Patent attributes
A light-emitting diode (LED) structure with an improved heat transfer path with a lower thermal resistance than conventional LED lamps is provided. For some embodiments, a surface-mountable light-emitting diode structure is provided having an active layer deposited on a metal substrate directly bonded to a metal plate that is substantially exposed for low thermal resistance by positioning it on the bottom of the light-emitting diode structure. This metal plate can then be soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB) that includes a heat sink. For some embodiments of the invention, the metal plate is thermally and electrically conductively connected through several heat conduction layers to a large heat sink that may be included in the structure.