Effects of Humidity on the Electro-Optical-Thermal Characteristics of High-Power LEDs

LEDs are subjected to environments with high moisture in many applications. In this paper, the experiments reveal photometric and colorimetric degradation at high humidity. Corresponding spectral power analysis and parameter extraction indicate that the flip-chip bonded LED samples show accelerated chip failure compared to the conventionally bonded samples. The chip-related failure induces greater heat accumulation, which correlates with the increase in heating power observed in the package. However, the temperature rise and thermal resistance for the flip-chip bonded LEDs do not increase substantially as compared to the conventionally bonded LEDs. This is because the junction temperature can be reduced with a flip-chip die-bonding configuration where the heat generated in the LED chip is dissipated effectively onto the AlN substrate, thereby reducing the increase in temperature rise and thermal resistance. The experimental results are supported by evaluation of the derivative structure functions. In addition, as the thermal resistance of the LED package varies with different humidity levels, there is a need to specify the conditions of humidity in data sheets as LED manufacturers routinely specify a universal thermal resistance value under a fixed operating condition

A practical degradation based method to predict long-term moisture incursion and colour change in high power LEDs

The effect of relative humidity on LEDs and how the moisture incursion is associated to the color shift is studied. This paper proposes a different approach to describe the lumen degradation of LEDs due to the long-term effects of humidity. Using the lumen degradation data of different types of LEDs under varying conditions of relative humidity, a humidity based degradation model (HBDM) is developed. A practical estimation method from the degradation behaviour is proposed to quantitatively gauge the effect of moisture incursion by means of a humidity index. This index demonstrates a high correlation with the color shift indicated by the LED's yellow to blue output intensity ratio. Physical analyses of the LEDs provide a qualitative validation of the model, which provides good accuracy with longer periods of moisture exposure. The results demonstrate that the HBDM is an effective indicator to predict the extent of the long-term impact of humidity and associated relative color shift

High Power Solid State Retrofit Lamp Thermal Characterization and Modeling

Thermal and thermo-mechanical modeling and characterization of solid state lightening (SSL) retrofit LED lamp are presented in this paper. Paramount importance is to design SSL lamps for reliability, in which thermal and thermo-mechanical aspects are key points. The main goal is to get a precise 3D thermal lamp model for further thermal optimization. Simulations are performed with ANSYS and CoventorWare software tools to compere different simulation approaches. Simulated thermal distribution has been validated with thermal measurement on a commercial 8W LED lamp. Materials parametric study has been carried out to discover problematic parts for heat transfer from power LEDs to ambient and future solutions are proposed. The objectives are to predict the thermal management by simulation of LED lamp, get more understanding in the effect of lamp shape and used materials in order to design more effective LED lamps and predict light quality, life time and reliability

Thermal management and humidity based prognostics of high-power LED packages

While Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) hold much potential as the future of lighting, the high junction temperatures generated during usage result in higher than expected degradation rates and premature failures ahead of the expected lifetime. This problem is especially under-addressed under conditions of high humidity, where there has been limited studies and standards to manage humidity based usage. This research provides an analysis of the factors that contribute to high junction temperatures and suggests prognostic techniques to aid in LED thermal management, specifically under humidity stress. First, this research investigates the effects of current, temperature and humidity on the electrical-optical-thermal (EOT) properties. Temperature rises within an LED because of input stressors which cause heat to build up: the input current, the operating and ambient temperature, and the relative humidity of the environment. Not only is there an accumulation of heat due to these factors that alter the thermal properties, but the electrical and optical characteristics are changed as well. By uncovering specific configurations causing the EOT performance to degrade under stress, better thermal management techniques can be employed. Second, this research proceeds to quantitatively link the EOT performance degradation to the humidity causal factor. The recent proliferation of LED usage in regions with high humidity has not corresponded with sufficient studies and standards governing LED test and usage under the humidity stressor. This has led to indeterminate use and consequentially, a lack of understanding of humidity based failures. A novel humidity based degradation model (HBDM) is successfully developed to gauge the impact of the humidity stressor by means of an index which is shown to be an effective predictor of colour degradation. This prognostication of the colour shift by the HBDM provides both academia and industry not only with an indicator of the physical degradation but also an assessment of the LED yellow-blue colour rendering stability, a critical application criterion. Using the HBDM parameters as indicators of the state of the LED, the degradation study is expanded in the development of a Distance Measure approach to isolate degraded samples exceeding a specified multivariate boundary. The HBDM and Distance Measure approach serve as powerful prognostic techniques in overall LED thermal management

Epitaxial growth of iii-nitride nanostructures and their optoelectronic applications

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using III-nitride nanowire heterostructures have been intensively studied as promising candidates for future phosphor-free solid-state lighting and full-color displays. Compared to conventional GaN-based planar LEDs, III-nitride nanowire LEDs exhibit numerous advantages including greatly reduced dislocation densities, polarization fields, and quantum-confined Stark effect due to the effective lateral stress relaxation, promising high efficiency full-color LEDs. Beside these advantages, however, several factors have been identified as the limiting factors for further enhancing the nanowire LED quantum efficiency and light output power. Some of the most probable causes have been identified as due to the lack of carrier confinement in the active region, non-uniform carrier distribution, and electron overflow. Moreover, the presence of large surface states and defects contribute significantly to the carrier loss in nanowire LEDs. In this dissertation, a unique core-shell nanowire heterostructure is reported, that could overcome some of the aforementioned-problems of nanowire LEDs. The device performance of such core-shell nanowire LEDs is significantly enhanced by employing several effective approaches. For instance, electron overflow and surface states/defects issues can be significantly improved by the usage of electron blocking layer and by passivating the nanowire surface with either dielectric material / large bandgap energy semiconductors, respectively. Such core-shell nanowire structures exhibit significantly increased carrier lifetime and massively enhanced photoluminescence intensity compared to conventional InGaN/GaN nanowire LEDs. Furthermore, AlGaN based ultraviolet LEDs are studied and demonstrated in this dissertation. The simulation studies using Finite-Difference Time-Domain method (FDTD) substantiate the design modifications such as flip-chip nanowire LED introduced in this work. High performance nanowire LEDs on metal substrates (copper) were fabricated via substrate-transfer process. These LEDs display higher output power in comparison to typical nanowire LEDs grown on Si substrates. By engineering the device active region, high brightness phosphor-free LEDs on Cu with highly stable white light emission and high color rendering index of \u3e 95 are realized. High performance nickel?zinc oxide (Ni-ZnO) and zinc oxide-graphene (ZnO-G) particles have been fabricated through a modified polyol route at 250?C. Such materials exhibit great potential for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications on account of the enhanced short-circuit current density values and improved efficiency that stems from the enhanced absorption and large surface area of the composite. The enhanced absorption of Ni-ZnO composites can be explained by the reduction in grain boundaries of the composite structure as well as to scattering at the grain boundaries. The impregnation of graphene into ZnO structures results in a significant increase in photocurrent consequently due to graphene\u27s unique attributes including high surface area and ultra-high electron mobility. Future research directions will involve the development of such wide-bandgap devices such as solar cells, full color LEDs, phosphor free white-LEDs, UV LEDs and laser diodes for several applications including general lighting, wearable flexible electronics, water purification, as well as high speed LEDs for visible light communications

Identifying and evaluating aging signatures in light emitting diode lighting systems

Dans ce travail, les dégradations des diodes électroluminescentes (DEL) ont été étudiées en identifiant et en évaluant leurs signatures électriques et photométriques en vieillissement accéléré sous stress thermique et électrique. Un prototype de banc de test expérimental a été développé et construit spécifiquement pour cette étude ce qui nous a permis de tester 128 échantillons en appliquant différentes conditions de stress thermiques et électriques. Quatre types différents de DEL ont été étudié avec des caractéristiques techniques similaires (température de couleur, courant nominal, mono-puce,...) mais avec des technologies différentes couvrant les principaux acteurs du marché (Cree, Osram, Philips et Seoul Semiconductor). Les échantillons ont d'abord été caractérisés à leur état initial, puis soumis à des conditions de stress électrique (à 350mA ou 1050mA) et thermique (fixé à 50°C). Les mécanismes de défaillance ont été analysés en étudiant l'évolution des signatures électriques et photométriques. Ces caractérisations ont permis d'évaluer et de déterminer l'origine des dégradations à différents niveaux : puce semi-conductrice, interconnexions, phosphore ou encapsulation du dispositif. Les caractérisations électriques nous ont permis d'identifier les mécanismes de dégradation de la puce semi-conductrice et de déterminer la nature des dégradations au niveau du contact ohmique du dispositif (sous fort courant injecté). Les caractérisations photométriques complètent cette étude en évaluant les dégradations associées à l'optique (encapsulation et packaging).In this work, the degradation of light emitting diodes (LEDs) is studied by identifying and evaluating their aging signature during the stress time. The custom-made experimental test bench is built for realization of the test measurement. Through this experimental test bench, it allows to test a large amount of LED samples and enable to select different temperature condition and different current stress level. There are four different types of LED with similar characteristic in term of their color temperature, IF, VF, power (1W) and as monochip, but different technology coming from Cree, Osram, Philips and Seoul Semiconductor. The devices are firstly characterized their electrical and photometrical characteristic at their initial state, then they are submitted to different current stress condition at low current stress (350mA) and high current stress (1000mA) while the thermal stress is fixed at one temperature (50°C). The study of these devices failure mechanism is archived by using the primary method based on the electrical and photometrical characterization of the devices that allows to evaluate their degradation at different locations of the device components such as semiconductor chip, interconnection and device's package. The electrical characteristic of the device's I-V curve: at low injected current level and reverse bias allow us to identify the degradation characteristic of device's semiconductor chip, at high injected current level allows us to determine the degradation of device's ohmic contact and photometric characteristic allows us to evaluate the degradation of device's package system

Thermal characterization and optical reliability investigation of high-power white leds

The LED technology has fatly been developed in the last decade, but there is the need to provide detailed investigations about the dynamics of the optical power and light quality after several hours of operation. Three different LED devices were studied, and a stress at high current injection were performed. The results highlight the efficacy increase in two cases, and the creation of nonradiative centers in the latte

Atomic-Scale Insights into Light Emitting Diode

In solid-state lightning, GaN-based vertical LED technology has attracted tremendous attention because its luminous efficacy has surpassed the traditional lightning technologies, even the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the invention of efficient blue LEDs, which enabled eco-friendly and energy-saving white lighting sources. Despite today’s GaN-based blue VLEDs can produce IQE of 90% and EQE of 70-80%, still there exist a major challenge of efficiency droop. Nonetheless, state-of-the-art material characterization and failure analysis tools are inevitable to address that issue. In this context, although LEDs have been characterized by different microscopy techniques, they are still limited to either its semiconductor or active layer, which mainly contributes towards the IQE. This is also one of the reason that today’s LEDs IQE exceeded above 80% but EQE of 70-80% remains. Therefore, to scrutinize the efficiency droop issue, this work focused on developing a novel strategy to investigate key layers of the LED structure, which play the critical role in enhancing the EQE = IQE x LEE factors. Based on that strategy, wafer bonding, reflection, GaN-Ag interface, MQWs and top-textured layers have been systematically investigated under the powerful advanced microscopy techniques of SEM-based TKD/EDX/EBSD, AC-STEM, AFM, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, and PL. Further, based on these correlative microscopy results, optimization suggestions are given for performance enhancement in the LEDs. The objective of this doctoral research is to perform atomic-scale characterization on the VLED layers/interfaces to scrutinize their surface topography, grain morphology, chemical composition, interfacial diffusion, atomic structure and carrier localization mechanism in quest of efficiency droop and reliability issues. The outcome of this research advances in understanding LED device physics, which will facilitate standardization in its design for better smart optoelectronics products