High power allngan based multi-chip light emitting diode

1. A lamp, comprising:

a plurality of light emitting diode chips, each comprising

a substrate;

a lower epitaxial layer formed upon the substrate;

an upper epitaxial layer, formed upon the lower epitaxial layer to expose a portion of the lower epitaxial layer;

an upper contact finger formed upon the upper epitaxial layer;

a lower contact finger formed upon the exposed portion of the lower epitaxial layer, generally parallel to a length of the lower epitaxial layer, wherein the upper and lower epitaxial layers cooperate to form a generally planar active area, a ratio of a length of the active area to a width of the active area is at least 1.5:1, and the width of the active area is at least 250 microns; and

a reflective material intermediate the lower contact finger and the upper epitaxial layer to direct light away from the lower contact finger; and

a package having a recess defined by a bottom surface and four sidewalls in which pairs of sidewalls are generally co-parallel and intersect to define four corners of the recess, the plurality of diode chips disposed in the recess, and are arranged around the periphery of the recess, with lengths of the diode chips co-parallel to the sidewalls, and each end of each of the diode chips disposed around the periphery of the recess either abut one of the corners of the recess, or abut an edge of another diode chip arranged around the periphery of the recess, and one or more of the plurality of light emitting diode chips are indirectly coupled to receive a biasing voltage from a pair of bonding wires respectively connected to different light emitting diode chips of the plurality.

2. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the reflective material comprises a reflecting insulator material.

3. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the reflective material comprises an insulator material, and a metallic material electrically shielded from the upper epitaxial layer by the insulator material.

4. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the upper epitaxial layer and the lower epitaxial layer have an elongated geometry.

5. The lamp of claim 4 , wherein the lower contact finger is disposed generally parallel to a longer side of the lower epitaxial region.

6. The lamp of claim 4 , wherein the elongated geometry provides an active region having a length to width ratio of at least 2:1.

7. The lamp of claim 4 , wherein the elongated geometry provides an active region having a length to width ratio of at least 2:1 and less than 10:1.

8. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the reflective material comprises a transparent insulator material and a metallic reflecting material electrically shielded from the upper epitaxial layer by the insulator material.

9. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the lower epitaxial layer comprises an n-doped layer.

10. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the upper epitaxial layer comprises a p-doped layer.

11. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the upper contact finger comprises a bond pad portion.

12. The lamp of claim 1 , further comprising a bond pad in electrical contact with the upper contact finger.

13. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the lower contact finger comprises a bond pad portion.

14. The lamp of claim 1 , further comprising a bond pad in electrical contact with the lower contact finger.

15. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein one light emitting diode is formed upon the substrate.

16. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of:

sapphire;

spinel;

glass;

ZnO;

SiC;

MgO;

GaN;

MN; and

AlGaN.

17. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein an active region is formed so as to cover substantially all of the substrate that is not covered by the lower epitaxial layer, the reflective material, or the lower contact finger.

18. The lamp of claim 1 , wherein the package further comprises a reflective protrusion disposed centrally in the recess and configured for reflecting light from the package.