Method and apparatus for fabricating phosphor-coated LED dies

1. A method, comprising:

bonding a plurality of light-emitting dies to a plurality of conductive pads;

applying a phosphor material on the plurality of light-emitting dies in a manner such that spaces between adjacent light-emitting dies are filled with the phosphor material;

separating the plurality of light-emitting dies from one another, thereby forming a plurality of phosphor-coated light-emitting dies, wherein each light-emitting die has the phosphor material coated on a top surface and side surfaces of the light-emitting die; and

fabricating a lighting module using one or more of the phosphor-coated light-emitting dies as its light source, wherein the fabricating the lighting module comprises:

attaching the one or more of the phosphor-coated light-emitting dies to a substrate;

applying a transparent and diffusive gel over the substrate and over the one or more phosphor-coated light-emitting dies; and

installing a diffuser cap over the substrate, the diffuser cap housing the one or more phosphor-coated light-emitting dies and the transparent and diffusive gel within.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the bonding is performed so that the plurality of light-emitting dies are physically spaced apart from one another; and

the separating includes dicing the phosphor materials that fill the spaces between the adjacent light-emitting dies.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bonding is performed so that each light-emitting die is bonded to two of the respective conductive pads that are spaced apart from one another.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:

each light-emitting die includes a p-terminal and an n-terminal;

the p-terminal is bonded to one of the conductive pads; and

the n-terminal is bonded to the other one of the conductive pads.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

before the bonding, performing a binning process to a further plurality of light-emitting dies; and

selecting, in response to results of the binding process, a subset of the further plurality of the light-emitting dies as the plurality of the light-emitting dies for bonding.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of conductive pads are located on a submount, and wherein the separating includes dividing the submount into a plurality of submount pieces so that each phosphor-coated light-emitting die is attached to a respective submount piece.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the conductive pads includes a lead frame.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of conductive pads is attached to a substrate through a tape, and further comprising: removing the tape and the substrate before the separating.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light-emitting dies include light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

10. A method of packaging a light-emitting diode (LED), comprising:

providing a group of LEDs bonded to a group of metal pads, respectively, wherein the group of metal pads is attached to a substrate through a tape;

coating a phosphor film around the group of LEDs collectively, wherein the phosphor film is coated on top and side surfaces of each LED and between adjacent LEDs;

removing the tape and the substrate after the coating of the phosphor film; and

thereafter performing a dicing process through portions of the phosphor film located between adjacent LEDs to divide the group of LEDs into a plurality of individual phosphor-coated LEDs.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein each LED is attached to two of the respective metal pads that are physically separated from each other.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein for each LED: one of the two metal pads is attached to a p-terminal of the LED, and the other one of the two metal pads is attached to an n-terminal of the LED.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the providing the group of LEDs comprises:

obtaining a plurality of LEDs;

assigning the plurality of LEDs into different bins according to their performance characteristics; and

choosing one or more bins of LEDs as the group of LEDs.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the LEDs are substantially evenly spaced apart.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising bonding the group of LEDs to the group of metal pads through solder paste.

16. A method, comprising:

disposing a tape on a substrate;

disposing a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) dies on the tape;

applying a phosphor material over top and side surfaces of the plurality of LED dies, wherein the applying is performed in a manner such that spaces between adjacent LED dies are filled with the phosphor material, thereby forming phosphor-coated LED dies on the tape;

removing the phosphor-coated LED dies from the tape; and

thereafter performing a dicing process to separate the phosphor-coated LED dies from one another.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the dicing process includes dicing the phosphor material disposed in spaces between the adjacent LED dies.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein each LED die includes a p-terminal and an n-terminal that are each electrically coupled to a respective bonding pad.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising: performing a binning process to a group of LED dies to select the plurality of LED dies to be disposed on the tape.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the substrate includes a silicon substrate, a ceramic substrate, or a gallium nitride substrate.