{"id":88,"date":"2014-02-05T12:55:15","date_gmt":"2014-02-05T12:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ledsupply.com\/blog\/?p=88"},"modified":"2019-02-05T14:48:17","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T14:48:17","slug":"thermal-runaway-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ledsupply.com\/blog\/thermal-runaway-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Thermal Runaway Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our previous post: \u201cWant help choosing the correct LED Driver?<\/a>\u201d, the term Thermal Runaway was referenced. Thermal Runaway leads to current crowding<\/em> and the development of current filaments<\/em>, which happens to be one of the primary causes of a semiconductor failure.<\/p>\n

It all starts with the profile of silicon<\/em>. The electrical resistance of silicon increases with temperature up to about 160 Celsius, then starts decreasing. When resistance decreases, it allows more current to enter through the overheated areas, in turn causing yet more compounding heat, eventually leading to total failure of the device and hence the term Thermal Runaway.<\/p>\n

With adequate thermal management and the use of a constant current driver, an LED will not exceed its maximum operating temperature and will never approach Thermal Runaway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our previous post: \u201cWant help choosing the correct LED Driver?\u201d, the term Thermal Runaway was referenced. Thermal Runaway leads to current crowding and the development of current filaments, which happens to be one of the primary causes of a semiconductor failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-led-lighting-101","category-misc-led-posts"],"yoast_head":"\nThermal Runaway Explained - LEDSupply Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If your LED(s) have failed it could be due to a phenomena called Thermal Runaway, which stems from poor Thermal Management and improper powering.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ledsupply.com\/blog\/thermal-runaway-explained\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brooke Sault\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ledsupply.com\\\/blog\\\/thermal-runaway-explained\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ledsupply.com\\\/blog\\\/thermal-runaway-explained\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brooke Sault\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ledsupply.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1854d00957f078337ff0ce3d633dd105\"},\"headline\":\"Thermal Runaway Explained\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-05T12:55:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-05T14:48:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ledsupply.com\\\/blog\\\/thermal-runaway-explained\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":129,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ledsupply.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"LEDs 101\",\"Miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ledsupply.com\\\/blog\\\/thermal-runaway-explained\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ledsupply.com\\\/blog\\\/thermal-runaway-explained\\\/\",\"name\":\"Thermal Runaway Explained - 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