Increases in LED light-output performance don’t have the same turn-the-crank inevitability that digital ICs enjoy from following Moore’s Law. So it’s quite an achievement that Cree has announced reaching the milestone of 200 lm/W for a production LED component: The multi-die X-Lamp MK-R LED emits 208 lm/W and can go as high as 1600 lm at 15W and 85°C. The device itself is 7 x 7mm with the area of the optical source – the four die and their primary optic – fitting into 6.5 x 6.5 mm.
Characterized at 85°C, the MK-R component is available in 2700K to 7000K color temperatures and offers minimum CRI options of 70, 80 and 90 at selected color temperatures. Because the device is a directional light source, look for it to find use in controlled lighting applications such as MR16 lights, track/spot lights, and outdoor lighting, as opposed to omnidirectional applications such as A10 replacement light bulbs.
This announcement comes hot on the heels of last weeks’s XM-L2 product announcement. The XM-L2 pumps out 186 lm/W and as much as 1198 lm at 3A drive current, but this component has only a single LED die in its package.
7 mm2 or 7x7mm2 ?
Fixed – thx.
Something is completelly wrong in this statement:
1600lm @ 15W this equals to 106lm/W not 200lm/W as Cree is claiming
Arthur, this is confusing and I should have explained it: Light output from an LED is not linear with input power, and efficacy (lumens/Watt) peaks at a certain voltage and current. So what Cree is saying is that when you operate at the most efficacious power input, you can achieve as much as 200 lm/W. If you want to get a higher light output you can by increasing the current — as much as 1600 lm/W at 15W — but your efficacy will fall, in this case to 106 lm/W.