KAUST researchers develops highly-efficient GaN and InGaN red microLED devices

Researchers from King Abdullah's University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia developed GaN and InGan red microLED devices that are highly efficient.

The researchers managed to increase the efficiency of their previous design by a new chemical treatment that removes damages at the microLED sidewalls (created during the fabrication process) and also retains the high crystal quality at the InGaN and GaN sidewall interfaces.

Read the full story Posted: May 12,2021

A Tier-1 US LED producer selects Aixtron's equipment for microLED production

Aixtron announced that a US Tier-1 LED producer has selected Aixtron's AIX G5+ C equipment. Aixtron did not provide any more details on this specific deal, but it does say that its new customer is "one of the world's technology leaders in the field of advanced LED technology".

Aixtron says that this AIX G5+ C system uses wafer-level control (based on Auto-Feed Forward) of the film surface temperature during the epitaxial process in combination with Ultraviolet (UV) pyrometry. This warrants, according to Aixtron, a very accurate control of the Indium incorporation into the Multi-Quantum wells (MQW), which will ultimately define the wavelength consistency among all produced wafers.

Read the full story Posted: Mar 30,2021

Ennostar to gradually upgrade its Taiwanese LED facilities to microLED production

In 2020 Taiwan's LED developers Epistar and Lextar announced plans to establish a joint holding company, effectively merging the two companies, into Ennostar Incorporation.

During a recent investor conferences, Ennostar's CEO said that Epistar will gradually upgrade its miniLED production line in Taiwan to produce microLED chips. The plan is to reach a yearly capacity of over 400,000 6" microLED wafers. In the long term the company will focus its microLED production in Taiwan, while its Chinese factories will produce miniLEDs.

Read the full story Posted: Mar 20,2021

STRATACACHE CEO details the challenges and goals of the company's upcoming US-based microLED display production fab

Global digital signage solution provider STRATACACHE is constructing the first US-based complete display production facility in Eugene, Oregon. The future MicroLED E4 fab is planned to commence production in 2022, and the fab will be a complete microLED production line, from epiwafer (on 300 mm silicon wafers), through transfer process and to final module assembly.

STRATACACHE Eugene E4 MicroLED fab photo

This project is extremely interesting, and we set out to discuss it with STRATACACHE's founder and CEO, Chris Riegel. At STRATACACHE, Chris leads strategic direction, technology development and engineering operations, and the MicroLED fab project seems to be personally spearheaded by him.

Read the full story Posted: Feb 27,2021

STRATACACHE to build the first MicroLED production line in the US, mass production expected by 2023

Global digital signage solution provider STRATACACHE is embarking on a project to construct a microLED display production line in Eugene, Oregon. The company aims to start production in this fab at around 2022-2023, with plans to adopt these microLED displays in its own solutions.

The new factory (E4) will be a complete microLED production line, from epiwafer (on 300 mm silicon wafers), through transfer process and to final module assembly. The company plans to produce a wide range of displays, from tablet-sized panels to large-area displays. Some of these displays will be flexible and transparent as the company sees a market demand for such technologies. The yearly capacity of the E4 is expected to start at a 1 million square meters per year.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 25,2021

Porotech announces the world's first red GaN microLED epiwafer

Cambridge University spin-out Porotech has launched a native red GaN LED epiwafer for microLED applications. The company says this is the industry's first commercial red GaN epiwafer.

Porotech's native red GaN microLED performance chart

Current red LEDs are mostly produced from aluminum indium gallium phosphide (AlInGaP) materials. These materials show a drastic efficiency drop as the LED side decreases (due to their large carrier diffusion lengths and high surface recombination velocity) and in addition a hybrid AlInGaP and GaN RGB device is more difficult to drive. This is why it is beneficial to produce red LEDs from GaN materials.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 25,2020

Aledia orders Veeco's 300mm MOCVD systems for its upcoming MicroLED production fab

Veeco announced that France-based 3D GaN LED developer Aledia has selected the company's Propel 300mm HVM MOCVD system for its microLED production plant. Veeco says that the Propel system, featuring a SEMI-compliant Equipment Front End Module (EFEM) with cassette-to-cassette automation, was chosen due to its highest productivity with the lowest defectivity compared to alternatives.

Veeco Propel GaN MOCVD system photo

Last month Aledia announced that it plans to establish a 140 million euros LED production fab in Champagnier, near Grenoble in France. The company already raised 80 million Euros and its great to see the company already ordering production equipment.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 22,2020

Aledia raised €80 million towards its mass production microLED fab

Last month France-based 3D GaN LED developer Aledia announced that it plans to establish a 140 million euros LED production fab in Champagnier, near Grenoble in France. Today the company announced that it closed €80 million in funding, out of the planned €120 million Series D investment round.

The lead investor in this round is the Investment Fund Société de Projet Industriel (SPI), a fund managed by Bpifrance. SPI is joined by the majority of the existing strategic investors, including Intel Capital.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 07,2020

Aledia to setup a 140 million Euros GaN-On-Si microLED production line, start making microdisplay by 2022

France-based 3D GaN LED developer Aledia announced that it plans to establish a 140 million euros LED production fab in Champagnier, near Grenoble in France. The plan is to start LED production by 2022 - and by the company will also finalize its microdisplay production process and will start offering microLED microdisplays.

Aledia developed a microLED production process, based on a unique 3D architecture using GaN-on-silicon nanowires (branded as WireLED).

Read the full story Posted: Sep 14,2020

Researchers use graphene to create detachable flexible microLED devices

Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas developed a new method to create highly flexible microLED chips, that can be folded and twisted. The LEDs are detachable, and can be attached to almost an surface.

Flexible MicroLED devices, University of Texas (September 2020)

The researchers used remote epitaxy, to grow the LED crystals on a sapphire crystal substrate, coated with a one-atom layer of 2D graphene, which prevents the LED to stick to the sapphire substrate.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 01,2020