Light-emitting dies incorporating wavelength-conversion materials and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9741906-B2
Application number	US-201615096548-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2016
Priority date	Feb 5, 2014
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

In accordance with certain embodiments, electronic devices feature a polymeric binder, a frame defining an aperture therethrough, and a semiconductor die (e.g., a light-emitting or a light-detecting element) suspended in the binder and within the aperture of the frame.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An illumination system comprising:
a substrate;
a plurality of spaced-apart conductive traces disposed on the substrate; and
disposed over the substrate, an illumination device comprising:
a polymeric binder,
suspended within the polymeric binder, a bare-die light-emitting element having (i) a first face, (ii) a second face opposite the first face, (iii) at least one sidewall spanning the first and second faces, and (iv) disposed on the first face of the light-emitting element, at least two spaced-apart contacts each electrically coupled to one of the conductive traces, and
a frame (i) having a bottom surface, (ii) having a top surface opposite the bottom surface, (iii) having a thickness spanning the top and bottom surfaces, and (iv) defining an aperture (a) extending fully through the thickness and (b) having a sidewall, the top surface of the frame surrounding the aperture,

wherein the light-emitting element is disposed within the aperture of the frame such that (i) the second face of the light-emitting element is opposite the bottom surface of the frame, and (ii) a bottom surface of the illumination device includes at least a portion of the first face of the light-emitting element.

2. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric binder has a top surface disposed over the second face of the light-emitting element.

3. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein at least portions of the contacts protrude from the polymeric binder.

4. The illumination system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more additional light-emitting elements at least partially suspended within the polymeric binder.

5. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting element comprises a light-emitting diode.

6. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting element comprises active semiconductor layers that are not disposed on a semiconductor substrate.

7. The illumination system of claim 1 , further comprising a reflective layer over or within at least a portion of the polymeric binder.

8. The illumination system of claim 1 , further comprising an optical element positioned to receive light from the light-emitting element.

9. The illumination system of claim 1 , further comprising an insulating layer disposed over or on at least a portion of a surface of the frame.

10. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the frame comprises at least one of a semiconductor, a plastic, a polymer, a glass, a ceramic, or a metal.

11. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein (i) at least a portion of the polymeric binder is transparent to a wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting element, and (ii) the polymeric binder contains therein a light-scattering material that scatters the wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting element.

12. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein (i) at least a portion of the polymeric binder is transparent to a wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting element, and (ii) the polymeric binder contains therein a wavelength-conversion material for absorption of at least a portion of light emitted from the light-emitting element and emission of converted light having a different wavelength, converted light and unconverted light emitted by the light-emitting element combining to form mixed light.

13. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting element has a thickness greater than the thickness of the frame.

14. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting element has a thickness less than the thickness of the frame.

15. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the frame has an exterior sidewall spanning the top and bottom surfaces of the frame, and at least a portion of the polymeric binder extends beyond the exterior sidewall of the frame.

16. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein (i) at least a portion of the polymeric binder is transparent to a wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting element, (ii) the polymeric binder contains therein a wavelength-conversion material for absorption of at least a portion of light emitted from the light-emitting element and emission of converted light having a different wavelength, converted light and unconverted light emitted by the light-emitting element combining to form mixed light, (iii) the frame has at least one sidewall spanning the top and bottom surfaces of the frame, (iv) at least a portion of the polymeric binder extends beyond the sidewall of the frame, and (v) at least a portion of the polymeric binder extending beyond the sidewall of the frame is reflective to a wavelength of light emitted by the wavelength-conversion material.

17. The illumination system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of an active or passive electronic component disposed over or on the bottom surface of the frame.

18. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein the frame comprises a semiconductor material, and further comprising at least one of an active or passive electronic component disposed within or on the semiconductor material.

19. The illumination system of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the sidewall of the aperture is reflective to a wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting element.

20. The illumination system of claim 2 , wherein the top surface of the polymeric binder is curved.

21. The illumination system of claim 2 , wherein the top surface of the polymeric binder is substantially flat.

22. The illumination system of claim 12 , wherein at least a portion of the sidewall of the aperture is coated with a reflective coating having a reflectance greater than 80% to a wavelength of light emitted by the light-emitting element and/or the wavelength-conversion material.

23. The illumination system of claim 12 , wherein the polymeric binder comprises a plurality of discrete regions, at least one of which comprises the polymeric binder without wavelength-conversion material therein.

24. The illumination system of claim 12 , wherein the mixed light is substantially white light.

25. The illumination system of claim 23 , wherein the polymeric binder comprises (i) disposed over at least a portion of the light-emitting element, a first region comprising wavelength-conversion material, and (ii) disposed over at least a portion of the first region, a second region free of wavelength-conversion material.

26. The illumination system of claim 24 , wherein the substantially white light has a correlated color temperature in the range of 2000 K to 10,000 K.

27. The illumination system of claim 24 , wherein a maximum divergence of color uniformity of the substantially white light in terms of the radially averaged Δu′v′ deviation from a spatially weighted average chromaticity is less than 0.01 over an angular range of 0° to 80°.

28. The illumination system of claim 24 , wherein a divergence of color temperature of the substantially white light emitted from the device varies, over an angular range of 0° to 80°, no more than 0.006 in terms of Δu′v′ deviation from a spatially weighted averaged chromaticity.

29. The illumination system of claim 15 , wherein the polymeric binder covers at least a portion of the exterior sidewall of the frame.

30. The illumination system of claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the polymeric binder extendi

Assignees

• Tischler Michael A
• Amini Alborz
• Pinnington Thomas
• Ip Henry
• Spiga Gianmarco
• Cooledge Lighting Inc

Inventors

• Tischler Michael A
• Amini Alborz
• Pinnington Thomas
• Ip Henry
• Spiga Gianmarco

Classifications

• H10W74/019

  using temporary auxiliary substrates (H10W74/017 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H10W72/9413

  on encapsulations · CPC title

• H10W72/012

  of bump connectors, dummy bumps or thermal bumps · CPC title

• H10W70/09

  extending onto an encapsulation that laterally surrounds the chip or wafer, e.g. fan-out wafer level package [FOWLP] RDLs · CPC title

• H10W90/00

  Package configurations · CPC title