Effects of Localized Heat Generations Due to the Color Conversion in Phosphor Particles and Layers of High Brightness Light Emitting Diodes

The efficiency and reliability of the solid-state lighting devices strongly depend on successful thermal management. Light emitting diodes, LEDs, a strong candidate for the next generation general illumination applications are of interest. Typical white LEDs start with either blue or near UV light generated by the active quantum layers. The light is guided through a transparent encapsulant filled with micron sized phosphor particles. The phosphor particles up-convert the short wavelength light to desired colors, producing white light. Due to low quantum efficiency, during the conversion, localized heating of small particles occurs. Experimental results with high brightness LED packages showed that there is significant light output reduction. Idealized numerical models through Finite element technique were created to evaluate the effects of localized heat generations at particles and layers. Results showed that as small as a 3 mW heat generation on a 20 μm diameter spherical phosphor particle might lead to excessive temperatures which can be a major source of light output degradation and reliability concern for high brightness LEDs.