Companies Advance LED Technology

Inlustra Technologies, a start-up firm spun out of gallium nitride research labs at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has begun production of nonpolar gallium nitride. The firm says gallium nitride semiconductors are critical for developing white-light-emitting diodes that will compete with fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. Meanwhile, Japan's Showa Denko has started selling aluminum gallium indium phosphide LED chips that emit red light at 660 nm, the optimal wavelength for accelerating plantgrowth. The firm says nearly 30 controlled-light greenhouses already operate in Japan.