July 2021

Samsung electronics announced a new partnership with CJ ENM, to install a large microLED The Wall display at CJ ENM's studio which will enable a 'virtual production studio'.

The main display in the new studio will be a 20-meter diameter oval-shaped The Wall microLED displays, with a height of seven meters. The idea is that this will create a "seemingly endless backdrop to capture content."

It is quite challenging to produce microLED TVs, and while display companies all over the world are investing billions into R&D, and are developing new process and production technologies, we're still quite far from the emergence of mass production of microLED displays.

As we discussed earlier this month, it happens that even though the industry is still at an early stage, microLEDs are finding early market niches, mostly in AR/VR microdisplays and large-format TVs. Indeed the microLED TV market is promising and companies such as Sony, Samsung, LG, Konka and others already offer large-area tiled microLED TVs for the premium-consumer market. Here are some of the latest microLED TV updates that we published in recent months:

According to a new report from Korea, Samsung plans to build a new TV production line in Vietnam, that will be dedicate to microLED TV production. The new plant will begin production in 2022, and will be used to produce its upcoming smaller 77-inch and 88-inch TVs. Samsung is also expanding its facility in Vietnam which is currently used to produce the 110-inch microLED TVs.

Samsung aims to reduce the production costs of its MicroLED TVs, and has launched a project that will develop a TFT backplane for its future TVs (to replace the currently used PCBs). The company hopes that this will enable it to reduce the production costs of its microLED TVs to the level of its 8K QLEDs. This sounds a bit optimistic, at least for TVs in sizes such as 77-inch or 88-inch.

SAPIEN Semiconductors, based in Korea, is a fabless design company that provides innovative PWM CMOS backplane and μ-driver ICs for Micro-LED displays. The company utilizes its own patented technologies to achieve lower power consumption, lower leakage, better repairability and improved testability.

In the following interview, we discuss the company’s technology and business with its CEO, Myunghee Lee.

Q: Hello Mr. Lee, thank you for your time. Can you give us a short introduction to SAPIEN and your microLED technologies?

SAPIEN specializes in developing CMOS Backplane SoCs (System-on-Chip) for Micro-LED display applications. SAPIEN was founded in 2017 by industry veterans who have over 230 years of combined design experience in Display Driver ICs (DDI).

Samsung Electronics announced a new microLED The Wall IWA display module, that offers upgraded performance and a thinner profile compared to its current displays. It has installed the first such display at its Suwon office, a 1,000-inch display (8K resolution).

Samsung says that the new module uses LED chips that are 40% smaller compared to current models (for which the chip size is around 100 um so the new ones are likely to be around 60 um). The new TVs support a refresh rate of 120Hz, 8K resolution, a brightness of 1,600 nits and a new enhanced AI processor.

US-based Microdisplay developer Kopin announced an agreement with a leading Japanese consumer electronics maker to develop 2K x 2K full-color microLED microdisplays.

Under the agreement, Kopin will develop and supply its proprietary backplane silicon wafers and its new partner will develop bonding and color conversion processes. The two companies expect to demonstrate a 1-inch microdisplay prototype within 24-months. Kopin says that this development program is customer funded.

MicroLED-Info is proud to announce an update to our MicroLED and OLED Microdisplays Market Report. This market report provides a great introduction to both MicroLED and OLED microdisplays, and covers everything you need to know about next-generation microdisplays. This is a great guide if you're considering to adopt microdisplays in your product and if you want to understand this industry better. The report is now updated to July 2021.

This market report covers everything you need to know about next-generation microdisplays. This is a great guide if you're considering to adopt microdisplays in your product and if you want to understand this industry better.

MicroLED displays show great promise, as the technology enables emissive displays that can offer performance on par with OLED displays and higher brightness and efficiency. In addition, these displays can offer higher lifetimes and less burn-in.

However, the production of microLED displays is still very challenging - with many issues that are yet to be resolved - around the LED epiwafer growth, the transfer process, RGB backplanes, inspection and repair, and more. Even after billions of dollars that have gone into microLED display technologies R&D, display makers are not ready for actual mass production.