Transparency

The microLED display technology is highly promising, as these displays offer increased brightness, efficiency and lifetime over the current LCD and OLED displays. However adoption of microLED displays in the major display markets is still years away. One display segment that could see adoption of microLED display sooner, is the transparent display sector.

Transparent displays are very interesting and have been researched for many years - and we have seen commercial adoption of transparent LCD, LED and OLED displays. These never achieved meaningful market success, but microLED developers hope that once microLED transparent displays are available this could change, thanks to the higher transparency and brightness offered by microLEDs compared to OLEDs and LCDs.

In recent years, we have seen many companies demonstrating transparent microLED prototypes, and even deploying some solution commercially. We will detail some of these recent advances below.

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced a strategic partnership with PMOLED producer RiTDisplay display, that will enable device makers to access VueReal's microLED display technologies.

VueReal and RiTDisplay have been collaborating for several years, co-developing automotive displays and lighting solutions. The two companies will now target the consumer market with high-performance and cost-effective displays. The displays will be based on RiT's passive-matrix backplane and VueReal's microLED frontplane solutions.

Today we published a new edition of our Transparent MicroLED and OLED Market Report, with all the latest information and updates from this interesting upcoming industry and market, including the many new prototypes and displays recently unveiled by microLED developers.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• Transparent OLED and MicroLED properties and advantages
• The transparent OLED and MicroLED industry
• What kind of transparent OLEDs are currently on the market
• The transparent OLED lighting market

The report package also provides:

• Transparent OLED display product listing
• A guide into buying transparent OLEDs
• The main challenges towards transparent displays
• Free updates for a year

This transparent displays market report provides a great introduction to transparent OLED and MicroLED technologies and covers everything you need to know about the market and industry now and in the future. This is a great guide for anyone who's thinking about adopting transparent displays in their products or that wants to understand this industry and market throughout.

Tianma shows several MicroLEDs prototypes at Displayweek 2024, including automotive displays, transparent displays, and wearable ones.

The first display was an automotive, a transparent 8.07-inch octagon-shaped display aimed towards digital side mirror applications (to be placed inside the vehicle). The display offers a transparency of 55%, a resolution of 608x1204 (167 PPI) and a brightness of 1,500 nits.

AUO had an impressive booth at Displayweek, showing some of its latest microLED prototypes. It is clear that the company is highly focused on microLED technology as its next-gen display strategy.

First up, with a 31" large area single-panel microLED, which AUO says is the world's largest. The display is produced on a single glass LTPS backplane, and offers 120Hz and a brightness of 500 nits. AUO calls this a Large Size A.R.T. MicroLED display.

Taiwan-based Innolux demonstrated new microLED display prototypes: a wide 187-inch microLED tiled display, a 9.6" flexible automotive microLED prototype and a transparent microLED.

Innolux did not detail much about these new prototypes. All of its microLEDs are based on blue microLEDs with quantum dot color conversion, and LTPS backplanes on glass substrates. 

Last week during Touch Taiwan 2024, AUO demonstrated several new (and not new) microLED display prototypes. The company released this short video showing the displays in action:

AUO showed its large-area (60") microLED displays, its automotive microLED solutions (including transparent automotive displays), a 30" real-depth 3D microLED display for entertainment applications, medical-grade displays and a 31" microLED display that is a single panel (not a tiled display) - which AUO says is the world largest.

Today we published a new edition of our Transparent MicroLED and OLED Market Report, with all the latest information and updates from this interesting upcoming industry and market, including the many new prototypes and displays recently unveiled by microLED developers.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• Transparent OLED and MicroLED properties and advantages
• The transparent OLED and MicroLED industry
• What kind of transparent OLEDs are currently on the market
• The transparent OLED lighting market

The report package also provides:

• Transparent OLED display product listing
• A guide into buying transparent OLEDs
• The main challenges towards transparent displays
• Free updates for a year

This transparent displays market report provides a great introduction to transparent OLED and MicroLED technologies and covers everything you need to know about the market and industry now and in the future. This is a great guide for anyone who's thinking about adopting transparent displays in their products or that wants to understand this industry and market throughout.

Lenovo is demonstrating a new prototype laptop device that uses a 17.3" transparent microLED display (produced by AUO). This is just a prototype at this stage, Lenovo says it has no plans to actually commercialize its Project Crystal device.

Lenovo suggests several use cases for such a device - for example sharing information (in a doctor's office, or a hotel desk), or AR applications such as identifying objects behind the screen (although this seems more suitable for higher mobility devices such as tablets or smartphones). 

We're happy to interview Reza Chaji, CEO and founder at VueReal, as part of our series of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. Canada-based VueReal developed a unique microLED display production process (which it refers to as a MicroSolid Printing Platform) and the company now offers a turnkey platform that enables its partners and customers to develop a custom display and fabricate it at VueReal's own pilot production line. 

Hello Reza, can you introduce your company and technology?

From the outset, we recognized that microLED solutions should address the formidable challenges of developing smartphone microLED displays to pave the way beyond niche markets. Consequently, our focus has been on developing scalable and cost-competitive technologies tailored for high-volume applications. This strategic approach positions us effectively to address the smartphone sector soon and opens doors to other markets.

VueReal's fundamental technological innovation lies in our transfer solution with unique printing attributes, microSolid Printing. This groundbreaking solution boasts distinct advantages over lasers and pick-and-place methods.