A nearly ideal phosphor-converted white light-emitting diode

A phosphor-converted light-emitting diode was obtained with nearly ideal blue-to-white conversion loss of only 1%. This is achieved using internal reflection to steer phosphor emission away from lossy surfaces, a reflector material with high reflectivity, and a remotely located organic phosphor having (1) unity quantum efficiency (eta(q)), (2) homogeneous refractive index to minimize scattering, and (3) refractive index-matched to the encapsulation to eliminate total internal reflection. An inorganic composite phosphor is also reported with a nearly homogeneous refractive index to minimize diffuse scattering of emitted light, thereby maximizing the effective phosphor eta(q) and light extraction. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.