BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a light emitting device and a method of manufacturing the light emitting device.

Light emitting devices using light emitting elements such as LEDs can easily exhibit high light emission efficiency, and are thus used in various devices such as backlight devices for display devices or the like, or lighting devices. A method of manufacturing a light emitting device is known in which a light emitting element is mounted and then a light-reflective resin is disposed surrounding the light emitting device to miniaturize the light emitting device. For example, a method of manufacturing a light emitting diode is proposed that includes a first step of covering LED elements on a substrate with a light transmissive resin, a second step of removing a portion of the light transmissive resin at an intermediate portion between the LED elements to form a groove, a third step of filling the groove with a light-reflective resin, and a fourth step of curing the light-reflective resin and then cutting the substrate such that the light-reflective resin is disposed surrounding each of the LED elements to divide into individual light emitting diodes (see Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2002-368281).

SUMMARY

In the method of manufacturing as described above, the light-reflective resin surrounding each of the light emitting elements is disposed after the mounting of the light emitting elements. In this manner, if a viscosity of the light-reflective resin is increased, it may take time to spread the resin over an entirety of the groove, which may lead to decrease in operation efficiency. It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a method of efficiently manufacturing a light emitting device with a structure that allows miniaturization, and to provide a light emitting device that can achieve reduction in weight.

A method of manufacturing a light emitting device includes: providing a substantially flat plate-shaped base member including at least one first portion each including an upper surface, a second portion surrounding each of the at least one first portion in a plan view and including inner lateral surfaces; mounting at least one light emitting element on each of the at least one first portion; shifting a relative positional relationship between the at least one first portion and the second portion in an upper-lower direction to form at least one recess each defined by an upper surface of each of the at least one first portion that serves as a bottom surface of each of the at least one recess and at least portions of corresponding ones of the inner lateral surfaces of the second portion that serve as lateral surfaces of each of the at least one recess; and bonding the at least one first portion and the second portion with each other.

A light emitting device includes: a base member including at least one first portion each including an upper surface, a second portion including inner lateral surfaces and having at least one thorough-hole each having a size that allows each of the at least one first portion to be fitted in the through-hole, and at least one recess each defined by the upper surface of each of the at least one first portion that serves as a bottom surface of each of the at least one recess and at least portions of corresponding ones of the inner lateral surfaces of the second portion that serve as lateral surfaces of each of the at least one the recess; and at least one light emitting element mounted on the bottom surface of each of the at least one recess.

With the method of manufacturing as described above, a light emitting device with a structure that allows miniaturization can be efficiently manufactured. Also, with the light emitting device as described above, reduction in weight of the light emitting device can be achieved.

