right here on Long Island, we have clean technology companies like Veeco leading the way to manufacture lighting that can be ten times more efficient than conventional lighting and can last up to 25 times as long. This is exactly what we need to reduce our energy bills and strengthen Long Island’s manufacturing base. I commend Veeco for their innovative work on LEDs that earned them a $4 million Department of Energy grant.”

Robert Oates, executive vice president of Veeco, commented, “Veeco is excited to receive this DOE endorsement and R&D funding to supplement our already aggressive programs to help lower the cost and improve the efficiency of LEDs. This new project has been launched in our Plainview, NY R&D site where we are specialists in depositing novel materials and designing equipment that provides our customers with tools that enable the lowest cost-of-ownership. Veeco ‘s R&D efforts are focused on dramatically reducing the cost of LEDs and accelerating their adoption into the general lighting market.”

Oates added, “In addition to thanking the DOE for their continued support, we would like to acknowledge the significant efforts of Congressman Israel who has been a strong advocate for programs that advance green energy technologies on Long Island and around the country.” Veeco employs approximately 300 people at its Plainview site.

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Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell