Analysis of thermal properties of GaInN light-emitting diodes and laser diodes

The thermal properties, including thermal time constants, of GaInN light-emitting diodes LEDs and laser diodes LDs are analyzed. The thermal properties of unpackaged LED chips are described by a single time constant, that is, the thermal time constant associated with the substrate. For unpackaged LD chips, we introduce a heat-spreading volume. The thermal properties of unpackaged LD chips are described by a single time constant, that is, the thermal time constant associated with the heat spreading volume. Furthermore, we develop a multistage RthCth thermal model for packaged LEDs. The model shows that the transient response of the junction temperature of LEDs can be described by a multiexponential function. Each time constant of this function is approximately the product of a thermal resistance, Rth, and a thermal capacitance, Cth. The transient response of the junction temperature is measured for a high-power flip-chip LED, emitting at 395 nm, by the forward-voltage method. A two stage RthCth model is used to analyze the thermal properties of the packaged LED. Two time constants, 2.72 ms and 18.8 ms are extracted from the junction temperature decay measurement and attributed to the thermal time constant of the LED GaInN/sapphire chip and LED Si submount, respectively. © 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3493117