Packaged structure optimization for enhanced light extraction efficiency and reduced thermal resistance of ultraviolet B LEDs.

Ultraviolet B light-emitting diodes (UVB LEDs) hold promise in medical and agricultural applications. The commonly used sapphire substrate for their epitaxy growth possesses a high refractive index and excellent UV light absorption characteristics. However, this high refractive index can induce total internal reflection (TIR) within the substrate, leading to decreased Light Extraction Efficiency (LEE) due to light absorption within the material. In this study, UVB LED chips were detached from the sub-mount substrate and directly affixed onto an aluminum nitride (AlN) substrate with superior heat dissipation using a eutectic process. This was undertaken to diminish packaged thermal resistance (PTR). Simultaneously, optimization of the UVB LED packaging structure was employed to alleviate LEE losses caused by the TIR phenomenon, with the overarching goal of enhancin external quantum efficiency (EQE). The final experimental findings suggest that optimal LEE is achieved with packaging dimensions, including a length (ELL) of 2 mm, a width (ELW) of 1.62 mm, and a height (ELH) of 0.52 mm. At an input current of 200 mA, the output power reaches 50 mW, resulting in an EQE of 6.3%. Furthermore, the packaged thermal resistance from the chip to the substrate surface can be reduced to 4.615 K/W.

Full-angle chip scale package of mini LEDs with a V-shape packaging structure.

The light distribution of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) generally resembles that of a Lambertian light source. When used as large-area light sources, the light distribution angle of LEDs must be modified through secondary optics design to achieve uniformity and minimize the number of light sources. However, secondary optical components pose several challenges such as demanding alignment accuracy, material aging, detachment, and lower reliability. Therefore, this paper proposes a primary optical design approach to achieve full-angle emission in LEDs without the need for lenses. The design employs a flip-chip as the light source and incorporates a V-shaped packaged structure, including a white wall layer, optical structure layers, and a V-shaped diffuse structure. With this design, the LEDs achieve full-angle emission without relying on lenses. Our experimental results demonstrated a peak intensity angle of 77.7°, a 20.3% decrease in the intensity of the central point ratio, and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the light distribution of 175.5°. This design is particularly suitable for thin, large-area, and flexible backlight light sources. Moreover, the absence of secondary optical components allows for a thinner light source module.

Wide heart-shaped mini-LEDs without a second lens as a large area, ultra-high luminance, and flat light source.

In recent years, the demand for outdoor advertising and industrial display applications has been steadily increasing. Outdoor environments require higher brightness levels, thus requiring a reduction in the thermal resistance of the light source package. However, using secondary optical lenses to decrease the number of light sources is not a suitable solution because it may lead to the issue of lens detachment. Therefore, this paper proposes a packaging structure for wide heart-shaped angular light distribution mini-light emitting diodes (WHS mini-LEDs) with a primary optical design to enhance the light-emitting angle. The chips are directly bonded to an aluminum substrate using the metal eutectic process to minimize thermal resistance in the packaging. The experimental results indicated that the WHS mini-LED package had a total thermal resistance of 6.7 K/W. In a 55-inch backlight module (BLM), only 448 WHS mini-LEDs coupled with a quantum dot (QD) film and a brightness enhancement film (BEF) were required. Each lamp board was operated at 20.5 V and 5.5 A. The average luminance of the liquid crystal module (LCM) can reach 2234.2 cd/m2 with a uniformity of 90% and an NTSC value of 119.3%. This design offers a competitive advantage for outdoor advertising displays and industrial displays that require large areas, high brightness, and high color saturation.

High-sensitivity flip chip blue Mini-LEDs miniaturized optical instrument for non-invasive glucose detection.

The colorimetric detection of glucose typically involves a peroxidase reaction producing a color, which is then recorded and analyzed. However, enzyme detection has difficulties with purification and storage. In addition, replacing enzyme detection with chemical methods involves time-consuming steps such as centrifugation and purification and the optical instruments used for colorimetric detection are often bulky and not portable. In this study, ammonium metavanadate and sulfuric acid were used to prepare the detection solution instead of peroxidase to produce color. We also analyzed the effect of different concentrations of detection solution on absorbance sensitivity. Finally, a flip chip blue Mini-LEDs miniaturized optical instrument (FC blue Mini-LEDs MOI) was designed for glucose detection using optics fiber, collimating lenses, a miniaturized spectrometer, and an FC Blue Mini-LEDs with a center wavelength of 459 nm. While detecting glucose solutions in the concentration range of 0.1-10 mM by the developed MOI, the regression equation of y = 0.0941x + 0.1341, R2 of 0.9744, the limit of detection was 2.15 mM, and the limit of quantification was 7.163 mM. Furthermore, the preparation of the detection solution only takes 10 min, and the absorbance sensitivity of the optimized detection solution could be increased by 2.3 times. The detection solution remained stable with only a 0.6% decrease in absorbance compared to the original after storing it in a refrigerated environment at 3 °C for 14 days. The method proposed in this study for detecting glucose using FC blue light Mini-LEDs MOI reduces the use of peroxidase. In addition, it has a wide detection range that includes blood as well as non-invasive saliva and tear fluids, providing patients with a miniaturized, highly sensitive, and quantifiable glucose detection system.

Spectral analysis with highly collimated mini-LEDs as light sources for quantitative detection of direct bilirubin.

Because the human eye cannot visually detect the results of direct bilirubin test papers accurately and quantitatively, this study proposes four different highly collimated mini light-emitting diodes (HC mini-LEDs) as light sources for detection. First, different concentrations of bilirubin were oxidized to biliverdin by FeCl3 on the test paper, and pictures were obtained with a smartphone. Next, the red, green, and blue (RGB) channels of the pictures were separated to average grayscale values, and their linear relationship with the direct bilirubin concentration was analyzed to detect bilirubin on the test paper noninvasively and quantitatively. The experimental results showed that when green HC mini-LEDs were used as the light sources and image analysis was performed using the G channel, for a direct bilirubin concentration range of 0.1-2 mg/dL, the G channel determination coefficient (R2) reached 0.9523 and limit of detection was 0.459 mg/dL. The detection method proposed herein has advantages such as rapid analysis, noninvasive detection, and digitization according to RGB grayscale changes in the images of the detection test paper.

Noninvasive direct bilirubin detection by spectral analysis of color images using a Mini-LED light source.

Urine test paper is a standard, noninvasive detection method for direct bilirubin, but this method can only achieve qualitative analysis and cannot achieve quantitative analysis. This study used Mini-LEDs as the light source, and direct bilirubin was oxidized to biliverdin by an enzymatic method with ferric chloride (FeCl3) for labeling. Images were captured with a smartphone and evaluated for red (R), green (G), and blue (B) colors to analyze the linear relationship between the spectral change of the test paper image and the direct bilirubin concentration. This method achieved noninvasive detection of bilirubin. The experimental results demonstrated that Mini-LEDs can be used as the light source to analyze the grayscale value of the image RGB. For the direct bilirubin concentration range of 0.1-2 mg/dL, the green channel had the highest coefficient of determination coefficient (R2) of 0.9313 and a limit of detection of 0.56 mg/dL. With this method, direct bilirubin concentrations higher than 1.86 mg/dL can be quantitatively analyzed with the advantage of rapid and noninvasive detection.

Zero-optical-distance mini-LED backlight with light-guiding microstructure lens for extra-thin, large-area notebook LCDs.

Mini-light-emitting diode (Mini-LED) backlight units (BLUs) in combination with high dynamic range technology can reduce energy and ensure high contrast and luminance. However, the number of LEDs used in mini-LED BLUs is considerably larger than the number of partitions in local dimming, resulting in low cost effectiveness. We proposed a design combining edge-light mini-LEDs and light-guiding microstructure lenses to reduce the number of light sources required in displays considerably. A 16-inch prototype was produced for experiments. The length, width, and thickness of the liquid crystal display module were 351.87, 225.75, and 1.709 mm, respectively. For edge-light mini-LEDs with a pitch of 8.6 mm, the average luminance was 18,836 nits for an input power of 22.5 watts, the uniformity was 85%, the uniformity merit function was 10.13, and the contrast ratio was 60,000:1. Thus, a zero-optical-distance (ZOD) mini-LED backlight for extra-thin, large-area notebook LCDs was produced.

Using Blue Mini-LEDs as a Light Source Designed a Miniaturized Optomechanical Device for the Detection of Direct Bilirubin.

This study developed a miniaturized optomechanical device (MOD) for the feasibility study of direct bilirubin in urine using high-collimation blue mini-light-emitting diodes (Mini-LEDs) as the light source. The constructed MOD used optical spectroscopy to analyze different concentrations of direct bilirubin using the absorbance spectrum to achieve a noninvasive method for detection. The experimental results showed that between the absorbance and different concentrations of direct bilirubin at the blue Mini-LEDs central wavelength (462 nm) was the optimum fitting wavelength; in the direct bilirubin concentration range from 0.855 to 17.1 µmol/L, the coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.9999, the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.171 µmol/L, and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) of 0.570 µmol/L. Therefore, we propose using blue Mini-LEDs as a light source to design a MOD to replace the invasive blood sampling method with a spectroscopic detection of direct bilirubin concentration corresponding to absorbance.

Wide-Angle Mini-Light-Emitting Diodes without Optical Lens for an Ultrathin Flexible Light Source.

This report outlines a proposed method of packaging wide-angle (WA) mini-light-emitting diode (mini-LED) devices without optical lenses to create a highly efficient, ultrathin, flexible planar backlight for portable quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED) displays. Since the luminous intensity curve for mini-LEDs generally recommends a beam angle of 120°, numerous LEDs are necessary to achieve a uniform surface light source for a QLED backlight. The light-guide layer and diffusion layer were packaged together on a chip surface to create WA mini-LEDs with a viewing angle of 180°. These chips were then combined with a quantum dot (QD) film and an optical film to create a high-efficiency, ultrathin, flexible planar light source with excellent color purity that can be used as a QLED display backlight. A 6 in (14.4 cm) light source was used as an experimental sample. When 1.44 W was supplied to the sample, the 3200-piece WA mini-LED with a flexible planar QLED display had a beam angle of 180° on the luminous intensity curve, a planar backlight thickness of 0.98 mm, a luminance of 10,322 nits, and a luminance uniformity of 92%.

Enhancement of the light extraction characteristics and wide-angle emissive behavior of deep-ultraviolet flip-chip light-emitting diodes by using optimized optical films.

We propose the use of optical films to enhance the light extraction efficiency (LEE) and wide-angle emission of traditional packaged deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs). Total internal reflection occurs easily in DUV-LEDs because they contain sapphire, which has a high refractive index. DUV-LEDs also contain an aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramic substrate, which has high light absorption in the ultraviolet band. Photons are absorbed by the sapphire and AlN ceramic substrate, which reduces the LEE of DUV-LEDs. By adding a brightness enhancement film (BEF) on the sapphire surface and a high-reflection film (HRF) on the surface of the AlN ceramic substrate, the LEE of DUV-LEDs can be increased. Moreover, we designed a single-layer metal reflective film (SMRF) on the upper surface of the quartz glass in order to achieve wide-angle emission. Experimental results indicated that compared with traditional packaged DUV-LEDs, the light output power and external quantum efficiency of DUV-LEDs with a plated BEF, HRF, and SMRF increased by 18.3% and 18.2%, respectively. Moreover, an emission angle of 160° was achieved. In a reliability test, DUV-LEDs maintained more than 95% of the initial forward voltage and light output power after 1000 h of operation at 25°C, which indicated that the addition of an optical film can improve the light efficiency and long-term reliability of DUV-LEDs.

Application of Mini-LEDs with Microlens Arrays and Quantum Dot Film as Extra-Thin, Large-Area, and High-Luminance Backlight.

The demand for extra-thin, large-area, and high-luminance flat-panel displays continues to grow, especially for portable displays such as gaming laptops and automotive displays. In this paper, we propose a design that includes a light guide layer with a microstructure above the mini-light-emitting diode light board. The light control microstructure of concave parabel-surface microlens arrays on a light-emitting surface increases the likelihood of total internal reflection occurring and improved the uniformity merit function. We used a 17 in prototype with quantum-dot and optical films to conduct our experiments, which revealed that the thickness of the module was only 1.98 mm. When the input power was 28.34 watts, the uniformity, average luminance, and CIE 1931 color space NTSC of the prototype reached 85%, 17,574 cd/m2, and 105.37%, respectively. This module provided a flat light source that was extra thin and had high luminance and uniformity.

Use of Recycling-Reflection Color-Purity Enhancement Film to Improve Color Purity of Full-Color Micro-LEDs.

A common full-color method involves combining micro-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) chips with color conversion materials such as quantum dots (QDs) to achieve full color. However, during color conversion between micro-LEDs and QDs, QDs cannot completely absorb incident wavelengths cause the emission wavelengths that including incident wavelengths and converted wavelength through QDs, which compromises color purity. The present paper proposes the use of a recycling-reflection color-purity-enhancement film (RCPEF) to reflect the incident wavelength multiple times and, consequently, prevent wavelength mixing after QDs conversion. This RCPEF only allows the light of a specific wavelength to pass through it, exciting blue light is reflected back to the red and green QDs layer. The prototype experiment indicated that with an excitation light source wavelength of 445.5 nm, the use of green QDs and RCPEFs increased color purity from 77.2% to 97.49% and light conversion efficiency by 1.97 times and the use of red QDs and RCPEFs increased color purity to 94.68% and light conversion efficiency by 1.46 times. Thus, high efficiency and color purity were achieved for micro-LEDs displays.

Highly Reflective Thin-Film Optimization for Full-Angle Micro-LEDs.

Displays composed of micro-light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) are regarded as promising next-generation self-luminous screens and have advantages such as high contrast, high brightness, and high color purity. The luminescence of such a display is similar to that of a Lambertian light source. However, owing to reduction in the light source area, traditional secondary optical lenses are not suitable for adjusting the light field types of micro-LEDs and cause problems that limit the application areas. This study presents the primary optical designs of dielectric and metal films to form highly reflective thin-film coatings with low absorption on the light-emitting surfaces of micro-LEDs to optimize light distribution and achieve full-angle utilization. Based on experimental results with the prototype, that have kept low voltage variation rates, low optical losses characteristics, and obtain the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the light distribution is enhanced to 165° and while the center intensity is reduced to 63% of the original value. Hence, a full-angle micro-LEDs with a highly reflective thin-film coating are realized in this work. Full-angle micro-LEDs offer advantages when applied to commercial advertising displays or plane light source modules that require wide viewing angles.

Mini-LEDs with Diffuse Reflection Cavity Arrays and Quantum Dot Film for Thin, Large-Area, High-Luminance Flat Light Source.

Mini-light-emitting diodes (mini-LEDs) were combined with multiple three-dimensional (3D) diffuse reflection cavity arrays (DRCAs) to produce thin, large-area, high-brightness, flat light source modules. The curvature of the 3D free-form DRCA was optimized to control its light path; this increased the distance between light sources and reduced the number of light sources used. Experiments with a 12.3-inch prototype indicated that 216 mini-LEDs were required for a 6 mm optical mixing distance to achieve a thin, large-area surface with high brightness, uniformity, and color saturation of 23,044 cd/m2, 90.13%, and 119.2, respectively. This module can serve as the local dimming backlight in next generation automotive displays.

Light Guide Layer Thickness Optimization for Enhancement of the Light Extraction Efficiency of Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes.

Consider material machinability and lattice mismatch sapphire as substrates for the ultraviolet-C light-emitting diodes (UV-C LEDs) are commonly used, but their high refractive index can result in the total internal reflection (TIR) of light whereby some light is absorbed, therefore caused reducing light extraction efficiency (LEE). In this study, we propose a method to optimize the thickness of a sapphire substrate light guide layer through first-order optical design which used the optical simulation software Ansys SPEOS to simulate and evaluate the light extraction efficiency. AlGaN UV-C LEDs wafers with a light guide layer thickness of 150-700 µm were used. The simulation proceeded under a center wavelength of 275 nm to determine the optimal thickness design of the light guide layer. Finally, the experimental results demonstrated that the initial light guide layer thickness of 150 µm the reference output power of 13.53 mW, and an increased thickness of 600 um resulted in output power of 20.58 mW. The LEE can be increased by 1.52 times through light guide layer thickness optimization. We propose a method to optimize the thickness of a sapphire substrate light guide layer through first-order optical design. AlGaN UV-C LEDs wafers with a light guide layer thickness of 150-700 µm were used. Finally, the experimental results demonstrated that the LEE can be increased by 1.52 times through light guide layer thickness optimization.

Nanoparticle-Doped Polydimethylsiloxane Fluid Enhances the Optical Performance of AlGaN-Based Deep-Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes.

This paper proposes a new encapsulation structure for aluminum nitride-based deep UV light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs) and eutectic flip chips containing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fluid doped with SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with a UV-transparent quartz hemispherical glass cover. Experimental results reveal that the proposed encapsulation structure has considerably higher light output power than the traditional one. The light extraction efficiency was increased by 66.49% when the forward current of the DUV-LED was 200 mA. Doping the PDMS fluid with SiO2 NPs resulted in higher light output power than that of undoped fluid. The maximum efficiency was achieved at a doping concentration of 0.2 wt%. The optical output power at 200 mA forward current of the encapsulation structure with NP doping of the fluid was 15% higher than that without NP doping. The optical output power of the proposed encapsulation structure was 81.49% higher than that of the traditional encapsulation structure. The enhanced light output power was due to light scattering caused by the SiO2 NPs and the increased average refractive index. The encapsulation temperature can be reduced by 4 °C at a driving current of 200 mA by using the proposed encapsulation structure.

High-Uniformity Planar Mini-Chip-Scale Packaged LEDs with Quantum Dot Converter for White Light Source.

This study proposes a novel direct-lit mini-chip-scale packaged light-emitting diode (mini-CSPLED) backlight unit (BLU) that used quantum dot (QD) film, diffusion plate, and two prism films to improve brightness uniformity. Three different luminous intensity units, 120° mini-CSPLED, 150° mini-CSPLED, and 180° mini-CSPLED with different emission angle structures were fabricated using a CSP process. In terms of component characteristics, although the 180° mini-CSPLED light output power is about loss 4% (at 10 mA) compared with 150° mini-CSPLED, it has a large emission angle that forms a planar light source that contributes to improving the BLU brightness uniformity and reduced quantity of LEDs at the same area. In terms of BLU analysis, the blue mini-CSPLEDs with different emission angles excite the different QD film thicknesses; the chromaticity coordinates conversion to the white light region. The BLU brightness increases as the QD film thickness increases from 60, 90, and 150 µm. This result can achieve a brightness uniformity of 86% in a 180° mini-CSPLED BLU + 150-µm-thick QD films as compared to the 120° mini-CSPLED BLU and 150° mini-CSPLED BLU.

Improvement of light quality by ZrO(2) film of chip on glass structure white LED.

A novel combination of blue LED chips, transparent glass substrates and phosphors with PDMS thin film is demonstrated. The flip-chip bonding technology is applied to facilitate this design. The ZrO(2) nanoparticles are also doped into the PDMS film to increase light scattering. The resultant luminous efficiency shows an 11% enhancement when compared to the regular COG device. The variation of correlated color temperature of such devices is also reduced to 132K. In addition to these changes, the surface temperature is reduced from 121°C to 104°C due to good thermal dissipation brought by ZrO(2) nanoparticles.

Thin hollow light guide for high-efficiency planar illuminator.

Light guides have been widely used for transforming line sources into planar illuminators for lighting and display applications. Solid light guides provide good uniformity but still have the issues of heavy weight and material absorption, especially for large applications. Hollow light guides solve the problem of weight, but the uniformity is relatively poor or efficiency could be sacrificed for enhancing uniformity. In this paper, a hollow light guide with edge-lit LED sources has been proposed to simultaneously resolve the issues of weight, uniformity, and efficiency. The major approach is to modulate the LED luminous intensity profile by a ring of parabolic surface with continuously varied focal length. The modulated light emitting profile directly makes up sufficient uniformity on the planar surface, and extra components are not required. The prototype is a circular planar illuminator with a diameter of 178 mm and a weight of 240 g. The experiment shows an overall efficiency of 82.37%, with a uniformity of 83.7%. The weight of the whole module is 40% lighter than that of a solid light guide with the same size.

Optical and thermal design of light emitting diodes omnidirectional bulb.

The penetration of LED light bulbs into the lighting market is growing quickly in recent years due to significant increase of LED efficiency and reduction of cost. One major issue to be improved is the overall light bulb efficiency, which can fulfill "Energy Star for Lamps" while keeping sufficiently high efficiency. The efficiency issue results mainly from the high directionality of the LED sources and the corresponding solutions to make the emission more diverse. In this paper, a diffusion white reflection sheet (DWRS) with an array of holes is proposed as a high efficiency solution for modulating a light emission profile with SMD type LED source. The hole size is adjusted with fixed hole pitch to both maximize the efficiency and meet the omnidirectional specification. In addition, the concept of thermal plastic insertion molding metal is proposed for thermal management without fins for cooling. The prototype demonstrates the efficiency (Ef.) of 87.6% and LED pad temperature of 85°C, which shows the feasibility as a total solution for high efficiency LED omnidirectional bulbs.