Modeling high power light-emitting diode spectra and their variation with junction temperature

Spectral radiant flux is the primary optical characteristic of a light source, determining the luminous flux and color. Much research is dedicated to the modeling of light-emitting diode (LED) spectra and their temperature dependence, allowing for the simulation of optical properties in various applications. Most of the spectral radiant flux models that have been published so far are purely mathematical. For this paper, spectral radiant fluxes of commercial single color LED packages have been measured in a custom made integrating sphere at several junction temperatures by active cooling and heating with a Peltier element. A spectrum model at 300 K is constructed where the Boltzmann free carrier distribution and carrier temperature are included. Subsequently, the model is extended with the carrier temperature variation, the band gap energy shift, and the nonradiative recombination rate decrease with junction temperature. As a result, the skewness variation, peak frequency shift, and peak value change in the spectrum with temperature can be predicted. The model has been validated by comparing flux and color coordinates of measured and simulated spectra at 340 K junction temperature. In practice, only two spectral flux measurements at different junction temperatures are needed to accurately simulate a single color spectrum at any temperature. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3463411]