News: LEDs
23 December 2021
Seoul Semiconductor exhibiting light sources at CES
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2022) in Las Vegas (5-8 January), South Korea’s Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd is demonstrating its WICOP mc micro-display technology for V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication with pedestrians or oncoming drivers during autonomous driving, as well as a solution for sterilizing the in-vehicle air. In addition, the firm is demonstrating WICOP ADB (Adaptive Driving Beam: Intelligent Headlamp), which improves the visibility of oncoming vehicles or pedestrians while driving. WICOP, the basic technology of these two solutions (WICOP mc and WICOP ADB), has already been applied to about 10% of vehicles worldwide.
So far, the focus has been on developing technologies for preventing automobile accidents and ensuring driver safety. However, technology that prioritizes the convenience and safety of not only drivers but also passengers, pedestrians, bicycle riders or other vehicle drivers is becoming very important. In particular, along with automobile indoor sterilization technology to make the air inside a vehicle safe, the lighting communication technology, which can reassure drivers of other vehicles or pedestrians when the driver of an autonomous vehicle is either absent or distracted, is receiving great attention.
With the development of autonomous driving systems, the technology that allows vehicles to recognize surrounding objects is also in the process of development. Furthermore, the existing brightness of LCD or OLED displays of less than 1000nits has limitations in implementing lighting communication with pedestrians or other vehicles. In addition, the existing LED display chips are large in size, so they cannot properly implement a necessary message on a small bumper or on the exterior of a vehicle. Seoul Semiconductor says that its dust-proof and moisture-proof WICOP mc realizes a 5000nits display that is eight times brighter than the existing LCD and can display clear messages.
Seoul Semiconductor says that it is conducting virus sterilization experiments using an actual car in its in-house laboratory to study the safety of passengers from various bacteria and viruses. At CES, Seoul Semiconductor is demonstrating to its VIP customers a solution that can sterilize more than 90% of the airborne viruses inside the car within 10 minutes. Seoul Semiconductor will begin mass production of its sterilization technology, Violeds, in January at what it says is one of the top five global companies.
“Seoul Semiconductor is the only company in the world that is able to produce and supply a total solution for all light sources from epi to packaging, from UV LEDs required for automobiles, to blue, green, red, IR LEDs, and even VCSEL laser diodes,” Seoul Semiconductor claims.
