POS-LED Center, led by Prof. Jong-Lam Lee with six other professors, had its opening on Sep. 6 with the lab positioned in the Materials Science and Engineering Building.

The research center is financed by Seoul Semiconductor and POSCO LED. Seoul Semiconductor owns 20% of the shares. The center receives 600 million KRW twice a year for five years, totaling up to 6 billion KRW.

A fluorescent light bulb produces 80 lm/W. With the present level of technology, a LED light bulb can produce up to 100 lm/W. This is already brighter than how much fluorescent light produces. The long-term mission, said Prof. Lee, is to develop surrounding original technologies to realize 180 lm/W-size LED bulb.

Macroscopically, to attain the mission, the lab will be working on the thin film fabrication, LED device fabrication, nano-patterning, and light transformation.

Prof. Lee, who has collaborated with Seoul Semiconductor for eight years, took the job to create and lead a think tank for the R&D in academia.

Although the center is financed by the two private companies, the patents of the technologies that the center develops will be registered to POSTECH. The two companies will be paying for the royalty for the use.