Thermal Management of Visible LEDs

Application Bulletin 228

!" Required luminous flux

!" Desired dominant wavelength or color temperature
!" Required MTTF
!" Tolerable flux degradation

Managing Junction Temperature of High-Power Visible Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

The purpose of this application bulletin is to answer design !" Shifted dominant wavelength: Dominant wavelengths
questions about high-power visible light emitting diodes shift by about 2 nm for every 10° C change in junction
(LEDs). temperature.

Introduction !" Shifted Color temperature: White LEDs are more

sensitive to changes in junction temperature because
LEDs fulfill a growing number of applications. Visible LEDs the color temperature changes significantly. LEDs emit
have a high luminous efficacy as compared to incandescent white light by combining standard blue emission with a
and fluorescent bulbs – and while incandescent and phosphor overcoat that absorbs the blue flux and re-
fluorescent bulbs have already reached near-maximum emits a wide range of wavelengths throughout the
luminous efficacy – the efficacy of visible LEDs is forecasted to visible range. Re-emission efficiency is highly
increase in the future. dependent on the wavelength of the blue flux, which
shifts as junction temperature changes. If the dominant
Typically, LEDs have been driven at a low power with a wavelength of the blue LED shifts out of the efficient
minimum power dissipation of 150 mW -- which meant that range of the phosphor, more blue flux escapes the
most lighting applications required numerous low-power LEDs. package, which increases the color temperature.
The new high-power visible LEDs have power dissipations
ranging from 500 milliwatts to as much as 10 watts in a single
package. With improving luminous efficacy, these high-power
!" Reduced MTTF and accelerated degradation:
Catastrophic failure and LED degradation are
LED components can and will replace other lighting
mechanical and chemical processes which occur at
technologies in most applications.
rates described by the Arrhenius model. Their rates are
inversely proportional to the exponent of the inverse of
When using high-power visible LEDs in applications, many
junction temperature.
design considerations must be considered. These include:
.
The impact of junction temperature cannot be overstated.
!" How much luminous flux is required? Successful thermal management is paramount to successful
!" What is the desired dominant wavelength or color design.
temperature?
!" What is the required MTTF? Generating Heat
!" How much flux degradation is tolerable?
Junction temperature depends on three factors:
The temperature of the LED’s P-N junction impacts these
issues. Junction temperature directly alters the performance !" Power dissipation
and reliability of LEDs in the following ways: !" Thermal resistances of the substrate and assembly
!" Ambient conditions
!" Reduced output power: At constant operating current,
the luminous efficacy decreases by about 5% for every Power dissipation determines how much heat is generated,
10° C rise in junction temperature. while thermal resistances and ambient conditions dictate how
efficiently heat is removed. All of the light and heat produced
!" Reduced forward voltage: At constant operating by an LED is generated at the P-N junction. Since the junction
current, forward voltage decreases by about 20 mV for is very small, the heat generation rate per unit area is very
every 10° C rise in junction temperature. large. A 1-watt 1 mm2 LED generates 100 W/cm2. This rate is
higher than many of today’s high-power microprocessors.

OPTEK reserves the right to make changes at any time in order to improve design and to supply the best product possible.

OPTEK Technology Inc. 1 1645 Wallace Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75006 Issue A 06/06
Phone: (972) 323-2200 or (800) 341-4747 FAX: (972) 323-2396 [email protected] www.optekinc.com Page 1 of 4
Thermal Management of Visible LEDs
Application Bulletin 228

Removing Heat !" Thermal resistance (R8) - electrical resistance

!" Temperature difference ("T) - voltage
To maintain a low junction temperature, all methods of
removing heat from LEDs should be considered. The three The Ohms law equivalent is:
means of heat transference are conduction, convection and
radiation. "T = Q U R# (4)

!" Thermal conduction is the transmission of heat across Heat input is calculated:
matter. Thermal conductivity within and between
materials is proportional to the temperature gradient and Q = IF U VF (5)
the cross-sectional area of the conductive path.
Conversely, conductivity is inversely proportional to the Where IF is the operating current and VF is the measured
length of the conductive path. LEDs are typically forward voltage of the LED.
encapsulated in a light-transmissive plastic, which is a
very poor thermal conductor. Nearly all heat produced is Thermal resistance is usually unknown and should be
conducted through the back side of the chip. For an calculated using Equation 1 and measured "T and Q. For
interface with area A and thickness l, the rate of heat thermal interface materials (TIM), the thermal resistance of the
conduction has the following proportion: material, R$TM, depends on its thermal conductivity, K,
expressed in W/mUK. Thermal resistance is calculated:
Qoc !A U "T / l (1)
R#TIM = kTIM U Xl / AY (6)
!" Convection is the transfer of heat by currents in a liquid
or gas. Convection rate is proportional to surface area Where l is the length of the thermal path and A is the cross-
and the temperature gradient between the surface and sectional area of the thermal path. To minimize thermal
the fluid. LEDs do not benefit from convection at the resistance, the cross-sectional area should be maximized and
component level, because their surface area is too the thickness of the interface should be minimized.
small. Convective technologies include fans, heat pipes
and liquid cooling. For a surface with area AS and Temperatures within the thermal system can usually be
temperature TS, convection has the following proportion: measured directly. Junction temperature is the exception,
because the junction is inaccessible.
QW!! AS U XTS - TAY (2)
Fortunately, the forward voltage of an LED has distinct
!" Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation from temperature dependence that makes the junction its own
an object’s surface due to the object’s temperature. thermometer once calibrated.
Radiation is proportional to the object’s absolute
temperature raised to the fourth power and its surface Determining Junction Temperature from Forward Voltage
area. Heatsinks with large surface area are effective at
radiating heat. For a surface with area AS and The forward voltages of nearly all III-V LEDs decrease by
temperature TS, convection has the following between 1 and 3 mV per 1û C increase in temperature.
proportion:
The following test can be conducted on single components or
4 (3) on large assemblies with multiple LEDs. The temperature-
QW!! AS U XTS - TAY forward voltage curve is empirically generated as follows:
Thermal Equilibrium 1. Connect the LED to a constant current power supply
and install the device in a controlled oven with the
Heat transference is an equilibrium condition. All three types of power off. Set the operating current, IF, to the
heat transference become more efficient as temperature expected application condition.
gradients increase. The junction temperature will rise until the
rate of heat transference out of the system is equal to the rate 2. Set the temperature to 25ûC and allow sufficient time
of heat generation at the junction. for the oven and assembly to stabilize. Turn the
power on for a short period, preferably less than 10
Analogy to Electrical Circuits ms, and record the forward voltage, VF. When
possible, use sense cables to measure VF. Since the
Thermal systems are analogous to electrical circuits with the LED is on for a very short period, it does not
following relationships: significantly heat itself and TJ ~ TA.
3. Repeat step 2 at 50ûC, 75ûC, 100ûC, and 125ûC. Note
!" Power dissipated (Q) - current that this test is destructive.
OPTEK reserves the right to make changes at any time in order to improve design and to supply the best product possible.

Issue A 06/06 OPTEK Technology Inc. 1 1645 Wallace Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75006
Page 2 of 4 Phone: (972) 323-2200 or (800) 341-4747 FAX: (972) 323-2396 [email protected] www.optekinc.com
Thermal Management of Visible LEDs
Application Bulletin 228

substrate, and then attach the substrate to a heat sink. Novel

4. Plot TJ as a function of VF and derive a best-fit line. technologies such as Anotherm make it possible to attach the
The temperature dependence is not linear, but within LEDs directly to the heatsink. Heat is conducted to the
the operating range a best-fit line is quite accurate. heatsink and radiated from its surface. Thermal performance is
5. Drive the assembly at the application IF. The VF will enhanced by reducing the length and thermal resistances along
decrease until thermal equilibrium is reached. Cross the path to the heatsink and by increasing the surface area of
the stabilized VF with the plot generated in step 4 to the heatsink.
derive the junction temperature.

Repeat the procedure for multiple current loads to fully Active Thermal Management
characterize the system across all power dissipations.
Active thermal management systems involve convection by
Passive Thermal Management incorporating fans, heat pipes and liquid cooling. These
technologies enable significantly better thermal management
Passive thermal management systems have no moving parts or and should be considered for ultra-hot applications. In most
consumption of additional energy. They rely primarily on cases, they are more complex and require better design to
conduction and radiation to remove heat from the junction. The avoid decreasing the reliability of the system. These trade-offs
typical method is to attach LEDs to a thermally conductive are manageable if extreme thermal management is required.
substrate, such as a metal-core IMS substrate or ceramic

Figure 1 - Thermal Model for Single-Component Assembly

The assembly’s thermal characteristics are expressed by the "TJ-A and Q must be measured and R#J-C is provided by the
following equations: LED vendor. R#C-A is the combined thermal resistance of the
rest of the assembly. Equation 9 can be used to calculate
"TJ-A = Q U R#J-A (7) "TJ-A if sufficient data is supplied by the substrate, thermal
interface material, and heatsink vendors; however, OPTEK
"TJ-A = Q U XR#J-C + R#C-AY ( 8) recommends calculating R#C-A by rearranging Equation 8 to:

"TJ-A = Q U XR#J-C + R#C-S + R#TIM + R#H-AY (9) R#C-A = X"TJ-AY / Q - R#J-C (10)

OPTEK reserves the right to make changes at any time in order to improve design and to supply the best product possible.

OPTEK Technology Inc. 1 1645 Wallace Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75006 Issue A 06/06
Phone: (972) 323-2200 or (800) 341-4747 FAX: (972) 323-2396 [email protected] www.optekinc.com Page 3 of 4
Thermal Management of Visible LEDs
Application Bulletin 228

Figure 2 - Thermal Model for a Multiple-Component Assembly

The multiple-component assembly’s thermal characteristics are junction temperatures of both designs to be the same. The
described by equations that are similar to those for single- reality is that most package technologies for high-power LEDs
component assemblies: have similar thermal resistances. Spreading the heat input to
multiple components is recommended because less thermal
"TJ-An = Qn U R#J-An (11) management is required.

"TJ-An = Qn U R#J-Cn + QTotal U R#C-A (12) What Works`

"TJ-An = Qn U R#J-Cn + QTotal U XR#C-S + R#TIM + R#H-AY (13) Recommendations for reducing junction temperature without
compromising luminous flux:
R#C-A = X"TJ-AnY / Qn - R#J-Cn (14)
!" Use components with better luminous efficacy to reduce
For single-component assemblies, the equation for R#C-A IF and Q
(equation 10) is derived from equation 8. Note that equation 14 !" Increase the number of components at the same total
was not derived from equation 12 in a similar manner. TC is the power dissipation to reduce R$J-C
same for all components on the multiple-component assembly,
and R#C-A can be derived based on one component’s !TJ-A, Q,
!" Change to better packaged components to reduce R$J-C
and R#J-C. !" Use Anotherm substrates to eliminate R$C-S
!" Use Anotherm heatsinks to eliminate R$C-S and R$TIM
For the same component and power dissipation, "TJ-C will be !" Increase the heatsink’s surface area to reduce R$H-A
the same whether the LED is alone or is part of an array. In an !" Add a fan, heat pipe or liquid cooling to reduce R$H-A
array, however, the heat input of all LEDs must be transferred
through the substrate, TIM, and heatsink. "TC-A and "TJ-A Practical Thermal Management Solutions
increase considerably over single-component assemblies.
See component-specific application notes for empirical results
When making a choice between 1 p-watt component and p 1- and suggested changes.
watt components, the p-watt component must have p times
lower thermal resistance than the 1-watt component for the

OPTEK reserves the right to make changes at any time in order to improve design and to supply the best product possible.

Issue A 06/06 OPTEK Technology Inc. 1 1645 Wallace Drive, Carrollton, Texas 75006
Page 4 of 4 Phone: (972) 323-2200 or (800) 341-4747 FAX: (972) 323-2396 [email protected] www.optekinc.com