French company Aledia who focuses on 3D LED technology announced that it will invest EUR 140 million (US$ 165.82 million) to set up GaN-on-Si Micro LED production line. The production line will be set up in Champagnier, France and the company plans to begin Micro LED production by 2022 with the new site. By the end of 2019, Aledia began to collaborate with TowerJazz to accelerate Micro LED production based on Aledia’s nanowire-LED display technology and TowerJazz’ Transfer Optimization and Development Process Services (TOPS). Al...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent won by Apple describing displays based on Micro LED technology for its future products, reported Patently Apple. Apple’s plan of adopting advanced display technologies including Micro LED and Mini LED for its new products is no news for the market. The company has been dedicating to drive the progress of these cutting-edge display fabrication methods and has won several related patents. The latest one published elaborates displays that incorporate timing controller to deliver different display areas over...

Cornell researchers have developed microsensors that are tiny enough to fit 30,000 on one side of a penny. These microscopic sensors are equipped with an integrated circuit, solar cells and Micro LEDs that enable them to harness light for power and communication. The research was published in PNAS in April, titled “Microscopic Sensors Using Optical Wireless Integrated Circuits.” The research team devised a platform for parallel production of their optical wireless integrated circuits (OWICs), microsensors the size of 100 µm. Researchers in the st...

Featuring high resolution, high contrast and high brightness, Micro LED is regarded as the “ultimate display technology.” However, due to production difficulties, the technology has not yet entered the commercial market despite that the first prototypes were revealed back in 2012. Recently, driven by leading brands including Apple and Samsung, we have seen more and more Micro LED displays presented. But industry experts forecasted that it would take at least three years for the technology to truly enter the consumer market. Mass transfer is a notorious challenge...

LG officially launched its Micro LED signage solution, named “LG MAGNIT,” on September 10, which is the first Micro LED display product debuted by the company. LG is releasing the Micro LED display to the markets of the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. (Image: LG) LG has already included the Micro LED category including a few product details to its Business Solution webpage earlier this year as LEDinside covered in July. With the official launch, LG further updated several features of its Micro LED display. L...

Even without a physical presence, Display Week 2020 still functioned as a major arena for competing technology providers to showcase their offerings. Noteworthy participants that unveiled their latest Micro LED products included LGD, AUO, Tianma, and BOE. In demonstrating their cutting-edge solutions, exhibitors used videos, images, and other media resources to overcome the limitations of the virtual venue. The lack of physical exhibitions and conferences did not diminish the excitement over Micro LED displays during Display Week 2020. Many prominent developers ...

Researchers continue to focus on the current technology bottlenecks of Micro LED display manufacture. Recently, a team consisting of researchers from Guangdong Institute of Semiconductor Industrial Technology (GISIT), University of Tokyo, and Foshan Debao Display Technology reported their new transfer technique that integrates adhesive tape and laser lift-off (LLO) technology. The study was published in Advanced Materials Technologies, titled “Wafer-Scale Micro-LEDs Transferred onto an Adhesive Film for Planar and Flexible Displays.” I...

According to the latest report of TrendForce, “2020 Global Automotive LED Product Trend and Regional Market Analysis,” demands for automotive LED increase stably driven by advanced applications such as intelligent headlamp, central tunnel taillights, HDR automotive displays, ambient lights and more. Headlamps play the major role in the development of automotive LED lighting. The driving momentum include halogen replacement, small aperture, adaptive driving beam (ADB) and projection. TrendForce analyzed that halogen replacement and ADB will occup...

As applications adopting Mini LED technology are about to boom, Chinese companies reported their new investment projects for expanding capacity for the new display technologies including Mini LED and Micro LED. Last week, LED display maker Dicolor and LED chip producer Focus Lightings announced their new projects for Mini and Micro LED respectively. Dicolor added RMB 1 billion (US$ 146.28 million) to build a Mini LED display production center in Chuzhou and Focus Lightings announced that it will expand capacity for Mini/Micro LED chip with an...

Vuzix announced that it is developing next generation product line of smart glasses powered by Micro LED technology that are expected to become available in 2021. (Image: Vuzix) The smart glasses maker said that the Micro LED-based product line will include middle-end consumer-facing product and a higher end enterprise version with built-in cellular connectivity. (Image: Vuzix) Micro LED will be used as projectors for the smart glasses to deliver high density pixel arrays with both monochrome and full color solution. The glasses will also feature a larger field...

Mini LED backlight display technology is going to be adopted by Apple and Samsung for tablets and TVs launching next year. Meanwhile, we have seen several Micro LED technology breakthroughs recently with AUO, PlayNitride and ITRI showcasing their prototypes for innovative applications. To speed up Micro/Mini LED display technology, integration within the supply chain is a major strategy recognized by industry players. Epistar and Lextar, the two Taiwan-based LED chip manufacturers, are merging with the aim to leverage their expertise and avoid duplicated ...

University of Texas at Dallas researchers and their international colleagues have developed a method to create Micro LEDs that can be folded, twisted, cut and stuck to different surfaces. The research, published online in the journal Science Advances, helps pave the way for the next generation of flexible, wearable technology. The research team created a detachable Micro LED with flexibility, aiming to fulfill the growing demand for bendable, wearable electronics. Researchers develop the flexible LED through a technique called remote epitaxy. To make it detachable, res...

Accelerating the development of new display technologies is the goal for worldwide display manufacturers and some of them have decided to sell or buy new facilities as a move to approach their target. Samsung Display has sold its LCD factory in China to Chinese display maker CSOT, a company under TCL group, to further cut down its LCD capacity, which goes in line with Samsung’s plan to quit LCD business. By ending its LCD panel production, Samsung aims to expand its development in QD displays and OLED displays. The Korean giant has also reportedly t...

Micro LED technology developers from Taiwan unveiled their latest progress in quantum dots (QD) color conversion and wafer production. Lextar introduced its progresses in reliable QD development to realize full color Micro LED displays while PlayNitride shared its achievement of 6-inch Micro LED epitaxial wafers with advanced uniformity. (Image: screenshot from PlayNitride video) Lextar, a vertical integrated LED company based in Taiwan, shared that the company has been working on deploying QD color conversion technology on Micro LED display. Since M...

The ultimate display technology Micro LED has improved significantly in wafer technology, full color performance and mass transferring recently. Taiwan-based industry players have shared their insights of the technology at an industry gathering last week. Jennifer Y-C Lin, Senior Associate Vice President of AUO, indicated that Micro LED will be a key technology to drive innovative applications in the era of 5G connection and IoT, especially as the world heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She explained that in addition to excellent display performance,...

Japan Display (JDI) is going to sell its LCD plant in Hakusan, Japan, to Sharp and Apple, so that the Japanese display maker can pay off its debt to Apple. The total transfer price is estimated to be JPY 71 billion (US$ 672 million). (Image: JDI) The plant will be transferred to Sharp, who is also a display supplier of Apple, by the end of September. With the transaction, Sharp will take over most of the debt of JDI which JDI borrowed from Apple when building the plant. The plant was originally built for supplying LCD panels for iPhone. But S...

2021 is expected to be the year that Mini LED will illuminate the display market. Apple is getting ready to launch the new iPad Pro featuring Mini LED backlight display and Samsung will probably debut new high end TV portfolio based on the technology. Recently a Korean media added that Samsung might produce about 2 million units of Mini LED backlit TV next year. With all the upcoming Mini LED display applications, the supply chain in Taiwan covering LED manufacturers and panel makers who have been dedicating to improving the display technology based on mini...

Sharp’s mass production plan for Micro LED displays marked a progress of the Foxconn Group in next-gen display technology development. Incorporates LED chip production, packaging technology, panel manufacture and TV brands, the Foxconn Group is known for its ambition to set up an internal Micro LED supply chain. The Micro LED displays developed by Sharp, a 0.38-inch full color panel featuring 1053 PPI and a 0.13-inch blue display with 3000 PPI, were designed by the semiconductor group under Foxconn and manufactured by Sharp Fukuyama Semiconductor. ...

Researchers from Taiwan’s National Tshing Hua University (NTHU) developed a method of adding salt water to quantum dots to make the materials more stable and easier for inkjet printing for optimized Micro LED display manufacture. Their results were published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, titled “Inkjet-Printed Salt-Encapsulated Quantum Dot Film for UV-Based RGB Color-Converted Micro-Light Emitting Diode Displays.” (Image: NTHU) Full color Micro LED display fabrication is challenging due to poor performanc...

Micro LED display technology based on self-emitting pixels delivers advanced contract ratio, high brightness and wide color gamut. Many believe that the technology is bringing revolutions to the display industry and can be widely adopted in different forms of applications. However, after years of development with more and more players joining the ecosystem, the fundamental issues for mass production are yet to be tackled. The most well-known difficulty of Micro LED display manufacture is mass transferring as most of the LED companies do not have equipment capable of process ...

Sharp, one of the panel providers of Apple, is reportedly developing small size Micro LED displays and will mass produce the products by 2023 for eye-wear smart devices, reported Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. According to the report, Sharp Fukuyama Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Sharp, has developed Micro LED prototypes including a 0.38-inch full color panel featuring 1053 PPI and a 0.13-inch blue display with 3000 PPI. The company deploys its proprietary color conversion technology to achieve full color display and aims to mass produce the products in 2023 to 2024 for A...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a new article in Science Advances demonstrating a new design for LED that may overcome a long-standing limitation in the light sources' efficiency. The research team developed microscopic LEDs which achieve a dramatic increase in brightness as well as the ability to create laser light. Consisting of scientists from the University of Maryland, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, the team achieved 100 to 1,000 times higher brightness with LEDs...

In the second half of 2020, increasing applications based on novel display technologies are emerging in the market. Mini LED backlight technology has reached the stage of commercialization with several notebook and monitor products launched. Chinese TV brands TCL have released its Mini LED TV series and Korean giants Samsung and LG are likely to roll out Mini LED backlight TVs in the near future as well. And of course, the most expected Mini LED product would be the 12.9 iPad Pro of Apple. Meanwhile, Micro LED technology is still developing and a few...

Despite the interruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of novel display technologies have to go on. At the virtual Display Week held last week, there were still several new Micro LED display exhibits showcased by worldwide experts. LEDinside selects a few innovations that cannot be missed. AUO AUO exhibited an integrated full color TFT driven Micro LED automotive displays with two 9.4-inch flexible Micro LED panels. Its S-curve shape enables the display to be mounted into automotive interior design. It also demonstrated a 12.1-inch Micro...

Kyocera and Osram reported worked on a new Micro LED display driving technology. According to a report of MicroLED-info, the two companies have designed a hybrid current and PWM driving technology for Micro LED displays. The new driving scheme can be used to avoid using lower pixel currents through Micro LED chips, as described by Kyocera and Osram. As a result, the approach reduces luminance deviation and color shift even at lower grayscale levels. The new driving technology was demonstrated with Kyocera’s 3.9-inch full color Micro LED display bas...

PMOLED panel maker RiTdisplay presented a Micro LED thin film display at virtual Display Week that took place last week from August 3 to 8. The company also indicated in its investor conference last week that it has begun sending sample of Mini LED products this year and the shipment is scheduled in 2021. (Image: screenshot from RiTdisplay's video) RiTdisplay has been collaborating with Micro LED company PlayNitride since 2019 to develop Micro LED displays. The two parties exhibited a few small size Micro LED display modules for wearable appl...

On August 7, LED companies Epistar and Lextar held an extraordinary shareholders meeting to pass the share conversion of both companies to the new holding company, ENNOSTAR. The members of the board of directors, supervisors and chairman of ENNOSTAR were also elected. As expected, Epistar holds three seats in the board of directors, Lextar takes one seat and its parent company AUO gets one seat as well. The members of the board of director include Biing-Jye Lee, Chairman of Epistar; Chin-Yung Fan, President of Epistar; Shih-Shien Chang, Vice P...

Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) from Taiwan continues to strengthen its Micro LED technology development. The organization joined virtual Display Week 2020 as well and presented its latest Micro LED breakthrough. (Image: screenshot from ITRI video ) ITRI showcased a flexible full color Micro LED display module at its online booth. The flexible Micro LED display sizes 60mm*30mm with a pixel pitch of 250 µm and a resolution of 240*120 (100 PPI). The display module is demonstrated as a wearable devices combining the Micro L...

Radiant Vision Systems, a subsidiary of the Konica Minolta group who experts in photometric imaging solutions for light and display measurement, announces that it will present a technical paper during the 2020 Display Week Symposium taking place online from August 3-7. Doug Kreysar, CEO of Radiant Vision Systems, will present the company’s paper titled “Fractional Pixel Method for Improved Pixel-Level Measurement and Correction (Demura) of High-Resolution Displays.” (Image: Radiant Vision Systems) The presentation will highlight the c...

As virtual Display Week goes on, Taiwan-based panel maker AUO announced its demonstration of advanced display technologies covering Micro LED automotive displays, Mini LED medical displays, a full range of gaming displays as well as display applications in smart retail and transportation. Pioneering the next generation display technology, AUO is showcasing a complete series of full color TFT driven Micro LED automotive displays. The 9.4-inch flexible Micro LED display developed jointly by AUO and PlayNitride is now integrated into a automotive display t...