Estimating junction temperature of high-flux white LEDs

Performance of white light LEDs has improved significantly over the past few years. White LEDs are typically created by incorporating a layer of phosphor over the GaN-based blue emitter. Heat at the p-n junction seems to be the major factor that influences light output degradation in these devices. In an earlier paper, the principal authors of this manuscript demonstrated that the junction temperature of white LEDs could be measured from the (W/B) ratio, where W represents the total radiant energy of the white LED spectrum, and B represents the radiant energy within the blue emission peak. In that earlier study, the concept was verified using commercially available 5-mm type white LEDs. The goal of the study presented here was to evaluate whether the (W/B) ratio could be used to estimate junction temperature of new high-flux white LEDs. The results show that (W/B) ratio is proportional to the junction temperature of the high-flux white LED; however, the proportionality constants are different for the different white LED types.