By Josh Perry, Editor
[email protected]

A recent article from ECN Magazine, highlighted the changes in LED packaging that have enabled designers to create smaller, high-powered fixtures with innovative looks and shapes that have less thermal problems than in the past.

This article explores some recent changes in LED technology. (Wikimedia Commons)

The article pointed to surface-mount technology (SMT), which is still the most popular LED package, which fits footprints of 1-2 mm². Chip-on-board technology, which places LED chips directly onto a PCB remove a substrate and reduce the thermal path. Even smaller chip-scale packaging technology can produce devices that are 500 microns to a 1 mm in size.

The author wrote, “Smaller PCBs give designers freedom to reduce a fixture’s overall size or include other technologies in the same space. For example, universal dimming modules used to be external devices. They can now be built into a light because of integrated form factors. Currently, the industry’s main trend is headed towards higher lumen intensity and higher power in the same space by combining increased efficiency LEDs with the latest packaging technologies.”

Passive cooling continues to be important for LED designers, who want to use heat sinks and thermal interface materials but not fans. The packaging itself is evolving to enable better thermal management at the chip or die levels.

“Cases, housings, and packages, which are typically thought of when referring to ‘form factor’ of a finished product, allow LED products to be customized so they fit in more efficiently,” the article continued. “Materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, and plastic, offer more flexible ways to use lighter, cooler and smaller LEDs.”

Read the full article at https://www.ecnmag.com/article/2018/10/packaging-advances-enable-leds-fit-space-constrained-designs.