WHITE PAPER: Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Andras Poppe, Mentor Graphics Corp.

Mechanical Analysis

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Introduction
LED thermal characteristics, beginning with the PN junction and extending to the ambient environment, must be well understood in order to ensure a safe, reliable design and satisfactory performance. There may be multiple thermal interfaces such as die attach or glue layer in the heat flow path, and their thickness and resistance can be difficult to control in manufacturing. Moreover the thermal interface between the LED package and the luminaire acts as a heat-sink from the LEDs perspective, further complicating the design challenge. Thermal resistance must be understood as early as possible in the prototype phase.

Current, Color, and Efficacy

The light output behavior of an LED depends greatly on the operating conditions. The forward current, when increased, causes the LED to generate more light. But when the forward current is held constant, the light output drops as the devices temperature increases. Figure 1 illustrates this effect, known as thermal droop. It also documents the associated changes in color indicated by the shift in the peak wavelength in the instance of a color LED. In white LEDs used for general lighting, the blue peak of the spectrum will shift, thereby changing the LEDs so-called color temperature. This would have an impact on the look and feel of a space illuminated by the LED.

Figure 1: Current and temperature dependence in the spectral distribution of an LEDs light output

Like most other products, lighting systems are designed to balance cost and performance. The power budget and therefore the need for cooling is largely determined by the LEDs energy conversion efficiency. This is defined as the ratio of the emitted light energy in Watts relative to the input electrical power in Watts. This energy efficiency figure is strongly related to another metric, the efficacy, which relates the useful, perceivable light measured in lumens to the supplied electrical power measured in Watts. Efficacy is used to compare the goodness of diverse light sources. Unfortunately the efficacy of LEDs also declines with increasing junction temperature. Prediction of the hot lumen output of an LED based lighting solution is the ultimate goal in solid-state lighting design. A thermal management solution that provides effective cooling delivers more useful lumens of a more consistent color in a given application. Figure 2: Typical heat conduction structure for a power LED Heat dispersion begins at the package level,

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

which is the province of the LED vendor. The conduction structure shown in Figure 2 is commonly used. Approximately 50% of the total junction-to-ambient thermal resistance of a lighting application may be represented by the LED itself. Historically, LED standards have left room for interpretation. Industry standardization efforts are underway, but LED vendors may still define their products thermal resistance and other temperature-related characteristics in differing ways. If, for example, they do not include emitted optical power (also known as radiant flux) as a conditioning variable when determining an LEDs thermal resistance, the resulting resistance values will be much lower than the actuals. If the real thermal resistance is higher, the junction temperatures also will be higher and the luminous flux from the luminaire will be insufficient. Knowing the real thermal data of the LED is essential.

Measurements: Heat Before Light

It is a given that temperature in an LED is proportional to the forward voltage drop across the device. Therefore, by observing the converse (changes in voltage) it is possible to accurately infer temperature changes. To perform such tests it is necessary to leave the software domain of modeling and simulation and instead deploy hardware systems designed for the purpose. Commercially-produced automated systems such as the MicReD T3Ster (Trister) from Mentor Graphics exemplify the toolset required for the job.

Step

Current Level

Procedure
Apply a large current for a time span sufficient to heat up the LED to a stable condition Switch from high current to low current as quickly as possible to capture the smallest possible temperature changes Measure forward voltage continuously at low current to obtain the cooling temperature transient

1 2 3

Table 1: Thermal transient measurement procedure

Figure 3: Thermal transient measurement setup

Figure 3 depicts the measurement setup itself in simplified form (not to scale). The measurement begins with the determination of the temperature sensitivity of forward voltage at a specified small current known as sensor or measurement current. Next, a large (heating) current is applied to the LED, causing it to heat up. Then the large current is turned off and the smaller sensor current is forced into the device again and the forward voltage measurement is performed continuously with a high sampling rate until the junction cools down completely. Due to the LEDs fast thermal response, the measurement hardware must be able to capture the temperature (voltage) change within a few microseconds of the device being powered off. As Figure 3 shows, the measured device resides within an enclosure a JEDEC standard still-air chamber that provides a controlled environment that is free of drafts. This element is available with the T3Ster system. Table 1 summarizes the measurement steps.

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

As in electronics, the term Z represents impedance in this case thermal impedance. In the Zth curve the plotted values express the temperature difference divided by the heating power. Thus, the Zth curve in Figure 4 depicts the temperature change for a heating power of 1W. Standing alone, the Zth curve is rather smooth and lacking in the detail that engineers need to interpret what is going on within the device. But it is made up of a very large number of closely-spaced data points, so the underlying information is rich. Advanced mathematical applications bundled within a full-featured thermal measurement system can produce very useful analytical transforms of

Figure 4: Zth curve representing temperature change vs. time at a heating power of 1 watt.

the Zth vs. time curve.

Data within the Zth curve plot makes it possible to calculate a cumulative plot of thermal capacitance vs. resistance, known as the cumulative structure function. This is the graphical representation of the network model of the thermal impedance of the junction-to-ambient heat-flow path. The shape of a structure function maintains a consistent one-to-one relationship with the properties of the actual junction-to-ambient heat flow path. The device junction is always at the plots origin. The graph in Figure 5 illustrates the concept. In an LED device the heat generated by the semiconductor travels outward from its origin. The junction heats up, and then the heat passes through a number of thermal resistances, heating up objects along the way. The further the heat travels, the more resistance it passes through and the more thermal capacitance (thermal mass) it heats up. In Figure 5 the junction heats initially and the plot climbs steeply as subsequent capacitances are heated. Here the line is annotated to point out the transitions between the LED/MCPCB, the mounting medium (thermal grease in this instance), and the luminaire. But within these boundaries the steps in the line represent smaller transitions through the die attach, the heat slug, and even the glue used to secure the copper heat slug to the MCPCB. Note that the graph validates the earlier contention that the LED itself represents about 50% of the junctionto-ambient thermal resistance in the system. Looking back at Figure 3, note that the voltage measurements span only the LED device. How does the system generate thermal data that spans the entire luminaire? The answer lies in monitoring and observing the cooldown cycle.

Figure 5: Structure function of the LED and luminaire system

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

Figure 6: Compact Model When the LED die initially starts to cool down, the decrease in temperature is slowed by the only thing connected directly to it in the thermal sense: the thermal resistance immediately beyond the die. The amount of time the die takes to cool down depends in turn on the thermal capacitance that is storing heat on the opposite side of that resistance. The measurement system sees this discharge as a perceptible increment and successive resistance/capacitance nodes, exhibiting similar behavior, are similarly observed. Each step further from the LED die increases the sensitivity required from the measurement system.

From Measurements to Models

Structure functions help designers evaluate the discrete sections of the complete thermal path. Importantly, they can reveal design problems that might affect the devices manufacturability or reliability. The cumulative structure function can be further transformed into a compact model, that is, an equivalent network, containing only a few resistive and capacitive components, that embodies all the values and transitions expressed in the structure function plot. Figure 6 depicts a generic model for a semiconductor device such as a power LED. In an actual model the R and C components would have specific values, of course. R/C network models developed with the aid of transient thermal measurements are directly usable in thermal design tools, where they simulate the behavior of the LED system. Answering the markets demand for more data about their products, some semiconductor vendors have begun to use transient models to report the thermal performance of their power switches and similar components, paving the way for LED makers to follow suit in the future.

Photometric Verification Reveals an LEDs True Colors

All the foregoing effort has brought the luminaire design project to the threshold of production release. However, one critical question has yet to be answered: when operating within its specified temperature range, does the luminaire deliver the desired amount of light to its subject? A thorough photometric and radiometric characterization of the prototype is required before approving the product for manufacturing. With the help of modern automated tools, thermal and optical measurements can be executed as part of one contiguous process step. To acquire the necessary readings simultaneously, the previously explained thermal test setup must be integrated with a subsystem designed specifically to measure the light output of LEDs 1 while meeting CIE recommendations (see sidebar). The subsystem incorporates a temperaturecontrolled DUT (device under test) holder known as a cold plate and a detector with a range of

1 CIE: International Commission on Illumination, whose Technical Report 127: 2007 encompasses measurement standards and quantities expressing LED performance

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

filters. Both elements of course operate under the control of a specialized software toolset. A well-integrated thermal/ radiometric/photometric system can characterize thermal resistance along with light output characteristics including radiant flux (i.e., emitted optical power), luminous flux and chromaticity. These values can be measured consistently at various reference temperatures and forward current levels. Importantly, adding the thermal transient measurement to the normal round of photometric measurements does not increase test time overhead signifiFigure 7a: Measured Luminous Flux vs. Reference cantly. That is because a power LED atTemperature plots comparing 10 W white LEDs, tached to a cold plate typically achieves using two different thermal management solutions. a steady-state junction temperature (Figure courtesy of Budapest University of Techvalue within 30 to 60 seconds. This is nology and Economics, Department of Electron the same procedure with the same duraDevices) tion as the heating step that precedes measuring the LEDs thermal resistance. Thus the time overhead needed for heating coincides with that required for the measurement of light output; all of these characteristics must be measured with the LED in the hot steady-state condition.

Temperatures: Reference, Ambient, Environmental

The junction-to-ambient thermal resistance of a thermal management solution easily can be impacted by the temperature of the environment, distorting measurement results. Therefore when predicting thermal performance, the temperature of the test environment, known as the reference temperature, must be reported. When thermal and photometric/radiometric measurements are performed concurrently the reference temperature is the cold-plate temperature.

Fig.7b: Measured Luminous Flux vs. Junction Temperature

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

As explained earlier, the industrys standardization effort for LED specifications is still a work in progress, which means that vendors have considerable freedom in the way they characterize and report data for their products. Frequently the environmental aspects are under-emphasized. The numbers on a product data sheet may put the device in the best light, so to speak, while ignoring likely real-world operating conditions. For example, it is common to publish LED data measured o at 25 C even though LEDs mounted in luminaires (as many are) face an environment whose o o temperature is typically much higher: 50 C or even ~80 C. In operation the actual LED junction o temperatures may range from 80 to 110 C, causing a significant drop in luminous flux. In Figure 7a, a Luminous Flux vs. Reference Temperature chart plots two white LEDs of the same manufacture, each configured with a different thermal management solution. Thermal Solution 1 was prepared with a metal-core PCB while Solution 2 used a conventional FR4 board. In addition, different thermal interface (TIM) materials between the PCB and the heatsinks were used in the respective samples. The test methodology used to generate the plots here is straightforward. The cold plate that mounts the DUT during the tests directly influences the junction temperature. Therefore by increasing the temperature of the DUT cold plate it is possible to observe the flux effect of increases in junction temperature. The two traces in Figure 7a are not perfectly parallel. Because both measurements were based on the same type of device one might expect the two devices to perform very similarly. However, note that the chart plots luminous flux vs. the reference temperature. The applied thermal interface materials, more than the LEDs, have differing temperature dependence and therefore differing reactions to the reference temperature. Structure function charts for various cold-plate 2 temperatures would reveal details about these differences; their extent and where they occurred .

Figure 8: A heating cycle delivers a high current, followed immediately by a cooling cycle with a small measurement current present.

Much of the measurement effort to this point has been devoted to characterizing the heating power and the exact thermal resistance value for every reference temperature value. With this information in hand it is possible to calculate the equivalent junction temperature values. No further measurements are required. Designers can use this new axis in turn to re-plot the LEDs luminous flux performance, mapping it over the range of junction temperatures.

2 This subject is explained in greater detail in the conference paper titled Temperature dependent thermal resistance in power LED assemblies and a way to cope with it, A. Poppe et al. Proceedings of the 26th IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium, Santa Clara, USA, 21-25 February 2010, pp. 283-288.

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

Re-scaling the plots for the real junction temperature will eliminate the divergent slopes in the luminous flux plots. Figure 7b presents a group of luminous flux vs. junction temperature plots, and here the real junction temperature has been calculated from the real heating power and real thermal resistance. The slope characteristics obtained for each of the two forward current values (350 mA and 700 mA) are now essentially the same for all the LED samples of the same manufacture. The small scatter in the luminous flux values corresponds to a normal manufacturing scatter.

Figure 9: Using the JEDEC JSD51-1 compliant T3Ster thermal measurement system in conjunction with the TERALED system enables simultaneous thermal and photometric measurements on LEDs.

Static Measurements, Photometric Measurements and the Integrating Sphere

Characterization of critical parameters such as color shift require not only the current and heat of a thermal measurement, but also a meticulously-controlled miniature darkroom. Obviously it is important not to allow external lighting conditions to corrupt sensitive wavelength readings. The simplest way to measure the thermal impedance of an LED is the static method using a fourwire Kelvin test setup. The procedure begins with the LED in a stabilized state achieved by setting the forward current (IF) to a desired heating current level, IH (Step 1 in Table 1). The constant heating current drives the temperature of the LED to a fixed point, stabilizing the light output of the device.

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

Simulation Saves steps in system design As in most engineering and design fields these days, projects move ahead more quickly and deliver better results when designers use simulation and modeling during the crucial concept and validation steps. Mentor Graphics FloEFD is a proven thermal simulation software environment that speeds and simplifies the task of LED luminaire and system design. Engineers test new ideas with what-if simulations rather than expensive hardware prototypes. And important issues like internal and external temperatures and heat flows can be evaluated quickly and accurately. For more information on the simulation phase of the design process, read Thermal Simulation Simplifies LED Luminaire Development, a white paper available at www.mentor.com/mechanical.

The Mentor Graphics MicReD T3Ster Thermal Measurement System characterizes critical LED thermal parameters.

Under the static test approach defined in the JEDEC JESD51-1 Standard, once the device is in the hot state its forward current is abruptly switched to a much lower measurement current level, IM (Step 2 in Table 1). In effect the LED is switched off, creating a negative power step. At this point the voltage is measured (Step 3 in Table 1). The junction temperature change is inferred from the change in the forward voltage of the LED. Note that when the forward current of a PN junction is abruptly switched (as in this measurement procedure) an electrical transient inevitably occurs. This transient consumes a tiny but finite amount of time, during which the change in the forward voltage does not represent a temperature change in the LED chip. Therefore a delay must be inserted to allow the electrical transient to settle before measurements are performed. Figure 8 summarizes the interplay of the variables that produce the measurement. The Mentor Graphics MicReD TERALED thermal/radiometric measurement system exemplifies an environment designed for LED radiometric and photometric characterization. It is designed to act as a self-contained solution for the static tests just described. When connected to a T3Ster system the TERALED can carry out uncompromised thermal transient measurements to support the derivation of structure functions, compact models, and characterization data all while simultaneously capturing the photometric properties. The TERALED system incorporates all the elements necessary to deliver accurate, repeatable measurements of crucial LED parameters: A high-precision detector and reference light source 3 A filter bank with a high-precision V() filter to support luminous flux measurements A filter with flat spectral response to allow measurement of the radiant flux (emitted optical power) 3 other filters for direct measurement of the CIE x-y color coordinates of the light A temperature-stabilized detector head An integrating sphere (the darkroom)

3 The V(l) function is standardized by CIE this describes the sensitivity of the human eye for light with different wavelength, therefore total flux of a light source measured with a detector equipped with a V(l) matched filter delivers the luminous flux.

Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance

Mechanical Analysis

While the TERALED used in stand-alone mode can perform photometric tests, combined (simultaneous) thermal and photometric measurements are possible when the biasing for the LED under test is provided by a T3Ster system. Figure 9 depicts a simplified view of a system that combines a T3Ster and the TERALED.

Conclusion: Heat, Light, and Cost in Balance

Behind every successful LED lighting product is a designer who has paid attention to the temperature and heat dispersion demands of todays power LEDs. These key factors affect both the products life expectancy and its lighting performance. A luminaire that achieves lower operating temperatures all the way from the LED junction to the ambient environment while delivering the needed light to its subject is poised to serve a long useful life in end-user applications. The MicReD T3Ster automated thermal measurement system can expedite thermal resistance measurements and predict the path of heat transfer within the device. And a system combining the T3Ster and the TERALED thermal and radiometric/photometric solution can confirm that the delicate balance between operating temperatures and usable light is maintained cost-effectively.

About Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division

The Mechanical Analysis Division of Mentor Graphics Corporation (formerly Flomerics) is a world leader in the computer simulation of engineering design processes involving heat transfer and fluid flow. Our customers eliminate mistakes, reduce costs as well as accelerate and optimize their designs by applying our simulation software and consultancy services before building physical prototypes. Using our advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, we help increase efficiency in your mechanical design process, saving valuable time and money. For more information, visit www.mentor.com/mechanical or contact: (In the U.S.) Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division U.S. Headquarters 300 Nickerson Road, Suite 200 Marlborough, MA 01752, USA Tel: +1 (508) 480 0881 Fax: +1 (508) 408 0882 E-mail: info-mechanical@mentor.com www.mentor.com/mechanical (In the U.K.) Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division Division Headquarters 81 Bridge Road, Hampton Court Surrey KT8 9HH, England Tel: +44 (0) 20 8487 3000 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8487 3001 E-Mail: mechanical@mentor.com www.mentor.com/mechanical

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Thermal Characterization Confirms Real-World LED Performance