The MicroLED Industry Association is introducing a new tiered membership pricing structure that reflects its commitment to fostering innovation across the entire microLED ecosystem. This updated approach is designed to support organizations of all sizes, from established industry leaders to promising startups and cutting-edge research institutions.

The new membership Pricing Tiers, by yearly revenues:

• Large companies (over $100 million): $3,000 per year
• Medium level enterprises ($5-100 million): $1,500 per year
• Early stage and small companies (up to $5 million): $800 per year
• Research groups and Universities: $500 per year

This tiered structure ensures that membership remains accessible to a diverse range of organizations, recognizing the varied landscape of the rapidly evolving industry. By offering more affordable options for smaller entities and research groups, the association aims to encourage broad participation and collaboration within the microLED community.

Today we published a new edition of our MicroLED and OLED Microdisplays Market Report, with all the latest information. The new edition offers over 20 updates, including new covered companies, new developments, and new devices. Global multinational companies are working hard to develop and deploy next-generation AR and VR devices, and these devices will all be based on OLED and microLED microdisplay engines.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• The advantages of OLED and MicroLED microdisplays
• The microdisplays that are available on the market today
• Information on all companies involved in this market
• Future technologies and roadmaps

The report package also provides:

• A list of all OLED microdisplays on the market
• A list of all OLED and MicroLED microdisplays makers
• Microdisplays spreadsheet
• Over 25 datasheets, presentations
• Free updates for a year

This microdisplays market report provides a great introduction to MicroLED and OLED microdisplays, and covers everything you need to know about the current status of the market and industry. This is a great guide if you're considering to adopt OLED microdisplays in your product, if you're looking to learn more about next-generation micro-LEDs and if you want to understand this industry better.

China-based microLED microdisplay developer Hongshi Intelligence announced that it has developed a full-color microLED microdisplay, with a brightness level of 1.2 million nits(white light).

The microdisplay uses a hybrid stack structure, integrating native blue and green microLED (from two source wafers) and uses quantum dots color conversion to emit red light from blue LEDs.

Sony has announced that it has developed a new next-generation display technology, which it refers to as RGB LED backlighting, which basically uses red, green and blue mini-LEDs to drive LCD displays.

Current mini-LED backlighting units use blue LEDs, color converted into white color, to form the backlighting of LCD displays. In its new technology, Sony uses three different miniLEDs in each dimming zone, which removes the need to color convert. Sony says that its new technology can enable brighter (up to 4,000 nits) displays with an increase color gamut and wider viewing angles. The company demonstrated a 75-inch RGB LED LCD display that uses 96,000 LEDs to create 32,000 dimming zones.

Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Tecno Mobile announced a new smart glasses product, called the Tecno AI Glasses Pro that utilize microLED microdisplays.

The company did not detail much, but we do know that the displays offers a 30-degrees FOV, and over 1,500 nits of brightness. It seems as if these displays are monochrome (green), and are likely produced by JBD.

We're happy to introduce the Fraunhofer IZM, a research institute that is a part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, that specializes in applied and industrial research in packaging technologies and integrating multifunctional electronics into systems. With over 400 employees across four departments, it provides expertise in microelectronics packaging from concept to reliability.

The Fraunhofer IZM's microLED project is led by Dr. Oppermann, IZM’s Deputy Head of Department and Dr. Manier, R&D project engineer. Dr. Opperman has led the "Fine Pitch Assembly and Interconnects" group at Fraunhofer IZM since 1999, focusing on flip chip, die attach, and wafer-level packaging for MEMS, RF, opto, and power applications. His innovations include AuSn soldering, transient liquid phase bonding, nanometal bonding, and Indium bonding. Dr. Manier has contributed to flip chip and die bonding technologies in MEMS, power electronics, and medical applications. He has been involved in European and industry projects, including chip-to-chip/substrate bonding and vacuum-tight MEMS sealing.

Dr. Oppermann and Dr. Manier recently finalized a techblick feasibility study into microLED massive parallel assembly and interconnection.

_{Fig 1. SEM imaging of assembled micro-display of Figure 1 with 3 different small die (RGB) soldered on target substrate}

MicroLED-Connect and AR-Connect will host a two-day virtual conference on March 6-7, only three days from now. This exciting event brings you a curated agenda on MicroLED and AR/VR Display technologies from around the world, featuring speakers from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Poland, France, Israel, Germany, Belgium, Canada and east, central and west USA!

The virtual 2-day conference will include over 25 exciting talks by leading microLED developers, AR/VR developers, supply chain companies and top-edge researchers. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn and connect with the microLED industry, on an easy to access virtual event. You can register here, with a yearly pass to MicroLED-Connect (with an option to also include entry into our September on-site event in Eindhoven, The Netherlands). Our members also gain access to past event recordings. We have arranged a remarkable agenda, which you can check below:

By: Dr. Tali Hurvitz, VP Research & Development & Noam Shapiro, VP Communications, InZiv

MicroLED technology  is transforming the world of displays, from AR/VR devices to cutting-edge automotive applications. However, in order for microLED to mature both technologically and commercially,  precise functional inspection continues to be essential. Photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) are two primary techniques for evaluating microLED functionality. PL testing measures light emitted from the microLED after excitation by a laser. This excitation mechanism causes a recombination across the entire junction (usually multiple quantum wells, depending on the excitation wavelength) which in turn leads to the emission of light. In this way, PL can measure certain basic properties of functionality.

IV (current-voltage) curve being measured during EL testing of a microLED chip

On the other hand, EL testing measures light emitted when voltage is applied to the LED, and in this case, the mechanism that activates the emission of light is the electrons and holes moving to the junction. Because electrons move much faster than holes, most electron-hole recombination—and thus light emission—occurs in the region of the junction where the holes are concentrated. This method of light excitation more accurately reflects real-world performance under operational conditions; the microLED display in the final electronic device will be activated via electric current and not via light.

Research has shown that EL is ultimately the superior method, and relying on PL alone, even while calibrating for inaccuracies, is an unreliable approach that often completely misidentifies defective LEDs as functional, and severely compromises measurement accuracy. Moreover, PL also often mischaracterizes the optical power and wavelength distribution across the wafer, failing to provide reliable testing results. We will briefly summarize below some of the research that has demonstrated the superiority of EL over PL for microLED testing and inspection.

Taiwan-based MicroLED developer PlayNitride announced that its financial results for 2024. The company's sales were 1.76 billion NTD ($53 million USD), up 86% from 2023 (943 million NTD, or $28.6 million USD). It's net income in 2024 was 60.1 million NTD ($1.8 milion USD), up from a loss of 512.8 million NTD in 2023.

PlayNitride also announced that it has secured 800 million NTD ($24.3 million USD) in a new secured convertible bond private placement. This follows a similar 800 million NTD bond issue it has announced towards the end of 2024.