The invention describes carrier structure (100, 200) for assembling a semiconductor lighting module, comprising at least two sub carriers (110, 210) and an alignment structure (120, 130, 230, 232) mechanically coupling the sub carriers (110, 210). The alignment structure (120, 130, 230, 232) is adapted such that the mechanical coupling to at least a part of the sub carriers (110, 210) disappears during thermal mating the carrier structure (100, 200) on a carrier (110, 250). The alignment structure (120, 130, 230, 232) is further adapted to compensate a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material of the carrier (110, 250) being higher than a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material of the carrier structure (100, 200). The invention further describes a semiconductor chip comprising such a carrier structure (100, 200) and a semiconductor lighting module comprising the carrier structure (100, 200) or the semiconductor chip. The invention finally describes a corresponding method of manufacturing a semiconductor lighting module. The invention enables assembling of semiconductor lighting modules by thermal mating with reduced alignment effort.