Philips Lumileds Lighting Company is the manufacturer of a wide range of high-power/high-efficiency light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It is a now a fully owned division of Philips Lighting.
History
LumiLeds Lighting B.V. was formed in November 1999 as a joint venture between Philips Lighting and Agilent Technologies, a spin-off of Hewlett-Packard. At the time of formation, it was an equal partnership with each company owning a 50% share in Lumileds Lighting. In August 2005, Philips acquired a controlling stake in Lumileds when it purchased Agilent's 47% share of the company for USD $950 million. This resulted in Philips owning 96.5% of the company with the remaining 3.5% owned by employees. In December 2006/January 2007, Philips acquired the remaining 3.5% of the company, making Lumileds a fully owned subsidiary of Philips Lighting.
Products
Lumileds develops and markets high-powered and high-efficiency LEDs for a wide range of uses. The products are grouped into the Luxeon, SuperFlux and SnapLEDs lines of LEDs. Unlike SuperFlux and SnapLEDs, the Luxeon line of LEDs has multiple sub-families based on package, efficiency and output.
Lumileds products are used in general lighting, automotive lighting, portable lighting, digital imaging, display backlighting, signal and signage applications.
As with most manufacturers who produce LEDs for the OEM market, Lumileds' products are binned.
Luxeon
Luxeon is Lumiled's trade name for their high-power LEDs which dissipate 1 watt or more. Models include Luxeon I, Luxeon III, Luxeon V, Luxeon K2, Luxeon Star, Luxeon Rebel, Luxeon Flash, and Altilon. In 2009, Lumileds announced that the Luxeon I/III/V and K2 lines are unavailable for new designs, and will be replaced by the Rebel series. Luxeon LEDs produce high light output and are a popular choice among flashlight manufacturers. They are also commonly used in automotive lighting applications, most notably in the white DRLs of the Audi S6 and reverse lights of the Cadillac DTS.
Luxeon I
Luxeon I was the original high-powered LED produced by Lumileds, rated for power dissipation of approximately 1 watt. It consists of an emitter, an anode, a cathode, a circular base and a lens integrated into a single unit. These LEDs were intended to be surface mounted on a metal-core PCB and often required a heat-sink due to the large amount of heat they produced. The thermal pad was not electrically isolated, and floated at a voltage between the anode and cathode.
Luxeon I LEDs were available in Cool White, Warm White, Green, Cyan, Blue, Royal Blue, Dental Blue, Red, Red-Orange and Amber.
Luxeon III
Operating at approximately 3W, these had a higher luminous flux than a Luxeon I, though less than a Luxeon V. They were a compromise between cost and output.
Luxeon III's were available in Cool White, Green, Cyan, Blue, Royal Blue, Red, Red-Orange and Amber.
Luxeon V
Lumiled's Luxeon V LEDs dissipated 5 watts and produced approximately four times the lumen output of a Luxeon I, in a package of almost the same size.
Luxeon V's were available in Cool White, Green, Cyan, Blue, Royal Blue and Dental Blue (a near-ultraviolet wavelength for curing dental adhesives).
Luxeon K2
These were the highest output Luxeon emitters produced, with single-emitter flux of up to 200 lumens at 1500mA. They produced more light than the Rebel line which replaces them. The new Altilon line produces more output per device, but barely exceeds the K2 in lumens per die. The K2 was the first Luxeon product to allow the use of FR-4 PCB material instead of metal core, but only at reduced current or under exceptionally favourable thermal conditions.
Luxeon Rebel
These are the smallest Luxeons available, yet they are rated for 700 to 1000mA and produce around 140 lumens at full current. The LED package is a 3mm X 4.5mm surface-mount ceramic chip with two electrical pads and an electrically isolated thermal pad. Unlike previous models, the Rebel can be used on a standard FR-4 circuit board at full current by creating an array of thermal vias to carry heat to a heatsink on the back side of the board. The Rebel is intended to replace all prior Luxeon models, which are no longer available. The Luxeon Rebel White is available in a range of shades of white, instead of the normal warm and cool white, and is available binned by color rendering index. The Luxeon Rebel Color is available in Green, Cyan, Blue, Royal Blue, Deep Red, Red, Red-Orange and Amber.
Luxeon Star
Luxeon stars are Luxeon emitters mounted on a star shaped metal-core PCB. They are available in any of the Luxeon emitter types, and are intended to simplify the integration process for users who do not want to design and manufacture metal-core PCBs and engineer thermal solutions for the LEDs.
Luxeon Altilon
The Luxeon Altilon series is the newest line of high power LEDs, intended specifically for automotive lighting. These LEDs are packaged multiple-die devices with ratings up to 850 lumens at 1000mA and an extended temperature range up to 130*C.
Luxeon Flash
Luxeon Flash LEDs are intended to replace xenon flash units in digital cameras. They can deliver 40 to 80 lumens at 1 Ampere and have a lifespan rating of 100,000 flashes. They can also be used as a continuous light source, providing 168 hours of light at 350 mA.
SuperFlux
SuperFlux is the trade name for a line of through-hole mounted high-output LEDs. These LEDs are intended for automotive tail-light and warning sign applications. They are available in Blue, Green, Cyan, Red, Red-Orange and Amber. The package has a distinctive square shape often copied by other manufacturers who call it a Piranha LED. Lumileds SuperFlux LEDs run at 70mA (except for blue, green and cyan which run at 50mA) and have a forward voltage of 2 to 5 volts.
SnapLEDs
These LEDs are quite similar to the SuperFlux LEDs in shape, except that instead of having 4 pins, they have fins on the side that are meant to be crimped using a special tool. These fins are designed to allow for both better heat dissipation and also allow solder-less assembly of components. Due to the increased heat dissipation, SnapLEDs are available in a higher current form called the SnapLED 150 (max. current of 150mA). These LEDs are intended for use in automotive applications, they are only available in red-orange and amber.