Light emitting diodes (LEDs) or LED chips are solid state devices that convert electrical energy into light. LED chips can be utilized in light emitter components or packages for providing different colors and patterns of light useful in various lighting and optoelectronic applications. Light emitter components can include surface mount devices (SMDs) which can be mounted directly onto the surface of an underlying circuit component or heat sink, such as a printed circuit board (PCB) or metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB). Conventional SMDs include a leadframe molded in plastic with leads extending from the plastic body, and the leads are configured to directly mount to the underlying circuit component. SMDs can be used in various LED light bulb and light fixture applications and are developing as replacements for incandescent, fluorescent, and metal halide high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting applications.
Manufacturers of LED lighting products are constantly seeking ways to reduce their cost in order to provide a lower initial cost to customers, and encourage the adoption of LED products. Components incorporating fewer raw materials at sustained or increased brightness levels using the same or less power are becoming more desirable.
Conventional SMD light emitter components utilize one or more LED chips mounted within a component body. A reflector cavity is integrally formed with the component body and surrounds the LED chips. Typically, the component body and reflector cavity are molded about electrical contacts or leads. Individually molding component bodies about lead frames and forming reflector cavities can be both expensive and time-consuming.
Thus, despite the availability of various SMD light emitter components in the marketplace, a need remains for improved SMD components and methods which can be produced quickly, efficiently, and at a lower cost. In some aspects, improved submount based SMD components can allow for customized components having customized trace configurations, customized reflector wall shapes and/or sizes, customized LED chip connectivity, and/or customized optical elements. Such components can be single or multi-chip components and can make it easier for end-users to justify switching to LED products from a return on investment or payback perspective.
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