SBIR Phase I: Novel Compositions for Narrow Bandwidth LED Phosphors

This Small Business Innovation Program (SBIR) Phase I project aims to further develop a novel and proprietary phosphor material system for use in phosphor-converted light-emitting diode (pcLED) applications that will improve pcLED energy efficiency up to 20%. In display backlighting, 20-40% of the light emitted by the state-of-the-art phosphors miss the sweet spot of the display?s color filters resulting in unused light and wasted energy. Similarly, in general lighting approximately 15% of the emitted light falls outside the visible spectrum, again resulting in wasted energy. The technology developed in this SBIR project is phosphor material utilizing a novel chemistry that exhibits a narrow light emission spectrum to increase LED brightness and energy efficiency by 10-20% in display backlighting and up to 15% in general lighting applications. Prototype materials have been synthesized that exhibit a narrow emission peak at target wavelengths, and the next steps include optimization and characterization of the most effective compositions. The anticipated results of this SBIR Phase I project are narrow-band phosphor materials that exhibit performance characteristics commensurate with industry standards. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a novel phosphor material system that drives up to a 20% improvement in energy efficiency of phosphor-converted LEDs (pcLEDs) over current state-of-the-art phosphor material systems in nearly all pcLED applications. The market for LED phosphors in 2012 was roughly $500 million and is expected to reach $1.2 billion by 2016, of which $996 million will be addressable by narrow-band phosphors. The 20% improvement in the packaged LED efficiency will also trigger a cascade of tangible impacts at the end-product system level such as using fewer LEDs, increasing efficacy (lumens per watt) and mobile device battery life, reducing electronic driver complexity, reducing heat, a thinner form factor, and a far more brilliant color gamut.