At a press conference today in Frankfurt, Seoul Semiconductor and Toshiba Materials launched a new technology that we think is revolutionary. It is called SunLike LED and it eliminates the blue spike that is present in LEDs today.
In a comment exclusive to the EdisonReport, Andreas Weisl, Vice President Sales SEOUL SEMICONDUCTOR Europe GmbH explained, “The SunLike is a new LED technology that produces light that closest matches the spectrum of natural sunlight. It is a breakthrough natural light LED technology that can increase the quality of lighting beyond the characteristics of light of conventional artificial lighting, which is different from natural light, and opens the era of genuine human centric lighting.”
Instead of a blue LED as the baseline, SunLike starts with a purple LED, and is combined with their unique and patented phosphors. SunLike shows exact coloring and exact color rendering as it duplicates the natural light of the sun with all advantages and eliminates the disadvantages of blue light. Even with the new IES TM 30 metric, it is almost identical to sunlight.
While SEOUL acknowledged that there are some 95 CRI and even 97 CRI products on the market, those products still have the blue peak and do not fit the sun’s spectrum.
Color is only part of the story. SunLike offers good visibility and low scattering allowing for higher visibility. In ordinary LEDs, the diffusive reflection is stronger. With SunLike, the specular reflection is stronger, meaning more detail is present. Not only will clothes have a better color, they will appear to have a better feel as their textures will no longer be washed out and the craftsmanship of the merchandise will be much more prevalent.
SEOUL has a very aggressive plan and expects to capture 3% of their target market or $150M this year. SunLike will address applications, which were reluctant to move to LED because of quality.
It’s important to remember that Seoul is a source or component company and they do not sell finished goods. Target markets are in five key areas: Residential, Healthcare, Architectural, Hospitality, and Retail.
Seoul will also look at niches such as horticulture. Mr. Weisl explained that blue and red LEDs save energy and plants are “growing like Hell”, but U.S. studies indicate those plants may be weak with disease and insect issues. Grow lights save energy by eliminating the green spectrum since green leaves reflect most green light. Mr. Weisl said that plants need greens and yellows and require the full spectrum of the sun.
SunLike is being launched initially with COB products this month and SMD for mid-power in July. In 2018 it will be offered in WICOP. Samples have already been provided to key OEMs and the feedback has been promising.