MicroLED microdipslay developer Mojo Vision, a MicroLED Industry Association member, announced a partnership with CY Vision to develop next-generation heads-up displays (HUDs) for the automotive market.

These HUDs will use Mojo Vision's microLED technology, and will also leverage AI and 3D imaging to provide drivers with an "immersive and personalized driving experience with informative, line-of-sight overlays that promote driver safety and provide essential information".

OTFT developer Smartkem, a MicroLED Industry Association member, announced that it has signed an agreement with Shanghai Chip Foundation Semiconductor Technology to co-develop microLED-based backlight units for LCD displays.

Smartkem prototype microLED display

The new backlight units will use Smartkem's proprietary organic dielectric single layer material, or Redistribution Layer (RDL). Chip Foundatiion will use the material with its own microLED devices. As part of the co-development project, Smartkem will develop specifica insulator materials to be used by Chip Foundation. The project will develop miniLED packages that contain four microLEDs wired in series. Smartkem says that the chip will offer high brightness, high current efficiency, improved uniformity and lower power consumption compared to current miniLED based backlighting units.

Do NOT miss the most important event of the year: Book your tickets before September 13 and save up to 250 Euro per person. This is the last chance to order MicroLED-Connect tickets at a discount.

MicroLED-Connect is the world's first global  MicroLED-dedicated conference and exhibition. The event includes an excellent agenda, exhibition, tours and masterclasses.

Dates: 25 & 26 Sept 2024
Location: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Organizers: TechBlick and the MicroLED Industry Association

Agenda: Amazing speaker line-up including Google, Yole, Continental, Aixtron, Applied Materials, Toray Engineering, TCL CSOT, JCDecaux, CEA Leti, Coherent, VueReal, Omdia, and many others.  

During the IFA 2024 tradeshow, Samsung demonstrated a 65-inch microLED TV. We do not have any technical detail, but it's likely this is a 4K display.

Samsung currently offers a range of microLED TVs, from 89-inch to 114-inch. It will be interesting to know whether Samsung aims to soon launch a 65-inch model, although it seems unlikely this will happen soon as the cost will be very high for such a size. 

LG Display is showcasing its stretchable micrOLED displays at the Seoul Fashion Week, taking place at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP). The company's stretchable displays are presented as part of clothing and bag concepts crafted by leading Korean designers Youn-Hee Park and Chung-Chung Lee.

The displays are 12" in size, and they can stretch up to 20% (14-inch, 40 um pixel pitch) while still showing full color images. The resolution is 100 PPI. These are the same displays the company demonstrated back in 2022. 

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.

The MicroLED Industry Association (MIA) was established in August 2022, to create a community of collaborations and knowledge sharing that would advance the MicroLED industry.  Since its inception, the MIA grew to include over 40 members, among which are industry leaders such as LG Display, Corning, Ennostar, 3M, ams-Osram and Applied Materials, along with various supply chain companies and research centers.

The MIA believes in networking and building personal ties. To that end, its activities in the last 2 years included hosting 23 events: 2 onsite and 21 online, topical webinars, meetups, working group meetings and more.

To support the vital dissemination of knowledge, the MIA published 5 white papers and one Industry Roadmap document, totaling over 6,000 downloads as of May 2024. The MIA also launched the MicroLED Library, with 23 brochures, white papers and presentations by association members, with over 1,000 downloads to date.

Samsung Display is showcasing its latest display prototypes and technologies at the International Meeting on Information Display (iMID 2024) conference on Jeju Island, Korea. One of the displays is a new stretchable microLED display.

While we know that SDC is developing stretchable microLED display technologies, this is the first time it has demonstrated a prototype publicly. Samsung did not detail much about the display, beyond saying that it has a 120 PPI and can stretch up to 125% of its original size (i.e. a 25% increase in size). The company says that this is the highest resolution stretchable display ever demonstrated, and the one that has the highest elongation rate.

Microdisplays are defined as very small displays, usually under 1-inch in diameter, used for near-eye applications. These displays feature very fine pixels and usually deliver very good image qualities. Microdisplays are used in markets such as military (HMDs, rifle sights, etc.) and industrial markets.

Most microdisplays on the market today are either LCD/LCoS displays or OLED displays. MicroLED technology is highly promising for microdisplay applications as it promises the high image quality of OLED displays coupled with very high brightness, high efficiency and long lifetimes. While the microLED industry is still emerging, the microdisplay sector is relatively mature and some displays are already deployed on the market.

Do NOT miss the most important event of the year: Book your tickets before September 13 and save up to 200 Euro per person!

MicroLED-Connect is the world's first global  MicroLED-dedicated conference and exhibition. The event includes an excellent agenda, exhibition, tours and masterclasses.

It is also an excellent chance to meet your fellow microLED professionals, from leading companies including:

   3D-Micromac    Aixtron   ALLOS Semiconductors    ams Osram   
   Applied Materials   Barco    CEA-Leti    Coherent    
   Continental Corporation    Fraunhofer    GlobalFoundries    Google
   Holst Centre    Huawei Technologies    imec   Infineon Technologies
   Jabil Optics   JCDecaux   KAUST   Konica Minolta
   Mercedes - Benz AG   Meta   Microsoft   Mikro Mesa
   Nissan Chemical Corporation   Notion Systems   Omdia   Samsung
   Sony   TCL CSOT   The Swatch Group   Tianma
   Toray Engineering   UBI Research   UC Santa Barbara   University of Sheffield
   University of Strathclyde   VueReal   Yole Group   And many more!