Australian clean technology innovator, BluGlass has has been awarded $2,999,255 in Government funding.
This grant is for the company’s ‘Versatile prototype deposition machine for higher efficiency, energy saving, lower cost LEDs on various substrates including silicon’ project by the Australian Federal Government as part of the Clean Technology Innovation Program.
BluGlass CEO Giles Bourne said “we are delighted to have been awarded this funding support for the continued advancement of our RPCVD technology. This represents an enormous commitment from the Commonwealth Government and demonstrates their continued belief in our ability to bring our breakthrough technology to market”.
The project aims to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated in the production of these energy saving LED devices.
BluGlass’ low temperature Remote Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition (RPCVD) technology offers performance and cost advantages to device manufacturers.
It is estimated that for each RPCVD tool put into production there could be a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of more than 39,000 t CO2 equivalent per RPCVD unit (based on 3.5 million LED lamps per annum).
This funding will allow BluGlass to expedite research and development into GaN on silicon substrates. Silicon is a low cost, large diameter substrate that is currently limited in its application for LED semiconductor material growth.
This is because the high temperatures of MOCVD growth generally lead to bowing of the substrate, which leads to poor manufacturing yields.
RPCVD is a low temperature process that is potentially better suited for the growth of GaN on silicon substrates.
It is anticipated that this will result in a revenue stream for the company as presently GaN on silicon is not competitive with the industry standard substrate, sapphire despite its huge commercial appeal as a low cost solution for LEDs.