PC Memory Company Rambus Focus on LED Market

Rambus is best known for its PC memory technology. Recently it has developed a process for making flat LED plates to replace overhead office lighting.

The company on Wednesday at the Lightfair Intenrational conference will show off prototypes of a system that it says can lower the manufacturing costs of LED lighting for commercial buildings and flat-panel displays.

Last year, Rambus bought patents from Global Lighting Technologies related to components of a flat LED fixture. Having developed product prototypes and a manufacturing process, Rambus is now seeking to license that technology to other companies, executives said on Monday.

The components to a flat-plate LED designed for overhead lights. The textured gray layer is a lens to reflect light uniformly on a flat surface,
(Credit: Rambus)

The technology itself is not the actual LEDs, but components for an edge-lit lighting panel. LEDs are placed on the edge of a panel, which is about a half-inch thick. A “light guide,” made up of textured plastic, acts as series of tiny lenses to reflect the light so that it emits uniformly from the flat plate.

The prototypes that Rambus plans to show are two rectangle shaped light sources–one 2 feet by 2 feet and the other by 3 inches by 43 inches.

If the company is successful, larger versions of those flat-plate light sources would replace florescent bulbs used in office buildings. In a commercial product, manufacturers would license the process technology and use LEDs from another supplier, Rambus executives explained.

“My guess is that we’re about two years away from parity with fluorescents because LEDs are on a faster cost curve,” said Tim Messegee, vice president of marketing at Rambus.

Now companies or consumers buy LEDs based on the cost savings over time and for other benefits, such as the lack of mercury and the longer life of LEDs, he said.

LED for Backlighting LCDs in Shot Supply

According to market researcher iSuppli Corp, the LEDs used for backlighting LCDs larger than 10 inches diagonally are in short supply at a time when shipments of LCD panels are to expected to soar.

The shortage is likely to last until the end of this year. ISuppli predicts large-sized LCD display shipments with LED banklights will more than double this year to 276.7 million from 117.8 million units a year earlier. By comparison, total display shipments are expected to rise to 642.5 million from 526.6 million.

ISuppli predicts shipments of LED backlights to rise another 73% to 477.6 million units in 2011 and take up 88% of the total large-sized LCD television market by 2014.

“There have been mounting concerns in the industry about supply constraints for LEDs and light guide plates, two of the major components for LED backlights,” said Sweta Dash, senior director for LCD research at iSuppli. But Dash expects the supply will increase and the constraint will ease going into 2011.

The increased popularity in LED backlighting is due to its substantial advantages, compared with the older cold-cathode fluorescent lamp technology. LED are slimmer, lighter in weight, consumes less power and are free of mercury.

More than 40% of the LED backlights are used in LCD televisions, mobile computers and desktop monitors. While used in electronic signage, industrial and medical applications are on the rise. By 2012, LED backlights will be used by all notebook panels, iSuppli said.