Philips Lumileds hits new LED performance record with 115 lumens/Watt

Philips Lumileds Shatters LED Performance Records with 115 lumens/Watt

Philips Lumileds, the pioneer, and the leader in high-power LED technology, announced today new performance records for high-power white LEDs. Philips Lumileds 1x1 mm2, chip based white LEDs, operating at just 350 mA, delivered 136 lumens for a light source efficiency of 115 lumens per Watt at a correlated-color-temperature (CCT) of 4685K. At 2000 mA, Philips Lumileds white LEDs delivered 502 lumens at a corresponding 61 lumens per Watt. These LEDs are the first high-power LEDs to break through the 100 lumen per Watt mark and demonstrate the real potential of solid-state lighting technology.

Philips Lumileds High-Power, White LED
Current 350 mA 2000 mA
Lumens 136 502
Lumens/ Watt 115 61
Watts 1.2 8.3

Philips Lumileds, the creator of the 350 mA high-power LED, continues its innovation by developing more powerful LEDs capable of long life when driven at 1000 mA – 2000 mA and higher. This innovation improves the light efficacy and the light quality, all while offering the lower cost required by many applications. Notable in the performance numbers is the CCT which is significantly lower than those typically reported. These results clearly demonstrate Philips Lumileds’ progress in both light output and light quality.

Philips Lumileds achieved the record results for white LEDs by combining several new and innovative technologies it has developed. The first devices using these technologies will be introduced in a new generation of products during this quarter. These new technologies will continue to proliferate in new, and existing, products throughout the next 12-18 months. Philips Lumileds breakthroughs in epitaxy, device physics, phosphor, and packaging technologies are critical to delivering the performance required of LEDs as they continue their growth into a preferred light source.

The light output performance announced today and available to the industry in the near future, is 17 times greater at the same power than was available in 1999 when Philips Lumileds introduced the first high-power LED. While performance numbers continue to increase for low power LEDs, operating at lower currents such as 20mA, high-power LEDs are required to deliver the quality and quantity of light required for today’s and tomorrow’s lighting applications.

Philips Lumileds points out that unlike other record setting white LEDs, it is packaged, run at a high operating current, and has a relatively low correlated color temperature of 4685K. As a comparison Nichia researchers achieved 91.6 lm/W at 3.29 volts at 350mA. Cree XLamp 7090 XR-E LEDs, perhaps the highest efficiency product on the market, gives off 80 lumens at 350 mA or 70 lumens per watt.

Philips Lumileds says that it achieved the record results for white LEDs by combining several new and innovative technologies it has developed, including breakthroughs in epitaxy, device physics, phosphor, and packaging technologies.

The first LED devices based on these technologies will be introduced in a new generation of products during this quarter, says the company.

This means that the results do not reflect the performance of commercially available devices – yet – but can be taken as a clear indication of future improvements in LEDs. The press release did not contain any indication of lifetime and reliability for the LED devices.

The light output performance announced by Philips Lumileds is 17 times greater at the same power than was available in 1999 when the company introduced the first high-power LED. While performance numbers continue to increase for low power LEDs, operating at lower currents such as 20mA, high-power LEDs are required to deliver the quality and quantity of light required for today’s and tomorrow’s lighting applications.

The performance gap between power LEDs based on large-size chips, and smaller devices typically driven at around 20 mA, is closing. Nichia recently announced that it had demonstrated 150 lm/W efficacy in standard lamp-type white LEDs