10 July 2014

Nichia to release blue and green laser diodes for automotive head-up displays

Nichia Corp of Tokushima, Japan says that it aims to commercialize blue and green semiconductor laser diodes designed specifically for automotive head-up display (HUD) systems.

Though a variety of semiconductor laser diodes have already been commercialized, they will be the first blue and green products for automotive applications, Nichia said. The company plans to start to ship samples in October 2014 and begin volume production in October 2015.

LEDs are currently the most common light sources for automotive HUD systems. Nichia says that, by replacing them with laser diodes, the following benefits can be expected:

• a larger head-up display field of view;
• lower energy consumption;
• higher contrast; and
• an extended range of reproducible colors.

Nichia says that it has achieved improved reliability and quality for the new lasers. A 5.6mm-diameter CAN metal package was chosen for its high-reliability performance for laser diodes. Also, the semiconductor chip has improved luminous efficiency. According to Nikkei Electronics, wall-plug efficiency (WPE) has been improved from 17% to 26% for blue light emission and from 5% to 8% for green light emission.

Nichia aims to start shipping test samples from October this year, with mass production starting in October 2015.

See related items:

Nichia to ship sample green laser diodes from August

Tags:  Nichia LEDs Green laser

Visit: www.nichia.com