Toyoda and Avago add to flood of white LEDs
Hot on the heels of both Cree and Philips Lumileds in recent days, San Jose firm Avago Technologies and Japan-based Toyoda Gosei are the latest chip manufacturers to release new white LEDs for lighting applications.
Avago s 1 W warm-white "Moonstone" emitters are said to deliver a minimum luminous flux of 50 lumens at a 350 mA drive current, and the company is aiming the devices at applications including reading lights, garden lamps and architectural illumination.
Like its latest AlInGaP LEDs, Avago s warm-white product range has been designed for ease-of-manufacture and durability. Featuring an exposed pad design said to provide low thermal resistance between the chip junction and circuit board, the LEDs are able to withstand high operating temperatures and drive currents, says the firm.
Encapsulated in a silicone compound to aid UV light and heat resistance, the Moonstone LEDs can deliver up to 56 lumen over a 110° viewing angle.
Cree and Lumileds can boast slightly higher brightnesses with their XLamp and Rebel products, while Avago says that the Moonstone LEDs are priced at around $2.50 when ordered in bulk quantities.
Whereas Avago is targeting applications in and around the home, Toyoda Gosei's new white emitters are aimed squarely at the market for aircraft lighting.
The Japanese firm says that its "Aerospace White" mid-power surface-mount LEDs will make problems with binning - the process by which chips are sorted into different performance categories - a thing of the past. It says that all the chips in the latest product line conform to the requirements of a single bin.
Emitting a color temperature of 4200 K, the InGaN chips are designed to withstand electrostatic discharge voltages of 2 kV. With a typical luminous flux of 20 lumens, Toyoda says that the LEDs are suitable for all kinds of uses in aircraft, including overhead and galley lighting in the cabin, and flight deck instrumentation, among others.
