The efficiency and life time for high power light
emitting diodes (LEDs) depend on the heating effects
or the junction temperature of the devices. Most of the
heat generated at the junction is conducted through
the device i.e. via the printed circuit board (PCB) and
heatsink to the ambient. One effective way to extract
the heat away from the junction is the use of PCB
materials with large thermal conductivity. Different
types of boards can be used for this purpose, the most
conventional ones being FR4 boards or metal-core
PCBs (MCPCB). Diamond is another material that
has also been gaining momentum for demanding heat
management applications due to its exceptional thermal properties. In order to evaluate the influence of
the PCB material on the LED junction temperature,
the steady state thermal analysis of Cree® white
XLamp® XB-D LEDs mounted on different boards
was performed with Ansys. These results were also
valida-ted experimentally. This analysis provides
additional knowledge on the impact of the PCB
material on the LED performance characteristics.