Plessey, the UK-based semiconductor technology provider, has successfully developed GaN-on-Si monolithic Micro LED. According to the company, the innovative development will support next generation applications such as AR headsets, head-up displays (HUD) and other smart wearables to enter the mass market. Given their high contrast, high speed, wide viewing angle, high brightness and more efficient and longer-lasting operation, Micro LEDs are perfect for display applications on wearables such as smart watches, HUDs and AR headsets. (Image: Plessey) Howeve...

In the manufacturing process of Micro LED display, inspection and repair technologies are indispensable to enhance and assure production yield. But again, given the massive amount of Micro LED chips in tiny size, Micro LED display makers face a great challenge for the testing and repairing process. LED testing includes photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) test, the former method can test LED chips without touching and ruining them but it might not detect all the defects compared to EL test. On the contrary, EL test is able to identify more defec...

An emerging landscape bereft of standards, some have defined Micro LEDs as anything where the LED semiconductor die is smaller than 70 μm down to perhaps 1μm. Larger die are typically called Mini LEDs, used in applications such as local dimming. The semiconductor die are essentially a miniature version of the die in the well-known, commoditized solid-state lighting (SSL LED) industry. Besides physical dimensions, there are some subtle differences between the SSL industry and the display industry. Spectral tuning notwithstanding, the end goal for SSL industry...

In order to commercialized Micro LED display, the current goal of Micro LED technology developers is to reduce production cost and improve yield through optimizing manufacture process. One obstruction to the goal comes from the production process of mass transferring and bonding, as assembling million Micro LED chips to targeted substrates poses a great challenge for display makers. Micro LED display is made from Micro LED array consisting of a massive amount of Micro LED chips, forming individual pixels. Since the size of Micro LED chips is less than 100 &m...

glō, the Swedish-American Micro LED company, has been progressing its Micro LED technology since it exhibited the world’s brightest Micro LED display with JDC at Display Week 2018. In 2019, the company showcased four prototypes of Micro LED display including smartwatch display, AR display, HUD and a smartphone-sized panel with Kyocera during Display Week. (Image:glō) The solution of glō features two technology, RGB InGaN Micro LED and direct wafer transfer onto different substrate materials including silicon (CMOS), glass (LTO...

During Display Week 2019, LEDinside noted that Chinese LED makers and panel producers become strong industry players in Micro LED technology developments. The country was also ranked the second in the world with its Micro LED patent application, according to the statistics of the Korean Intellectual Property Office. The National Intellectual Property Administration of China published a patent applied by BOE which focuses on Micro LED transferring. In the patent application, BOE proposed a mass transfer solution with high efficiency in which a magneti...

In the latest report of LEDinside, titled “LEDinside 2019 Micro LED Next Generation Display Key Technology Report,” Micro LED technology not only features excellent performance in brightness and contrast that surpass OLED, its fast response time, low power consumption and reliability make it a perfect option for mobile and automotive applications. However, complicated production process which leads to low yield and high production cost has slowed down the commercial progress of Micro LED display. One of the challenges lies in the quality of Micr...

Despite that more and more industry players across the world have built partnership and poured resources into Micro LED development and research, the commercialization of the next generation display technology is still delaying. Due to technology barriers and equipment limitation, production cost for Micro LED display remains sky high, leading to postponed timeline of Micro LED display commercialization. But why is the manufacture of Micro LED display so difficult? What are the challenges occurred during Micro LED production that slow down the commercial progress? ...

Patently Apple reported that the US Patent and Trademark Office have published several new patents for Apple recently including two patents of Micro LED chip transferring and structure and one related to a head-mounted system with a holographic element. The first patent of Micro LED transferring, titled Micro LED Display, described a Micro LED structure with a metallization layer between a bonding layer and the micro p-n diode, as well as a conformal dieletric barrier layer. The structure of Micro LED enables a phase change during chip transferring and enabl...

Display Week is an iconic event for the display industry across the world. Micro LED display is still a major focus of the show in 2019. Most of the Micro LED display exhibitors have demonstrated their products last year and came with upgraded Micro LED display this year. LEDinside noticed that Chinese panel manufacturers have joined the game of Micro LED and showcased active driven solution on glass backplane, indicating the technology progress of Micro LED display. Let’s take a look at the latest Micro LED developments at SID Display Week 2019. ...

French research institute, Leti of CEA Tech, announced a new technology development based on CMOS for GaN Micro LED displays manufacture. Researchers said the new process is capable of producing high performance Micro LED displays for a wide range of applications from smart watches to TVs. The approach fabricates elementary units of all-in-one red, green, blue (RGB) Micro LEDs on a CMOS driving circuit, and transfers the devices to a simple receiving substrate. The units are fabricated with a full semiconductor, wafer-scale approach. (Image: CEA...

Rumors about when Apple will start adopting Micro LED in its products have been going on since it acquired Micro LED startup LuxVue in 2014. Many believed that Apple Watch would be the first Apple product using Micro LED display featuring its high brightness and low power consumption. However, it is also likely that the technology will be seen in augmented reality (AR) devices based on Apple’s recent plans. Reuters reported that Apple has teamed up with German software developer SAP to help business develop applications based on Apple’s machine-l...

Smart glasses and AR technology provider Vuzix and optoelectronic technologies developer Plessey announced an exclusive display device design and long-term supply agreement. With the agreement, the two companies will work together on AR products development and productions combining Micro LED light source from Plessey and smart glasses expertise of Vuzix. Vuzix has developed a Smart Glasses portfolio including Vuzix Blade, which won the CES 2019 Innovation Award. The glasses are equipped with a smart display, offering a see-through viewing experience via its waveg...

Micro LED technology startup VueReal reported that it has developed a solution to offer required yield for high-volume production of Micro LED displays. Right after unveiling its ability to produce Micro LED display with 30,000 ppi with product sample available for order, VueReal announced its development of a Micro LED display mass production solution. Low transfer yield and the need for expensive redundancy or repair solutions have been major limiting factors preventing Micro LED displays from being used in mainstream applications. In order to tackle the issue...

The Tianma Group from China announced that it will exhibit a 7.56-inch Micro LED display, a Mini LED backlit HDR LCD, and a Flexible AMOLED display at Display Week 2019. Tianma will showcase a Micro LED display with over 60 percent transparency and a resolution of 720*480 (114ppi), along with a thin border of less than 0.8mm. With the transparent Micro LED display, Tianma targets automotive applications such as HUD or car window display. (Image: Tianma) The company is also presenting a LTPS Mini LED backlight-based HDR display f...

The Society of Information Display (SID) announced the winners of its Display Industry Awards. Winners of Display of the year include Samsung’s “The Wall,” Sony’s Crystal LED Display and Apple’s OLED display for Apple Watch Series 4. Two out of the three winners went to Micro LED displays. Samsung revealed “The Wall,” a 146-inch display at CES 2018 for the first time. In 2019, the Korean company released a 75-inch Micro LED display with the “real” Micro LED chips which is only 1/15 of t...

Australian semiconductor technology developer, BluGlass, announced that its Remote Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition (RPCVD) p-GaN technology has been adopted by X-Celeprint, a micro-transfer printing company, to develop Micro LED display prototypes. By implementing BluGlass’s RPCVD p-GaN technology, X-Celeprint’s active matrix Micro LED displays demonstrated good luminance with color uniformity, quantum efficiency and forward voltage that equal current high-performance commercial applications of 2000 nits. (Image: X-Celeprint/BluG...

According to the newest 2019 Mini LED and HDR High-End Display Market Report by LEDinside , a division of TrendForce , after 3 years of mini LED backlight technology development, mini LEDs will finally make an official appearance on displays in 2019 and compete directly with OLEDs. Apple, with eyes set on the advantages of mini LED technology for a while, is also eager to strike collaborations with suppliers in Taiwan and Japan to introduce this technology into desktop displays, notebooks and tablets. TrendForce explains that, in comparing the two, Min...

As more Asian players demonstrate their progress in Micro LED, LED technology providers and researchers from Europe and North America also synchronize their advances through deepening collaboration with various solution providers. Europe: Plessey presents Micro LED AR/VR glasses; Osram joins in on Micro LED automotive display research After Plessey unveiled its GaN-on-Si monolithic Micro LED in 2018, the UK-based company has cooperated with several partners including Vuzix, JDC, Nanoco Technologies, Aixtron, Mojo Vision and others. In col...

The development of Micro LED display technology has further materialized in 2019 in the form of more solid applications presented in big trade shows. Micro LED products demonstrations marked the intensified collaboration between industry players in the supply chain across the world. Researchers, chip makers, panel producers, equipment providers and application device developers have intensified their cooperation to accelerate Micro LED technology progress. Since the beginning of 2019, many companies have announced their Micro LED progresses and plans. Follow the update...

UK-based optoelectronic technology solution provider Plessey announced that it will showcase its latest Micro LED display solutions for augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR), head-up/head-mounted displays (HUD/HMDs), smartphones and other display applications at Display Week 2019 held from May 14 to 17 in San Jose, California, USA. Plessey said it will unveil its Micro LED technology breakthroughs and demonstrate why its scalable and repeatable GaN-on-Silicon monolithic process is the solution for next-generation display products. (Image: Plessey) C...

Sanan Optoelectronics announced a CNY 120 billion (US$ 1.78 billion) investment agreement with Hubei Province on April 25, 2019 for Micro LED and Mini LED wafer and chip development and production. According to the agreement, Sanan will increase investment of III-V compound semiconductors for Micro LED and Mini LED wafer and chip production. (Image: Samsung) In September 2018, Sanan was said that it will build the first production line for Micro LED wafers and chips in 2019. The Chinese company has also worked closely with Samsung in Micr...

An international research team demonstrated the possibility of tuning the color of a GaN LED by changing the time sequence at which the operation current is provided to the device. Scientists from Lehigh University, West Chester University, Osaka University and the University of Amsterdam have collaborated to develop a new technique of color tuning for GaN LED by controlling current injection to monitor the intensity ratios of emission atomic. The research, titled “Color-Tunablility in GaN LEDs Based on Atomic Emission Manipulation under Current In...

Instrument Systems, the Munich-based light measurement solutions provider, announced that it will showcase an ultra-high resolution version of its LumiTop targeting Micro LED displays and AR/VR display applications at the Display Week 2019. According to Instrument Systems, the ultra-high resolution LumiTop model merges a 150 megapixel camera with the high-end spectroradiometer CAS 140D to guarantee test accuracy across the whole image of the camera. The resolution of 150 megapixels thereby allows (sub-) pixel level analysis of complete displays in one single shot,...

Picosun Group, supplier of AGILE ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions, announced that its ALD technology was used to successfully boost Micro LED performance. Offering compact size, low power consumption, superior brightness and energy efficiency, greater contrast and color saturation, ultra-high resolution, flexibility and good reliability, Micro LEDs are currently actively studied and developed at the leading electronics manufacturers and R&D institutes around the world. However, Micro LED technology has certain drawbacks that h...

Micro LED start up VerLASE announce that it is developing unique technologies for massively parallel assembly of Micro LED dies or films to address the major challenge of Micro LED display mass production. VerLASE, a spin-off of Versatilis, aims to develop novel technology of color conversion layers for Micro LED display. The company focused on practical methods with semiconductor and MEMs industry methods and existing tools in novel ways to enable deterministic, massively parallel transfers of Micro die, yet with provisions that allow selective repair. A...

Foxconn revealed its plan to add Micro LED or OLED production lines in the Wisconsin factory after the operation begins by the end of 2020. Foxconn announced its plan to produce LCD panels the US in 2017 and held a new factory groundbreaking ceremony last year in Wisconsin. After almost a year, the company said in March 2019 that the factory in Wisconsin will start operation by the fourth quarter of 2020. Today, Foxconn unveiled that Micro LED or OLED manufacturing lines might be added to the production of Wisconsin factory. Since the groundbreaking in...

The growing Mini LED adoption in monitors, notebooks, tablets and even mobile phones, as well as the increasing Micro LED display reveals indicate the booming market of advanced LED applications. Macroblock, the Taiwan-based LED driver IC specialist, might be benefitted from the wave. The company has joined the supply chain of Samsung’s LED cinema and is currently working with the Korean giant on Mini LED and Micro LED technologies. Samsung has expanded its LED cinema screen in worldwide cinemas including China, India, Singapore, US, German...

The next generation display technology Micro LED is on its way to commercialization after years of development. The industry has been working on technology breakthroughs and improvements to speed up the progress of Micro LED. LEDinside has partnered with the Consortium of Intelligence Micro-Assembly System (CIMS), an organization established by Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to push the development of Micro LED technologies and provide the latest trends and updates of the industry. CIMS connects the supply...

Osram Opto Semiconductors announced that it joined a project, SmartVIZ, which aims to explore the principles of high-resolution visualization solutions using Micro LEDs. Focusing on automotive interior applications, the Micro LED project expects to present initial demonstration by October 2021. The purpose of the SmartVIZ project is to provide research basis for future transparent, high-resolution, direct-emitting visualization solutions with Micro LED technologies. Osram will partner with ASM AMICRA and Fraunhofer IISB to carry out researches focu...