MicroLED-Info.com: the Micro-LED experts

Display signage company Daktronics introduced its first mini-LED display, branded as the Optica. The company says that it achieved a resolution "similar to LCD display resolution" but at much higher brightness levels (6,000 nits) while drawing half the power. Daktronics actually calls this a Micro-LED display, but as the pixel pitch is 0.9mm, it cannot really be called a micro-LED.

It is not clear whether Daktronics produces the display panel itself, and how close it is to commercialize this technology. Daktronics says that it is possible to scale up its Optica displays (to pretty much unlimited sizes) - a Full-HD (1080x1920) Optical display will be 1.037 x 1.8434 meter in size, while a 4K one will be 2.074x3.686 meters.

US and Sweden based Glo has been developing Micro-LED displays on both LTPS and CMOS (microdisplay) backplanes for many years. The company has been rather queit until now (even though the 2017 investment from Google created some buzz).

Glo has now started to disclose its technology and achievements. At CES 2019, Glo demonstrated two displays. First up is the 1.5-inch smartphone type display you can see in the image above. The 264 PPI 120Hz display is produced on a LTPS backplane and produces 4,000 nits brightness - you can see how it is much brighter compared to the LGD OLED in the Apple Watch next to it (1,000 nits max).

Korea-based LED developer Seoul Semiconductor announced it will soon introduce its innovate offering of Micro LED products for next generation displays.

Seoul Semiconductor says it is the world's second-largest LED maker (excluding the captive market) and it holds over 12,000 patents.

AU Optronics announced that it will accelerate its development of Micro-LED products. AUO started to ship mini-LED based LCD gaming monitor panels in Q4 2018, and will continue to develop mini-LED LCDs for other niche markets in 2019.

In July 2018 AUO said that micro-LEDs are still too expensive and not ready for mass production yet - even after years of R&D. Hopefully the company's views have now changed. AUO did say in 2018 that it plans to introduce micro-LEDs in "niche products" in the future.

Samsung Electronics reported its financial results for Q4 2018 - with revenues of $53 billion USD down 10% from Q4 2017, and an operating profit of $9.6 billion (down 29% from 2017).

Samsung says that its display innovation in 2019 will include launching foldable OLED displays - and MicroLED TVs.

Korea-based Lumens demonstrated a new monochrome-green FHD (1920x1080) micro-LED microdisplay (silicon substrate) at CES 2019.

Lumens is collaborating with the Korean Institute of Machinery & Material to develop Micro-LED production technologies and had plans to release its first monochrome 720p microdisplays by the end of 2017. but we do not know if these microdisplays are now available.

Fuji Chimera Research Institute says that the global microdisplay market reached $161 million in 2018, led by LCoS panels (59.7%) and OLED panels (27.8%).

While some analysts expect Micro-LED to take over the AR microdisplay market, Fuji Chimera says that the technology is not mature enough and there are some technology challenges to overcome still - including those in epitaxial wafer process, mass transfer, defect detection and current drive.

UK-based plasma etch and deposition processing system maker Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology (OIPT) announced that it has sold several PlasmaPro 100 systems, including both etch and deposition systems, to ITRI for its micro-LED R&D program.

Taiwan's ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) is reportedly developing Micro-LED technologies for both small-size (microdisplays) and large-size (130-inch and larger) applications.

Market research firm Yole Développement has been following the Micro-LED market for some years with some very interesting insights and forecasts.

Yole's technology & market analyst Zine Bouhamri was kind enough to discuss Yole's Micro-LED views with us. Mr. Zine is is a member of the Photonics, Sensing & Display division at Yole and he's deeply involved in the business development of the Displays unit activities.

HDTVTest posted an interesting interview with Cadmium-Free QD developer Nanosys CEO and president Jason Hartlove. In this long interview Jason discusses the company's technology and recent achievements.

Jason explains that producing an RGB Micro-LED has many challenges as each color micro-LED chip is different - and different color LEDs need slightly different voltages and drive currents. The mechanical placement of these chips is also much more difficult for three colors. Using single-color (blue) Micro-LED chips and color-converting them using QDs makes a lot of sense for such displays - with easier manufacturing, longer lifetime, less differential aging (burn-in) and a wider color gamut.