Switzerland-based deposition equipment maker Evatec has secured a 2nd order for automated thin-film production tools from microLED developer PlayNitride. The equipment will enable PlayNitride's microLED production ramp-up.
Evatec says that PlayNitride first ordered its cassette-to-cassete production tool in 2017.
A few months ago we reported that Taiwan-based Foxconn is increasing its Micro-LED involvement, but now a new report from Taiwan says that the company canceled its microLED R&D project as it aims to improve its profitability.
Foxconn had an internal team that aimed to develop microLED displays for smartwatches and smartphones. Foxconn stopped the funding, and the team failed to find outside financing and so had to disband.
US-based Lumiode has been developing MicroLED Microdisplays for many years, but the company has been very quiet and did not disclose much about its technology. We have recently met with Vikas Dhurka (VP Marketing) and Eddy Hsu (director of Display Systems) who explained and demonstrated the company's technology.
Lumiode has developed a unique technology for the fabrication of TFT backplanes directly on top of Micro-LED arrays. This enables an entirely monolithic process (with no wafer bonding) to create highly bright and efficient microdisplays.
In July 2019 Taiwan-based microLED developer PlayNitride raised $50 million to start trial production of microLED displays. The company now says it seeks to raise over $100 million more as it will require large funds to initiate mass production.
PlayNitride is considering several production models - from constructing its own production lines, through a joint-venture with strategic partners to the licensing of its technology. The main goal of the company is to start production as soon as possible. The company hopes mass production can begin by the end of 2020.
UK-based GaN-On-Si MicroLED microdisplay developer Plessey Semiconductor announced that it has developed a 2.5-micron pitch display, improving on its previous 8-micron pitch display it has demonstrated in May 2019 at SID DisplayWeek.
The new display sports a 2000x2000 resolution and is a monochrome blue display. Plessey says that in early 2020 (during CES 2020, in fact) it will demonstrate a full RGB display on one wafer.
e-Paper displays offer exciting features, such as great image quality, low power consumption (bi-stability), sunlight visibility and more. Our sister site E-Ink-Info.com published a short video that introduces e-paper display technology and the current market status:
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.