Efficiency improvement of power LED modules using a hybrid aluminum nitride substrate

• Published in: Microelectronic engineering Vol. 223; p. 111227
• Main Authors: Wang, Chien-Ping, Huang, Yuan-Chun, Liu, Hao-Qi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.02.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aluminum nitride; Circuits; Efficiency; Energy dissipation; Heat transfer; Light emitting diode; Light emitting diodes; Modules; Power efficiency; Substrates; Temperature; Temperature distribution; Thermal; Thermal resistance; Efficiency; Thermal; Light emitting diode; Aluminum nitride
• ISSN: 0167-9317; 1873-5568
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mee.2020.111227

This study combined experimental and theoretical analysis to investigate the hybrid aluminum nitride (AlN) substrate that can effectively improve efficiency and heat dissipation of multi-chip LED modules. The experimental results showed that hybrid AlN substrate can effectively reduce the thermal resistance from junction to substrate ∆Rjs by 46% compared with metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB) as driving current increased from 0.6 A to 1.6 A. Under the rated current of 1.2 A, the Rjs and chip temperature of the AlN module was approximately 0.73 K/W and 10 °C lower than that in the MCPCB module. Compared to MCPCB, the hybrid AlN substrate also had 25% higher luminous flux at 1.2 A. Simulating results provided insight understanding of temperature distribution inside the LED modules and showed good consistency with experiments. Additionally, the decreasing rate of substrate temperature (Ts) outside the chips in AlN LED module is higher than in MCPCB LED module. This study demonstrated that the hybrid AlN substrate is a reliable and a cost effective design that can effectively improve both efficiency and heat dissipation of high power LED modules. [Display omitted] •The hybrid AlN substrate was proven as a cost effective design and efficient for heat dissipation for LEDs.•Under rated current of 1.2 A, chip temperature of AlN module is about 10 °C lower than using MCPCB substrate.•Compared with the MCPCB, the hybrid AlN enhanced 25% luminous efficiency for LED modules.•The reduction of ∆Rjs using AlN is about 46% compared with MCPCB as current increased from 0.6 A to 1.6 A.