LED WITH HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY PARTICLES IN PHOSPHOR CONVERSION LAYER

Abstract

In one embodiment, a solid cylindrical tablet is pre-formed for a reflective cup containing an LED die, such as a blue LED die. The tablet comprises uniformly-mixed phosphor particles and transparent/translucent particles of a high TC material, such as quartz, in a hardened silicone binder, where the index of refraction of the high TC material is matched to that of the silicone to minimize internal reflection. Tablets can be made virtually identical in composition and size. The bulk of the tablet will be the high TC material. After the tablet is placed in the cup, the LED module is heated, preferably in a vacuum, to melt the silicone so that the mixture flows around the LED die and fills the voids to encapsulate the LED die. The silicone is then cooled to harden.

Claims

1. A method of fabricating a light emitting diode (LED) module comprising: providing a reflective cup containing at least one LED die; positioning a solid piece on the at least one LED die and within the reflective cup, the solid piece abutting inner walls of the reflective cup to create a void below the solid piece, the solid piece comprising: a binder; high thermal conductivity particles, an index of refraction of the binder and an index of refraction of the high thermal conductivity particles being substantially equal, and a thermal conductivity of the high thermal conductivity particles being greater than a thermal conductivity of the binder; and wavelength conversion particles that convert a wavelength of light emitted by the at least one LED die to a different wavelength, the wavelength conversion particles and the high thermal conductivity particles being uniformly mixed in the binder; softening the positioned solid piece to conform to a volume defined by the inner walls of the reflective cup and to encapsulate the at least one LED die to draw heat away from the at least one LED die; and hardening the softened solid piece after encapsulation of the at least one LED die.

2. The method of claim 1, the step of softening the positioned solid piece further comprising: heating the positioned solid piece to melt the binder.

3. The method of claim 2, the step of softening the positioned solid piece being performed in a vacuum.

4. The method of claim 1, the binder comprising silicone.

5. The method of claim 1, the wavelength conversion particles comprising at least one phosphor.

6. The method of claim 1, the high thermal conductivity particles comprising at least one of a quartz, crystalline silica, crystobalite, and glass.

7. The method of claim 1, the high thermal conductivity particles comprising a majority of the solid piece.

8. The method of claim 1, the positioning the solid piece in the reflective cup further comprising: positioning the solid piece to be substantially centered in the reflective cup.

9. The method of claim 1, the reflective cup being conical.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: forming the solid piece by: mixing the wavelength conversion particles and the high thermal conductivity particles in the binder while the binder is softened to form a slurry; forming a sheet of the slurry; hardening the binder; and separating the resulting hardened sheet into substantially identical solid pieces.

11. The method of claim 10, the forming the solid piece further comprising: thinning at least one of the substantially identical solid pieces to match a target color point.

12. The method of claim 1, the solid piece having a generally cylindrical shape.

13. The method of claim 1, the providing the reflective cup containing at least one LED die further comprising: providing a plurality of identical reflective cups on a substrate, each reflective cup containing at least one LED die.

14. The method of claim 1, the hardened piece after encapsulation conducting heat from the at least one LED die to the reflective cup and to a base of the reflective cup.

15. The method of claim 1, the thermal conductivity of the high thermal conductivity particles being three times the thermal conductivity of the binder.

16. The method of claim 1, the hardening the softened solid piece after encapsulation of the LED die causes the hardened solid piece to have a substantially flat top surface across the reflective cup.

17. A light emitting diode (LED) module comprising: a reflective cup containing at least one LED die; and a wavelength conversion mixture conformed to a volume defined by the reflective cup which encapsulates the at least one LED die to draw heat away from the at least one LED die by positioning, prior to softening, a block form of the wavelength conversion mixture on the at least one LED die and within the reflective cup, the block form abutting inner walls of the reflective cup to create a void below the block form, the block form comprising: a binder; high thermal conductivity particles, an index of refraction of the binder and an index of refraction of the high thermal conductivity particles being substantially equal, and a thermal conductivity of the high thermal conductivity particles being greater than a thermal conductivity of the binder; and wavelength conversion particles that convert a wavelength of light emitted by the at least one LED die to a different wavelength, and the wavelength conversion particles and the high thermal conductivity particles being uniformly mixed in the binder.

18. The LED module of claim 17, the block form having a thickness to match a target color point.

19. The LED module of claim 17, the wavelength conversion mixture having a substantially flat top surface across the reflective cup.

20. A light emitting diode (LED) module made by the process of claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

[0024] FIG. 1 is a magnified cross-sectional view of a single pre-formed tablet for wavelength-converting light emitted by an LED die in a reflective cup.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a plurality of conical reflective cups supported on a substrate having electrodes for attachment to LED die electrodes.

[0026] FIG. 3 illustrates flip chip LED dies mounted in the cups.

[0027] FIG. 4 illustrates the tablets positioned in each of the cups.

[0028] FIG. 5 illustrates the LED modules after undergoing a heating step under a vacuum to cause the silicone binder to melt and the phosphor mixture to encapsulate the LED dies.

[0029] FIGS. 6-9 illustrate the same process as FIGS. 2-5 but performed on LED modules having multiple LED dies in each reflective cup.

[0030] Elements that are the same or similar are labeled with the same numeral.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

[0031] FIG. 1 is a magnified cross-sectional view of a single pre-formed tablet 10 for wavelength-converting light emitted by an LED die in a reflective cup. In one embodiment, the tablet 10 is cylindrical and has a diameter of about 2-4 mm, depending on the size of the cup. The height of the tablet 10 will typically be about 2-3 mm, depending on the volume of the cup.

[0032] The tablet 10 diameter is preferably such that the side edges of the tablet 10 abut the cup walls while the bottom of the tablet 10 contacts the top of the LED die. This causes the tablet 10 to be centered in the cup. However, precise placement is not required to achieve the goals of the invention.

[0033] Instead of a cylindrical form, a rounded form or even a ball may be used for each cup.

[0034] The tablet 10 comprises uniformly-mixed phosphor particles 12A, 12B and high TC particles 14 in a silicone binder 16. Phosphor particles 12A may be YAG phosphor and are shown as white large circles. Phosphor particles 12B may be red light emitting phosphor and are shown as shaded large circles. High TC particles 12 are shown as small white circles.

[0035] The phosphor particles may be all of one type (e.g., a YAG phosphor 12A) or of different types (e.g., a combination of YAG 12A and a red light emitting phosphor 12B). Although the phosphor particles are shown as uniformly large and the TC particles as uniformly small, any combination of large and small non-uniform phosphor particles, large and small non-uniform TC particles are contemplated and are included within the scope of the invention. Likewise the exemplary YAG phosphor particles 12A may be larger or smaller than the exemplary red phosphor particles 12B. Typically the particles 12A, 12B and 14 are all on the order of a few microns in diameter, but a wide range of sizes is suitable for the invention.

[0036] The tablets 10 may be made by mixing the solid particles 12A, 12B, and 14 in the desired ratio in a viscous silicone binder at an elevated temperature. The viscosity of the silicone reduces with temperature and, ultimately, the particles 12A, 12B, and 14 will be uniformly distributed throughout the binder. The resulting mixture (a slurry) is poured in a mold to make a uniformly thick sheet. The mixture is then hardened by cooling or other curing technique. The tablets 10 are then stamped out, sawed, or separated in other ways, so they are virtually identical in composition and size.

[0037] In another embodiment, the silicone is viscous at room temperature and cured by heat, UV, or other methods.

[0038] The sheet/tablet may be tested after being formed and categorized to precisely match the tablets 10 to a particular LED die peak wavelength.

[0039] In one embodiment, the high TC particles 14 are a quartz, such as the mineral crystobalite. The high TC particles 14 may be formed by grinding and grading the resulting powder. Crystobalite has a thermal conductivity of more than 3 W/mK, which is at least an order of magnitude greater than that of silicone (e.g., 0.2 W/mK). Glass beads/particles, a crystalline silica, or other suitable high TC particles, index matched to the silicone may also be used. The high TC particles 14 should be transparent or translucent.

[0040] The high TC particles 14 and the silicone 16 are selected so that their indices of refraction (n) are as close as practical to one another to minimize internal reflection. The index of refraction of both materials will typically be around 1.49. Silicone and quartz powders with a variety of indices of refraction are commercially available. The indices of refraction should be preferably matched to within about 0.1.

[0041] The phosphor particles 12A and 12B may comprise a mixture of red and green phosphor particles, or YAG phosphor particles, or any other types of phosphor(s), depending on the desired color emission of the LED module.

[0042] The bulk of the phosphor mixture forming the tablet 10 will be the high TC material, so the resulting phosphor mixture, when encapsulating the LED die, will be a good conductor of heat, allowing the LED die to be a high brightness/high current/high heat type. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a plurality of conical reflective cups 20 supported on a substrate 22 having electrodes 24 for attachment to LED die electrodes. The electrodes 24 may extend to pads on the bottom of the substrate 22 for soldering to a printed circuit board after the substrate 22 is singulated. The substrate 22 will typically contain a large array of such cups 20 so that the processing is on a wafer scale to reduce costs and handling.

[0043] The cups 20 may be reflective metal rings, or may be resin coated with a reflective metal film or painted, or may be any other reflective material. The height of the cup 20 is typically on the order of about 1.5-3 mm for a single LED die.

[0044] FIG. 3 illustrates conventional flip chip LED dies 26 mounted in the cups 20 and connected to the substrate electrodes 24. In one embodiment the LED dies 26 emit blue light.

[0045] FIG. 4 illustrates the tablets 10 positioned in each of the cups 20 by a conventional pick and place machine. Note how the tablets 10 are centered due to the edges of the tablets 10 contacting the cup 22 walls. The tablets 10 may or may not extend above the top of the cups 20, depending on the height of the cups 20.

[0046] In FIG. 5, the substrate 22 is placed in a vacuum and heated to raise the temperature of the silicone 16 above its melting point. Due to gravity, surface tension, and the vacuum, the void will be filled by the molten phosphor mixture to encapsulate the LED die 26. The structure is then cooled to room temperature to harden the silicone 16, or the silicone 16 is cured using other techniques (e.g., UV light). If the LED dies emitted UV light, and the binder was the type to be cured with UV, the LEDs may be energized to cure the binder.

[0047] The resulting phosphor mixture 30 has a substantially flat top surface, a precise volume of the phosphor mixture 30 is provided, and the density of the phosphor particles 12A and 12B (FIG. 1) is substantially uniform. Accordingly, the light emitted by each LED module 32 will be the same, and the color emission will be substantially uniform over a wide range of viewing angles. The relatively high viscosity of the phosphor mixture, the small sizes of the phosphor particles, the relatively short time that the phosphor mixture is in a melted state, and the slow movement of the phosphor mixture ensures that the phosphor particles remain uniformly distributed and do not settle.

[0048] The substrate 22 is then singulated, such as by sawing, to separate the LED modules 32.

[0049] FIGS. 6-9 illustrate the same process as FIGS. 2-5 but performed on LED modules having multiple LED dies 26 in each reflective cup.

[0050] In FIG. 6, relatively large reflective cups 40 are provided on a substrate 42, where the size depends on how many LED dies are to be mounted in each cup 40.

[0051] In FIG. 7, the LED dies 26 are mounted in the cups 40. In the example of FIG. 7, a circular array of 16 LED dies 26 connected in series are mounted in each cup 26. FIG. 7 is a cross-section across the center line of the cups 40. Although a circular array of LED dies is described, any other suitable arrangement such as a rectangular array of dies is contemplated and included within the scope of the invention.

[0052] In FIG. 8, a large tablet 46, which may be identical to that of tablet 10 in FIG. 1 but larger, is positioned in each cup 40.

[0053] In FIG. 9, the substrate 42 is heated in a vacuum to melt the silicone to encapsulate the LED dies 26, as previously described.

[0054] The substrate 42 is then singulated to form individual LED modules 48.

[0055] In the various embodiments, the LED die 26 may be a blue die and the phosphor creates any desired color emission such as a white light emission for general illumination. Due to the high TC of the phosphor mixture, the LED dies 26 may be high brightness types, allowing the LED modules to be used for general illumination applications.

[0056] The phosphor particles 12A and 12B may be replaced by quantum dots or other wavelength converting particles. The silicone 16 may be replaced with any other suitable binder that can be softened or liquefied after being deposited in the cup and then hardened to encapsulate the LED die. LED dies other than flip chips may be used. In the above example, the high TC particles 14 had a thermal conductivity greater than ten times that of the binder (silicone 16); however, even a thermal conductivity greater than three times that of the binder will have beneficial effects. In the context of the present invention, the high TC particles are suitable materials whose TC is at least three times greater than the binder material to substantially increase the TC of the wavelength conversion mixture.

[0057] While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.