METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BONDING LIGHT-EMITTING ELEMENT

A bonding apparatus has a probe for causing an LED chip to emit light before the LED chip is bonded on a board, an imaging system for recognizing the center of a light-emitting area of the LED chip and recognizing coordinates of a contour reference point of the LED chip with respect to the recognized center of the light-emitting area, and a light-emitting-element holding mechanism for positioning the LED chip in a bonding position on the board based on the recognized coordinates of the contour reference point. The center of the light-emitting area of the LED chip can be positioned highly accurately in a desired position on the board without being adversely affected by variations in the contour dimensions of the LED chip.