Bill Henry, CCO, InfiniLED; Michael Grufferty, International Energy Research Centre, programme manager and head of industry and innovation, Tyndall National Institute; Joe O'Keeffe, CEO, InfiniLED
Irish clean-tech start-up InfiniLED has forged an access agreement with Tyndall National Institute in Cork to use the institute’s semiconductor cleanrooms in order to work on developing its MicroLED technology.
InfiniLED itself is an Enterprise Ireland-supported spin-out from Tyndall National Institute and University College Cork. It is pioneering a range of LED light source modules based on its patented µLED (microLED) technology, which it has licensed from Tyndall.
The company is aiming for its LED technology to reduce power consumption in displays, leading to increased battery life for devices such as mobile phones and laptops. It is hoping to bring the first µLED-based products to the market before the end of 2012.
InfiniLED was spun out in 2011. A team of researchers led by Brian Corbett at Tyndall National Institute had invented the micro-LED technology.
InfiniLED was co-founded by Dr Bill Henry, who had worked on the development of the technology and the commercial opportunities while at Tyndall.
Just this May, InfiniLED closed a first-round investment, which it said at the time could reach €1.6m. IL Investment Group from Quebec in Canada led the round. Post-investment, ScienceWorks remains InfiniLED’s largest shareholder along with senior management, according to the company.
As for the access agreement it has just signed with Tyndall, InfiniLED said it would allow its engineers to work within the institute’s semiconductor cleanrooms to fabricate its MicroLED technology.
“The access agreement is an exciting step forward for InfiniLED. The skills, infrastructure, ISO certification and capabilities at the Tyndall National Institute are unique with Ireland and the UK. This is reflected in the quality of the research emerging from the institute,” said Joe O’Keeffe, CEO of InfiniLED. The entrepreneur has spun out a series of companies.
O’Keeffe went on to say that the agreement would allow InfiniLED to build on its technology base, referring to the availability of wafer growth, chip fabrication and advanced photonic packaging and test facilities that are available at Tyndall.
Dr Bill Henry, chief commercial officer at InfiniLED, said the company is aiming to deliver plug-and-play solutions to customers across a range of markets, including diagnostic devices, LED printing and the microscopy area.
Back in 2011, InfiniLED won the 2011 ITLG University Challenge from the Silicon-Valley based Irish Technology Leadership Group.
