Packaging of Phosphor Based High Power White LEDs: Effects of Phosphor Concentration and Packaging Configuration

Two types of packaged white light emitting diodes in which one has a flat-top (FT) emitting surface and the other is aflat-top-with-lens (FTWL) type are fabricated by using the same leadframe and investigated on their optical properties, such as optical power, luminous efficiency, correlated color temperature (CCT), chromaticity coordinate, and color-rendering index (CRI), as a function of phosphor concentration in silicone encapsulant. It is found out that the optical power, CRI, and CCT decrease steadily as the phosphor ratio increases, while the luminous efficiency increases up to a level and then drops after a certain value of the phosphor ratio for both types of packages. Due to the totally internal reflection (TIR) at the encapsulant-air interface, the FT package shows a 10∼11% power (in mW) reduction compared with the FTWL package at the same phosphor concentration. However, it is demonstrated that the FT package provides a more efficient way of utilizing phosphor than the FTWL package based on the same targeted chromaticity coordinates due to the TIR effect inside, resulting in a reduced phosphor usage with a lumen output only about 3% lower than that of the FTWL package.