SBIR Phase II: High Power Deep UV LED-Based Lamps

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result in solid-state high power UV LED based lamps for use in water/air/food sterilization/purification, bio-aerosol detection, bio-medical instrumentation, and laboratory measurement systems. Currently there are no portable, rugged, long-lifetime, non-toxic sources of ultraviolet radiation for integration into increasingly important UV water and air purification (particularly residential), bio-aerosol detection, and food sterilization systems. The predominant sources of UV radiation are low-pressure, medium-pressure and amalgam Hg based lamps. These high voltage lamps are large, non-directional, ozone-producing sources of radiation with radial emission from a tube source. This restricts the design flexibility of purification systems because of the geometrical constraints imposed by the lamp. High power deep UV LEDs require packaging designed to dissipate several watts of power, be stable under UV illumination, reflect UV light, and enhance UV extraction. The team proposes to develop manufacturing innovations in the packaging of high power UV LEDs to extend the range of applications that UV LEDs are suitable for including high power package/LED design, and the manufacturing processes required to fabricate these packages. Deep UV LED based lamps with output powers ranging from 50-100 mW are expected from this developmental effort. If successful these Deep UV LED-based lamps will penetrate existing markets using UV radiation sources as the efficiency of the devices increases, as well as creating new markets previously unattainable due to the inherent limitations of current UV sources. The merits of UV radiation for sterilization/purification applications are beginning to be widely publicized. Several of the primary markets are: 1) Sterilization/Purification for Water, Air, and Food Preparation/Storage, 2) UV Spectroscopic Laboratory Analysis Equipment, 3) Bio-medical instrumentation, and 4) Biological weapons detection using UV fluorescence. This expertise will expand the technology base of the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing sector. In addition, low power point-of-use purification systems enabled by this technology will meet a crucial humanitarian need.