Semiconductor light source plugs directly into AC power outlets

Seoul Semiconductor has announced the worldwide release of an upgraded version of Acriche, claimed to be the first semiconductor lighting source for AC power outlets in the United States, Europe and Asia. The new Acriche, package type emitting 200 lumens, is being provided as an emitter with features including brightness of 200 lumens at 3.3W, which is nearly 60lm/W or 50 percent brighter than an earlier version. Due to its advanced high-yield device fabrication methods and the economics of high capacity, Seoul Semiconductor is able to reduce the price of the enhanced version of Acriche by 40 percent, making it more competitively priced to penetrate the conventional lighting market.

These enhancements further underscore Acriche's competitive advantage over conventional lighting and conventional LEDs, which includes the capability to plug directly into AC power outlets in homes and offices without the need for an AC/DC converter. The company is cooperating with Nitride Semiconductor in Japan for Acriche. It has also registered its patents in major countries including Korea, Japan and the United States for this technology.

The new device is sold as a single emitter without the heat sink PCB, which enables greater flexibility for users to design the PCB type and array emitters as they see fit. This characteristic broadens the range of applications for Acriche. With its upgraded packaging, the product is said to be the only semiconductor lighting source capable of withstanding 4W level of high power. This is expected to spur rapid adoption of Acriche for general lighting applications such as down light and architectural lighting such as MR16.

Acriche's can also be used in power systems ranging from 100-120V and 220-230V, a unique feature that affords the universal application of the technology in power systems in the United States as well as in countries like Korea, EU, China, India, the United Kingdom and Japan.

"Acriche outpaces conventional LEDs in many aspects," said Do Hyung Kim, head of the Acriche unit at Seoul Semiconductor. "Acriche has a longer lifespan compared to conventional LEDs, and does not require an AC/DC converter, which can add another $5 per 5W to the cost of the product. This makes Acriche more cost-effective with the added benefit that it can be directly applied to lighting fixtures for architectural and machinery lights that run from AC power systems. Acriche's share of the conventional lighting market has the potential to reach tens of billions of dollars."

Seoul Semiconductor is planning to increase Acriche's brightness from the current 60lm/W to 80lm/W with the package of 250 lumens by Q4 2007; and to 120lm/W with the package of 400 lumens before the end of 2008.