Flip-Chip LED Test: Nichia is the performance leader

As a manufacturer, we aim to use the newest LEDs technology in our LED strips and modules. One particularly interesting new technology is the Chip Scale Packaged LEDs, known as CSP or Flip-Chip LEDs.

Before choosing the best performing CSP LED for our products we have compared more than a dozen models from the top LED manufacturers: Nichia, Samsung, Philips Lumileds and Seoul Semiconductor.

 

For a meaningful comparison, we selected LEDs that function at 350 and 700 mA with a voltage between 2.75 and 3.2 V.

For each category, we compared the luminous flux and luminous efficacy at 25ºC and 100ºC. The comparison data is that from the manufacturer's data sheet.

 

CSP at 700mA, maximum 2.5 Watt, 5000K, CRI 70.

At 25ºC, The Nichia CSP LED has 20% higher flux (304 lm) and 27% better efficacy (145 lm/W) than the second performer, Seoul WICOP (247lm and 114 lm/w).

Luxeon Flip Chip White 10 has similar performance (242 lm/w 115lmw) to Seoul while Samsung lags somewhat behind (210 lm and 95 lm/w).

At 100ºC the Nichia CSP LED is still in the first place, but it takes a bigger performance hit due to the increased temperature, of 10% compared with 3% for Seoul and Luxeon.

Therefore Nichia delivers 273 lm and 130 lm/w, Seoul 240 lm and 110 lm/w, Luxeon 242 lm and 112 lm/w and Samsung 191 lm and 95 lm/w.

Nichia is the only CSP of the four to have 120 viewing angle which will result in better performance in applications that require such a narrow angle.

 CSP at 350mA, maximum 1.5 Watt, for office lighting, 4000K, CRI 80+.

For Nichia and Samsung a different LED was chosen for 350mA while for Seoul and Luxeon it is the same LED as at 700mA. 

At 25ºC Nichia CSP has 12% higher flux (146 lm vs 129 lm) and very slightly better efficacy (139 lm/W vs 139 lm/W) than the second performer, Seoul WICOP.

Very close comes the Luxeon Flip Chip White 10 (121 lm/w and 125 lm/w) while Samsung lags somewhat behind (115 lm and 111 lm/w).

At 100ºC Nichia is still in the first place but with a tiny margin, as it takes a bigger performance hit due to the increased temperature, of 10% compared with 3% for Seoul and Luxeon.

Therefore, Nichia delivers 127 lm, Seoul 125 lm,Luxeon 117 lm and Samsung 104 lm. Except Samung, the luminous efficacy for all ranges between 120 and 128 lm/w, with Seoul on top with 128 lm/w.

 

We offer the Nichia CSP LEDs in single LED module format and as multi-LED arrays: