Light-Emitting Diode (LED)

Background
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs)—small colored lights available in any electronics store—
are ubiquitous in modern society. They are the indicator lights on our stereos,
automobile dashboards, and microwave ovens. Numeric displays on clock radios, digital
watches, and calculators are composed of bars of LEDs. LEDs also find applications in
telecommunications for short range optical signal transmission such as TV remote
controls. They have even found their way into jewelry and clothing—witness sun visors
with a series of blinking colored lights adorning the brim. The inventors of the LED had
no idea of the revolutionary item they were creating. They were trying to make lasers, but
on the way they discovered a substitute for the light bulb.

Light bulbs are really just wires attached to a source of energy. They emit light because
the wire heats up and gives off some of its heat energy in the form of light. An LED, on
the other hand, emits light by electronic excitation rather than heat generation. Diodes are
electrical valves that allow electrical current to flow in only one direction, just as a one-
way valve might in a water pipe. When the valve is "on," electrons move from a region of
high electronic density to a region of low electronic density. This movement of electrons
is accompanied by the emission of light. The more electrons that get passed across the
boundary between layers, known as a junction, the brighter the light. This phenomenon,
known as electroluminescence, was observed as early as 1907. Before working LEDs
could be made, however, cleaner and more efficient materials had to be developed.

LEDs were developed during the post-World War II era; during the war there was a
potent interest in materials for light and microwave detectors. A variety of semiconductor
materials were developed during this research effort, and their light interaction properties
were investigated in some detail. During the 1950s, it became clear that the same
materials that were used to detect light could also be used to generate light. Researchers
at AT&T Bell Laboratories were the first to exploit the light-generating properties of
these new materials in the 1960s. The LED was a forerunner, and a fortuitous byproduct,
of the laser development effort. The tiny colored lights held some interest for industry,
because they had advantages over light bulbs of a similar size: LEDs use less power, have
longer lifetimes, produce little heat, and emit colored light.

The first LEDs were not as reliable or as useful as those sold today. Frequently, they
could only operate at the temperature of liquid nitrogen (-104 degrees Fahrenheit or -77
degrees Celsius) or below, and would burn out in only a few hours. They gobbled power
because they were very inefficient, and they produced very little light. All of these
problems can be attributed to a lack of reliable techniques for producing the appropriate
materials in the 1950s and 1960s, and as a result the devices made from them were poor.
When materials were improved, other advances in the technology followed: methods for
connecting the devices electronically, enlarging the diodes, making them brighter, and
generating more colors.
The advantages of the LED over the light bulb for applications requiring a small light
source encouraged manufacturers like Texas Instruments

To make the semiconductor wafers, gallium, arsenic, and/or phosphor are first mixed
together in a chamber and forced into a solution. To keep them from escaping into the
pressurized gas in the chamber, they are often covered with a layer of liquid boron oxide.
Next, a rod is dipped into the solution and pulled out slowly. The solution cools and
crystallizes on the end of the rod as it is lifted out of the chamber, forming a long,
cylindrical crystal ingot. The ingot is then sliced into wafers.
and Hewlett Packard to pursue the commercial manufacture of LEDs. Sudden widespread
market acceptance in the 1970s was the result of the reduction in production costs and
also of clever marketing, which made products with LED displays (such as watches)
seem "high tech" and, therefore, desirable. Manufacturers were able to produce many
LEDs in a row to create a variety of displays for use on clocks, scientific instruments, and
computer card readers. The technology is still developing today as manufacturers seek
ways to make the devices more efficiently, less expensively, and in more colors.

Raw Materials
Diodes, in general, are made of very thin layers of semiconductor material; one layer will
have an excess of electrons, while the next will have a deficit of electrons. This
difference causes electrons to move from one layer to another, thereby generating light.
Manufacturers can now make these layers as thin as .5 micron or less (1 micron = 1 ten-
thousandth of an inch).

Impurities within the semiconductor are used to create the required electron density. A
semiconductor is a crystalline material that conducts electricity only when there is a high
density of impurities in it. The slice, or wafer, of semiconductor is a single uniform
crystal, and the impurities are introduced later during the manufacturing process. Think
of the wafer as a cake that is mixed and baked in a prescribed manner, and impurities as
nuts suspended in the cake. The particular semiconductors used for LED manufacture are
gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium phosphide (GaP), or gallium arsenide phosphide
(GaAsP). The different semiconductor materials (called substrates) and different
impurities result in different colors of light from the LED.

Impurities, the nuts in the cake, are introduced later in the manufacturing process; unlike
imperfections, they are introduced deliberately to make the LED function correctly. This
process is called doping. The impurities commonly added are zinc or nitrogen, but
silicon, germanium, and tellurium have also been used. As mentioned previously, they
will cause the semiconductor to conduct electricity and will make the LED function as an
electronic device. It is through the impurities that a layer with an excess or a deficit of
electrons can be created.

To complete the device, it is necessary to bring electricity to it and from it. Thus, wires
must be attached onto the substrate. These wires must stick well to the semiconductor and
be strong enough to withstand subsequent

One way to add the necessary impurities to the semiconductor crystal is to grow
additional layers of crystal onto the wafer surface. In this process, known as "Liquid
Phase Epitaxy," the wafer is put on a graphite slide and passed underneath reservoirs of
molten GaAsP.
Contact patterns are exposed on the wafer's surface using photoresist, after which the
wafers are put into a heated vacuum chamber. Here, molten metal is evaporated onto the
contact pattern on the wafer surface.
processing such as soldering and heating. Gold and silver compounds are most
commonly used for this purpose, because they form a chemical bond with the gallium at
the surface of the wafer.

LEDs are encased in transparent plastic, rather like the lucite paperweights that have
objects suspended in them. The plastic can be any of a number of varieties, and its exact
optical properties will determine what the output of the LED looks like. Some plastics are
diffusive, which means the light will scatter in many directions. Some are transparent,
and can be shaped into lenses that will direct the light straight out from the LED in a
narrow beam. The plastics can be tinted, which will change the color of the LED by
allowing more or less of light of a particular color to pass through.

Design
Several features of the LED need to be considered in its design, since it is both an
electronic and an optic device. Desirable optical properties such as color, brightness, and
efficiency must be optimized without an unreasonable electrical or physical design. These
properties are affected by the size of the diode, the exact semiconductor materials used to
make it, the thickness of the diode layers, and the type and amount of impurities used to
"dope" the semiconductor.

The Manufacturing
Process
Making semiconductor wafers

• 1 First, a semiconductor wafer is made. The particular material composition—

GaAs, GaP, or something in between—is determined by the color of LED being
fabricated. The crystalline semiconductor is grown in a high temperature, high
pressure chamber. Gallium, arsenic, and/or phosphor are purified and mixed
together in the chamber. The heat and pressure liquify and press the components
together so that they are forced into a solution. To keep them from escaping into
the pressurized gas in the chamber, they are often covered with a layer of liquid
boron oxide, which seals them off so that they must "stick together." This is
known as liquid encapsulation, or the Czochralski crystal growth method. After
the elements are mixed in a uniform solution, a rod is dipped into the solution and
pulled out slowly. The solution cools and crystallizes on the end of the rod as it is
lifted out of the chamber, forming a long, cylindrical crystal ingot (or boule) of
GaAs, GaP, or GaAsP. Think of this as baking the cake.
• 2 The boule is then sliced into very thin wafers of semiconductor, approximately
10 mils thick, or about as thick as a garbage bag. The wafers are polished until the
surfaces are very smooth, so that they will readily accept more layers of
semiconductor on their surface. The principle is similar to sanding a table before
painting it. Each wafer should be a single crystal of material of uniform
composition. Unfortunately, there will sometimes be imperfections in the crystals
 that make the LED function poorly. Think of imperfections as unmixed bits of
flower or sugar suspended in the cake during baking. Imperfections can also
result from the polishing process; such imperfections also degrade device
performance. The more imperfections, the less the wafer behaves like a single
crystal; without a regular crystalline structure, the material will not function as a
semiconductor.
• 3 Next, the wafers are cleaned through a rigorous chemical and ultrasonic process
using various solvents. This process removes dirt, dust, or organic matter that may
have settled on the polished wafer surface. The cleaner the processing, the better
the resulting LED will be.

Adding epitaxial layers

• 4 Additional layers of semiconductor crystal are grown on the surface of the

wafer, like adding more layers to the cake. This is one way to add impurities, or
dopants, to the crystal. The crystal layers are grown this time by a process called
Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE). In this technique, epitaxial layers—semiconductor
layers that have the same crystalline orientation as the substrate below—are
deposited on a wafer while it is drawn under reservoirs of molten GaAsP. The
reservoirs have appropriate dopants mixed through them. The wafer rests on a
graphite slide, which is pushed through a channel under a container holding the
molten liquid (or melt, as it is called). Different dopants can be added in
sequential melts, or several in the same melt, creating layers of material with
different electronic densities. The deposited layers will become a continuation of
the wafer's crystal structure.

LPE creates an exceptionally uniform layer of material, which makes it a

preferred growth and doping technique. The layers formed are several microns
thick.

• 5 After depositing epitaxial layers, it may be necessary to add additional dopants

to alter the characteristics of the diode for color or efficiency. If additional doping
is done, the wafer is again placed in a high temperature furnace tube, where it is
immersed in a gaseous atmosphere containing the dopants—nitrogen or zinc
ammonium are the most common. Nitrogen is often added to the top layer of the
diode to make the light more yellow or green.

Adding metal contacts

• 6 Metal contacts are then defined on the wafer. The contact pattern is determined
in the design stage and depends on whether the diodes are to be used singly or in
combination. Contact patterns are reproduced in photoresist, a light-sensitive
compound; the liquid resist is deposited in drops while the wafer spins,
distributing it over the surface. The resist is hardened by a brief, low temperature
baking (about 215 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius). Next, the master
pattern, or mask, is duplicated on the photoresist by placing it over the wafer and
 exposing the resist with ultraviolet light (the same way a photograph is made from
a negative). Exposed areas of the resist are washed away with developer, and
unexposed areas remain, covering the semiconductor layers.
• 7 Contact metal is now evaporated onto the pattern, filling in the exposed areas.
Evaporation takes place in another high temperature chamber, this time vacuum
sealed. A chunk of metal is heated to temperatures that cause it to vaporize. It
condenses and sticks to the exposed semiconductor wafer, much like steam will
fog a cold window. The photoresist can then be washed away with acetone,
leaving only the metal contacts behind. Depending on the final mounting scheme
for the LED, an additional layer of metal may be evaporated on the back side of
the wafer. Any deposited metal must undergo an annealing process, in which the
wafer is heated to several hundred degrees and allowed to remain in a furnace
(with an inert atmosphere of hydrogen or nitrogen flowing through it) for periods
up to several hours. During this time, the metal and the semiconductor bond
together chemically so the contacts don't flake off.
• 8 A single 2 inch-diameter wafer produced in this manner will have the same
pattern repeated up to 6000 times on it; this gives an indication of the size of the
finished diodes. The diodes are cut apart either by cleaving (snapping the wafer
along a crystal plane) or by sawing with a diamond saw. Each small segment cut
from the wafer is called a die. A difficult and error prone process, cutting results
in far less than 6000 total useable LEDs and is one of the biggest challenges in
limiting production costs of semiconductor devices.

Mounting and packaging

• 9 Individual dies are mounted on the appropriate package. If the diode will be
used by itself as an indicator light or for jewelry, for example, it is mounted on
two metal leads about two inches long. Usually, in this case, the back of the wafer
is coated with metal and forms an electrical contact with the lead it rests on. A
tiny gold wire is soldered to the other lead and wire-bonded to the patterned
contacts on the surface of the die. In wire bonding, the end of the wire is pressed
down on the contact metal with a very fine needle. The gold is soft enough to
deform and stick to a like metal surface.
• 10 Finally, the entire assembly is sealed in plastic. The wires and die are
suspended inside a mold that is shaped according
 A typical LED indicator light shows how small the actual LED is. Although the
average lifetime of a small light bulb is 5-10 years, a modern LED should last 100
years or more before it fails.

to the optical requirements of the package (with a lens or connector at the end),
and the mold is filled with liquid plastic or epoxy. The epoxy is cured, and the
package is complete.

Quality Control
Quality in semiconductor manufacturing takes two forms. The first concern is with the
final produced product, and the second with the manufacturing facility. Every LED is
checked when it is wire bonded for operation characteristics. Specific levels of current
should produce specific brightness. Exact light color is tested for each batch of wafers,
and some LEDs will be pulled for stress testing, including lifetime tests, heat and power
breakdown, and mechanical damage.

In order to produce products consistently, the manufacturing line has to operate reliably
and safely. Many of the processing steps above can be automated, but not all are. The
general cleanliness of the facility and incoming blank wafers is monitored closely.
Special facilities ("clean rooms") are built that keep the air pure up to one part in 10,000
for particular processing steps (particularly numbers 1-5 above). All of these checks arise
from a desire to improve the yield, or the number of successful LEDs per wafer.

The Future
Optoelectronics is blossoming with the advent of better and better processing techniques.
It is now possible to make wafers with a purity and uniformity unheard of 5 years ago.
This will effect how bright and how efficient LEDs can be made, and how long they will
last. As they get better, they are appropriate for increasingly demanding applications,
such as communications. The average lifetime of a small light bulb is 5-10 years, but the
average modern LED should last 100 years before failure. This makes them suitable for
applications where it is difficult or impossible to replace parts, such as undersea or
outerspace electronics. Although LEDs are inappropriate for long-range optical fiber
transmission, they are often useful for short range optical transmission such as remote
controls, chip to chip communication, or excitation of optical amplifiers.

Other materials are being developed that will allow fabrication of blue and white light
LEDs. In addition to making possible a wider variety of indicators and toys with more
colors, blue light is preferable for some applications such as optical storage and visual
displays. Blue and white light are easier on the eyes. Additional colors would certainly
open up new applications.

Finally, as process technology advances and it becomes possible to incorporate more

devices on a single chip, LED displays will become more "intelligent." A single
microchip will hold all the electronics to create an alphanumeric display, and will make
instrumentation smaller and more sophisticated.

Where To Learn More

Books

Bergh, A. A. and P. J Dean. Light-Emitting Diodes. Clarendon Press, 1976.

Gillessen, Klaus. Light-Emitting Diodes: An Introduction. Prentice Hall, 1987.

Optoelectronics/Fiber-Optics Applications Manual. McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Understanding Solid State Electronics. Radio Shack/Texas Instruments Learning Center,
1978.

Williams, E. W. and R. Hall. Luminescence and the Light-Emitting Diode. Pergamon

Press, 1978.

Periodicals

Cole, Bernard C. "Now a LED Can Take On the Light Bulb." Electronics. October, 1988,
p. 41.

Iversen, Wesley R. "Would You Believe LED Brake Lights." Electronics. September 18,
1986.

Marston, Ray. "Working with LED's." Radio-Electronics. January, 1992, p. 50; February,
1992, p. 69.

Weisburd, Stefi. "Silicon Devices: LED There Be Light." Science News. May 9, 1987, p.
294.

—Leslie G. Melcer

Why does thermal management matter?

Excess heat directly affects both short-term and long-term LED performance. The short-
term (reversible) effects are color shift and reduced light output while the long-term
effect is accelerated lumen depreciation and thus shortened useful life.
The light output of different colored LEDs responds differently to temperature changes,
with amber and red the most sensitive, and blue the least. These unique temperature
response rates can result in noticeable color shifts in RGB-based white light systems if
operating Tj differs from the design parameters. LED manufacturers test and sort (or
“bin”) their products for luminous flux and color based on a 25 millisecond power pulse,
at a fixed Tj of 25°C (77°F). Under constant current operation at room temperatures and
with engineered heat mitigation mechanisms, Tj is typically 60°C or greater. Therefore
white LEDs will provide at least 10% less light than the manufacturer’s rating, and the
reduction in light output for products with inadequate thermal design can be significantly
higher.
 Continuous operation at elevated temperature dramatically accelerates lumen
depreciation resulting in shortened useful life. The chart below shows the light output
over time (experimental data to 10,000 hours and extrapolation beyond) for two identical
LEDs driven at the same current but with an 11°C difference in Tj. Estimated useful life
(defined as 70% lumen maintenance) decreased from ~37,000 hours to ~16,000 hours, a
57% reduction, with the 11°C temperature increase.
However, the industry continues to improve the durability of LEDs at higher
operating temperatures. The Luxeon K2 shown on page 1, for example, claims 70%
lumen maintenance for 50,000 hours at drive currents up to 1000 mA and Tj at or below
120°C.1

As the LED heat escalates, several key characteristics may become apparent,
which demonstrate the importance of LED thermal management. The forward voltage
will begin to decrease. The decreasing voltage can impose an increased load on related
LED driver components causing their temperature to increase as well. In resistor driven
circuits, the forward current will increase. As the LED lights temperature continues to
rise, the optical wavelength can shift. The increasing wavelength can cause orange LED
lights to appear red or even white LED lights to appear bluish. This color shift typically
intensifies with the AlInGaP technologies (red, orange, amber, and yellow). In addition, a
thermally stressed LED lights will loose efficiency and light output will diminish. If the
LED thermal management continues to race out of control, the LED junction may break
down causing a state of complete thermal runaway. The result is typically catastrophic
failure. Other affects of overstressed LEDs may include broken wire bonds,
delaminating, internal solder joint detachment, damage to die-bond epoxy, and lens
yellowing.
What determines junction temperature?
Three things affect the junction temperature of an LED: drive current, thermal
path, and ambient temperature. In general, the higher the drive current, the greater the
heat generated at the die. Heat must be moved away from the die in order to maintain
expected light output, life, and color. The amount of heat that can be removed depends
upon the ambient temperature and the design of the thermal path from the die to the
surroundings.
The typical high-flux LED system is comprised of an emitter, metal-core printed
circuit board (MCPCB), and some form of external heat sink. The emitter houses the die,
optics, encapsulant, and heat sink slug (used to draw heat away from the die) and is
soldered to the MCPCB. The MCPCB is a special form of circuit board with a dielectric
layer (non-conductor of current) bonded to a metal substrate (usually aluminum). The
MCPCB is then mechanically attached to an external heat sink which can be a dedicated
device integrated into the design of the luminaire or, in some cases, the chassis of the
luminaire itself. The size of the heat sink is dependent upon the amount of heat to be
dissipated and the material’s thermal properties.
Heat management and an awareness of the operating environment are critical
considerations