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 quiet 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).

Aixtron and PlayNitride signed a joint-collaboration agreement to accelerate Micro-LED development. Aixtron will deliver an AIX G5+ C MOCVD system to Playnitride, that will be used to produce GaN-based Micro LED devices.

Aixtron says that the G5+ C is an advanced advanced production tool that offers market leading wavelength uniformity to meet the tightened Micro LED market specifications in a batch reactor high-throughput environment. The system allows for the lowest defect and particle level in the industry due to an effective in-situ cleaning technology and the cassette-to-cassette handler which is essential for high yields. The G5+ C MOCVD was recently ordered by Plessey for its own GaN-on-Silicon Micro-LED development and production.

UK-based GaN-on-Si MicroLED developer Plessey Semiconductor announced a collaboration with EV Group (EVG), a wafer bonding and lithography equipment producer. As part of the agreement, Plessey purchased EVG's GEMINI production wafer bonding system to enable bonding and alignment at Plessey’s fabrication facility in Plymouth, UK.

Plessey says that the new system will enable it to bond its GaN-on-Si microLED arrays to the panel’s backplane at a wafer level. Plessey also says that EVG’s patented automated bond alignment system technology is suitable for Plessey’s requirements because it allows face-to-face alignment of the wafers with very high precision which will enable very small pixel sizes.

In November 2017 Veeco and ALLOS Semiconductors announced that the two companies have completed their micro-LED strategic initiative and demonstrated 200mm GaN-on-Si wafers for blue and green micro-LED production. ALLOS proprietary epitaxy technology was transferred onto Veeco's Propel Single-Wafer MOCVD System to enable micro-LED production on existing silicon production lines.

Yesterday ALLOS and Veeco announced the completion of another phase of their mutual effort to provide the industry with leading GaN-on-Silicon epiwafer technology for microLED production. The two companies now demonstrated the reproducibility of ALLOS’ 200 mm GaN-on-Si epiwafer technology on Veeco’s Propel MOCVD reactor when producing epiwafers for many prominent global consumer electronics companies.

UK-based GaN-on-Si MicroLED developer Plessey Semiconductor announced that it has placed an order for Aixtron's AIX G5+ C MOCVD reactor that will expand Plessey's production capacity for gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si) wafers.

The new Aixtron reactor will be installed in the first quarter of 2019, at Plessey’s fabrication facility located in Plymouth, UK. The AIX G5+ C MOCVD system has two separate chambers, which enables to use either eight 6" wafers or five 8" ones. The system will be an addition to the company’s existing (and smaller) Aixtron MOCVD reactor

UK-based GaN-on-Si MicroLED developer Plessey Semiconductor announced a strategic partnership with Taiwan's Jasper Display Corp (JDC). Under the new partnership, Plessey will use JDC's silicon backplane to drive its monolithic micro-LED displays produced on the company's proprietary GaN-on-Silicon (GaN-on-Si) wafers.

In May 2018 JDC demonstrated its latest JD27E2 8" wafer, and a 0.7" Full-HD monochrome (960x540 color) microLED microdisplay that is said to be the world's brightest at 100,000 nits (JDC later demonstrated a million nits micro display). JDC's backplane allows Plessey to fabricate highly efficient and ultra-bright micro-LEDs displays.

France-based 3D GaN LED developer Aledia has selected Veeco Instruments’s Propel GaN metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system to support its advanced R&D. Aledia aims to scale up its technology for large-area silicon using Veeco's system.

Veeco's Propel system will enable Aledia to process 6- and 8-in. wafers or 2- to 4-in. wafers in a minibatch mode. Aledia already uses Veeco's K465i MOCVD system.

Yesterday we reported that Plessey partnered with AR supplier Vuzix to bring Micro-LED display engine, Quanta-Brite, for next generation AR Smart Glasses - which Vuzix expects to introduce in 2019.

An interesting article at LED Inside explains Plessey Semiconductor's technology. The Quanta-Brite display engine is not a 'true' Micro-LED display - it is an LCoS or DMD (digital mirror) display engine that is lit by a micro-LED array and special optics. Usual LCoS and DMD displays are lit by larger LEDs, and Plessey claims that its micro-LED solution will provide a more efficient and more uniform display.

UK-based GaN-on-Si MicroLED developer Plessey Semiconductor announced that it has partnered with AR supplier Vuzix to develop advanced Micro-LED display engines for Vuzix waveguide optics to enable next generation AR Smart Glasses. Vuzix expects to introduce the Micro-LED microdisplay based AR glasses in 2019.

Vuzix says that Plessey's Quanta-Brite light engine is highly efficient and bright, and will enable smaller and more efficient AR devices. The Quanta-Brite engine is based on Plessey's advanced and proprietary gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) technology, with an integrated monolithic array of RGB pixels with advanced micro-optical elements.

France-based 3D GaN LED developer Aledia announced its Series-C Financing round, totaling $36 million. Its existing investors participated in this round, and Aledia also announced that Intel Capital has joined as a new investor.

Aledia also says that it is developing next-generation Micro-LED displays with several large industrial partners. Aledia is developing both mobile displays (for smartphones, tablets, etc) and micro displays for AR/VR applications.