News

15 January 2009

 

Bridgelux awarded patent for surface-mountable LED chip

Bridgelux Inc of Sunnyvale, CA, USA, which designs and makes power LED chips based on ITO/InGaN (indium tin oxide/indium gallium nitride) for solid-state lighting applications, has been awarded a US patent for its surface-mountable chip (SMC) LED design. 

The firm claims that the SMC architecture fundamentally changes how LEDs will be deployed by eliminating the need for traditional LED packaging. The chip design offers a high-flux-density LED with an ultra-small footprint and thin profile, with the ability to closely pack together multiple chips for increased performance in space-limited applications such as camera flash, LCD display backlighting, and general or specialty lighting applications. The chip design also delivers a surface-mountable ‘thin-film’ architecture, providing a flat surface for direct deposition of a phosphor layer on the LED die.

The SMC LED design will enable manufacturers to bond the chip directly onto the printed circuit board (PCB), eliminating the need for an additional substrate or traditional LED package. The firm reckons that this is the first discrete, thin-film device with two bottom contacts and a flat surface on which a phosphor can be applied. Direct deposition of phosphor film at either the wafer or package level can achieve a quality of white color consistency that no other commercially available LED die platform can currently offer, it is claimed. 

With this chip design, non-value-add components or manufacturing processes can be eliminated, gaining the ability to enhance system integration and reduce the cost of the total lighting solution. The chip will deliver greater manufacturing flexibility for high-flux applications requiring multiple emitters, enable higher flux density for étendue-limited applications, and allow individual chip addressability via the board to which multiple SMCs are attached, the firm claims.

Bridgelux intends to use its SMC design to manufacture LED chips at its facility in Sunnyvale or, where appropriate, through one of its manufacturing partners.

Since Bridgelux was founded in 2002, it has invested in developing its intellectual property (IP) portfolio relating to MOCVD reactor design, epitaxy technologies, LED chip design, manufacturing processes, and packaging techniques. 

“This new patent award demonstrates Bridgelux's focus on driving innovation in core technologies to improve performance and reduce the cost of our lighting technologies,” says R&D director Steve Lester. “The company is aggressively adding to its IP portfolio. Bridgelux currently has over 75 patents filed in the US and over 130 patent applications filed worldwide,” he adds.

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Bridgelux ships low cost-per-lumen LED chip

Search: Bridgelux LEDs ITO/InGaN

Visit: www.bridgelux.com