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BluGlass Ltd, which is developing low-cost GaN-on-glass blue LED technology, says that its pilot manufacturing plant in Silverwater, Sydney, Australia is to be officially opened on 17 July.

The plant received BluGlass’ first commercial-scale remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) reactor ahead of schedule in mid-May after being built and jointly tested by BluGlass and equipment maker EMF Semiconductor Systems in Ireland. The system is currently being installed in the cleanroom.

The reactor incorporates BluGlass’s patented non-toxic RPCVD technology for growing gallium nitride (GaN) on inexpensive glass wafers. It will be used to demonstrate the energy and cost savings that BluGlass’s GaN-on-glass manufacturing process is expected to deliver for next-generation LED lighting products, and to facilitate technology licencing. An independent analysis of the technology has found that cost savings of more than 48% could be achieved at the wafer level.

The demonstration plant and reactor are expected to attract interest from global lighting manufacturers seeking cheaper ways of making LED lighting fixtures. BluGlass intends to sell its own reactors, license its technology and earn royalties from the LED chips that its clients produce. “We are significantly closer to generating recurring revenues”, says interim CEO Giles Bourne.

The Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded a $460,000 Industrial Linkage Grant to BluGlass, Macquarie University (from which BluGlass was spun off in mid-2005) and the Australian National University to develop more efficient plasma sources for RPCVD. The grant was the second largest awarded nationally in the area of physical sciences, and formalizes a partnership between BluGlass technical staff Dr Rob Carmen (first chief investigator) and Macquarie University professor Deb Kane, and Australian National University professor Rod Boswell (recently appointed Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science).

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