LED Components Flat Encapsulant Viewing Angle
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing LED components have inadequate viewing angles, often due to the interaction of light with transparent dams and poor adhesion between dam and encapsulant materials, leading to reduced light extraction performance and increased manufacturing complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
The LED components feature a submount with electrically conductive traces at the outer edges, LED chips of different sizes, and a molded encapsulant with a flat top surface and lateral walls extending to the edges, eliminating the need for a retention structure to enhance viewing angles and manufacturing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a translucent or transparent dam is used to surround the encapsulant, then the encapsulant can be retained during curing, but the light extraction performance deteriorates due to refractive index differences and the viewing angle remains limited to about 115°
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the dam structure entirely from the LED component design. Instead of using a translucent or transparent dam to retain the encapsulant, the invention allows the encapsulant to be dispensed without lateral confinement, eliminating the refractive index interface that limited light extraction and viewing angle.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the dimensional approach by allowing the encapsulant to extend laterally beyond the LED chip footprint without a confining dam. This creates an unconfined lateral dimension that enables wider light extraction angles while maintaining proper encapsulant retention through alternative means.
2Manufacturing precision
If a dam structure is used to retain the encapsulant, then the encapsulant can be properly formed, but the manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the dam structure from the manufacturing process, reducing the number of components and assembly steps required. This simplification reduces manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining adequate encapsulant formation through alternative dispensing and curing approaches.
3Reliability
If a dam structure is used to surround the encapsulant, then the encapsulant can be retained, but the adhesion between dam and encapsulant deteriorates due to material incompatibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the dam structure that caused adhesion problems. By eliminating the interface between the dam and encapsulant materials, the adhesion issue is completely resolved while encapsulant retention is maintained through alternative means such as controlled dispensing and curing processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design achieves a full width at half maximum (FWHM) beam angle greater than 125°, improving light extraction and uniformity while reducing manufacturing costs and complexity, making them suitable for various lighting applications.
Implementation Method 1
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) or LED chips are solid state devices that convert electrical energy into light
Implementation Method 2
given the need for the dams in such known LED components to have a higher viscosity than the encapsulant, it is often the case that the dam material has a different refractive index from the encapsulant; as a result of the differences in the relative refractive indexes, the angle of the light exiting will change as the light passes from the encapsulant into the dam
Data Source
AI summary
Light emitting diode (LED) components include a submount, at least one or more LED chip wirebonded on a first surface of the submount to electrical traces at the edges of the submount, and a molded encapsulant which is devoid of a curved lens or hemispherical lens and can have outer or lateral walls co-planar with exterior walls of the submount. An LED component can have a viewing angle that is greater than 125°. A method of providing an LED component includes providing a substantially flat submount, attaching one or more LED chip over a first surface of the submount, dispensing an encapsulant over the first surface of the submount over the LED chips, applying a press over the encapsulant to apply a heat and/or pressure to the encapsulant, and molding the encapsulant over the first surface of the submount.