Compared with SMD LED, COB has the following advantages:

1. High packaging efficiency and cost saving
The COB packaging process is not much different from the SMD production process, but the packaging efficiency of COB packaging in dispensing, separation, spectroscopy, and packaging is much higher. Compared with discrete LED devices, COB light source modules can save the cost of primary packaging of LEDs, the production cost of light engine modules, and the cost of secondary light distribution in applications.

2. Low thermal resistance advantage
The system thermal resistance structure of SMD package is chip-die glue-solder joint-solder paste-copper foil-insulation layer aluminum, while the system thermal resistance of the COB package is chip-die glue-aluminum. The system thermal resistance of the COB package is much lower than that of the traditional SMD package, so the LED lamps in the COB package have a longer service life.
3. Light quality advantage
The SMD package attaches multiple discrete devices to the PCB board in the form of patches to form a light source component for LED applications. This approach has problems of spotlight, glare, and ghosting. Since the COB package is an integrated package and is a surface light source, the viewing angle is large and easy to adjust, which can reduce the loss of light refraction.

4. Application advantages
The application of COB light source is very convenient, and it can be directly applied to lamps without other processes. The traditional SMD package light source also needs to be patched first, and then fixed on the PCB board by reflow soldering. It is not as convenient as COB in application. The COB device emits a surface light source, which makes it easier to achieve the consistency of light color and achieve high-quality spot effects. Therefore, COB devices have been used in high-demand lighting places, such as high-end hotels, high-end retail stores or museums and other high-end commercial lighting markets.

COB technology helps the development of smart lighting/healthy lighting market

In recent years, the smart lighting market has been in a stage of rapid development. Well-known manufacturers such as Signify, Op Lighting, and NVC Lighting have continuously launched smart lighting products. The COB technology has also been widely used in the smart lighting market. For example, the two-color temperature dimming COB light source can solve many technical and structural design problems faced by intelligent lighting sources and is a better choice for intelligent lighting fixtures. In addition, because of its integrated packaging structure, it helps to achieve small area, high brightness, is conducive to the integration of dual color temperature, keeps the light exit angle constant, and is also more convenient for secondary optical design, making the light spot more uniform.
In the field of health and education lighting, attention has been increasing in recent years, and the concept of healthy lighting has gradually penetrated into the market. For example, LED desk lamps have higher requirements on the quality of the light source than other lamps due to the need for close viewing. COB light source is more suitable for LED table lamp products. The table lamp using COB light source technology has many advantages such as no stroboscopic, no electromagnetic radiation, low energy consumption, high illuminance, and high color rendering index. It is a new generation of light sources that are closest to natural light. Eyes, the prevention of myopia has a significant effect.

International manufacturers are still dominant, and Chinese manufacturers are on the rise

Due to the high threshold of COB packaging technology, and the application field is also in the high-end market, the price sensitivity is not high, so the current COB products are still dominated by international manufacturers, especially in developed markets such as Europe and the United States. However, with the advancement of technology in recent years, the product competitiveness of domestic manufacturers is also rapidly improving, and the rise is obvious. And with the popularization of COB technology, not only in the commercial lighting market, but also in the design trend of mainless lamps in recent years, COB products have also been gradually introduced into the home lighting market. More and more families begin to use lighting products such as downlights and spotlights, and these products are the main application lamps of COB products. This is expected to further boost the COB packaging market

2021 Global Lighting COB Packaging Manufacturers Revenue Ranking List

COMPANY	Rank list
Citizen	1
CREE LED	2
Lumileds	3
Bridgelux	4
Ledteen	5
Lightning	6
Tongyifany	7
Samsung led	8
Hongli	9
LUMINUS	10

Globally, Citizen, a Japanese company, will still occupy the leading position in lighting COB packaging in 2021. Citizen has been in a leading position for many years in the field of lighting COB packaging, whether in terms of technology or revenue. Although its share in the low-end COB market will be reduced in 2021, it is still in an absolute leading position in the high-end COB market, especially in high-end markets such as Europe and the United States. Citizen Lighting's COB market share has always been at a high level.
CREE continues to hold the second position in the world. CREE LED is the only manufacturer in the world that uses SiC as the LED epitaxial substrate. Although SiC-based substrate chips have gradually withdrawn from the market in recent years due to cost considerations, CREE has always been positioned in the high-end market in the lighting field. Therefore, CREE mainly promotes high-power and COB products. High-power products are mainly used in street lamps, outdoor high-power lighting and other products, while COB products are mainly used in commercial lighting and go to the distribution channel market.
Lumileds is one of the world's major LED packaging manufacturers. In the mobile phone LED flash market, Lumileds is in an absolute leading position; in the lighting market, Lumileds also occupies an important position and is the core supplier of Signify Lighting. In the COB field, although the proportion of revenue in the head office is not high, it still ranks third in the world.
Other lighting COB packaging manufacturers that entered the top ten include Silicon Energy Optoelectronics, Purui, Tiandian Optoelectronics, Tongfang, Samsung LED, Hongli Zhihui and Luminus. Among them, the COB business of Silicon Power Optoelectronics has shown rapid growth in recent years. It has entered the supply chain of international manufacturers, and its production capacity has been rapidly released and its output has increased rapidly. In addition, Purui has also developed rapidly in the COB market. The packaging product line can cover more customers at different levels, and COB revenue has shown significant growth. In addition to the above-mentioned top ten manufacturers, there are still a number of outstanding manufacturers in the field of lighting COB packaging, such as Shengpu Optoelectronics, Oulante and so on.