October 2024

The MicroLED Industry Association published its first soft-standard document, that focuses on microLED microdisplays. Most analysts and developers agree that the AR market is one of the targets for microLED displays. MicroLED microdisplays offer many advantages for AR developers – mainly very high brightness and high efficiency.

In this soft-stsandard document, the MicroLED Industry Association provide guidelines for microdisplay developers and device makers, identifying the different properties of microLED microdisplays and suggesting how to disclose display metrics and performance.

On February 17^th 2025, the MicroLED Industry Association will host a private webinar focused on submicron LED technology. During this webinar, association members will look into sub-micron LED technology, understand the latest status and research innovation and discuss how submicron LEDs should take part in the future microLED industry.

The webinar will feature two speakers, and will follow with an open Q&A session.

Researchers from the KAIST institute in Korea have developed a microLED-based face mask, that aims to slow down skin aging. The researchers say that the mask's flexibility enables uniform light penetration and so can slow down skin aging. The team conducted trials in collaboration with a university hospital, and found out that skin elasticity in the dermal layer improved by 340% compared to conventional LED masks.

Each light mask has 3,770 microLED devices, and a light diffusion layer that disperses the light evenly. The researchers did not detail the size or properties of the microLEDs. The researchers have licensed the technology to FRONICS that plans to commercialize it. 

In August 2023, China-based BOE HC Semitek started building its $700 million microLED epiwafer production line in Jinwan District, Zhuhai, China.

The company now held a ceremony marking the beginning of sample wafer production at the new line. This is the first phase of this project, and total investment to date is $275 million. It is likely that ramping up will take some time and full scale production of the first phase will take place later in 2025. When the fab is complete, with all three phases, it will have a yearly capacity of 58,000 6-inch microLED wafers. 

Researchers from Korea's Kookmin University in Seoul, led by Prof. Young Rag Do, have developed a novel top-down process to fabricate and isolate sub-micron GaN microLEDs. The process combines electrochemical etching and sonochemical separation of the etched porous layer to isolate the microLEDs.

The researchers have used the process to produce Au-coated GaN blue LEDs that offer an EQE of 6.21% (at 4.0 V) and a luminous efficacy of 1,070 cd/m2 (at 10.0 V). The LEDs themselves had a diameter of 750 nm, these are true sub-micon LEDs.

Almost a year ago, the MicroLED Industry Association published its first MicroLED Industry Roadmap and State-of-the-Industry document, covering microLED technology trends in 2024, details the MicroLED Association’s roadmap and projections for the future of the microLED industry and market, by application segments. 

The document has been well received, with over 800 downloads to date, and with several leading technology news sites and blogs, from all over the world covering the roadmap publication. ,Some examples follow.

Finland-Based Comptek Solutions announced that it has successfully designed and installed a pilot line that integrates its Kontrox passivation technology with industry-standard techniques like Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) for substrates up to 200mm. The company says that its technology minimizes surface defects and ensuring an exceptionally high-quality III-V dielectric interface.

The new facility enables Comptek to deliver scalable solutions for a wide range of applications, including power electronics and optoelectronics. One of the key applications for Comptek are microLED devices. Back in 2022, we posted a spotlight on Comptek and a short interview with its CEO, that highlights how the performance of microLED devices is increased thanks to the passivation technology.

Researchers from Hunan University have designed and grown wafer-scale uniform green GaN epilayer on silicon wafers (4-inch and 6-inch in size). The epilayer was of very high uniformity and showed excellent properties. Using this wafer, the researchers developed green microLED displays reaching over 10 million nits.

This epilayer demonstrated a low dislocation density of 5.25×108 cm^-2, minimal wafer bowing of 16.7 μm, and high wavelength uniformity (STDEV<1 nm). The researcher integrated the Micro-LEDs with CMOS circuits and created 1080x780 monochrome green microLED displays, which offered the ultra high brightness.

Researchers from Korea's Kookmin University in collaboration with colleagues from Kyung Hee University have managed to enhance the performance of microLEDs produced using fluidic self-assembly based on chelation bonds of chemical linkers. The researcher report up to 61.8% increase in assembly yield compared to previous methods, and their vertically assembled 1.3 um microLEDs achieved a peak EQE of 8.1% and a brightness of 22,300 nits at 9 V.

The researchers developed a novel approach for the face-selective vertical assembly of microLEDs using a chemical linker capable of engaging in metal chelate coordination interactions within Zn metal complexes.

Researchers from Cornell University, in collaboration with researchers from the Polish Academy of Science have developed the world's first chip that combines an LED and a transistor. This so-called Dualtronic chip could pave the way towards smaller, lower-cost and more efficient LEDs. 

The researchers built their GaN device so that on one side it has a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), and on the other side it has an LED. The researchers take advantage of a unique property of GaN - the fact that it has a large electronic polarization along its crystal axis, which gives each of its surfaces dramatically different physical and chemical properties. The gallium side is useful for photonic devices, while the Nitrogen side is useful for transistor devices.