Patent Application
20110042584
This invention relates to a device for color conversion measurements and to methods for performing these measurements and for producing phosphor converted LEDs (pcLEDs) with marginal variation of the color point between different pcLEDs.
With the development of efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit blue or ultraviolet (UV) light, it has become feasible to produce LEDs that generate white light through phosphor conversion (pc) of a portion of the primary emission of the LEDs to longer wavelengths. These white light sources are so-called phosphor converted LEDs (pcLEDs). Conversion of primary emission of the LED to secondary emission with longer wavelengths is commonly referred to as down-conversion of the primary emission. “Primary light” or “primary emission” refers to light emitted by a light emitting diode (LED) and “secondary light” or “secondary emission” refers to light emitted by a phosphor, the so-called conversion element. In the following, the ratio between the non-converted (transmitted) primary light and the secondary light is denoted as light conversion power. The non-converted primary light combines with the secondary light to produce white light. The color point of the white light is determined by the light conversion power of the conversion element and the wavelength of the primary light. “Light conversion power” refers to the number of emitted photons of the light conversion element compared to the number of transmitted photons of a primary light. However, due to commonly present process variations the primary and secondary power ratios slightly deviate between individual pcLEDs resulting in visible deviations of color point. While the efficacy improved at lot in the last decade, the color consistency remains as one of the last obstacles for white LEDs to penetrate the general illumination market.
Before mounting the conversion elements current pcLED manufactures classify the LEDs (so-called binning) according to the characteristics of the emitted primary light, e.g. according to the peak wavelength (wavelength of maximum intensity). However, after mounting of conversion elements comprising the same conversion material on top of the LEDs taken from one class (BIN), the resulting pcLEDs show a large variation of their color points. This effect is caused by a varying conversion power between individual conversion elements. Beside the composition of a conversion material, the conversion power depends on additional parameters such as material density, scattering behavior and geometrical properties. Current process tolerances during production of conversion elements comprising the same conversion material lead to visible variations of the conversion power between individual conversion elements. Therefore also the conversion element needs to be classified before mounting it to a LED (so-called binning)
EP 1605526 discloses a pcLED, where the conversion element is produced in a sheet that is separated into individual conversion elements, which are bonded to LEDs to form pcLEDs. The conversion elements are selectively matched with a semiconductor LED to produce a desired mixture of primary and secondary light resulting in a desired color point of the pcLED. To determine the conversion properties of each conversion element, a sheet consisting of several conversion elements is illuminated with primary light and the mixture of converted and primary light is measured. Measurements performed on sheets of conversion elements are advantageous with respect to a short measuring time but the measurement accuracy is not sufficient.
Measurements performed on single conversion elements avoid this problem, but are time-consuming and therefore not preferred. The required time to measure a certain number of conversion elements increases significantly and prevents an application in mass production. Additionally, the construction of the sample holder may influence the measuring result by shading and/or reflecting effects resulting in an inaccurate primary to secondary light intensity ratio.
Matching of conversion elements with inaccurate determined conversion power to semiconductor LEDs leads to varying color points between different pcLEDs. To penetrate the general illumination market, a better color consistency of pcLEDs is required.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device and a method suitable to determine the conversion properties of a conversion element with an increased accuracy in order to produce pcLEDs with essentially the same color points.
This object is solved by a device for determining the light conversion power of a multitude of conversion elements comprising a light source, a sample holder and a detector element, wherein
Here, the term “primary light” denotes the light, which will be partly converted by a conversion element mounted on the sample holder and is not limited to light emitted by LEDs. The light source can be any kind of light source emitting primary light similar to the primary light of the LEDs to be used to manufacture the corresponding pcLEDs. In any case the primary light of the said device light source must comprise at least a part of the wavelengths of the primary light of the LEDs capable for down-conversion by the conversion element. A preferred light source emits primary light with a peak wavelength within the wavelength range of the primary light emitted by the corresponding pcLED. The required color of the primary light depends on the desired application of the pcLED, e.g. the absorption spectrum of the conversion element. The light source may be a single light source or an array of light sources emitting the same primary light. To enable a light down-conversion the wavelength of the primary light can be any wavelength shorter than the wavelength of the secondary light and at least partially absorbed by the down-conversion element, which is determined by the material composition of the converting element. To obtain white light pcLEDs, the primary light may be blue light.
In an embodiment a diffuser plate is arranged between sample holder and light source to illuminate the sample holder with diffuse light. This avoids any angle dependence of the measured intensities of primary and secondary light and therefore increases the measurement accuracy. The required accuracy to align the detector to the sample holder is decreased. In another embodiment, the diffuser plate comprises a material, which absorbs secondary light. This is achieved for instance with diffuser plate with blue color filter material. Such a plate absorbs secondary light, e.g. emitted by a first conversion element towards the light source. An absorbing diffuser plate prevents a back-reflection of this secondary light to the sample holder in a direction where it could add to the secondary light intensity of a second conversion element. The diffuser plate can be arranged at any position between light source and sample holder. The diffuser plate may also be arranged on the light source. Light sources emitting diffuse light such as large organic LEDs do not require a diffuser plate. However, also here a blue plate can prevent back-reflection of secondary light.
Suitable detector elements determining the light conversion power are any detector elements able to provide a signal proportional to the incoming light intensity. Here, the conversion power is the ratio between the intensity of the secondary light emitted from the conversion element and the intensity of the primary light after passing the conversion element. The lateral resolution of the detector element has to be better than the minimum diameter of the emitting surface of the smallest conversion element to be able to relate the results to each conversion element separately. In one embodiment, the detector element comprises at least a first filter transparent either for primary light or for secondary light. The intensity of the correspondingly not directly determined intensity of the secondary or primary light can be derived from the measured total intensity of primary and secondary light and the measured intensity of either primary or secondary light. The conversion power of each conversion element results from the ratio between both intensities of primary and secondary light. Alternatively the detector element may also comprise a second filter transparent to the other secondary or primary light in addition to the first filter element (transparent to primary or secondary light). In this case, the intensities of primary and secondary light can be determined directly by performing the measurement in two steps: the first measurement with the first filter arranged within the light path between the sample holder with mounted conversion elements and the light detector and the second measurement with the second filter instead of the first filter. In case of conversion elements comprising a number of n different light converting materials in order to emit secondary light of n colors, the required number of filters has to be at least n. Obviously, also n+1 filters can be used to determine the intensities of all primary and secondary lights directly. Here the conversion power of a conversion element comprising different phosphor materials can be related to each phosphor material separately. In another embodiment the detector element comprises a CCD camera with a sufficient lateral resolution to determine the intensities of primary and secondary light for each conversion element simultaneously. To further increase the measurement accuracy, the measured intensity should result from averaging the measurements of more than 10 camera pixels.
The term “transparent for the primary light” corresponds to a transmission of more than 20%, preferably more than 50%, more preferred more than 70% of the primary light through the sample holder. The material of the transparent parts of the sample holder may be glass or plastic or any other transparent material. The prevention (suppression) of light guiding of secondary light from one conversion element to another conversion element (second conversion element) by the prevention means of the sample holder improves the measurement accuracy of the light conversion power of each conversion element significantly. The secondary light is isotropically emitted within the conversion element. This results in back reflection of all light with an incident angle to the interface between emitting surface and environment (usually air) larger than the critical angle for total reflection. At the interface to the sample holder, the difference of the refractive indices is much smaller compared to the interface between conversion element and air. Therefore essentially a large fraction of secondary light not emitted by the emitting surface of the conversion element is coupled (transmitted) into the sample holder. The emission through the side surfaces (usually perpendicular to the emitting surface) can be neglected due to total reflection effects and the small side surface area compared to emitting area and area facing towards the sample holder. Without prevention means this light will be guided through the whole sample holder and may be out-coupled again into a second conversion element and emitted through its emitting surface. In this case, the intensity of the secondary light emitted by the second conversion element is measured too high, because the intensity now is the sum of the secondary light created within the second conversion element and the secondary light created in a first conversion element but light-guided to the second conversion element via the sample holder. Correspondingly, the determined conversion power of the second conversion element would be too high and therefore the assignment of this conversion element to a certain LED would result in a pcLED with a color point different to the wanted color point. The corresponding multitude of pcLEDs would show a bad color consistence. It is not necessary to prevent light guiding of primary light to improve the measurement accuracy, because the conversion power does not depend on the total amount of primary light coupled into a conversion element.
The sample holder can exhibit any geometrical shape with any thickness suitable to mount conversion elements and to transmit the primary light. However, essentially flat geometries such as foils or plates are preferred to simplify the mounting of the conversion elements. The preferred thickness of the sample holder ranges from 0.001 mm to 10 mm. The lateral size of the sample holder should be suitable to mount several conversion elements on one sample holder in order to accelerate the measurements, e.g. by performing of simultaneous measurements of the light intensities with a detector element with a sufficient lateral resolution. The upper size limit mainly depends on the available size of the detector element.
In another embodiment the sample holder further comprises adhesive areas in order to mount conversion elements on the sample holder. On one hand the adhesive areas prevent any movement of the conversion elements during handling of the sample holder. On the other hand, the adhesive areas enable a good optical coupling between the conversion element and the sample holder. The term “good optical coupling” denotes a negligible difference of the optical coupling of different light-conversion elements. Compared to that, the amount of secondary light emitted through the side surfaces of the conversion elements directing towards neighbored conversion elements is negligible, because the secondary light not emitted through the emitting surface of the conversion element is probably coupled into the sample holder and not emitted through the side surfaces after several back reflections within the conversion element. The prevention means prevent further light guiding of this secondary light to other conversion elements via the sample holder.
In one embodiment the prevention means are located at the parts of the sample holder not covered with conversion elements. In this case, the back reflected secondary light is coupled into the sample holder but cannot pass the sample holder to an area covered with other conversion element. As an example, the prevention means can be arranged as a closed grid of any shape, e.g. a rectangular grid, a hexagonal grid, a dotted grid or any other regular or irregular shape. The closed grid defines cells, in which the conversion elements have to be mounted. Sample holders with prevention means arranged in such a structure can be equipped with conversion elements of any size and shape smaller than the cell size. This allows the use of the same sample holder for a large variety of conversion elements with different shapes and sizes. The prevention means can be any means, which are non transparent for secondary light.
In another embodiment the prevention means are at least one or more elements of the group of material absorbing at least the secondary light, a reflective material or a light scattering material with suitable scattering properties at least for secondary light. Here the absorbing material could be material absorbing all visible light or a filter material only absorbing the secondary light. In case of scattering material, the preferred scattering parameter (number of scattering events per length unit) of the material should be between 10 cm−1 and 5000 cm−1. The scattering parameter should be adapted to the available size within the sample holder between the areas to be mounted with conversion element. The transmission of secondary light through the prevention means should be less than 20%, preferably less than 10%, more preferred lesser than 5%. Depending on the wavelengths of the applied primary and secondary light, materials with suitable absorption, reflective or scattering properties are known by skilled people. Reflective materials can be metals e.g. Aluminum, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Paladium and others. Scattering is achieved by adding particles with a refractive index n1 to a matrix material with reflective index n2, with abs(n2−n1)>0.01. Absorptive layers or compounds can be generated from coloured metal-oxides, -nitrides, -tantalates, -molybdates, metal salts incorporated into glass and/or organic dyes, i.e. organic compounds containing chromophores, which induce absorbtion of visible light by delocalized electrons. Also the combination of scattering and absorption is included here. E.g. incorporation of Cobaltaluminate (blue compound) particles into a transparent matrix material of a refractive index of about 1.4-1.6 generates a purely absorbing layer if the particles are smaller than 20 nm. For larger particle the layer is partially absorbing and partially scattering for visible light.
In another embodiment the prevention means are grooves within the sample holder. The shape and depth of the grooves have to be adjusted in order to decrease the transmission of secondary light from one side of the groove to the other side of the groove below 20%, preferably lesser than 10%, more preferred lesser than 5%. The grooves can be prepared within the sample holder before mounting the conversion elements, or the conversion elements are mounted onto the sample holder as a sheet of conversion elements and the grooves are prepared during separating the individual conversion elements from each other, e.g. by dicing techniques as applied in the semiconductor industry. In both cases, the grooves within the sample holder may have V-shapes, curved shapes or rectangular shapes or any other shape suitable to obtain a transmission below the above given values.
In a further embodiment the prevention means are arranged at least in the areas of the sample holder, which are covered with the conversion elements. In this case, the prevention means have to be transparent to primary light. This arrangement enables a more accurate prevention of light guiding of secondary light within the sample holder. It would be possible to mount the conversion element in a first step on top of the prevention means and in a second step the prevention means on a sample holder body in order to form the sample holder comprising the prevention means. Here, the conversion elements can be freely placed on the sample holder. The prevention means have a size equal or larger than the size of the conversion element surface facing towards the sample holder. In one embodiment the prevention means is a filter not transparent to secondary light. Depending on the wavelengths of the applied primary and secondary light, materials with suitable absorption properties are known to skilled people. In another embodiment, the prevention means extend over the whole sample holder. A sample holder non-transparent for secondary light enables the use of light sources 5 emitting light, which also contains secondary light. As a second advantage, the conversion elements can be freely placed on the sample holder non-transparent to secondary light without restrictions to shape and size as long as the conversion elements fit onto the sample holder.
This invention further relates to a method for determining the light conversion power of conversion elements with a device comprising a light source, a sample holder and a detector element according to claim 1 comprising the steps
The conversion elements are any rigid bodies ready for mounting to LEDs, e.g. ceramic plates, cups, phosphor powder layers, luminescent glass sheets, organic luminescent plates, etc. The conversion elements can by mounted onto the sample holder at the suitable location, for example by gluing. The gluing can be performed by an adhesive surface of the sample holder or by applying silicon between conversion element and sample holder. The conversion element may also be placed into recesses or cavities within the sample holder. Alternatively, the conversion elements may be mounted as continuous layer or sheet onto the sample holder and separated afterwards into single conversion elements, e.g. by dicing methods as known from the semiconductor industry, before performing the measurements. People skilled in the art may also consider alternative kinds of mounting.
The determination of the conversion power can be executed by any appropriate calculation unit as part of the detector element. Alternatively, the determined intensities of primary and secondary light or of one of the primary or the secondary light together with the total intensity of primary and secondary light (total light) may be transmitted to a computer in order to calculate the corresponding conversion power from the received intensity data. The sequence of measuring the intensity of primary and secondary or primary and total light or secondary and total light is not important to achieve accurate conversion power data. The conversion elements are classified in so-called BIN-classes according to the determined conversion power.
In another embodiment the intensities of the primary light transmitted through each of the conversion elements and the secondary light emitted from each of the conversion elements are measured simultaneously in order to accelerate the measurement speed (number of measured conversion elements per unit of time).
In another embodiment the mounting of the multitude of conversion elements further comprises the steps
Here, the mounting of a continuous sheet of conversion elements, which are separated later, is easier and faster compared to the handling of each individual conversion element. Separate conversion elements are prepared by a dicing process as known from the semiconductor industry. Here, the dicing process combines the separation with the preparation of the prevention means within the sample holder. In this case, the prevention means are grooves within the sample holder.
The invention further relates to a method for producing a multitude of pcLEDs with essentially the same color point comprising the steps
The term “peak wavelength” denotes the wavelength with highest intensity within the range of emitted wavelengths. Suitable combinations of conversion elements and LEDs can be selected in order to produce pcLEDs emitting light composed of primary and secondary light with essentially the same color point. Here the color point is determined by the ratio between primary and secondary light. Essential for allocating a suitable conversion element to the LEDs is the accurate determination of the conversion properties of the conversion elements. As an example, for pcLEDs emitting white light composed of blue primary light and yellow secondary light, a color point variation Δu′v′ lesser than 0.01 around a color point target value was achieved. The color point target value can be adjusted by varying the thickness of the conversion elements along the average light emission direction, the selection of light converting material and its amount within the conversion element or the color of the primary light provided by the LED. An advantage of the present invention is the possibility to produce LEDs with a color point close to the black body radiation curve with good reproducibility. These LEDs are very suited for illumination purposes in contrast to e.g. cold white LEDs with color point far away from the black body radiation curve.
The invention further relates to a sample holder and the use of the sample holder for determining the light conversion power of a multitude of conversion elements, which is at least locally transparent for a primary light, suitable to mount the multitude of conversion elements capable to partly convert the primary light into a secondary light separate from each other and comprises suitable prevention means to prevent a light guiding of the secondary light from one mounted conversion element through the sample holder to another mounted conversion element.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter. There embodiments will be described by way of example with the help of the accompanying drawing in which:
a: side view of an embodiment of the sample holder according to the present invention,
b: side view of another embodiment of the sample holder according to the present invention,
c: side view of another embodiment of the sample holder according to the present invention,
d: side view of another embodiment of the sample holder according to the present invention,
a: side view of another embodiment of the sample holder according to the present invention,
b: side view of another embodiment of the sample holder according to the present invention,
c: side view of another embodiment of the sample holder according to the present invention,
In order to keep the color point of pcLEDs constant in mass production, one can utilize the present variation of the peak wavelengths of the primary light between different LEDs to compensate for the variations of the conversion power of different conversion elements. The peak wavelength of the primary light of individual LEDs can deviate up to ±20 nm from the mean value of a large number of these LEDs. The peak wavelength of the primary light can easily be measured by people skilled in the art. The measured LEDs can by classified in so-called BIN classes (B) according to their peak wavelengths. Combing a LED of a certain BIN class with a conversion element of a suitable BIN class, the resulting pcLED emits light 4 very close to the desired color point. A multitude of these pcLEDs show a very low color point variations, e.g. color point variations Δu′v′ lesser than 0.01 can be achieved.
As an example in
The intensities of primary light 41 transmitted through the conversion elements and of secondary light 42 created within the conversion element 3 are measured by the detector element 7 comprising a sensor element 72 generating a signal proportional to the intensity of light. Both intensities can be measured directly in two steps. In a first step, a first color filter 71 only transparent for primary light 41 is placed between the conversion elements 3 and the sensor element 72. In this first step, the intensity of the primary light is measured. In a second step, the first color filter 71 is replaced by a second color filter 71 only transparent for secondary light 42 yielding the intensity of the secondary light 42. Alternatively to the use of a second filter, one can measure the total intensity of the emitted light (total light=primary light+secondary light) in a second step by removing the filter 71. The intensity of the secondary light 42 can be derived from the measured intensities of primary light 41 and total light 4. The same procedure applies to an alternative first measurement, where the first filter only transmits secondary light 42. Here, the intensity of the primary light 41 can be derived from the measured intensities of secondary light 42 and total light 4. Subsequently the ratio between the intensities of primary 41 and secondary light 42 can be calculated, e.g. by calculation means 73 either as part of the detector element 7 or by an external device, e.g. a computer. The calculation means 73 can also be used to derive the intensity of primary or secondary light in case measurements with only one filter 71. If the conversion elements 3 comprise n classes of converting materials re-emitting secondary light composed of n different colors, e.g. a first secondary light (e.g. green) and a second secondary light (e.g. red), n+1 measurements have to be performed applying at least n filter 71 only transmitting one corresponding color of secondary or primary light. Procedures suitable to remove, replace, or switch between the required color filters 71 are known by people skilled in the art.
The primary and secondary light 41, 42 emitted by a conversion element 3 can be measured successively for each conversion element 3 by moving the detector element 7 or sensor element 72 across the sample holder 6. In a preferred embodiment, the measurements for each conversion element are executed simultaneously. Therefore the lateral resolution of the sensor element 72 has to sufficient to discriminate between primary and secondary light 41 and 42 emitted from different conversion elements 31, 32 and 33, as shown in
a-d show different embodiments of sample holders 6 comprising different kinds of prevention means 62a, 62b, 62c, 62d. The conversion elements 3 are mounted for instance via an adhesive layer or film 63 to the sample holder 6. The adhesive layer/film 63 must be transparent at least for primary light. The adhesive layer may be a layer of silicon or other suitable layer or films. Such an adhesive layer or film enables an easier handling of the sample holder, because the conversion elements are fixed to the sample holder. The prevention means 62a, 62b, 62c, 62d are arranged at areas of the sample holder not covered with conversion elements. The lateral size of the conversion elements 3 should to be equal or smaller than the distance between neighbored prevention means. The lateral size must not extend over the prevention mean around a conversion element 3. The area 61 of sample holder underneath the conversion element is an area transparent for primary light 41. The incident primary light 41 passes the sample holder 61 and the transparent adhesive layer and will be partly down-converted by the conversion element 3. A part of the secondary light will leave the conversion element through the surface facing towards the detector element (the emitting surface of pcLEDs). Another part of the secondary light will be coupled into the sample holder as indicated by an downwards directed arrow 42 in
a-c show three other embodiments of the sample holder 6, where the prevention means 62e are arranged at least in the areas of the sample holder 6 covered with conversion elements 3. The prevention means 62e are non-transparent to at least secondary light 42, e.g. comprising a filter material absorbing secondary light 42 such as a phosphor of the general composition of
(Lu1−x−yYxGdy)3−a−b(Al1−m−nGamScn)5O12:CeaPrb) with 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦0.5, 0.001≦a≦0.02, 0.001≦b≦0.005, 0≦m≦0.5, and 0≦n≦0.5, and/or a phosphor of the composition of A) (Ca1−x−ySrx)S:Euy with 0≦x≦1, 0.0003≦y≦0.01;
B) (Ba1−x−ySrxCay)2−zSi5−aAlaN8−aOa:Euz with 0≦x≦0.5, 0≦y≦0.8, 0.0025≦z≦0.05, 0≦a≦1; or
C) (Ca1−x−ySrxMgy)1−zSi1−aAl1+aN3−aOa:Euz with 0≦x≦0.5, 0≦y≦0.2, 0.003≦z≦0.05, 0≦a≦0.02.
However, it is obvious that in such embodiments the prevention means 62e must be at least partly transparent to primary light 41 in order to achieve a down-conversion of primary light 41 by the conversion elements 3. In
In
In a preferred embodiment the measurements are performed simultaneously by a suitable detector elements as described earlier. In another embodiment, the mounting step comprises a first step mounting a sheet of non-separated conversion element onto the sample holder and a second step, where the individual conversion elements are separated from each other, e.g. by dicing. The dicing procedure is continued after separating the conversion elements 3 leading to grooves in the sample holder 6 beneath the conversion elements 3 serving as prevention means 62e.
As an example, the combination of binned “blue” LEDs and binned “yellow” polycrystalline ceramics conversion elements (YAG:Ce with 0.4 wt % Ce, density of 99% of the theoretical solid state body density, thickness of 120 μm in light emission direction) resulted in white pcLEDs with target color point and an overall spread of Δu′v′<0.01.
The particular combinations of elements and features in the above detailed embodiments are exemplary only; the interchanging and substitution of these teachings with other teachings in this and the patents/applications incorporated by reference are also expressly contemplated. As those skilled in the art will recognize, variations, modifications, and other implementations of what is described herein can occur to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as claimed. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended as limiting. The invention's scope is defined in the following claims and the equivalents thereto. Furthermore, reference signs used in the description and claims do not limit the scope of the invention as claimed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07112499.4 | Jul 2007 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB08/52817 | 7/14/2008 | WO | 00 | 6/11/2010 |
