LEDchips

LEDChips are the semiconductor light sources at the heart of light-emitting diodes. Most modern LEDChips are GaN-based for blue emission; white LEDs are typically blue chips with phosphor converting part of the light. Red or green LEDChips use GaInP or GaInN, and RGB configurations combine multiple chips to render colors.

The chip is formed from epitaxial layers grown on substrates such as sapphire or silicon carbide, then diced into individual units. Packaging variants include surface-mount device (SMD) chips, chip-on-board (COB) arrays, and flip-chip designs that improve heat dissipation. White LEDChips often incorporate phosphor coatings or phosphor-converted multilayer structures.

Performance is expressed as luminous efficacy (lm/W), luminous flux, color rendering index (CRI), and correlated color temperature (CCT). LEDChips offer long lifetimes and high reliability, with lumen maintenance typical of 50,000 hours or more at rated current under proper cooling.

Applications span general lighting, backlighting, displays, signage, and automotive lighting. The LEDChips market is characterized by rapid scaling of production, binning by brightness and color, and continuous efficiency improvements.

Standards and environmental rules, such as RoHS, apply to LEDChips and their packaging. Manufacturing involves wafer fabrication, epitaxy, dicing, testing, and packaging, with supply chains linking chip makers to module and luminaire producers.