Shin-Etsu Chemical: Silicone Reflector Material and and Transparent Protective Film for High Brightness LEDs

These new materials will be used to improve the performance of high-brightness LEDs that are used for lighting products and for backlighting units in LCD TVs. Shin-Etsu begins sample shipments mainly for these applications.

A reflector improves brightness by reflecting the light emitted by LEDs to the front of the display. Currently, polyphthalamide (PPA), a thermoplastic resin, has mainly been used for reflectors.

However, PPA has the big drawback. Because of its changes in color as a result of rising high temperatures of chip surfaces or in the presence of strong LED light, the light's reflection efficiency deteriorates and lowers the brightness of LEDs.

For this reason, a new reflector material, which assures long-term quality for the use of lighting applications, was sought after that has superior characteristics. The advanced silicone reflector material for LED housing that Shin-Etsu has developed meets this requirement.

The SWC Series is a silicone-based material that has superior heat resistance and photo-thermal stability properties. It has characteristics that other reflector materials cannot offer. It reflects light with a high efficiency of more than 98%. Even though it is exposed for a long time under high-power short-wave-length light conditions, there is no degradation of the LED’s light intensity. Furthermore, it can easily realize mass production and has flexible processability, making it possible to freely design packaging shapes.

The LPS-AF Series is a silicone-based transparent protective film that is superior in heat resistance and photo-thermal stability. By attachment to a LED chip’s surface upon heating, it can easily encapsulate the LED. Furthermore, the film compounded with phosphors can easily and evenly change the blue light to white, which is emitted by a LED, and thus improve color uniformity.

Shin-Etsu Chemical has introduced many high-reliability advanced silicone products for LEDs such as silicone encapsulating materials (LPS-1000~5000 Series) to protect LED chips, which are superior in heat resistance and photo-thermal stability, silicone encapsulating materials modified with epoxy (LPS-7400), die bonding materials (LPS-8000 Series) with high-bonding strength and superior heat resistance, and silicone lenses.

Now Shin-Etsu’s product line-up includes the newly developed SWC Series, advanced silicone reflectors and the LPS-AF Series, transparent protective film. As a comprehensive supplier of LED related materials, Shin-Etsu will continue in the future to offer superior products that will match the market needs being more sophisticated.

As electronics devices contributing to lighten environmental burden of the globe, the LEDs’ market is rapidly expanding in such applications as display devices for traffic lights, backlighting for LCD TVs, automotive head lights and interior room lighting.

Shin-Etsu foresees that the market size of reflector materials for LEDs will expand from the present ¥2.5 billion a year to ¥7.5 billion in 2013, and accordingly Shin-Etsu is actively promoting sample evaluations and setting up a production system at an early stage.