EP4652629A1

EP4652629A1 - Led lighting system, method of manufacturing the same, and led module

Info

Publication number: EP4652629A1
Application number: EP24708046.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Benno Spinger; Georg Friedrich Alfons Henninger; Marc DROEGELER; Michael Deckers; Frank Giese; Claudia Michaela Goldmann
Original assignee: Lumileds LLC
Current assignee: Lumileds LLC
Priority date: 2023-01-20
Filing date: 2024-01-19
Publication date: 2025-11-26
Also published as: CN120548437A; WO2024155920A1

Abstract

An LED lighting system, an LED module and a method of manufacture are described. An LED lighting system includes a ceramic interposer (314). Phosphor-converted SMD LEDs (312) are spaced apart on the ceramic interposer by less than 200 microns. Each of the LEDs includes a light-emitting top surface, a bottom surface opposite the light-emitting top surface, side surfaces, and a reflective side coating on at least one of the side surfaces that is adjacent another one of the LEDs on the ceramic interposer. A controller (308) is provided on a top surface of a PCB (306), which is configured to control the LEDs to be powered ON and OFF individually or in groups when the LED lighting system is powered on. Conductive connectors (310) are electrically coupled between the top surface of the PCB (306) and the top surface of the ceramic interposer (314).

Description

LED MODULE, HEADLAMP, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/440,305, filed January 20, 2023, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

[0002] For some lighting applications, such as some automotive headlamps, a single row or even an array of multiple rows and columns of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) may be used to generate an appropriate light output to illuminate the roadway. This may be, for example, because a single LED may not provide enough light output for a headlamp and/or because the LEDs can be individually addressable or addressable in groups to generate and/or project desirable beam shapes and/or a steerable beam on the road (e.g., so called adaptive headlamps). There are many challenges, however, to creating such headlamps, including optical issues that may prevent the LEDs from being spaced closely enough to be effective as adaptive headlamps, heat dissipation issues, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch issues, and expense issues due to some headlamps being made for after market solutions and/or due to the sheer cost of some of the raw materials needed to cure some of these issues for any application.

SUMMARY

[0003] An LED lighting system, an LED module and a method of manufacture are described. An LED lighting system includes a ceramic interposer. Phosphor-converted SMD LEDs are spaced apart on the ceramic interposer by less than 200 microns. Each of the LEDs includes a light-emitting top surface, a bottom surface opposite the light-emitting top surface, side surfaces, and a reflective side coating on at least one of the side surfaces that is adjacent another one of the LEDs on the ceramic interposer. A controller is provided on a top surface of a PCB, which is configured to control the LEDs to be powered ON and OFF individually or in groups when the LED lighting system is powered on. Conductive connectors are electrically coupled between the top surface of the PCB and the top surface of the ceramic interposer. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] A more detailed understanding can be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0005] FIG. 1 is a top view of an example LED with side reflectors;

[0006] FIG. 2a is a top view of an example LED module including multiple of the LEDs with side reflectors of FIG. 1 on an interposer;

[0007] FIG. 2b is a more detailed top view of another example LED module including multiple LEDs with the side reflectors of FIG. 1 on an interposer;

[0008] FIG. 2c is a top view of the interposer 200 showing solder pads for LEDs and solder pad spacing;

[0009] FIG. 2d is a top view of a substrate onto which the interposer may be attached;

[0010] FIG. 3 is a side view of an example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an aluminum sheet;

[0011] FIG. 4 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an aluminum insulated metal substrate (IMS);

[0012] FIG. 5 is top view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, as well as a controller for individually addressing the LEDs or addressing them in groups;

[0013] FIG. 6a is a side view showing optics that can be used with any of the LED systems described herein;

[0014] FIG. 6b are graphs showing a radiation pattern of the LED module and LED lighting system described herein when all LEDs are turned on and when some LEDs in the middle are turned off;

[0015] FIG. 7 is a top view of an example LED lighting system showing top conductive connectors between the interposer and a PCB-A;

[0016] FIG. 8 is flow diagram of an example method of manufacturing an LED lighting system;

[0017] FIG. 9 is a side view of another LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an copper sheet;

[0018] FIG. 10 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a copper IMS;

[0019] FIG. 11 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an FR4 board with metal filled vias;

[0020] FIG. 12 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b ,on an FR4 board with a metal inlay; [0021] FIG. 13 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a copper IMS embedded in an FR4 board;

[0022] FIG. 14 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a lead frame;

[0023] FIG. 15 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a lead frame;

[0024] FIG. 16 is a side view of another example LED lighting system that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a single part metal substrate with a raised platform; and [0025] FIG. 17 is a diagram of another example vehicle headlamp system that may incorporate any of the LED modules and/or LED lighting system described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Examples of different light illumination systems and/or light emitting diode (“LED”) implementations will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. These examples are not mutually exclusive, and features found in one example may be combined with features found in one or more other examples to achieve additional implementations. Accordingly, it will be understood that the examples shown in the accompanying drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and they are not intended to limit the disclosure in any way. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

[0027] It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be termed a second element and a second element may be termed a first element without departing from the scope of the present invention. As used herein, the term "and/or" may include any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0028] It will be understood that when an element such as a layer, region, or substrate is referred to as being "on" or extending "onto" another element, it may be directly on or extend directly onto the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on" or extending "directly onto" another element, there may be no intervening elements present. It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it may be directly connected or coupled to the other element and/or connected or coupled to the other element via one or more intervening elements. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, there are no intervening elements present between the element and the other element. It will be understood that these terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the element in addition to any orientation depicted in the figures.

[0029] Relative terms such as "below," "above," "upper,", "lower," "horizontal" or "vertical" may be used herein to describe a relationship of one element, layer, or region to another element, layer, or region as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that these terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures.

[0030] FIG. 1 is a top view of an example LED 102 with side reflectors 104. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1 , the LED 102 has a light-emitting top surface 100, and the outer surfaces 105, 106, 107 and 108 of the LED are covered with side reflectors 104. In embodiments, the side reflectors 104 may be dichroic mirrors, which may be made thin enough to enable the LEDs to be closely spaced while also preventing optical cross talk between such closely spaced LEDs. The width w1 of the side reflectors, for example, can be made as thin as approximately 2 to 10 microns, giving the LED 102 the largest possible light-emitting surface with a slim side coat that enables close spacing of the LEDs with sharp contrast between neighboring LEDs.

[0031] The LED 102 may be a phosphor converted LED, such as an LED that emits blue pump light that is converted to some wavelength range of white light. In embodiments, the LED 102 may be a die on sapphire with a ceramic converter, which may include phosphor material, attached to the die.

[0032] The LED 102 may be square, in some embodiments, and may be provided in various sizes, such as 1 .00 mm² and/or 0.5 mm², but other shapes and dimensions are possible within the scope of the embodiments described herein. While FIG. 1 shows the side coating 104 as completely surrounding the light-emitting surface 100 on all outer surfaces 104, 105, 106 and 107 of the LED 102, in some embodiments, side reflectors 104 may only be provided over outer surfaces 104, 105, 106 and/or 107 that will be adjacent another LED 102 in an arrangement.

[0033] While LEDs, such as illustrated in FIG. 1 , may enable close spacing between LEDs in theory, in practice, there have been a number of hurdles that have prevented such LEDs from being used in this manner to make a temperature stable, fully addressable, and affordable headlamp. First, LED alignment relative to the optical systems is critically important in automotive lighting. LEDs 102, such as illustrated in FIG. 1 , are typically mounted using standard pick and place techniques, which makes precision alignment extremely complex, and, thus, only capable of being performed by the most high technology labs.

[0034] Second, LEDs 102, such as illustrated in FIG. 1 , present GTE mismatch problems with standard substrates. However, a close spacing of these LEDs requires minimization of stress on the LEDs as any movement of the LEDs can cause alignment issues in addition to problems with very closely neighboring LEDs. In automotive applications in particular, any product must survive thermal cycling between -40°C to 125 °C, for example, so stresses must be carefully managed in order to enable closely spaced LEDs 102 for automotive applications.

[0035] Third, ceramic substrates, or even substrates with ceramic inlays, which have a similar CTE to the LEDs 102, are prohibitively expensive, and the increasing number of LEDs in arrays plus the potential addition of other circuitry on the substrate, if desired or required, means the substrates are only increasing in size, which drives the cost of such substrates up even more. Furthermore, some automotive headlamp implementations may require use of the LEDs on different types of substrates for various reasons, so a global CTE mismatch solution that can work with all different types of substrates, regardless of their CTEs, would be ideal.

[0036] Fourth, in some applications, individual or group addressing of LEDs in an array may be desirable. However, electrical routing to enable the individual addressability must compete for space on the substrate with heat dissipation routing and other electronics that must be placed near the LEDS, potentially on the same substrate. Accordingly, a simple solution for the electrical routing for individual or group addressability is critical to enabling such addressability in practice.

[0037] FIG. 2a is a top view of an example LED module 250 including multiple LEDs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d and 102e with side reflectors on an interposer 200. The dots on either side of the row of LEDs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d and 102e, and each column, indicate that more LEDs can be included within the scope of the embodiments to form a longer or shorter row and/or multiple rows of LEDs. Additionally or alternatively, less than 5 LEDs can be included and/or multiple rows of various numbers of LEDs are also within the scope of the embodiments described herein.

[0038] The interposer 200 may be formed from ceramic or some other material with a ceramic inlay. Some suitable ceramics may include Aluminum Nitride (AIN) and/or Aluminum Oxide (AI2O3), which have CTEs that are similar to the CTE of the LEDs 102. By way of example, an LED may have a CTE of approximately 7 x 10 C and AI2O3 and/or AIN may have a CTE of approximately 4 x 10- ⁶/°C to 9 x 10’⁶/°C. The LEDs 102 can be mechanically and electrically coupled to the interposer 200 by soldering them directly to solder pads (not shown) on the interposer 200. Due to the side reflectors 104 on the LEDs 102, the LEDs 102 can be spaced extremely close together, such as by having an LED-to-LED spacing W2 less than 200 microns, less than 100 microns, and even below 50 microns in some embodiments. This allows for very crisp contrasts between neighboring LEDs such that, when the LEDs 102 are individually addressed and driven in patterns, with their light output projected on the roadway, advantageous beam shapes can be projected to illuminate particular areas of the roadway to better assist the driver without causing adverse effects to other users of the roadway. [0039] FIG. 2b is a more detailed top view of another example LED module 290 including multiple LEDs 102 with side reflectors, such as shown in FIG. 1 , on an interposer 200. The interposer 200 may have the same properties as the interposer of FIG. 2a and, therefore, those details will not be repeated here. FIG. 2b, however, shows a top surface (not labeled) of the interposer 200 in more detail. As can be seen in FIG. 2b, the electrical routing for each of the LEDs 102 may be provided, for example, as metallization/traces 202 on the top surface (not labeled) of the interposer 200. Bond pads 204 may additionally be provided on the top surface (not labeled) of the interposer 200, which may be used to make the electrical connections for the LEDs 102 on the interposer 200 to an external board (not shown), which may be any type of board known in the art, such as an FR4 board. In embodiments, the external board may be a board that is less expensive than the ceramic or ceramic inlayed interposer, enabling for placement of as many components as possible on a cheaper board, reducing the required size of the expensive ceramic material.

[0040] At the same time, the interposer 200 must be made large enough to accommodate any required number of LEDs and their associated metallization. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2b, for example, the interposer 200 is approximately 20 mm by approximately 5 mm and accommodates 18 LEDs 102 in a single row. Given the required size of the interposer 200 (depending on the number of LEDs needed for the application), CTE mismatch can also be an issue when attaching the interposer 200 to another substrate. As will be explained in more detail below with respect to FIG. 8, a special glue may be used to attach the interposer 200 to the other substrate that may alleviate any thermal mismatch between the interposer 200 and the other substrate. The low CTE ceramic interposer 200 may experience relatively large movements when glued to a potentially high CTE substrate (as described in more detail below). The special glue may be formed from a very soft silicone, epoxy, or other similar substance, which is soft enough to handle the relatively large movements of the ceramic interposer 200 without passing through any of the stresses to the components on the interposer (e.g., LEDs 102 and potentially other components as described in more detail below).

[0041] Silicone or epoxy, by itself, is not a particularly good adhesive choice in an application, such automotive headlighting, where the LEDs 102 can get extremely hot, because silicone and epoxy may have high resistances. Applicants have, however, found a way to make the bond line of the silicone glue or epoxy as thin as approximately 20 microns to approximately 40 microns, which reduces the adverse effects of the silicone or epoxy's high resistance on the overall heat generated by the LEDs 102 when powered on. The glue may additionally, or alternatively, be filled with particles, such as particles of silver or another good thermal conductor, that may enhance the thermal conductivity of the silicone or epoxy. Additionally, in the embodiments described herein, the thermal path from the LEDs to the cooling element (e.g., heat sink) is very short. Accordingly, there may be no bad thermal conductor in between as there may be for other technologies.

[0042] FIG. 2c is a top view of the interposer 200 showing solder pads 240 and 242 for LEDs 102 (not shown) and solder pad spacing. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2c, and corresponding the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2a, the interposer 200 includes five pairs 244 of a cathode electrode solder pad 240 and an anode electrode solder pad 242. As was noted above with respect to FIG. 2a, any number of pairs 244 of solder pads can be included depending on the number of LEDs required for the application, and the pairs 244 of solder pads can be arranged in a single row or in an array of multiple rows and columns. In embodiments, an LEDs 102 may be mechanically and electrically coupled to one of the pairs 244 of solder pads on the interposer 200 by surface mount device (SMD) reflow soldering. In embodiments, the solder may be a lead-free solder.

[0043] The pairs of solder pads 244 may be spaced apart from other pairs of solder pads 244 on the interposer 200 by a distance W3 that may enable an LED-to-LED spacing, as described above, of below 200 microns, below 100 microns and/or even below 50 microns. Further, while the solder pads were referred to above as cathode pad 240 and anode pad 242, the cathode pad does not necessarily need to be to the left of the anode pad (as oriented in FIG. 2c). In some embodiments, the LEDs 102 may alternate having a cathode on the left side and a cathode on the right side (as oriented in FIG. 2c) to allow use of common anodes and/or cathodes to drive the LEDs 102.

[0044] In some embodiments, the interposer 200 may include referencing or other alignment features (not shown) to align the LEDs 102 on the interposer 200. As mentioned above, alignment is critically important in some applications, such as automotive headlighting, and pick and place procedures for mounting such LEDs may only be performed for such a high degree of accuracy by some labs. Accordingly, in the embodiments described herein, all of the pick and place processing can be done in one lab and before, example, the product is shipped to the customer, as customer labs are often not capable of performing the specialized processes required. In embodiments, an external mechanism, such as foil transfer, may be used to maintain a consistent distance between the LEDs 102 on the interposer 200 during the reflow process.

[0045] FIG. 2d is a top view of a substrate 299 onto which the interposer 200 may be attached. As shown in FIG. 2d, the substrate 299 may have an attachment section 297 to which the interposer 200 may be attached in subsequent processing steps. As will be described in more detail below with respect to specific embodiments, the substrate 299 may be made from a number of different materials, such as aluminum, copper or FR4, depending on the application in which the LED module is being used. Accordingly, as mentioned above, a solution for attaching the interposer 200 to the substrate 299 that may have a range of potential different GTE mismatches is needed. As described in detail above, a special silicone glue or epoxy may be used for this purpose. The attachment section 297 of the substrate 299 may be roughened to support the adhesive attachment of the ceramic interposer 200 to the substrate 299.

[0046] As will be described in the various embodiments below, the substrate 299 may include referencing or alignment features (not shown) that may ensure proper alignment of the LEDs 102 on the substrate 299. The substrate 299 may also include referencing or alignment features (not shown) for aligning optical components to the LEDs 102 (example optical components are described below with respect to FIG 6a).

[0047] Examples of LED lighting systems are described below with respect to FIGs. 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11 , 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. As mentioned above, in each of the different examples, the material for the substrate 299 may be different as well as the arrangement of the components within the system and the location of electronic components on the various system boards. In some embodiments, a separate PCB-A is also included in the LED lighting system, which may house some of the electronic components of the LED lighting system, such as a controller and any needed circuitry to drive and individually address the LEDs, circuitry to sense the operating temperature of the LEDs, and transientvoltage suppression (TVS) diodes. In some embodiments, the substrate 299 could be the PCB-A itself such that no additional PCB-A is required. In such embodiments, more of the electronic components would need to be placed on the substrate 299 and/or the interposer 200, and a heat dissipation mechanism, such as copper filled vias or a copper inlay, may be provided in the PCB to assist with heat dissipation between the interposer 200 and the bottom of the FR4 boar,, which may otherwise be lacking in the FR4 board. In some embodiments, the PCB-A can be attached to the substrate 299. In such embodiments, the PCB-A may be attached to the substrate 299 via gluing, riveting or solder, for example. If solder is used, the solder pad on the PCB may extend beyond the edges of the substrate. In embodiments, the substrate 299 may include additional mechanisms, such as holes, to attach the substrate 299 directly or indirectly to the headlamp body (not shown).

[0048] As mentioned above, the embodiments described herein provide for a modular approach whereby LEDs with side reflectors may be closely spaced apart on an interposer that is thermally matched to the LEDs. In this way, the LEDs can be attached to the interposer in a first step, and the interposer can be attached to a variety of types of different substrates in a variety of different arrangements, regardless of their thermal expansion properties. In this way, all of the precision pick and place processing can be performed at a single lab that can handle the precision mounting, and the module can then be used in any number of different applications. The glue used may enable the attachment of the interposer even to substrates with a large CTE mismatch with the ceramic interposer without passing the stresses through to the LEDs and any other components provided thereon. Additionally, the interposer can be made just large enough to accommodate the LEDs and any electrical routing or other components required or desired to be included thereon, reducing the expense that would otherwise be required to purchase even larger pieces of ceramic material.

[0049] FIG. 3 is a side view of an example LED lighting system 300 that includes an LED module 301 , such as the LED module 250 and/or 290 illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an aluminum sheet substrate 302. In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, the LED module 301 includes LEDs 312 on a ceramic interposer 314. The LEDs 312 may be attached to the ceramic interposer 314, as described above The LEDs 312 and the ceramic interposer 314 may have the same properties as the LEDs 102 and interposer 200 described above and, therefore, those details will not be repeated again here. [0050] As described above, the LED module 301 may be mechanically coupled to the aluminum sheet substrate 302 via an adhesive 318, which may have the same properties as the special silicone glue or epoxy described above. As mentioned above, this adhesive 318 may alleviate the CTE mismatch between the ceramic interposer 314 and the aluminum sheet substrate 302 and have properties that reduce any adverse thermal effects of the silicone or epoxy. The aluminum sheet substrate 302 may include a referencing hole 316 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 300 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time.

[0051] The aluminum sheet substrate 302 may be formed from a stamped aluminum sheet, which may be formed, during the stamping processing, to have a referencing feature 304. In some embodiments, however, the referencing feature 304 may be formed in other ways, as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. A PCB-A 306, such as an FR4 board, may be attached to the aluminum sheet substrate 302 by, for example, inserting the reference feature 304 through a referencing hole (not labeled) in the PCB-A 306. This may ensure proper alignment of the PCB-A 306 with respect to the rest of the LED lighting system 300. A controller 308 may be provided on the PCB- A, which may be used to individually address the LEDs 312 on the interposer 314, among potentially other things.

[0052] As mentioned above, the interposer 314 may provide the electrical routing for the LEDs 312, such as by including metallization on a top surface of the interposer 314. The interposer 314 may be electrically and communicatively coupled to the PCB-A 306 such that power and control signaling can be provided from the PCB-A 306 to the LEDs 312 on the interposer 314 via top contact electrical conductors 310, such as ribbon or wire bonds. The top contact electrical conductors are described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 7.

[0053] FIG. 4 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 400 that includes an LED module 401 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an aluminum insulated metal substrate (IMS) 402. Similar to FIG. 3, in the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the LED module 401 includes LEDs 412 on a ceramic interposer 414. The LEDs 412 may be attached to the ceramic interposer 414, as described above. The LEDs 412 and the ceramic interposer 401 may have the same properties as the LEDs 102 and interposer 200 described above and, therefore, those details will not be repeated again here.

[0054] As described above, the LED module 401 may be mechanically coupled to the aluminum IMS 402 via an adhesive 418, which may have the same properties as the special silicone glue or epoxy described above. As mentioned above, this adhesive 418 may alleviate the GTE mismatch between the ceramic interposer 414 and the aluminum IMS 402 and have properties that reduce any adverse thermal effects of the silicone or epoxy. The aluminum IMS 402 may include a referencing hole 416 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 400 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time.

[0055] As opposed to FIG. 3, the aluminum IMS 402 may not have a referencing feature as did the aluminum sheet substrate 302. Instead, a thin circuit board 406 may be provided on the aluminum IMS 402, as shown. The circuit board 406 may be or include, for example, a dielectric material, such as an expoxy-based material, with metal (e.g., copper) tracks and a solder mask on top. The dielectric may be removed under the interposer. Similar to FIG. 3, however, a controller 408 may be provided on the thin substrate 406, which may be used to individually address the LEDs 412 on the interposer 414, among potentially other things, similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

[0056] As mentioned above, the interposer 414 may provide the electrical routing for the LEDs 412, such as by including metallization on a top surface of the interposer 414. The interposer 414 may be electrically and communicatively coupled to the thin substrate 406 such that power and control signaling can be provided from the thin substrate 406 to the LEDs 412 on the interposer 414 via top contact electrical conductors 410, such as ribbon or wire bonds. The top contact electrical conductors are described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 7.

[0057] FIG. 5 is top view of another example LED system 550 that includes an LED module 500, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, as well as a controller 504 for individually addressing the LEDs on the LED module 500 or addressing them in groups. As can be seen, interposer 500 may include a number of LEDs 502. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the LEDs 502 may be arranged in two rows in some embodiments and may include LEDs of different sizes in some embodiments. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the LED module 500 is located on the same substrate 506 (e.g., FR4 board) as the controller 504. As will be apparent, however, the embodiments of FIG. 5 can be adapted for different board types and arrangements and different components may be added to the same or different substrates depending on the application. [0058] FIG. 6a is a side view showing optics 600 that can be used with any of the LED systems described herein. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6a, the optics 600 include a first optic 604 mechanically coupled to an LED lighting system 606, such as described above. The first optic 604 may be mechanically coupled to the LED lighting system 606 using a referencing or alignment feature, as mentioned above. A projection optic 602 may also be included. In embodiments, the projection optic 602 may be a double PMMA projection lens of 52 mm x 35 mm with a focal length of 55 mm, as shown, which conforms with mass-production molding design rules, although different types of projection lenses could otherwise potentially be used.

[0059] In embodiments, the optics 600 can be used to create an automotive beam distribution, such as high beam, low beam or adaptive driving beam (ADB). Here, the LED array may be placed in or close to the focal point of the optics 600. To enable sufficient beam smoothness, a dense placement of light-emitting areas (LEAs) is needed. In embodiments, the LEA may be the lightemitting area 100 of the LED 102, for example, which has an LEA that covers almost the entire top surface of the LED 102 (e.g., the LEA of the LED 102 extends nearly from edge to edge of the LED 102). If the gap between the LEAs is less than ten percent of the LEA size, a moderate defocus can be used to make the gap invisible. Alternatively or additionally, a microstructure can be applied onto the lens surface, softening the sharpness of the beam. Alternatively, the softening function can be created by the lens design. However the smoothing cannot be so wide that the gap in beam becomes invisible if one LED is switched off. The smoothing needs to bridge the gap of 200, 100 or 50 m but not of the width of the LED. This works better when the gap is on the smaller side (e.g., 50 pm). For such applications, closely spaced LEDs with high contrast side coating, as described herein, are needed.

[0060] FIG. 6b are graphs 600 and 650 showing the emission spectrum and pattern of any of the LED modules and LED lighting systems described herein when all LEDs are turned on and when some LEDs in the middle are turned off. In graph 600, the spectrum shown is for when all LEDs in the LED lighting system are turned on. As can be seen, the beam pattern is fairly continuous across the emission area of all of the LEDs in the LED lighting system. Graph 650 represents the emission spectrum and pattern when two LEDs (or two groups of LEDs) are powered off while the remaining LEDs or groups are powered on. Such beam pattern may be desirable, for example, for high beams, where the high beam can be projected everywhere except where opposing drivers would be, enabling potentially a brighter light to be used without glaring oncoming traffic. As mentioned above, the controller (e.g., controller 306, 408 or 504) may have individual control of all of the LEDs on the interposer such that beam patterns, such as shown in FIG. 6b, can be projected from a vehicle via the optics 600 of FIG. 6a. Other beam patterns would be known to those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein may be used to generate.

[0061] Currently, controllers are limited to a certain number of channels (e.g., 5 or 6). Accordingly, for individual addressing of a larger number of LEDs, such as 18 LEDs, a second controller may be needed if individual addressability is required. However, in some embodiments, LEDs can be driven in groups, such as groups of two, such that each channel can be used to drive a group of two LEDs to power them on or off together. Accordingly, in some embodiments, multiple controllers may be provided for individually addressing a larger number of LEDs or less controllers (or a single controller) may be provided to control groups of LEDs. In some embodiments, the individual addressability may also enable color control, such as where different color LEDs are provided on the interposer, such as a combination of red and amber LEDs.

[0062] FIG. 7 is a top view of an example LED lighting system 700 showing top electrical connections between the interposer and a PCB. In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, an LED module 702 is adhered to a substrate 714. As mentioned above, the substrate 714 can be any type of substrate, or combination of substrates, including aluminum sheet substrates, aluminum IMS, copper sheet substrates, copper IMS, and/or FR4 boards, with or without metal inlays and/or vias. The LED module 702 includes LEDs 704 soldered to solder pads (not shown). The solder pads (not shown) are electrically coupled to bond pads 716 via metallizations 706. Bond pads 710 may also be provided on the substrate 714. The bond pads 716 of the LED module 702 may be electrically coupled to the bond pads 710 of the substrate 714 via top electrical conductors 708, such as ribbon or wire bonds. Such bonding may be highly complex, like pick and place alignment of closely spaced LEDs for automotive applications. Accordingly, it may be desirable, in some embodiments, to package the substrate 714 with the LED module 702 such that the ribbon or wiring bonding can be performed in one location at a high technical lab, for example. As mentioned above, additional circuitry may be provided on either the interposer or the substrate 714. In FIG. 7, a temperature sensor 712 is provided on the substrate 714, although it could alternatively be provided as part of the LED module 702 or on another substrate entirely.

[0063] In embodiments, the substrate 714 may be a PCB-A, such as an FR4 board. As mentioned above, different applications may make use of a PCB-A in addition to a substrate or may make use of just a PCB-A. Regardless, a PCB-A, or PCB-A assembly including additional substrates and/or components, may include the components needed to individually drive the LEDs on the interposer. As mentioned above, this may be or include a controller, such as microcontroller or multiple microcontrollers, which control a driver to individually drive the LEDs. The driver may also be included (in whole or in part) on the PCB-A in some embodiments or may be included on a different substrate remote from the PCB-A. In embodiments, switches (e.g., CMOS) that may be used for addressing the LEDs may be provided on the PCB-A as well, although they could be located elsewhere. It may be desirable, however, to limit the wiring on the interposer where practical.

[0064] The size and spacing of the bond pads 716 of the LED assembly 702 along a row or array of LEDs may be comparable to the size and spacing of two adjacent solder pads of the LED assembly 702 (the solder pads are described in more detail above). Additionally, there may be one more bond pad 716 in the LED assembly 702 than the number of LEDs 704 in the LED assembly 702. In other words, the number of bond pads 716 may be equal to half the solder pads plus one. The spacing of the bond pads 710 of the substrate 714 may be comparable to the spacing of the bond pads 716 of the LED module 702. However, in some embodiments, the bond pads 710 on the substrate 714 may be made smaller or larger than the bond pads 714 of the LED module 702 to ease ribbon bonding, for example.

[0065] The PCB-A in this and other embodiments may additionally include (not shown) a connector to connect the PCB-A to the automobile wire harness/ECU, current supply lines and a signal input to steer the microcontrollers. As mentioned, a temperature resistor 712 is provided on the substrate 714 in FIG. 7 and is provided on a copper pad (not labeled). While not shown in FIG. 7, the metallization 706 may include copper tracks and solder pads to receive additional electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors, coils, diodes and/or transistors to form an electric circuit supporting the electrical drive function of the microcontrollers, one or more ESD protection devices, such as TVS-diodes, and/or fuses to protect the electronics.

[0066] FIG. 8 is flow diagram 800 of an example method of manufacturing an LED lighting system. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, the method includes mechanically coupling LEDS to an interposer (802). As described in detail above, the LEDs may be the LEDs 102 of FIG. 1 . The LEDs may be spaced close together, such as by a spacing of less than 200 microns, less than 100 microns, or even less than 50 microns. Solder pads may be provided on the interposer having spacing to allow such LED-to-LED spacing. The LEDs may be soldered to the solder pads on the interposer, for example using SMD reflow soldering. The interposer may be formed from a ceramic with a CTE that closely matches the CTE of the LEDs.

[0067] The interposer, with the LEDs mechanically coupled thereto, may be mechanically coupled to a substrate (804). As mentioned above, it may be desirable for the interposer to be used with (i.e., mounted on or under) various substrates having different CTEs, some of which may vary greatly from the CTE of the ceramic interposer. Accordingly, in some embodiments, a special silicone glue or epoxy may be used, as described in more detail above, that may be soft enough to manage any thermal mismatch between the ceramic interposer and another substrate and thin enough that the high resistance of the silicone or epoxy does not noticeably inhibit heat dissipation. The glue may additionally or alternatively be filled with particles having good thermal properties, such as silver, to help aid heat dissipation via the glue.

[0068] The substrate with the interposer mounted thereon may be incorporated with a least one other substrate (806), such as a PCB-A, which may house at least some of the electronics for the LED lighting system. As mentioned above, it may be desirable to locate as many of the electronic and other components of the LED lighting system on cheaper boards than the interposer, such as an FR4 board. In some embodiments, the substrate may be the PCB-A, which may include a metal inlay or metal filled or lined vias, which may help with heat dissipation. The PCB-A and the interposer may both include bond pads that may be used to make an electrical connection between the two boards. In embodiments, top contact electrical conductors, such as wire or ribbon bonds, may be used to electrically couple the bond pads on the two boards (808).

[0069] FIG. 9 is a side view of another LED lighting system 900 that includes an LED module 901 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an copper sheet 902. In the example illustrated in FIG. 9, the LED module 901 includes LEDs 912 on a ceramic interposer 914. The LEDs 912 may be attached to the ceramic interposer 914, as described above. The LEDs 912 and the ceramic interposer 914 may have the same properties as the LEDs 102 and interposer 200 described above and, therefore, those details will not be repeated again here.

[0070] As described above, the LED module 901 may be mechanically coupled to the copper sheet substrate 902 via an adhesive 918, which may have the same properties as the special silicone glue or epoxy described above. As mentioned above, this adhesive 918 may alleviate the CTE mismatch between the ceramic interposer 914 and the copper sheet substrate 902 and have properties that reduce any adverse thermal effects of the silicone or epoxy. The copper sheet substrate 902 may include a referencing hole 916 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 900 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time.

[0071] The LED lighting system 900 may additionally include a PCB-A 906, such as an FR4 board, which may be attached to the copper sheet substrate 902 via a referencing feature 904. The PCB-A 906 may be attached to the copper sheet substrate 902 by, for example, inserting the reference feature 904 through a referencing hole (not labeled) in the PCB-A 906. This may ensure proper alignment of the PCB-A 906 with respect to the rest of the LED lighting system 900. A controller 908 may be provided on the PCB-A, which may be used to individually address the LEDs 912 on the interposer 914, among potentially other things.

[0072] As mentioned above, the interposer 914 may provide the electrical routing for the LEDs 912, such as by including metallization on a top surface of the interposer 914. The interposer 914 may be electrically and communicatively coupled to the PCB-A 906 such that power and control signaling can be provided from the PCB-A 906 to the LEDs 912 on the interposer 914 via top contact electrical conductors 910, such as ribbon or wire bonds, as described above with respect to FIG. 7.

[0073] FIG. 10 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 1000 that includes an LED module 1001 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a copper IMS 1002.. Similar to FIG. 9, in the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the LED module 1001 includes LEDs 1012 on a ceramic interposer 1014. The LEDs 1012 may be attached to the ceramic interposer 1014, as described above. The LEDs 1012 and the ceramic interposer 1001 may have the same properties as the LEDs 102 and interposer 200 described above and, therefore, those details will not be repeated again here.

[0074] As described above, the LED module 1001 may be mechanically coupled to the copper IMS 1002 via an adhesive 1018, which may have the same properties as the special silicone glue or epoxy described above. As mentioned above, this adhesive 1018 may alleviate the CTE mismatch between the ceramic interposer 1014 and the copper IMS 1002 and have properties that reduce any adverse thermal effects of the silicone or epoxy. The copper IMS 1002 may include a referencing hole 1016 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 1000 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time.

[0075] As opposed to FIG. 9, the copper IMS 1002 may not have a referencing feature as did the copper sheet substrate 1002. Instead, a thin circuit board 1006 may be provided on the copper IMS 1002, as shown. The circuit board 1006 may be or include, for example, a dielectric material, such as an expoxy-based material, with metal (e.g . , copper) tracks and a solder mask on top. The dielectric may be removed under the interposer. Similar to FIG. 9, however, a controller 1008 may be provided on the thin substrate 1006, which may be used to individually address the LEDs 1012 on the interposer 1014, among potentially other things, similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 9.

[0076] As mentioned above, the interposer 1014 may provide the electrical routing for the LEDs 1012, such as by including metallization on a top surface of the interposer 1014. The interposer 1014 may be electrically and communicatively coupled to the thin substrate 1006 such that power and control signaling can be provided from the thin substrate 1006 to the LEDs 1012 on the interposer 1014 via top contact electrical conductors 1010, such as ribbon or wire bonds, as described above with respect to FIG. 7.

[0077] FIG. 1 1 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 1100 that includes an LED module 1 101 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a PCB-A 1 102, such as an FR4 board with metal filled vias 1 104. As with the other embodiments, the LED lighting module 1101 may include LEDs 1114, which may be similar to the LED 102 described above with respect to FIG. 1 , on a ceramic substrate 11 14, which may have similar properties to the LED lighting modules described above. This embodiment may eliminate the substrate of the previously described embodiments entirely. To do so, vias 1104 may be formed in the PCB-A 1 102 and filled or lined with a good thermally conductive metal, such as copper, and the LED module 1 101 may be placed over the vias 1 104 to enable heat conduction from the LED module 1101 directly a cooling element (not shown) below the PCB-A 1102. If the vias 1 104 are completely filled, this may also provide better mechanical support for the LED lighting module 1101. As with the embodiments described above, the LEDs 1112 on the interposer 1214 may be electrically coupled to the PCB-A 1102 via top electrical conductors, such as ribbon or wire bonds, as described in detail with respect to FIG. 7 above. A controller 1108 may be provided on the PCB-A 1 102 as in the other embodiments as well. The PCB-A 1102 may include a referencing hole 1016 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 1100 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time.

[0078] FIG. 12 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 1200 that includes an LED module 1201 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a PCB-A 1204, such as an FR4 board with a metal inlay 1202. As with the other embodiments, the LED lighting module 1101 may include LEDs 1114, which may be similar to the LED 102 described above with respect to FIG. 1 , on a ceramic substrate 11 14, which may have similar properties to the LED lighting modules described above. As can be seen, the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12 is similar to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 1 except that a metal slug 1202 may be embedded in the PCB-A 1204. Similar to the vias 1 104 of FIG. 11 , the metal slug 1202, which may be formed of a good thermally conducting metal, such as copper, may enable dissipation of heat generated by the LED lighting device 1201 directly to a cooling element (not shown) below the PCB-A 1204, via the metal slug 1202. As with the embodiments described above, the LEDs 1212 of the LED lighting device 1200 may be electrically coupled to the PCB-A 1202 via top electrical conductors 1210, such as ribbon or wire bonds, as described in detail with respect to FIG. 7 above. A controller 1208 may be provided on the PCB-A 1202 as in the other embodiments as well. The PCB-A 1202 may include a referencing hole 1216 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 1200 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time

[0079] FIG. 13 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 1300 that includes an LED module 1301 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on an a copper IMS 1302 embedded in a PCB- A 1304, such as an FR4 board. In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, the LED module 1301 includes LEDs 1312 on a ceramic interposer 1314. The LEDs 1312 may be attached to the ceramic interposer 1314, as described above. The LEDs 1312 and the ceramic interposer 1314 may have the same properties as the LEDs 102 and interposer 200 described above and, therefore, those details will not be repeated again here. [0080] As described above, the LED module 1301 may be mechanically coupled to the copper IMS 1302 via an adhesive 1322, which may have the same properties as the special silicone glue or epoxy described above. As mentioned above, this adhesive 1322 may alleviate the GTE mismatch between the ceramic interposer 1314 and the copper IMS 1302 and have properties that reduce any adverse thermal effects of the silicone or epoxy. The copper IMS 1302 may include a referencing hole 1316 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 1300 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time.

[0081] The copper IMS 1302 may be embedded in a PCB-A 1304, such as an FR4 board. Although not shown, in embodiments, the entire structure, including the copper IMS 1302 and the PCB-A 1304, may be placed on a cooling element, such as a heat sink (not shown) or some other common structure. Hence, there is no need for referencing features to mechanically coupled the copper IMS 1302 to the PCB-A 1304. A controller 1308 may be provided on the PCB-A 1304, which may be used to individually address the LEDs 1312 on the interposer 1314, among potentially other things. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, additional system components may be provided on the copper IMS 1302 (or other substrate). In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, a TVS diode 1324 is provided on the substrate, which may protect the electronics.

[0082] As mentioned above, the interposer 1314 may provide the electrical routing for the LEDs 1312, such as by including metallization on a top surface of the interposer 1314. The interposer 1314 may be electrically and communicatively coupled to the PCB-A 1304 such that power and control signaling can be provided from the PCB-A 1304 to the LEDs 1312 on the interposer 1314. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13, this may be done by making top electrical connections between the ceramic interposer 1314 and the copper IMS 1302 as well as between the copper IMS 1302 and the PCB-A 1304. A surface mount technology (SMT) bridge 1320 may be used to make the electrical connection between the copper IMS 1302 and the PCB-A 1304. Top contact electrical conductors 1310, such as ribbon or wire bonds, may be used to make the electrical connection between the ceramic interposer 1314 and the copper IMS 1302. The top contact electrical conductors are described in detail below with respect to FIG. 7.

[0083] FIG. 14 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 1400 that includes an LED module 1401 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a lead frame 1402, which may be a lead frame covered in a meterial, such as plastic 1424. In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, the LED module 1401 includes LEDs 1412 on a ceramic interposer 1414. The LEDs 1412 may be attached to the ceramic interposer 1414, as described above. The LEDs 1412 and the ceramic interposer 1414 may have the same properties as the LEDs 102 and interposer 200 described above and, therefore, those details will not be repeated again here. [0084] In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, the lead frame 1402 includes conductive connectors 1420. To form the LED lighting system 1400, the interposer 1414 may be mechanically and thermally coupled to the lead frame 1402, such as by soldering the interposer 1414 to the lead frame 1402. The lead frame 1402 may then be electrically coupled to a PCB-A 1404, such as by soldering the conductive connectors 1420 to solder pads (not shown) on the PCB-A 1404.

[0085] FIG. 15 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 1500 that includes an LED module 1501 , such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a lead frame 1502, which may be a lead frame covered in a material, such as plastic 1524. This embodiment is similar to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 14 other than the configuration of the lead frame 1502, as can be seen in FIG. 15. In the example illustrated in FIG. 15, the LED module 1501 includes LEDs 1512 on a ceramic interposer 1514. The LEDs 1512 may be attached to the ceramic interposer 1514, as described above. The LEDs 1512 and the ceramic interposer 1514 may have the same properties as the LEDs 102 and interposer 200 described above and, therefore, those details will not be repeated again here.

[0086] In the example illustrated in FIG. 15, the lead frame 1402 includes conductive connectors 1420. To form the LED lighting system 1400, the interposer 1414 may be mechanically and thermally coupled to the lead frame 1402, such as by soldering the interposer 1414 to the lead frame 1402. The lead frame 1402 may then be electrically coupled to a PCB-A 1404, such as by soldering the conductive connectors 1420 to solder pads (not shown) on the PCB-A 1404.

[0087] FIG. 16 is a side view of another example LED lighting system 1600 that includes an LED module, such as illustrated in FIGs. 2a and 2b, on a single part metal substrate 1602 with a raised platform 1650. As with the other embodiments, the LED lighting module 1601 may include LEDs 1612, which may be similar to the LED 102 described above with respect to FIG. 1 , on a ceramic substrate 1614, which may have similar properties to the LED lighting modules described above. The single part metal substrate 1602 with the raised platform 1650 may be formed of a good thermally conducting metal, such as copper, which may enable dissipation of heat generated by the LED lighting module 1601 directly to a cooling element (not shown) below the single part metal substrate 1602, as the single part metal substrate 1602 can be placed in direct contact, or in contact via a thermally conductive material, with the cooling element. A PCB-A 1604 may be provided over the single part substrate 1602, such that the PCB-A 1604 may be next too, or even surround on more than one side, the raised platform 1650.

[0088] As with the embodiments described above, the LEDs 1612 of the LED lighting device 1600 may be electrically coupled to the PCB-A 1602 via top electrical conductors 1610, such as ribbon or wire bonds, as described in detail with respect to FIG. 7 above. A controller 1608 may be provided on the PCB-A 1602 as in the other embodiments as well. The PCB-A 1602 may include a referencing hole 1616 for alignment and attachment of the LED lighting system 1600 to a headlamp body (not shown) at a later point in time.

[0089] FIG. 17 is a diagram of an example vehicle headlamp system 1700 that may incorporate any of the LED modules and/or LED lighting systems described herein. The example vehicle headlamp system 1700 illustrated in FIG. 17 includes an application platform 1702, two LED lighting systems 1706 and 1708, and secondary optics 1710 and 1712. The LED lighting systems 1710 and 1712 may be or include any of the embodiments of the LED lighting systems described herein.

[0090] The LED lighting system 1708 may emit light beams 1714 (shown between arrows 1714a and 1714b in FIG. 17). The LED lighting system 1706 may emit light beams 1716 (shown between arrows 1716a and 1716b in FIG. 17). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, a secondary optic 1710 is adjacent the LED lighting system 1708, and the light emitted from the LED lighting system 1708 passes through the secondary optic 1710. Similarly, a secondary optic 1712 is adjacent the LED lighting system 1706, and the light emitted from the LED lighting system 1706 passes through the secondary optic 1712. In alternative embodiments, no secondary optics 1710/1712 are provided in the vehicle headlamp system.

[0091] Where included, the secondary optics 17101/1712 may be or include one or more light guides. The one or more light guides may be edge lit or may have an interior opening that defines an interior edge of the light guide. LED lighting systems 1708 and 1706 may be inserted in the interior openings of the one or more light guides such that they inject light into the interior edge (interior opening light guide) or exterior edge (edge lit light guide) of the one or more light guides. In embodiments, the one or more light guides may shape the light emitted by the LED lighting systems 1708 and 1706 in a desired manner, such as, for example, with a gradient, a chamfered distribution, a narrow distribution, a wide distribution, or an angular distribution.

[0092] The application platform 1702 may provide power and/or data to the LED lighting systems 1706 and/or 1708 via lines 1704. One or more sensors (which may be the sensors in the vehicle headlamp system 1700 or other additional sensors) may be internal or external to the housing of the application platform 1702. Alternatively, or in addition, as shown in the example vehicle headlamp system 1700 of FIG. 17, each LED lighting system 1708 and 1706 may include its own sensor module, connectivity and control module, power module, and/or LED array.

[0093] In embodiments, the vehicle headlamp system 1700 may represent an automobile with steerable light beams where LEDs may be selectively activated to provide steerable light. For example, an array of LEDs or emitters may be used to define or project a shape or pattern or illuminate only selected sections of a roadway. In an example embodiment, infrared cameras or detector pixels within LED lighting systems 1706 and 1708 may be sensors that identify portions of a scene that require illumination.

[0094] As would be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art, based on the description herein, embodiments of the present invention can be designed in software using a hardware description language (HDL) such as, for example, Verilog or VHDL. The HDL-design can model the behavior of an electronic system, where the design can be synthesized and ultimately fabricated into a hardware device. In addition, the HDL-design can be stored in a computer product and loaded into a computer system prior to hardware manufacture

[0095] Having described the embodiments in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, given the present description, modifications may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit of the inventive concept. Therefore, it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated and described.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1 . A light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system comprising: a ceramic interposer comprising a top surface, a bottom surface opposite the top surface and a plurality of side surfaces; a plurality of phosphor-converted surface mount device (SMD) LEDs spaced apart on the ceramic interposer by less than 200 microns, each of the plurality of phosphor-converted SMD LEDs comprising: a light-emitting top surface, a bottom surface opposite the light-emitting top surface, and a plurality of side surfaces, and a reflective side coating on at least one of the plurality of side surfaces that is adjacent another one of the plurality of phosphor-converted SMD LEDs on the ceramic interposer; a printed circuit board (PCB); a controller on a top surface of the PCB configured to control the plurality of phosphor- converted SMD LEDs to be powered ON and OFF individually or in groups when the LED lighting system is powered on; and a plurality of conductive connectors electrically coupled between the top surface of the PCB and the top surface of the ceramic interposer.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of LEDs has a surface area of one of 1 .0 mm² or 0.5 mm².

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the ceramic interposer if formed from at least one of Aluminum Nitride (AIN) or Aluminum Oxide (AI2O3) .

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of phosphor-converted SMD LEDs are spaced apart on the ceramic interposer by one of less than 100 microns or less than 50 microns.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the system further comprises a metal substrate, the ceramic substrate is adhered to the metal substrate via an adhesive, and the adhesive is a thermally conductive silicone-based glue or epoxy.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the substrate is formed from at least one of aluminum or copper.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the PCB further comprises one of a metal inlay or a plurality of conductive vias, and the ceramic substrate is disposed on the PCB in thermal contact with the one of the metal inlay or the plurality of conductive vias.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising, on the top surface of the PCB, at least a portion of a driver for the plurality of phosphor-converted SMD LEDs, comprising at least one of a resistor, a capacitor, a coil, a diode, or a transistor.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising, on the top surface of the PCB, at least one of: at least one temperature sensor, at least one ESD protection device, or at least one fuse.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the PCB is one of an AI-IMS, a Cu-IMS or an FR4 PCB.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the PCB further comprises at least one of an electrical connector configured for electrical coupling to receive power from an external source, current supply lines, copper tracks and solder pads configured to receive electronic components, or a signal input line configured to transmit control signals to steer the controller.

12. A method of manufacturing an LED lighting system, the method comprising: providing a plurality of phosphor-converted LEDs, each comprising a light-emitting top surface, a bottom surface opposite the light-emitting top surface, a plurality of side surfaces, and a reflective side coating on at least one of the plurality of side surfaces; soldering the plurality of phosphor-converted LEDs to a top surface of a ceramic interposer at locations spaced apart from each other by less than 200 microns and with the reflective side coating facing a neighboring one of the plurality of phosphor-converted LEDs; gluing the ceramic interposer to a first substrate; providing a controller on a second substrate, the controller being configured to control the plurality of phosphor-converted LEDs to be powered ON and OFF individually or in groups when the LED lighting system is powered on; and electrically coupling a plurality of conductive connectors between a top surface of the ceramic interposer and a top surface of the second substrate.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the electrically coupling the plurality of conductive connectors comprises one of ribbon bonding or wire bonding.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the gluing the ceramic interposer to the first substrate compensates for a mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion between the ceramic interposer and the first substrate.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the gluing creates a bond line of less than 100 microns thick to minimize an impact of thermal resistance on a thermal performance of the LED lighting system.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the gluing creates a bond line of less than 50 microns thick to minimize an impact of thermal resistance on a thermal performance of the LED lighting system.

17. An LED module comprising: a ceramic interposer; a plurality of first solder pads arranged in pairs on a top surface of the ceramic interposer; an LED soldered to each of the pairs of the plurality of first solder pads such that each LED is spaced apart from a neighboring LED at a distance less than 200 microns, the LED comprising: a light-emitting top surface, a bottom surface opposite the light-emitting top surface, and a plurality of side surfaces, and a reflective side coating on at least one of the plurality of side surfaces that is adjacent another one of the plurality of phosphor-converted SMD LEDs on the ceramic interposer.

18. The LED module of claim 17, wherein at least two of the LEDs are phosphor- converted LEDs comprising an amber phosphor converter or a red phosphor converter.

19. The LED module of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of second solder pads on the top surface of the ceramic interposer configured for electrically coupling the LEDs on the ceramic interposer to an external control board for individual or group control of the LEDs.

20. The LED module of claim 19, wherein the ceramic interposer further comprises copper traces on the top surface that electrically couple the first bond pads to the second bond pads.

21. The LED module of claim 17, further comprising an attachment area on a bottom surface of the ceramic interposer for adhering the LED module to a metal substrate.