News: LEDs
22 August 2025
ams OSRAM doubles UV-C LED efficiency to 10.2%
ams OSRAM of Premstaetten, Austria and Munich, Germany has evaluated a new UV-C LED emitting at a wavelength of 265nm, with a lifespan exceeding 20,000 hours, that delivers over 10% efficiency at 200mW power, as validated by Germany’s National Metrology Institute Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). With these specifications, the UV-C LED can replace conventional mercury discharge lamps in the future.
Eliminating pathogens on surfaces, in liquids or in the air is crucial for safeguarding human health and the environment — in everyday life and across various industries. Residue-free disinfection using energy-rich UV-C radiation is playing an increasingly important role in this context.
Alongside UV-C LEDs, radiation sources primarily include low-pressure and medium-pressure discharge lamps. Due to their mercury content, these lamps pose health and environmental risks during production, operation and disposal. The demand for more sustainable alternatives, such as UV-C LEDs, is therefore steadily increasing. So far, however, their efficiency has not yet matched traditional technology to fully compete with established mercury vapor lamps across all applications.
“We are increasingly focusing our research and development efforts on sustainable products. As a leading LED manufacturer, our goal is to unlock and continuously enhance UV-C LED technology to enable an ever-growing number of applications,” says Dr Ulrich Steegmueller, senior VP research & development at ams OSRAM’s Opto Semiconductors business unit. “To this end, the company is working on multiple technological advancements in the areas of epitaxy, as well as chip and package design,” he adds. “The company recently succeeded in optimizing the extraction of UV-C radiation from the LED, thereby increasing the radiation output available for applications. The LED achieved wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of 10.2%, while also delivering a long lifespan of more than 20,000 hours. ams OSRAM has thus managed to nearly double the previous LEDs’ WPE of around 5.3% — with all other conditions remaining unchanged.”
In addition to enhanced optical performance, ams OSRAM has also demonstrated that the samples tested exhibit a lifespan as long as that of high-power LEDs currently available on the market.
The new UV-C LEDs are expected to be available from late 2026 and will complement the existing product portfolio for advanced UV-C lighting solutions.
ams OSRAM launches 100mW UV-C LED with 5.7% wall-plug efficiency at 265nm
