Seoul Semiconductor upgrades design and improves brightness of Acriche by 20% to 48 lm/W

Acriche 2W single emitter of octagon type has a luminous efficacy of 48 lm/W, which is 20% brighter than the version the company began mass producing last November. This level of brightness is comparable to conventional LEDs which report 57 lm/W but experience a 20% loss in conversion. Seoul Semiconductor plans to increase Acriche`s luminous efficacy to 80 lm/W in the fourth quarter of 2007, and to 120 lm/W in 2008.

"Our team of engineers has been working around the clock, and we are very proud that in just three months we have been able to deliver this kind of improvement," said Do Hyung Kim, head of the Acriche unit at Seoul Semiconductor.

Acriche`s new packaging as a single emitter with a diameter of 25 mm also enhances its use for various applications. "You can apply second optics (collimators) to Acriche 2W octagon type to adjust for various lighting applications," said Mr. Kim. "For instance, the lens with narrow viewing angles can be used for lighting fixtures that focus on a certain area such as reading lamps, while the lens with wide viewing angles can be used to illuminate a wider space like a living room in a home or an office."

The company is planning to release Acriche single emitter without a PCB soon. "This will broaden the range of application for Acriche even more as our customers will be able to make the PCB type they need and array emitters on the PCB," said Mr. Kim.

Acriche is a more efficient and brighter lighting source. With its new architecture, Acriche reduces electricity costs by 85% compared to incandescent lamps; and by 50% compared to general fluorescent lamps. Its luminous efficacy of 48 lm/W is also higher than halogen at 20 lm/W and incandescent at 15 lm/W. Acriche`s ability to focus lighting also makes it more efficient than incandescent and fluorescent which emits 360 degrees of light.

Acriche has been designed for conventional lighting applications including architectural lighting, scenery lighting (such as park lighting), stand lighting, exit lighting, street lamps, industrial lighting and many others.

About Acriche
Acriche offers improved power efficiency compared to incandescent and halogen lamps, and outpaces fluorescent lamps in terms of life span, power usage, and convenience. Acriche lasts 30,000 hours compared to 1,000 hours for incandescent lamps, 3,000 hours for halogen lamps, and 8,000 hours for fluorescent lamps. Acriche does not contain environmentally harmful substances such as mercury, nitrogen or lead like other conventional lights. The distribution of Acriche in North America will be handled by global electronics distributor Avnet Electronics Marketing and catalogue distributor Mouser.

About Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
Seoul Semiconductor is the largest LED lighting solutions manufacturer in Korea, and one of the ten largest in the world. Seoul Semiconductor has recently been named to Forbes` and BusinessWeek`s lists as one of the most promising Asian companies. Applications for the company`s LED products include general illumination, signage, street lighting, architectural lighting, back lighting for mobile phones, TVs, and notebook computers, cars, home appliances, task lighting, traffic signals, and portable lighting. Seoul Semiconductor has 927 patents and 83 licenses. The company reported US$200 million in sales in 2006 and has more than 1,000 employees, of which more than 160 are dedicated to research and development.