As an important part of the LED lighting source, the lamp beads and the packaging industry in which they are located have been in the rapid development stage of new materials and new processes in recent years.
At present, the LED package bracket is mainly composed of plastic, copper, and electroplating. The key to heat conduction is the material of the plastic. The main application materials are PPA, PCT, and EMC.
PCT materials are superior to the existing PPA in terms of high temperature endurance, high temperature and long-term yellowing, reflectivity, and UV irradiation. It can achieve incomparable color stability and low water absorption (about one thousandth) of other similar materials. It is used in the production of large outdoor LED screens and can achieve good environmental adaptability. In addition, the PCT material is made of ceramic fiber with a fiber content of about 20%. It has good weather resistance, UV resistance, low water absorption and molding shrinkage, and good dimensional stability.
The EMC stent has the characteristics of high heat resistance, UV resistance, high current flow, small size, and anti-yellowing characteristics, which brings new options for LED packaging plants that are pursuing continuous cost reduction. Both the LED packaging factories in Taiwan and the LED packaging factories in Mainland China actively expanded their EMC production capacity in 2013. Among them, the land-based LED packaging factories have rapidly expanded their production capacity. It is reported that Tiandian's EMC production capacity has also doubled compared with the previous With the factory's active production capacity, the price drop of EMC lead frames is expected to accelerate, which also poses a threat to the original cost-effective PCT lead frame.
Opinion 1: EMC packaging may replace PCT
With the burst of demand for LED lighting, the LED industry has nearly passed through two years of cold winter and entered the warmth of spring. While the upstream LED chip factory was busy practicing Flip-chip, the LED packaging factory was not idle in 2013. The introduction of EMC (Epoxy Molding Compound) brackets into the packaging process has become the same goal of all companies. The EMC bracket has the characteristics of high heat resistance, UV resistance, high current flow, small size, and anti-yellowing characteristics, which brings new options for LED sealing factories that are pursuing continuous cost reduction. The popularity of EMC products can also be attributed to the Japanese packaging manufacturer Nichia. In addition to taking the lead in developing and adopting EMC bracket materials, the 757 series built on EMC brackets by Nichia became a hot-selling product in 2013, and its cost-effective performance has won unanimous praise from the market. The wave of EMC expansion.
In 2013, Nichia steadily ranked the EMC capacity champion with a monthly production capacity of 800KK, followed by the mainland LED packaging plant Tiandian with a monthly production capacity of 270KK. The Taiwan packaging plant has the largest production capacity with a monthly production capacity of 120KK. Qiyao acquired by Power Electronics also has a monthly production capacity of 80KK, and Everlight has a monthly EMC production capacity of 60KK. After entering 2014, the plans of various factories to continue to expand EMC production capacity have remained unchanged, but land-based packaging factories have actively stepped into the EMC market and have become a rising star in 2014.
The trend makes a hero EMC rides the wind and waves-the output value of medium power surpassed the output value of high power for the first time in 2013. As the so-called trend makes a hero, EMC has become a new star in the market in the mid-stock power trend. LED packaging factories are actively developing EMC production capacity. And EMC is also under heavy demand, and the price has also fallen. In addition, it can support the increase of drive current, creating a situation in which EMC products will hit the PPA market on the left and the ceramic substrate market on the right in 2013.
LED packaging plants expand EMC production capacity without stopping-EMC products are undoubtedly one of the highlights of LED packaging plants in 2013. Nichia, which was the first to invest in this technology, leads the pack in production capacity. The decline in EMC bracket prices also makes cross-strait LED packaging companies rush to invest in EMC The product expansion game and whether the production capacity will be reshuffled in 2014 is definitely the focus of the market.
PCT is unwilling to regain the market pie-the rise of EMC has put a lot of pressure on PPA and PCT stents. With the improvement of PCT stent materials, the driving power has been increased from 0.7W in the past to 1W-1.2W, except in one fell swoop Open the distance from the PPA bracket, and also cut into the market of 0.7W-1.2W in the original EMC products. Vendors who support the PCT stent faction emphasize that the PCT has excellent performance-to-price ratio. Whether the PCT stent has the opportunity to successfully seize the EMC market in 2014 is bound to attract a lot of attention.
The packaging plants are expanding their EMC production capacity and the land plant is ahead of schedule-EMC products have a fever in 2013, and the Taiwan LED packaging plant and the Chinese LED packaging plant both actively expanded EMC production capacity in 2013. Among them, the land-based LED packaging plant has rapidly expanded its production capacity. It is reported that, Tiandian's EMC production capacity has also doubled compared to the previous one. With the active production of various factories, the price decline of EMC lead frames is expected to accelerate, which also poses a threat to the original cost-effective PCT lead frames.
As land-based LED packaging factories accelerate their pace in expanding EMC, and demand is gradually being met, the market predicts that the price drop of EMC lead frames may expand as production capacity continues to increase. For PCT stents that are lower in price and are mainly cost-effective , EMC stent prices continue to decline, and it may accelerate the replacement of PCT.
Viewpoint 2: A place for PCT materials
High-voltage LED is the current development trend, which allows the LED to work directly under alternating current. However, in the past two years, technical problems such as poor stability, low yield, and poor consistency of high-voltage LEDs could not be effectively solved, resulting in high-voltage LEDs not being accepted by the market, and development naturally stagnated.
Recently, high-voltage LED devices have returned to everyone's sight. From chips to packaging to lighting solutions, many companies are pushing high-voltage LED products. High-voltage LEDs are often used in indoor lighting, because the power used is relatively large. If PCT materials are used in combination with high-voltage LEDs, the reliability of the lamp beads can be ensured.
The LKX series of PCT materials are specialized in the production of LED product brackets. Because the PCT materials are made of ceramic fiber, which contains about 20% fiber, it is resistant to UV, has low water absorption, molding shrinkage, and good dimensional stability. sex. PCT materials are superior to the existing PPA in terms of high temperature tolerance, reflectivity, and UV radiation, and are superior to the EMC materials in the market in terms of cost performance.
It can be seen that PCT high-voltage LEDs, due to the significant reduction in light source cost, simple drive power design, low cost, and easy heat dissipation, have brought new choices to application manufacturers and will occupy an important place in the future general lighting market.
It is understood that Jingtai shares compared with EMC through the LM-80 experiment at the Beko Quality Technology Service Center. From the perspective of lumen maintenance, the performance of the more cost-effective PCT1W product is equivalent to that of the EMC 1W product.
The main function of packaging is to protect and improve the reliability of the chip, so the choice of packaging materials is particularly important. At present, the main components of the bracket are plastic, copper, and electroplating. The latter two are relatively mature, and the possibility of improvement is relatively small. The main thing is plastic.
Among plastics, the performance of PCT is better than that of PPA, and its cost performance is also higher than that of EMC. It has become the preferred material for TV backlight and high-power lighting patch packaging.
Point of view 3: PCT and EMC stents separate and package pie
With the maturity of LED lighting applications, the demand for medium-power LEDs has become hot. In recent years, LED packaging factories have actively introduced EMC (thermosetting epoxy resin) brackets suitable for medium and high power. Plastics) are quite different. From the perspective of equipment construction, industry players are more willing to move toward PCT (polyhexamethylene terephthalate). It is reported that LEDs using PCT brackets have been over-drive to 1.5W. And is heading towards 2W.
EMC brackets are undoubtedly a major focus of the packaging industry in 2013. EMC brackets have rapidly developed from 1-2WLEDs in the past to 2-3WLEDs, and the price has accelerated, which simultaneously threatens the PPA brackets used in the past for low-power and high-power ceramics. The substrate market. However, the bracket industry believes that the manufacturing process of EMC brackets is similar to that of semiconductors, which is more advantageous for semiconductor-based manufacturers. In contrast, bracket factories and packaging factories specializing in the LED market in the past need to increase equipment procurement and manufacturing processes. Changes in the country face greater pressure on capital expenditures.
In the past, manufacturers specializing in PPA brackets have switched to PCT brackets to enter the PCT bracket market. It is understood that the PCT brackets of the bracket manufacturers can be used on 1.5W LEDs and are moving towards over-drive to 2W. As the PCT brackets cut into In the mid-power LED market, coupled with the continued decline in PCT prices, many LED packaging factories are also waiting to see the development of PCT brackets and EMC brackets.
Looking at the LED packaging factories currently investing in EMC, Taiwan's LED packaging factories Everlight and Dongbei, Lu LED packaging factory Ruifeng, and Sanan Group's packaging factory Tiandian have also opened up EMC packaging component production capacity. In addition, Korea LED manufacturers Samsung, Seoul Semiconductor, LG Innotek and other factories have also introduced EMC packaging technology. It is reported that Taiwanese manufacturers are evaluating whether EMC production capacity continues to increase, while Korean LED manufacturers are relatively active in investing in EMC.
Judging from the current capacity of a relatively large-scale EMC packaging plant, Nichia started earlier in EMC packaging brackets. Its 757 series using EMC brackets swept the market in 2013. Nichia steadily ranked the EMC capacity champion with a monthly production capacity of 800KK. , Followed by the LED packaging factory in mainland China, Tiandian, it is reported that the monthly production capacity of Tiandian previously had 270KK, but recently reported that the production capacity has increased rapidly, which has once again opened the distance with the Taiwanese LED packaging factory.
Judging from the production capacity of Taiwan-based LED packaging plants, Qiyao acquired by CLP also has a monthly production capacity of 80KK, while Everlight's single-month EMC production capacity is about 60KK.
In addition to the competition between PCT and EMC, two more points should be noted: one is intellectual property risks (mainly Nichia), and the other is the monopoly in the supply of packaging materials, and the price reduction of EMC stents is difficult to achieve as expected.
In summary, EMC LED conforms to the current trend of LED high-power, from the current point of view, technical advantages are obvious. At the same time, EMC LED faces the challenge of PCT and chip-level packaging. In the long run, I think it should be just a transitional product.
