InfiniLED agrees partnership with Tyndall Institute

11 Jul 2012

Company aims to bring the first µLED-based products to market before the end of 2012.

InfiniLED and Tyndall National Institute (University College Cork, Ireland) have announced a joint access agreement. The agreement allows InfiniLED’s engineers to work within the institute’s ISO 9001-Certified compound semiconductor cleanrooms to fabricate its “µLED” (MicroLED) technology.

The skills, infrastructure, ISO certification and capabilities at the Tyndall National Institute are unique with Ireland and the UK, which is reflected in the quality of the research emerging from the institute.

Joe O’Keeffe, CEO of InfiniLED, commented, “The availability of wafer growth, chip fabrication and advanced photonic packaging & test facilities at the Tyndall National Institute will allow InfiniLED to develop devices from raw materials to full systems without incurring the cost of acquiring such equipment and facilities. It means that InfiniLED can provide a range of solutions to customers based on µLED (MicroLED) technology in a form that is most suited to their requirements.”

Irish investment

Kieran Flynn, Head of Business Development at the Tyndall National Institute, said, “This agreement strengthens the two-way relationship between Tyndall National Institute and InfiniLED. It demonstrates Tyndall’s flexibility in working with Irish indigenous spin out companies and assisting them in their growth trajectory. We will continue to work with InfiniLED’s technology and team to incorporate the µLED into future Tyndall client companies’ system solutions.”

"This is another example of the importance of the Irish Government’s investment in ICT and photonics convergence into new markets at Tyndall and its impact on Ireland’s current and future economic success.”

InfiniLED is an innovation development project and portfolio company of ScienceWorks Ventures plc, the international IP commercialisation company. It is also an Enterprise Ireland supported spin-out company from the Tyndall National Institute and University College Cork. Post-investment, ScienceWorks remains InfiniLED’s largest shareholder along with senior management.

InfiniLED develops a range of LED light source modules based on its patented µLED™ (MicroLED) technology, which it has licensed from Tyndall. InfiniLED has a number of on-going development contracts with international customers. The company is aiming to bring the first µLED-based products to the market before the end of 2012. The areas of application for InfiniLED technology range from diagnostic testing devices to consumer products.

Dr. Bill Henry, Chief Commercial Officer of InfiniLED, added, “Our µLED technology brings huge technological advances to customers by controlling the light directly at the point where it is created. As well as our core devices, InfiniLED also delivers unique solutions for customer needs.

”This engagement with Tyndall allows InfiniLED to develop solutions that are tailored at the chip level and to include all the required optical and control supports. This enables us to deliver plug-and-play solutions to customers across a range of markets including diagnostic devices, LED printing, microscopy and others.”

The MicroLED technology was invented by a team of researchers led by Brian Corbett at Tyndall National Institute, supported and funded by Enterprise Ireland. Under the Enterprise Ireland Business Partner Programme, entrepreneur Joe O’Keeffe, who has already spun out a series of successful companies, evaluated the commercial potential of the µLED.

InfiniLED was launched in April 2011 and was co-founded by Dr. Bill Henry, Chief Commercial Officer. Henry had worked on the development of the technology and the commercial opportunities while at Tyndall. The securing of this investment marks the next step in moving this world-class Irish research from the lab into the market place.

About the Author

Matthew Peach is a contributing editor to optics.org