skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Failure Mechanisms and Color Stability in Light-Emitting Diodes during Operation in High- Temperature Environments in Presence of Contamination

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1212875

The energy efficiency of light-emitting diode (LED) technology compared to incandescent light bulbs has triggered an increased focus on solid state luminaries for a variety of lighting applications. Solid-state lighting (SSL) utilizes LEDs, for illumination through the process of electroluminescence instead of heating a wire filament as seen with traditional lighting. The fundamental differences in the construction of LED and the incandescent lamp results in different failure modes including lumen degradation, chromaticity shift and drift in the correlated color temperature. The use of LED-based products for safety-critical and harsh environment applications necessitates the characterization of the failure mechanisms and modes. In this paper, failure mechanisms and color stability has been studied for commercially available vertical structured thin film LED (VLED) under harsh environment conditions with and without the presence of contaminants. The VLED used for the study was mounted on a ceramic starboard in order to connect it to the current source. Contamination sources studied include operation in the vicinity of vulcanized rubber and adhesive epoxies in the presence of temperature and humidity. Performance of the VLEDs has been quantified using the measured luminous flux and color shift of the VLEDs subjected to both thermal and humidity stresses under a forward current bias of 350 mA. Results indicate that contamination can result in pre-mature luminous flux degradation and color shift in LEDs.

Research Organization:
RTI International
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
EE0005124
OSTI ID:
1212875
Report Number(s):
ECTC 05-2015
Resource Relation:
Conference: ECTC 2015 - IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English