Ultraviolet (UV) LED lamps are often used for lighting and sterilization, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, related applications have even increased significantly. The AOD design team of National Chung Cheng University has developed an "inorganic low thermal resistance UVC LEDs packaging and sterilization module", which not only solves the reliability problems caused by the yellowing and cracking of organic packaging encapsulant, but also improves the thermal conductivity. It has been tested and verified to be effective in sterilization. It stood out from hundreds of entries and won the gold medal of the 18th International Salon of Inventions and New Technologies. At present, the CCU team has applied for technical patent approval, and cooperated with manufacturers in the Hsinchu Science Park to apply it to the sterilization light sources for the production line of the first-class medical devices.

The light source of the traditional sterilization system uses a UV mercury lamp, which is not only environmentally unfriendly but also has a short lifespan. However, the general UVC LEDs used to replace UV mercury lamp have problems of reliability and high thermal resistance in the packaging process. Under the guidance of Zi-Ting Ye, an assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of Opto-Mechatronics, Department of Mechanical Engineering in CCU, the AOD design team composed of Shen-Fu Tseng, Chang-Che Chiu, Yang-Jun Zheng, Chia-Chun Hu, Wen-Tsung Ho and other master and doctoral students used the inorganic metal eutectic process method, combined with quartz glass Lens, aluminum nitride substrate, developed a UV-C sterilization module with high conductivity and low heat consumption.

"UV LEDs have low efficiency in converting electricity into light, so they need to increase the power, but when the power is increased, there will be heat, so heat dissipation is very important." Wen-Tsung Ho, a member of the CCU’s AOD design team, said that semiconductors will deplete at high temperatures, which will cause decrease in its efficiency; in addition, UV will cause aging and embrittlement of many materials, and therefore, materials that can maintain their strength under high-intensity UV are also required in design.

According to SGS testing and verification, the sterilizing module developed by the AOU design team of CCU has a dominant wavelength of 275nm, and an output radiation flux of 100mW, and a sterilizing power of 99.9% for Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, Streptococcus mutans, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The CCU team is currently using this sterilizing module in the production line of TO2M Corporation in Hsinchu Science Park, to trial produce a sterilizing light source for the first-class medical device, and it is expected that in the future, this sterilizing module can also be applied to consumption levels such as environment, home, and even ingredients and tableware.

The internationally renowned International Salon of Inventions and New Technologies is jointly organized by Government of the city of Sevastopol, Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), Federal Service for Intellectual Property, and Association "Cluster" Energy Saving. The participating teams came from 15 countries including Russia, Egypt, India, South Korea, Israel, Thailand, and China, and a total of 302 entries participated. The AOD design team of CCU participated in the competition with the sterilizing module under the guidance of Startup Land at CCU, and won the gold medal.

Startup Land at National Chung Cheng University has long-term professional industry-academy cooperation counseling programs such as professional course training, event participation, and space provision to cultivate entrepreneurial teams made up of students, encourage teachers' innovative research and development, and also stimulate industry-academy research atmosphere. Wen-Tsung Ho said that it is not easy for student organizations to obtain resources, but through the support of Startup Land at CCU and its help as being the medium, students have more opportunities to get in touch with industries, new materials and technologies, so that academic research has more opportunity to be conducted.