Ann: BluGlass wins Australian Cleantech Competiti, page-13

re: Ann: BluGlass wins Australian Cleantech C... I would like to test the following claim at the end of the ASX Cleantech award announcement made by BLG:
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....and it is estimated that for each RPCVD tool put into production there could be a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of more than 39,000 t CO2 equivalent per RPCVD unit

This funding will allow BluGlass to expedite research and development into GaN on silicon substrates. Silicon is a low cost, large diameter substrate that is currently limited in its application for LED semiconductor material growth. This is because the high temperatures of MOCVD growth generally lead to bowing of the substrate, which leads to poor manufacturing yields. RPCVD is a low temperature process that is potentially better suited for the growth of GaN on silicon substrates. It is anticipated that this will result in a revenue stream for the company as presently GaN on silicon is not competitive with the industry standard substrate, sapphire despite its huge commercial appeal as a low cost solution for LED’s.
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You can travel here and do some reading. Maybe I missed something.

http://optics.org/news/4/7/34

LED forecast plays down GaN-on-silicon impact
23 Jul 2013 which reports.....

Despite the transition of LED-based solid-state lighting (SSL) to an $80 billion industry over the next few years, the silicon substrate technology touted by some as the key to bringing down chip costs is set to remain a niche play.

Oh dear, oh dear. Later ....

Lux notes the attraction of silicon, estimating that for the equivalent wafer area, the material costs just one-eighth that of a sapphire substrate. But its analysts say that technical challenges – largely resulting from the physical mismatch between silicon and GaN crystal lattices - will limit the material combination to only a 10% share of the LED epiwafer market by 2020.

Ooops... Houston we have a problem, or just a minor technical glich, similar to the "Its only a flesh wound",said the Black Knight.

"... physical mismatch between silicon and GaN crystal lattices - will limit.."

I think having a low temperature process might not quite be what is required. BLG's identification that the problem is related to "bowing" might just be a little shy of the fundamental issue at hand.

Still, what would I know? I only spent 10 minutes googling, BLG have been at it for years since the IPO price of 25 cents. Yep, that long ago!

Be great to see BLG knock my shallow science out the park with a great come-back. Or they can keep boffining away having fun.

On a different front: the claim of a CO2 saving of 39,000 t CO2/MOCVD is equivalent (assuming 0.7t CO2/MWh) to 3.1MW /MOCVD. Put another way, the saving from each MOCVD is the same as 3100 home bar heaters operating continuously. Goodness gracious just how much do those things use if that's the saving per each MOCVD??

Looked at another way, its the same as not releasing 3.5 tonnes of hydroflourocarbon gas per MOCVD per year. Even that is hard to believe. Nobody responsibly releases that gas in that way. Or worse, 1900 tonnes of methane gas per MOCVD. These numbers are ridiculous. The absolute worse is SF6 Sulphur Hexaflouride and you would still need to release 1.6 tonnes per year, thats 4.5 kg per day/MOCVD.

There would be no need to speculate if there was a little more content and some substance on BLG's website and in public releases. BLG might, just might, be a more interesting company to follow and understand.

Maybe there is a sound reason they don't?

Plenty of food for thought. I wonder if any of this type of rumination made it to the SWOT part of their Business plan to Cleantech? If the financial model and Business Plan were on the website, we'd know.

Postscrip: a last minute google flipped up..

" A new report ‘Dimming the Hype: GaN-on-Si Fails to Outshine Sapphire by 2020’, by market research firm Lux Research sees SiC and sapphire continuing to dominate the LED market, benefitting from added capacity and continued technology improvements. The report says that “new methods like hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) will further improve throughput and cut costs, keeping sapphire highly competitive for the rest of the decade”.

You only need to remember the title of the report "Dimming the Hype: GaN-on-Si Fails to Outshine Sapphire by 2020" to realise those dividends are a long way off still.