Soraa Co-Founder Shuji Nakamura Named Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA) Inventor of the Year

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Soraa, the world's leading developer of GaN on GaN™ (gallium nitride on gallium nitride) solid-state lighting technology, announced today that co-founder Dr. Shuji Nakamura received the Inventor of the Year Award from The Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association (SVIPLA). Each year the SVIPLA recognizes an individual who has made an exceptional contribution in the technical arts and this year has chosen to honor Dr. Nakamura for his technological innovations, including the development of Soraa's GaN on GaN technology.

"Shuji's pioneering work has enabled Soraa to produce the most advanced LED lamps on the market," said Eric Kim, CEO of Soraa. "As we continue to innovate, we are pleased to see our co-founder honored for the work that started it all. For those who have followed his contributions to the industry and to LED technology, this award has special meaning."

Dr. Nakamura, known in the lighting industry as the "inventor of high-brightness blue and white LEDs," has filed more than 700 patent applications, and can claim at least 360 authorized invention patents. His development of nitride-based semiconductors, which eventually led to Soraa's "simply perfect" LED lamps is cited by the SVIPLA as "one of the most important achievements in the materials science of semiconductors in the last 30 years." 

"I am proud to be recognized by the property law association and I thank them for this. My focus is to create efficient lighting products that do not compromise on performance, offer the highest quality available and greatly reduce energy waste," said Dr. Nakamura.   

Using the GaN on GaN technology developed by Dr. Nakamura, Soraa produces LEDs that perform much better than LEDs from other manufacturers that typically deposit GaN on non-native substrates like silicon or sapphire.  GaN on GaN allows a much smaller, brighter LED brighter diode and makes it possible to use one LED light emitter per lamp-manufacturers using other substrates must use three, four and even more diodes to achieve equivalent brightness. Multiple sources of light within a lamp mean fuzzy shadows and not the crisp light required of an MR-16 for best use in commercial, museum or high-end consumer applications. MR-16 lamps—or bulbs—are Soraa's first commercially available products.

About Soraa
Soraa is the world's leading developer of solid-state lighting technology built on pure gallium nitride substrates, commonly referred to as GaN on GaN^TM. Only Soraa uses a pure GaN crystal to create simply perfect light. Founded in 2008, Soraa has developed the world's first commercial GaN on GaN™ LED lamp fabrication facility located in Fremont, CA. Soraa's investors include Khosla Ventures, NEA, and NGEN Partners. Partial support for Soraa's GaN on GaN™ technology development is provided by current and pending projects with the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Department of Energy. For additional information, please visit www.soraa.com.

SOURCE Soraa