Challenges in LED thermal characterisation

The paper discusses the increasing need for a more sophisticated thermal characterisation of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) and LED-based products. It goes without saying that the LED-business is growing exponentially, in fact, much faster than analysts predicted five years ago. Unfortunately, the progress in thermal characterisation has not kept pace. The situation is becoming a serious problem for leading manufacturers who are focussing on a sustainable business for the future and are willing to publish reliable thermal data. Unfortunately, due to the lack of worldwide-accepted standards a manufacturer can publish whatever thermal information he wants. It also becomes a problem for the experienced user because the thermal data that are published are often rather useless in practice when accuracy is at stake, and accuracy is needed for an educated guess of expected performance and lifetime. Remarkably, the situation is not much different from the one the IC-world was facing almost 20 years ago. Provided the manufacturers want to cooperate, it is relatively easy to build upon the experience gained in the IC-business and their standard protocols that are in use worldwide. The authors propose to establish a consortium consisting of manufacturers, system designers, software developers and test people.