BOE had a large demonstrating at SID Displayweek 2024, showing several of its latest displays and prototypes - including many flexible and foldable OLED displays, automotive AMOLEDs, new OLED technology demonstrators and two OLED microdisplays.

BOE also showed a microLED display demonstrator, which it called the MicroLED Transformer Display, that included two panels that can connect in an almost seamless way (but not completely). The displays are flexible (curved) with a 0.3 mm pitch display (P0.3). Other specifications include a brightness of up to 2,000 nits (peak), and a refresh rate of 90Hz. 

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced a new microLED architecture, based on blue LEDs and QD color conversion, which it brands as QuantumVue. VueReal says it developed its own patented dynamic quantum dot (QD) patterning technology which complements its unique proprietary MicroSolid Printing microLED transfer technology.

VueReal says that its QuantumVue displays offer high sustainability and affordability without compromising image quality. The technology is especially suitable for TV panels as it can offer superior performance at a competitive cost compared to a native RGB microLED display architecture.

The display industry's premier event, Displayweek, is over. We will now collect our notes, thoughts, photos and images and will share it all in the coming days. In the meantime, we'd like to detail some initial impressions.

Generally speaking, it seems as if the display industry is going through a phase of relatively little innovation, especially with the mature LCD and OLED industry segments. While it has been a very busy week, and attendance at the event seems high, the number of actual demonstrations and prototypes was not stellar and compared to previous years, the booths were smaller and some companies skipped the event this year or preferred to only show their latest displays in private settings. Some thoughts we have:

The MicroLED Association's meeting took place on Monday, May 13th, at the McEnery conference center in San Jose, where SID's DisplayWeek event is currently underway. This meeting marked the second time in which MIA members gathered to network, exchange opinions and strengthen relationships within the Association.

The meeting was joined by almost 40 representatives of Association members, and was a laid-back event with an informal atmosphere, which enabled open conversation and friendly networking.

The Association's founder, Ron Mertens, gave a short speech that recounted the achievements and projects of the last year, and shared plans for future endeavors. A professional discussion followed, on a range of topics including cost reduction, target applications, microLED roadmaps, collaborations and recent shifts in the display industry.

Samsung Electronics launched a new 114" microLED TV in Korea, with a price tag of 180 million Won (about $132,600). 

Interestingly, a couple of months ago Samsung introduced four new microLED TVs in China, including the 114-inch model, but it quoted a price of $173,000 - or about 30% higher than the price in Korea. 

MicroLED developer VueReal launched a hybrid microLED-LCOS microdisplay, branded as ColourFusion microDisplay, targeting AR applications. The basic idea is to use a low-density microLED microdisplay, with an LCOS on top that increases the resolution. 

VueReal says that this solution enables high resolution, high grayscale and color depth, high contrast, and unprecedented low power consumption. VueReal developed innovative power-saving algorithm and a backplane that supports variable frame rates. The microLED unit is deposited using VueReal’s proprietary MicroSolid Printing technology. 

InZiv manufactures rapid EL testing and inspection systems for microLED development and production. The company has deployed several systems at leading display makers all over the world, and has recently launched its first mass production tool. David Lewis, the company's CEO and co-founder, was recently interviewed by display industry consultant Ian Hendy.

You are CEO of InZiv in Jerusalem. Can you tell me a little bit about the company and what makes it special?

InZiv is the technology leader in rapid EL (electroluminescent) testing and inspection for microLEDs. Currently, the quality of microLED wafers is simply not where it needs to be, and the most reliable and accurate way to get both electrical and optical information from each and every die on the wafer is EL testing.

InZiv has a proprietary method for making contact with the microLED wafer, without any damage, and at very high speeds. We offer, on average, 6M dies per hour test speed in our first mass production tool, and intend to double that in the next generation. We have a roadmap beyond that for even higher throughputs. Users understand that die densities are going to increase as microLED chips get smaller and move from flip chips to vertical chips, so a valuable tool supplier needs a roadmap that can cope with the speed race, and we have such a roadmap.

The MicroLED Industry Association has announced that in less than 18 months, there have been over 6,000 downloads of its white papers, roadmap and library documents.

The MicroLED Association has published four white papers, and towards the end of 2023 it published its first industry roadmap. The display industry is highly interested in microLED solutions, and this has created much interest in the Association’s papers, as evident by the large number of downloads.

In addition to its own white papers, a year ago the MicroLED Industry Association launched the MicroLED Library, an extensive compilation of MicroLED presentations, white papers, brochures and more. A year after the MicroLED Library was announced, the association reports over 1,000 downloads for the documents in the library, further enhancing the reach of its members and helping to educate display professionals with the latest microLED technologies, processes and topics.

During AUO's recent investor conference call, the company updated on its microLED project and made some interesting comments. First of all, AUO says that it has started to ship wearable microLED display panels at the end of 2024 (that's in line with AUO's previous announcement).

As far as we know, AUO is working with a Swiss luxury watch producer (like Tag Hauer) that will announce its microLED smartwatch soon. AUO says that it expects to expand its wearable microLED production soon.