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Sony was the first company to introduce micro-LED large-area displays with its launch of the Crystal LED (also called Canvas LED, or CLEDIS) displays in 2016. Now Sony is introducing this groundbreaking display type to the residential market.
Crystal LED displays are made from tiled LED modules, each 403x453 mm in size and with a resolution of 320x360. The displays offer HDR support (peak luminance is 1,000 nits), 10-bit grayscale support, high frame rate (up to 120p) and a freedom of design.
The Fraunhofer IAP and Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) have launched a joint research project to develop ink-jet printed quantum dots color filters for microLED displays.
The five-years CoCoMe (Color Converting MicroLeds) project aims to develop materials and processes to achieve high brightness microLEDs using quantum based color filters.
At IFA 2019, TCL demonstrated its "The Cinema Wall" Micro-LED display - a 132" 4K display which features very high brightness (1,500 nits) and a wide color gamut. This is a tiled display that TCL demonstrated before at CES 2019. The display itself is produced by TCL's subsidiary CSoT.
AU Optronics president, Paul Peng, says that he expects Micro-LED displays to enter the market within 1-2 years. The first displays will be large-area signage and small-sized VR displays. Micro-LEDs for the automotive market will take longer to commercialize - around 5 years.
AUO recently demonstrated a 12.1" LTPS micro-LED display prototype that features a resolution of 1920x720 (169 PPI). AUO discloses that this display was produced using the company's self-developed transfer process that can move 50,000 - 60,000 LEDs per transfer (AUO did not detail the time it takes to perform a single transfer, though). AUO is now developing repair technology to take care of damaged LEDs.
iBeam Materials announced that it has received an investment from Samsung Ventures. iBeam developed a technology that can be used to produce LED chips on large-area flexible foils.
iBeam Materials, founded in 2011 in the US, is still at an early stage but this technology could enable the production of micro-LED devices directly on large-area flexible substrates without the use of a transfer (pick-and-place) process.
LED developer Lextar Electronics announced that next week at Touch Taiwan 2019 it will showcase a 5.1" transparent active-matrix microLED display that achieves an extremely high brightness - 30,000 nits.
This is Lextar's first public demonstration of a micro-LED display. Last year at Touch Taiwan 2018 the company unveiled its first micro-LED chips. The company recognizes that its micro-LED display technology will not be ready for commercialization before 2020 at the earliest.
AU Optronics announced that it will demonstrate a 12.1" LTPS micro-LED display prototype next week that features a resolution o 1920x720 (169 PPI). It seems that this is the same display shown at IFA 2018.
The 2018 display used blue LEDs with color conversion, which achieved "marvelous color performance", according to AUO.
Korean market research company UBI Research forecasts that Micro-LED revenues will grow from around $100 million in 2019 to over $6 billion in 2025.
IHS Markit recently said that it expects MicroLED display shipments to reach 15.5 million units in 2026, as sharp production cost improvements will enable micro-LED technology to achieve mass market success. The new emerging display technology will find markets in wearables, TVs, AR and also smartphones.
Researchers at Zhejiang University developed a laser-driven programmable non-contact transfer printing technique that could be applicable to the transfer of Micro-LED chips. The researchers used an innovative design based on an active elastomeric micro-structured stamp with tunable adhesion.
The tunable adhesive used in this technique features cavities filled with air and encapsulated by a micro-patterned surface membrane, used in easily available sandpapers. The micro-patterned surface membrane can be inflated dynamically to control the interfacial adhesion by heating the air in cavities.
Luumii, a joint-venture between Micro-LED developer Rohinni and Koja, announced that it has started to mass produce its micro-LED and mini-LED based notebook computer keyboard backlights and logo lighting solutions.
Luumii says that its solutions are more compact and offer a higher power efficiency compared to current solutions, and may also enhance product features and user experience as it offers colored lighting and animations. Luumii's current capacity is 34,000 units per month, and by the end of 2019 it will increase the capacity to 100,000 monthly units.