Jingneng Optoelectronics' silicon substrate LED technology won the first prize of the National Technology Invention Award

On January 8, the National Science and Technology Awards Conference was held grandly at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The "Silicon Substrate High Efficiency Gallium Nitride-based Blue Light-emitting Diode Project" jointly completed by Nanchang University, Jingneng Optoelectronics (Jiangxi) Co., Ltd., and China Energy Jinghe Lighting Co., Ltd. won the first prize for National Technology Invention. The main project completion persons include Professor Jiang Fengyi, co-founder of Jingneng Optoelectronics and vice president of Nanchang University, Dr. Sun Qian, vice president of Jingneng Optoelectronics, Dr. Wang Min, co-founder and CEO of Jingneng Optoelectronics and founder of Jingneng Optoelectronics and founder of Jingneng Lighting.

There are three LED technology routes in the field of semiconductor lighting, namely sapphire substrate, silicon carbide substrate and silicon substrate LED technology routes. Among them, the first two technical routes were mainly developed in Japan and the United States respectively. The three main inventors of sapphire substrate technology won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics; the inventor of silicon carbide substrate LED technology won the 2003 U.S. Presidential Technology Invention Award.

According to reports, the criteria for the first prize of the National Technological Invention Award are: major technological inventions or innovations that are the first at home and abroad, the technical and economic indicators have reached the leading level of similar technologies, and they have promoted technological progress in related fields and have produced significant economic or social benefits.

Silicon substrate LED technology was born from Nanchang University. Jingneng Optoelectronics has invested heavily in continuous research and development and industrialization. It has been applied and promoted by many companies such as Jingneng Lighting, and has moved from the laboratory to the market. This silicon substrate LED project stood out and became the only first-class national technology invention award in 2015. This is a high recognition of this technological innovation and application at the national level.

Silicon substrate has good thermal conductivity, and has the advantages of low raw material cost and large wafer size. Preparing gallium nitride-based LEDs on silicon substrates has always been a dream of the industry. However, due to the huge lattice mismatch and thermal mismatch between silicon and gallium nitride, problems such as epitaxial film cracks, poor crystal quality, and low light extraction efficiency caused by opaque substrates have not been solved for a long time. The industry generally believes that it is impossible to prepare high-efficiency gallium nitride-based LEDs on silicon substrates.

The R&D team headed by Professor Jiang Fengyi took the lead in overcoming these global problems and developed silicon substrate LED technology with original intellectual property rights in the laboratory of Nanchang University. In 2006, this technology received Series A investment from well-known venture capital companies such as Jinshajiang. Professor Jiang Fengyi and Dr. Wang Min jointly founded Jingneng Optoelectronics, focusing on the industrialization of silicon substrate LED technology.

After ten years of hard work, it later received Series B financing led by Temasek of Singapore, Series C financing led by International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Series D financing led by Asia Pacific Resources; with the joint efforts of investors such as Jinshajiang, and the introduction of many outstanding returnees such as Dr. Zhao Hanmin and Dr. Sun Qian to work together, Jingneng Optoelectronics was the first in the world to successfully realize large-scale industrialization of silicon substrate LED technology.

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