What is a COB LED strip? What’s inside a COB strip? 1. Introduction. LEDs for the LED strip An LED (light-emitting diode) is a semiconductor that emits light by transmitting an electric current. LEDs are made from a silicon crystal (i.e., a chip). LEDs have both advantages and drawbacks. The most important ones are fragility (silicon is a very brittle material) and the inability to sustain temperatures over 200 to 250 °F. The LED chips are protected from mechanical damage by a housing usually made from plastic. This housing also dissipates the heat from the chip to the surrounding objects (e.g., an additional heat sink). The LED chip is placed inside such housing. There are miniature copper conductors inside the housing for the electrical connection of the chip. On the outside of the housing, there are copper conductors that a used to connect the housing to the surface (circuit board, tape, wires, etc.). Enclosures can be different. SMD (Surface Mounted Device) housing technology is t