Resolves LED lighting failures caused by corrosion through Roum Ag less
Optimized as a countermeasure against sulfurization in automotive stop lamps, etc.

ROHM has developed the Ag-less high-intensity red LED 'SML-Y18U2T', which contributes to improving reliability in applications used in demanding environments, such as automotive stop lamps.

This product uses gold to replace silver (Ag) in die bonding pastes, frames, etc., which were previously used. As a result, LED lighting failures caused by silver corrosion are resolved, contributing to improved application reliability. For example, when the existing product and the new product are each used under sulfidation test conditions for 10 days, the luminous intensity retention rate can be improved by approximately 40%.



In addition, while the existing product using a silver-plated frame and silver paste shows a decrease in luminous intensity over time, with the luminous intensity remaining at 70% after 1 cycle (24 hours) and 60% after 10 cycles in the sulfidation test, the new product can achieve both sulfidation resistance and high luminous intensity by making the red LED almost 100% less red even after 10 cycles (240 hours).

Samples have been shipped since February, and mass production is scheduled to begin in April 2019 with a production capacity of 1 million units per month. The production bases are the front-end process ROHM Corporation headquarters in Japan, and the back-end process ROHM Semiconductor in China and ROHM-Wako Electronics in Malaysia.

ROHM stated, "In applications in the automotive and industrial equipment sectors where electronic components are used, sulfidation, which causes metal materials to corrode due to environmental stress, is a major cause of aging degradation," and emphasized, "Countermeasures against sulfidation are essential to ensure reliability." Accordingly, the company added, "We will continue to respond to customer needs and strengthen our lineup of user-friendly products."