The market for high-brightness LEDs, also known as HB LEDs, is one that has seen dramatic growth in the past 12 years. According to market research firm Strategies Unlimited, the market grew at an average annual rate of 46%, reaching $3.7 billion in 2004. Market growth slowed in 2005, which saw an increase of only 8% because of severe pricing pressures in the mobile appliance market. However, the market for HB LEDs is forecast to grow to $8.2 billion by 2010. Driving the growth is the transition of the technology from use in niche applications to mainstream usage - including increasing deployment in general lighting for energy conservation; in mobile products such as mobile phones, digital cameras and PDAs; automotive electronics, and consumer electronics applications such as toys and household appliances. New applications for HB LEDs surface every day, with the devices appearing in camera phones for flash pictures, embedded in pavement for roadway lighting, and mounted on miners - and bicyclists - helmets for improved illumination in the dark.

Yet HB LED manufacturers face hurdles in mass production because of cost involved in packaging, assembly, test and yield. In packaging, the challenge is to meet the unique HB LED packaging requirements while reducing the cost per lumen. LEDs cost up to 100 times more than halogen lamps in terms of the price per lumen emitted. Packaging must offer thermal resistance - as power densities of the chip increase, so does the heat emission; it must provide transparency for the light emission; maintain a small form factor to enable denser concentrations of light; and be based on proven manufacturing processes to enable improved yields and cost-cutting.

Current HB LED packaging uses ceramic or plastic materials, which have a number of drawbacks including increasing the die size. Plastic packages tend to age over time because of the high heat and require complex design to achieve thermal performance. Ceramic, on the other hand, has excellent thermal performance, but is very costly to produce in high volume.

Silicon packaging solutions for HB LEDs >>

Hymite A/S Announces Innovative Silicon-Based Packaging Solution for High-Volume Production of High-Brightness LEDs at Low Cost

Read our white paper about HB LEDs