June 2018

Digitimes reports that Taiwan's ITRI institute is developing new micro LED displays for both small-size and large-size application.

For small-size displays, ITRI is developing a 0.55-inch micro-LED microdisplays (on-silicon). This display is aimed for AR or VR devices. For this display ITRI uses 10-micron LEDs. For larger-sized application, ITRI is focused on displays over 130-inch in size. For such displays ITRI adopts 50-100 micron LEDs on PCB substrates.

In early 2018 Taiwan's Jasper Display Corp (JDC) unveiled its new 8" silicon micro-LED backplane (the eSP70) in collaboration with glō.

At SID Displayweek 2018, JDC demonstrated a different JD27E2 8" wafer, and a 0.7" Full-HD monochrome (960x540 color) microLED microdisplay that is said to be the world's brightest at 100,000 nits (!).

In January 2018 Samsung unveiled its first Micro-LED TV, the 146-inch modular Wall, and later the company said it will start shipping it in August 2018. Yesterday Samsung officially launched "The Wall Professional" in a tradeshow in the US, and it is now accepting pre-orders, aiming to find customers in lobbies, museums, galleries, and retail spaces.

Samsung did not reveal the price of its new TV - but maybe that's because it is a modular premium commercial display - so each order will be handled differently. It is estimated that the price of the 146" model will be at least $100,000. The Wall Professional features HDR 10+ and its brightness is up to 1,600 nits.

During a presentation at SID Displayweek 2018, laser developer Coherent showed a nice chart that summarizes the performance difference between LCDs, OLEDs and Micro-LED displays.

Coherent says that its lasers could be used in the pick-and-place process when making micro-LEDs. A laser lift-off process (LLO) removes the LED chips from the sapphire growth wafer (or any other carrier wafer) and a the laser-inducted forward-transfer (LIFT) process transfer selected dies from carrier to substrate in a high-precision way that can be massively parallel (over 25,000 dies per shot).

Taiwan's PlayNitride demonstrates two Micro-LED prototypes at SID 2018. The first one is a small 0.89" 64x64 (105 PPI) panel with a brightness of 800 nits. All of the LED chips in this display were transferred in three shots (one shot per color). The pixel size in this display is 0.243 mm.

The second display is a larger panel - 3.12" 256x256 (116 PPI). Due to the larger number of LEDs (total of 786K LEDs) PlayNitride had to use 24 shots to transfer all three colored chips. The pixel size in this larger display is 0.219 mm.

Ireland-based micro-transfer printing developer X-Celeprint demonstrated a 5.1" Micro-LED display in a private demo room at SID Displayweek.

X-Celeprint's display has a low resolution - the pixel density is 70 PPI, which means the resolution is around 300x200. The display uses micro ICs to control and compensate each pixel (this is not a TFT display). X-Celeprint says it intends to spin off a new display-focused company within the next 12 months.

AUO demonstrated a micro-LED display, which it says is the world's highest resolution full-color TFT micro-LED.

The 8" panel features a resolution of 1280x480 (169 PPI). The micro-LEDs use blue LED chips with color conversion, on an LTPS backplane. AUO did not disclose any roadmap to commercialize this technology.

Yesterday we reported that Plessey partnered with AR supplier Vuzix to bring Micro-LED display engine, Quanta-Brite, for next generation AR Smart Glasses - which Vuzix expects to introduce in 2019.

An interesting article at LED Inside explains Plessey Semiconductor's technology. The Quanta-Brite display engine is not a 'true' Micro-LED display - it is an LCoS or DMD (digital mirror) display engine that is lit by a micro-LED array and special optics. Usual LCoS and DMD displays are lit by larger LEDs, and Plessey claims that its micro-LED solution will provide a more efficient and more uniform display.

UK-based GaN-on-Si MicroLED developer Plessey Semiconductor announced that it has partnered with AR supplier Vuzix to develop advanced Micro-LED display engines for Vuzix waveguide optics to enable next generation AR Smart Glasses. Vuzix expects to introduce the Micro-LED microdisplay based AR glasses in 2019.

Vuzix says that Plessey's Quanta-Brite light engine is highly efficient and bright, and will enable smaller and more efficient AR devices. The Quanta-Brite engine is based on Plessey's advanced and proprietary gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) technology, with an integrated monolithic array of RGB pixels with advanced micro-optical elements.