Heat dissipation promotion of LED chips by c-BN film

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The light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are now the most important lighting devices due to their excellent wall-plug efficiency (WPE). However, their unique structure means that heat dissipation from the chip can only be achieved by conduction. The insulating thermal conductivity layer becomes a bottleneck in the heat transfer of the chip, seriously affecting its lifetime and reliability. Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) has good thermal stability, electrical insulation and high thermal conductivity, making it a potential insulating and heat dissipating material. In this study, we investigate the application of c-BN films to promote heat dissipation in LEDs based on c-BN films grown by physical vapor deposition (PVD) sputtering. In our study, we highlighted the performance variations between c-BN and Si substrates under different driving powers, ranging from 9 W to 12 W. By incorporating the c-BN film onto the Si substrate, we observed a distinct improvement in the temperature distribution of the LED array. Specifically, with a driving power of 9 W, the temperature was reduced by approximately 4.1 °C, and with 12 W, the reduction reached 16.8 °C. This enhanced thermal management not only augments the stability and lifespan of the components but also boosts the optical output power of the LED chip array, with an increase ranging from 21.3% to 27.9%. We find that c-BN films can effectively enhance chip heat dissipation, significantly improve WPE, and suppress light decay, as demonstrated by temperature distribution and luminescence power measurements. The experimental and simulation results demonstrate that c-BN films can reduce the temperature of LED beads by approximately 5–17 °C compared to Si substrates. This c-BN thin film substrate shows promise for use in commercial device heat dissipation structures.