Quality & Reliability

LEDs are widely claimed to be more reliable and longer lived than cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs).  This is true but delivering on this promise presents numerous challenges, especially when the number of LEDs used in a backlight is significant.  Each LED is a separate component and any one LED failure often results in the failure of an entire string of series connected sources. 

The most common reason for an LED failure is due to a defective solder joint related to the circuit board assembly process.  Therefore, it is critical that the LED backlight be designed so as to minimize the possibility of solder joint failures.  Any infant failures of the LED chip, wire bond or solder joint must be weeded out at our factory, not in your application.

All GemLight® display backlights undergo a rigorous burn-in procedure.  Before being assembled into a display module, the LED lighting unit is operated at maximum power for 7 days.  The burn-in also includes power cycling once each day for one hour. 

After assembly into the display module, the system is further burned-in at full power for an additional 4 days, again, with daily power cycling.  Our objective is to find and weed out any LEDs which might suffer from an infant failure.

The effectiveness of this program is borne out in the fact that we have not had an LED field failure.