LED iBond progresses with "Far UVC" technology towards market entry – Patent application filed in US and EU

Company announcement no. 78

As announced in company announcement no. 57, 13 July 2022, LED iBond intended to position its LED packaging technology as a platform for UV disinfection systems. With focused activities around Far UV during 2023, LED iBond has made significant progress towards Far UVC products.

Far UVC (200-240 nm) is a new disinfection technology which claims to kill pathogens in the air and on surfaces without harming people and animals present during radiation. Needless to say this has profound implications for keeping society safe from pandemics because the technology can be used in any public space. A few examples of such spaces are offices, schools, hospitals, and public transportation. The market for Far UV products is expected to experience significant growth.

Far UVC source based on impact ionization – Patent application filed in US and EU

Disinfection has for a long time been one part of LED iBond business, and more recently in 2021 a joint venture named Baldr Light ApS was formed to develop a Far UVC source based on solid state technology which is the leading edge of UVC disinfection.

As announced in company announcement no. 36, 11 Oct 2021, Baldr Light ApS is actively protecting its proprietary invention and as next step of its PCT application (WO2022188937) process initiated in 2022, Baldr Light has decided to file with both the US patent office and European Patent office (EPO).  The US patent application (18/549,725 - USPTO) have been filed and the European patent application will be submitted in late September (22711480.8 - EPO).

Link to PCT application https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2022188937

These patent applications are for developing a unique solid state Far UVC technology which if successful in scale would revolutionize not only the Far UVC disinfection industry but also other related industries such as curing (used in painting and printing) which also need a Far UVC product that has a high-power output with a practical, appealing formfactor and which is also inexpensive.

The underlying Baldr technology called "impact ionization" when used with oxides such as MgZnO can in fact also be used for generation of visible light. So the possibilities for its use are widespread and the impact ionization technology can simultaneously potentially make a crucial contribution to the health and safety of society. Far UVC is indeed a matter of national security in times of pandemic.

Successful demonstration of Far UVC module based on UVC LEDs and TRACY®

This summer, as announced in company announcement no. 71, 24 March 2023, Baldr Light was honored to attend and present at the first conference ever to be held on Far UVC (in New York City) and as a result was able to establish commercial contact to a 3. party that could secure some of the first available Far UVC LEDs on the market.

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has since tested these 3. Party Far UVC LEDs mounted in TRACY®, LED iBond’s flagship product, and confirmed that Far UVC light emission was achieved with good performance and low optical losses which proves the advantages of TRACY as a platform for modules hosting UVC LEDs.

LED iBond therefore now has a roadmap to a breakthrough for a disinfection product based on TRACY® which would be the first ever Far UVC LED product and system with a slim formfactor and advanced features such a replaceable LED capability and longer lifetime. 

Other Far UVC products are available on the market but these generally use cumbersome and expensive Krypton Chloride (Kr-Cl) Excimer Lamps (222nm) that also has an undesired tendency to generate the toxic gas Ozone as a ‘bi-product’. LEDs clearly offer a much more practical and functional solution that the market has been longing for.

Investigating options for boosting R&D activities

LED iBond continues to see a great potential in the market for Far UVC technology and solutions but the company’s current capitalization limits its possibilities to boost the R&D activities short term. Consequently, LED iBond and Baldr Light are both continuing to explore opportunities for external funding, investors for Baldr Light, and partnerships that can support further R&D of the technologies and development of products and/or modules for the UVC market.