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Luxeon
Lumileds


A very bright future for Power LEDs

The electronics industry is seeing a change in the way that Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are manufactured and subsequently used. Farnell InOne has partnered with Future Electronics to give access to the some of the brightest LEDs currently available.

Billions of LEDs are manufactured each year for use in thousands of product applications such as indicators and displays. Yet their relatively low luminescence has failed to challenge incandescent bulbs when high illumination is required. All this is about to change with the development of Power LEDs.

LEDs surround us everywhere in the modern world. They form the numbers on our digital clock radios, they illuminate the function lights on our car dashboards, they are the “power on” indicator light in countless home appliances from electric shavers to DVD players, and they are the little “sentry” that flashes in unison with data passing through your PC’s modem or Ethernet network hub. It’s no real surprise, therefore, that the tiny semiconductor sandwich device that is the humble LED sells in its billions each year.

But the LED has not been without competition. In particular, the incandescent bulb that traces its roots back to Edison’s 1879 invention, has reigned supreme in high illumination applications, particularly those using white light. Domestic lighting, car headlights and torches are just some examples where traditionally incandescent lighting provides the intense luminescence needed to do the job and which conventional LEDs simply cannot supply.

But the LED manufacturers haven’t been sitting idly by. The technological advantages over incandescent light sources promised by LEDs – plus the lure of a considerable boost in revenues – have led these companies to invest massively in R&D to develop brighter LEDs.

This has resulted in the evolution of a new breed of LED: the so-called Power LED. The luminescence of this new generation of LED is such that they are able to challenge the domain of bright incandescent light sources such as filament bulbs, halogen lamps and fluorescent lamps. They are also available in a full range of colours.

For electronics designers, Power LEDs have the potential to free them from the restrictions imposed by incandescent light sources. Unlike the latter, Power LEDs can be switched on and off almost instantaneously (less than 100ns) at operating temperatures down to –40C, have an extremely long life span of up to 100,000 hours, and offer dramatically higher energy efficiency.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Power LEDs are set to revolutionise an entire new generation of automotive, domestic and leisure lighting applications.

But how does the performance of Power LEDs compare to traditional LEDs, what kinds of Power LEDs are now available and how can they be designed into an application?

The physics of LEDs

Conventional LEDs are intrinsically simple devices based upon an n-type/p-type semiconductor junction. When electrons are encouraged to flow across the junction by the application of a small voltage, their negative charge draws them to the p-type “holes” (i.e. atoms missing an electron). On meeting a hole, the electron drops from a higher energy conduction band to a lower orbital or valance band (across the “band gap”) around the p-type hole, emitting a photon in the process. In the case of a “visible” LED, (as opposed to the infrared type commonly used in TV remote controls, for instance) the frequency of the emitted photons is in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This frequency determines the colour of the LED’s emitted light.

Power LEDs are based upon exactly the same physics. How they differ is that they have been designed to run ‘safely’ on upwards of twice the power input (indeed some designs are quoted to run on 20 to 50 times the input). This may sound like a simple development, but designing an LED package that is capable of safely dissipating this extra heat without suffering irreversible over-heating damage has been an enormous technical challenge that has only now been solved.

There are currently two broad approaches. One is based around doubling the number of input/output leads to the LED from 2 to 4 and drawing heat away from the device using these extra thermal channels. Fairchild Semiconductor, Lumileds and Vishay adopt this approach. The other is to keep the number of leads constant (i.e. 2) and design the enhanced thermal management requirements into the actual packaging of the device. This approach is adopted by Lumileds.

All Power LEDs outperform incandescent bulbs in virtually every way. In particular, they are more energy efficient. All incandescent bulbs “waste” most of the input electrical energy heating up their filaments (hence the slow start up time), and only a small proportion of this energy is emitted as light, the rest is as heat.

Below is a summary of the main advantages that Power LEDs have over incandescent bulbs:

• Instant-start (typically less than 100ns opposed to an incandescent lamp’s 200ms), full
colour, 100% light.
• Cold start capable (down to –40°C).
• Dynamic colour changes and white point tuning is possible.
• Cool beam that’s safe to the touch.
• No IR radiation or UV components to the emitted beam.
• Vivid saturated colours that don’t require efficiency-reducing colour filters.
• No mercury in the light source.
• Very long operating life of up to 100,000 hours.
• Robust, vibration proof, solid-state lighting solution.
• Compact source offers design flexibility and unobtrusive hidden light designs.
• More energy efficient than incandescent and most Halogen lamps.
• Low voltage DC operation (with no requirement for a high-voltage starting arc).
• Minimal maintenance costs.
• Superior electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection.
• Fully dimmable without colour variation.

Note that LED dimming with Power LEDs is best achieved using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). This is because the use of a constant current limits the dimming ratio to 1:3. With PWM, however, dimming is possible down to a ratio of 1:10,000.

What’s available

As noted above, the semiconductors making up the LED determine the band gap, and consequently, the colour of the device. The traditional material is Aluminium Indium Gallium Phosphide (AlInGaP). This is a mature technology capable of producing light in the 584.5–645nm wavelength range, corresponding to red, red-orange or amber light. More recent technology uses Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN), producing light in the 440–550nm region and enabling blue, cyan and green devices.

Creating white light from an LED source has always been a challenge. The traditional method is to mix red, green and blue sources, but a different technique has been developed for Power LEDs. This method has the advantage that it only requires a single light source.

This technique uses a blue LED, allied to a phosphorous coating. Some of the photons emitted from the blue Power LED strike a phosphorous coating over the chip and reflector cup. These photons are absorbed by the phosphorous and re-emitted as yellow. The combination of blue and yellow light appears white to the human eye.

Dissipating heat

Power LEDs generally come in voltages and currents of up to 3.5V and 350mA respectively, although Lumileds offers a 5W Emitter device with a rating of up to 6.8V at 700mA.

As mentioned earlier, conventional surface mount LEDs (for example, PLCC-2 packages, Figure 1) and through-hole LED (Figure 2) lamps tend to dissipate heat via the connection leads. Through-hole devices, however, can suffer from a number of limitations. For example, they have a high thermal resistance (over 200K/W); consequently input power is limited to less than 0.1W and therefore light output is typically 2-3lumens.

Because of its better heat dissipation, an improvement in power input and luminosity (by a factor of 5) can be achieved by using a device with four leads.
A thermal model for a conventional LED lamp mounted on a printed circuit board is given by (in this case the die attach pad is connected to the cathode pin):

TJ = TA + PD(q J-P + q P-A) = TA + PD(q J-A)

Where:
TJ = LED junction temperature
TA = Ambient temperature
PD = Power dissipation, i.e. IF times VF
q J-P = Thermal resistance, junction to cathode pin
q P-A = Thermal resistance, pin to air

Given that TA is fixed, to increase PD it is necessary to significantly reduce the thermal resistance (i.e. significantly increase the thermal conductivity) of the junction pins. To do this using conventional alloy materials is not possible, but by doubling the number of pins it is possible to half the effective thermal resistance to allow twice the PD for the same LED junction temperature, TJ.

Alternatively, in Lumileds Emitter devices, heat is dissipated from the chip by mounting the LED chip on a copper slug, which is then mounted directly on the substrate. This encourages heat loss by conduction from the bottom of the chip (see Figure 3 and Figure 4) with the device’s terminal pins are used for power supply only. When designing with the Lumileds Emitters it is essential to mount them on a large heat sink (typically made of aluminium) to ensure long life and consistent performance.

Power supplies for LEDs

It’s relatively simple to supply power to a Power LED. Generally, it is best to apply constant current by using a resistor in series to the LED (see Figure 5). The disadvantage of this solution is the dependence of the current on the input voltage and the resulting change in brightness should the voltage fall (for example, in a battery-powered application).

An improved solution is to activate the Power LED using integrated voltage and current regulators or integrated switching regulators. Figure 6, Figure 7, Figure 8 and Figure 9 illustrate a sample activation using integrated switching regulators (for example, from National Semiconductor)

Using these components, it is simple to create LED designs that remain at constant brightness despite changing voltages or temperatures. Integrated voltage and current regulators are readily available in small package designs (for example, SOT23) that can be used very effectively in products such as battery-operated Power LED torches.

Where Power LEDs are to be connected directly to the mains supply, the use of ready-made Power LED (ballast resistor-based) power supplies is recommended. These come in a variety of power ratings and are comparable to the electronic ballasts for 12V halogen lamps or for fluorescent lamps. These Power LED (ballast resistors) power supplies are specially produced for LED requirements and simplify design issues.

Using the versatility of a microcontroller

Inexpensive and versatile microcontrollers can add an element of sophistication to Power LED-based designs and are increasingly being used in LED applications.
Contemporary microcontrollers include integrated internal clocking, reset controller, analogue-to-digital converters and PWM modules, among other elements. Microcontrollers are available in small packages (for example 8-pin surface mount devices), including on-chip flash memory from less than US$1 (depending on volume). (See Figure 10 for an example.)

Illuminating the future

Due to their technical advantages over incandescent lighting, Power LEDs are increasingly being used in innovative lighting applications. The emphasis has shifted from classical signalling applications to active lighting.

But Power LEDs open up many other exciting possibilities for electronics designers. The potential applications range from hand-held torches through advertising boards and on to wide area office illumination. Power LEDs are already being employed, for example, in car tail-lights, where there resistance to vibration, long life and low maintenance make them ideally suited to the job.

Further, because certain types emit no heat or UV radiation to the front, they are particularly ideal for lighting food cabinets, shop windows and display cases. And lab examples of even more powerful devices – which could be used for car headlights or street lighting – are becoming available.

The best news is that the use and design of Power LED applications is relatively simple, provided a few simple rules are followed.

Order

Part

Description

1

10

50

4325163

LXHL-BW01

LED, Emitter Batwing White

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325175

LXHL-BM01

LED, Emitter Batwing Green

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325187

LXHL-BE01

LED, Emitter Batwing Cyan

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325199

LXHL-BB01

LED, Emitter Batwing Blue

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325205

LXHL-BR01

LED, Emitter Batwing R Blue

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325217

LXHL-BD01

LED, Emitter Batwing Red

5.66

5.19

4.67

4325229

LXHL-BL01

LED, Emitter Batwing Amber

5.66

5.19

4.67

4325230

LXHL-PW01

LED, Emitter Lambert White

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325242

LXHL-PM01

LED, Emitter Lambert Green

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325254

LXHL-PE01

LED, Emitter Lambert Cyan

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325266

LXHL-PB01

LED, Emitter Lambert Blue

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325278

LXHL-PR03

LED, Emitter Lambert R Blue

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325280

LXHL-PD01

LED, Emitter Lambert Red

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325291

LXHL-PH01

LED, Emitter Lambert Red/Ora

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325308

LXHL-PL01

LED, Emitter Lambert Amber

7.64

7.01

6.31

4325310

LXHL-MW1C

LED, Star Hex Batwing White

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325321

LXHL-MM1C

LED, Star Hex Batwing Green

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325333

LXHL-ME1C

LED, Star Hex Batwing Cyan

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325345

LXHL-MB1C

LED, Star Hex Batwing Blue

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325357

LXHL-MRRC

LED, Star Hex Batwing R Blue

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325369

LXHL-MD1C

LED, Star Hex Batwing Red

5.96

5.46

4.92

4325370

LXHL-ML1C

LED, Star Hex Batwing Amber

5.96

5.46

4.92

4325382

LXHL-MW1D

LED, Star Hex Lambert White

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325394

LXHL-MM1D

LED, Star Hex Lambert Green

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325400

LXHL-ME1D

LED, Star Hex Lambert Cyan

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325412

LXHL-MB1D

LED, Star Hex Lambert Blue

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325424

LXHL-MRRD

LED, Star Hex Lambert R Blue

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325436

LXHL-MD1D

LED, Star Hex Lambert Red

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325448

LXHL-MH1D

LED, Star Hex Lambert Red/Or

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325450

LXHL-ML1D

LED, Star Hex Lambert Amber

7.94

7.28

6.56

4325461

LXHL-MW1A

LED, Star W/Con Batwing White

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325473

LXHL-MM1A

LED, Star W/Con Batwing Green

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325485

LXHL-ME1A

LED, Star W/Con Batwing Cyan

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325497

LXHL-MB1A

LED, Star W/Con Batwing Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325503

LXHL-MRRA

LED, Star W/Con Batwing Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325515

LXHL-MD1A

LED, Star W/Con Batwing Red

5.97

5.48

4.93

4325527

LXHL-ML1A

LED, Star W/Con Batwing Amber

5.97

5.48

4.93

4325539

LXHL-MW1B

LED, Star W/Con Lambert White

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325540

LXHL-MM1B

LED, Star W/Con Lambert Green

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325552

LXHL-ME1B

LED, Star W/Con Lambert Cyan

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325564

LXHL-MB1B

LED, Star W/Con Lambert Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325576

LXHL-MRRB

LED, Star W/Con Lambert Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325588

LXHL-MD1B

LED, Star W/Conn Lambert Red

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325590

LXHL-ML1B

LED, Star W/Con Lambert Amber

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325606

LXHL-FW1C

LED, Star Side Emitter White

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325618

LXHL-FM1C

LED, Star Side Emitter Green

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325620

LXHL-FE1C

LED, Star Side Emitter Cyan

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325631

LXHL-FB1C

LED, Star Side Emitter Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325643

LXHL-FR1C

LED, Star Side Emitter Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325655

LXHL-FD1C

LED, Star Side Emitter Red

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325667

LXHL-FL1C

LED, Star Side Emitter Amber

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325679

LXHL-MW1E

LED, Star Idc White

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325680

LXHL-MM1E

LED, Star Idc Green

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325692

LXHL-ME1E

LED, Star Idc Cyan

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325709

LXHL-MB1E

LED, Star Idc Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325710

LXHL-MR1E

LED, Star Idc Royal Blue

7.96

7.3

6.57

4325722

LXHL-MD1E

LED, Star Idc Red

5.97

5.48

4.93

4325734

LXHL-ML1E

LED, Star Idc Amber

5.97

5.48

4.93

4325746

LXHL-NW98

LED, Star W/Optic White

10.91

10.01

9.02

4325758

LXHL-NM98

LED, Star W/Optic Green

10.91

10.01

9.02

4325760

LXHL-NE98

LED, Star W/Optic Cyan

10.91

10.01

9.02

4325771

LXHL-NB98

LED, Star W/Optic Blue

10.91

10.01

9.02

4325783

LXHL-NRR8

LED, Star W/Optic Royal Blue

10.91

10.01

9.02

4325795

LXHL-ND98

LED, Star W/Optic Red

8.93

8.19

7.38

4325801

LXHL-NL98

LED, Star W/Optic Amber

8.93

8.19

7.38

4325813

LXHL-LW6C

LED, V Star White

23.87

21.89

19.71

4325825

LXHL-LM5C

LED, V Star Green

23.87

21.89

19.71

4325837

LXHL-LE5C

LED, V Star Cyan

23.87

21.89

19.71

4325849

LXHL-LB5C

LED, V Star Blue

23.87

21.89

19.71

4325850

LXHL-LR5C

LED, V Star Royal Blue

23.87

21.89

19.71

4325862

LXHL-FW6C

LED, V Star Side Emit White

23.86

21.88

19.71

4325874

LXHL-FM5C

LED, V Star Side Emit Green

23.86

21.88

19.71

4325886

LXHL-FE5C

LED, V Star Side Emit Cyan

23.86

21.88

19.71

4325898

LXHL-FB5C

LED, V Star Side Emit Blue

23.86

21.88

19.71

4325904

LXHL-FR5C

LED, V Star Side Emit Ryl Blue

23.86

21.88

19.71

4325916

LXHL-PW03

LED, V White

22.97

21.07

18.97

4325928

LXHL-PM02

LED, V Green

22.97

21.07

18.98

4325930

LXHL-PE02

LED, V Cyan

22.97

21.07

18.97

4325941

LXHL-PB02

LED, V Blue

22.97

21.07

18.98

4325953

LXHL-PR02

LED, V Royal Blue

22.97

21.07

18.97

4325965

LXHL-DW03

LED, V Side Emit White

22.97

21.07

18.97

4325977

LXHL-DM02

LED, V Side Emit Green

22.97

21.07

18.97

4325989

LXHL-DE02

LED, V Side Emit Cyan

22.97

21.07

18.97

4325990

LXHL-DB02

LED, V Side Emit Blue

22.97

21.07

18.97

4326003

LXHL-DR02

LED, V Side Emit Royal Blue

22.97

21.07

18.97

4326015

LXHL-NX05

Collimating Optic

1.46

1.35

1.23

4326027

HPWN-MB00-00000

LED, Superflux Blue

1.02

0.93

0.84

4326039

HPWN-MG00-00000

LED, Superflux Green

1.02

0.93

0.84

4326040

HPWN-MC00-00000

LED, Superflux Cyan

1.02

0.93

0.84

4326052

HPWT-MD00-00000

LED, Superflux Red

0.34

0.32

0.28

4326064

HPWT-MH00-00000

LED, Superflux Red/Orange

0.34

0.32

0.28

4326076

HPWT-ML00-00000

LED, Superflux Amber

0.26

0.24

0.22

4894340

FHS-HNB1-LB01-0

Lens, Batwing Narrow Beam

3.51

3.19

3.08

4894352

FHS-HNB1-LB01-H

Lens, Batwing Nrw Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4894364

FHS-HNB1-LL01-0

Lens, Lamb'n Nrw Beam

3.87

3.52

3.39

4894376

FHS-HNB1-LL01-H

Lens, Lamb'n Nrw Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4894388

FHS-HMB1-LB01-0

Lens, Batwing Medium Beam

3.51

3.19

3.08

4894390

FHS-HMB1-LB01-H

Lens, Batwing Med Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4894406

FHS-HMB1-LL01-0

Lens, Lamb'n Medium Beam

3.87

3.52

3.39

4894418

FHS-HMB1-LL01-H

Lens, Lamb'n Med Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4894420

FHS-HWB1-LB01-0

Lens, Batwing Wide Beam

3.51

3.19

3.08

4894431

FHS-HWB1-LB01-H

Lens, Batwing Wide Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4894443

FHS-HWB1-LL01-0

Lens, Lamb'n Wide Beam

3.87

3.52

3.39

4894455

FHS-HWB1-LL01-H

Lens, Lamb'n Wide Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4894467

FHS-HEB1-LB01-0

Lens, Batwing Elliptical Beam

3.51

3.19

3.08

4894479

FHS-HEB1-LB01-H

Lens, Batwing Ellip Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4894480

FHS-HEB1-LL01-0

Lens, Lamb'n Elliptical Beam

3.87

3.52

3.39

4894492

FHS-HEB1-LL01-H

Lens, Lamb'n Ellip Beam W/Hldr

4.54

4.13

3.98

4908934

LXHL-BW02

LED Emitr, Btwing Wht

7.34

6.61

6.01

4908946

LXHL-MWEC

LED, Star Hex Btwng Wht

7.63

6.87

6.25

4908958

LXHL-MWEA

LED, Star W/Con Bat Wht

7.65

6.89

6.26

4908960

LXHL-NWE8

LED, Str/C/Optic Bat Wht

10.49

9.44

8.59

4908971

LXHL-MWGC

LED, Star Hex Bat Wm Wht

7.18

6.46

5.88

4908983

LXHL-BW03

LED, Emitter Batwing Wht

7.18

6.46

5.88

4908995

LXHL-PW09

LED, Iii Emit Lamb Wht

9.27

8.34

7.58

4909008

LXHL-PM09

LED, Iii Emit Lamb Grn

9.79

8.81

8.01

4909010

LXHL-PE09

LED, Iii Emit Lamb Cyan

9.79

8.81

8.01

4909021

LXHL-PB09

LED, Iii Emit Lamb Blue

9.79

8.81

8.01

4909033

LXHL-PR09

LED, Iii Emit Lamb Rblue

9.79

8.81

8.01

4909045

LXHL-LW3C

LED, Iii Starhx Lam Wht

9.6

8.64

7.86

4909057

LXHL-LM3C

LED, Iii Starhx Lam Grn

10.12

9.11

8.28

4909069

LXHL-LE3C

LED, Iii Starhx Lam Cyan

10.12

9.11

8.28

4909070

LXHL-LB3C

LED, Iii Starhx Lam Blue

10.12

9.11

8.28

4909082

LXHL-LR3C

LED, Iii Starhx Lm Rblue

10.12

9.11

8.28