What is the effect of electrostatic discharge on LED tri-proof light source components

In modern lighting technology, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) are widely used due to their high efficiency and long life. However, electrostatic discharge (ESD) phenomena pose a significant threat to the reliability of LEDs and may lead to various forms of failure, including sudden failure and latent failure.

Sudden failure
Sudden failure refers to the possibility of permanent damage or short circuit of LEDs when subjected to electrostatic discharge. When an LED is in an electrostatic field, if one of its electrodes is in contact with an electrostatic body and the other electrode is suspended, any external interference (such as a human hand touching the suspended electrode) may form a conductive loop. In this case, the LED will be subjected to a voltage exceeding its rated breakdown voltage, resulting in structural damage. Sudden failure will not only significantly reduce the yield rate of the product, but will also directly increase the production cost of the enterprise and affect its market competitiveness.

Latent failure
Electrostatic discharge may also lead to latent failure of LEDs. Even if it appears normal on the surface, the performance parameters of the LED may gradually deteriorate, manifested as an increase in leakage current. For gallium nitride (GaN)-based LEDs, the hidden dangers caused by electrostatic damage are usually irreversible. This latent failure accounts for a large proportion of failures caused by electrostatic discharge. Due to the influence of electrostatic pulse energy, LED lamps or integrated circuits (ICs) may overheat in local areas, causing them to break down. This type of fault is often difficult to detect in conventional detection. However, the stability of the product will be seriously affected, and problems such as dead lights may occur later, which will significantly shorten the service life of LED tri-proof lamps and cause economic losses to customers.

Internal structure damage
During the electrostatic discharge process, electrostatic charges of reverse polarity may accumulate at both ends of the PN junction of the LED chip to form an electrostatic voltage. When the voltage exceeds the maximum tolerance of the LED, the electrostatic charge will discharge between the two electrodes of the LED chip in a very short time (nanosecond level), generating a lot of heat. This heat can cause the temperature of the conductive layer and the PN junction light-emitting layer inside the LED chip to rise sharply to more than 1400℃, resulting in local melting and the formation of small holes, which in turn causes a series of failure phenomena such as leakage, light decay, dead lights and short circuits.

Microstructural changes
From the perspective of microstructure, electrostatic discharge may cause melting and dislocation defects at the heterojunction interface of the LED. For example, in gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based LEDs, electrostatic discharge damage may trigger the formation of heterojunction interface defects. These defects not only directly affect the electrical and optical properties of the LED, but may also gradually expand during subsequent use, causing further degradation of device performance.