With the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, some vertical categories that are not usually paid attention to quickly became popular. Materials related to epidemic prevention and control, such as masks, goggles, and disinfectant, have become popular. Among them, UVC (Ultra Violet C radiation) LED with the shortest wavelength but the highest energy, as a means of disinfection and protection, have also quietly accelerated the pace of growth due to the epidemic.

It is reported that some international airports have activated the UVC sterilization robot to conduct comprehensive sterilization and disinfection of all inbound and outbound aircraft cabins to effectively prevent the spread of the COVID-19. The core light source of ultraviolet sterilization adopts gallium nitride (GaN) UV LED technology, which makes the robot have the advantages of light weight, low power consumption, controllable and adjustable light emission band. PAM-XIAMEN can provide GaN epi wafers for the fabrication of UVC LED.

Gallium nitride (GaN) with high frequency properties is good materials for preparing ultraviolet light devices. With the breakthrough of LED chip manufacturing technology, LED chips made with InAlGaN and AlN semiconductor material technology can emit UVC deep ultraviolet rays with a central wavelength of 200nm~300nm. The principle of ultraviolet disinfection and sterilization (shown as figure below) is to use high-energy ultraviolet light, especially the light band of 240nm~280nm, to destroy the molecular structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) of microbial cells, causing the death of growing cells and/or regenerative cells, and achieving the effect of sterilization and disinfection. Through biological analysis, almost all coronaviruses are single-stranded positive-stranded RNA viruses. Therefore, in this new crown pneumonia epidemic, compared with traditional sterilization methods, ultraviolet germicidal lamps have a more thorough sterilization effect and can inactivate microorganisms, as long as the ultraviolet rays reach the place, the virus can be effectively and continuously inactivated.

UV Sterilization Process

In fact, since most epidermal pathogenic viruses and bacteria are sensitive to UVC deep ultraviolet rays and can be inactivated and killed by it, UVC LED devices can be used in general consumer markets for germ disinfection treatment. For example, air purifiers, home appliances and other markets are widely used, including baby products, daily contact mobile phones, escalators, household cleaning products such as toothbrushes, cabinet lights, sports water bottles, thermos, etc.

It is foreseeable that COVID-19 brings new development opportunities to the semiconductor material manufacturers, who are engaged in the original research and development of third-generation semiconductor GaN materials.

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