This is a sponsored post by STAr Technologies

With more and more mature technology for Mini- and Micro-LEDs fabrication, manufacturers are gearing up for the production phase and critically looking for more test efficiency and fast testing for the optical devices. STAr Technologies, as the leading Mini- and Micro-LEDs tester supplier continuously develops measurement technology to enhance optical testing capabilities and parallel test efficiency and to achieve cost-effective high-volume production.

Image: STAr Unicorn-LAIT II Tester Equipped EMI Shielded Test Environment

STAr’s Unicorn-LAIT II tester is designed to meet diverse industry requirements and to ensure accurate and reliable measurement results in the shortest amount of test time, based on an integrated parallel test architecture. The tester is ideal for electrical, optical measurement, driver functionality, RGB testing, etc. The tester is equipped with high efficient Dark and EMI Shield test environment dedicated to LED and Laser Applications. The system can be upgradeable with an autoloader for a fully automatic test with a cassette.

Today we're starting a new series, of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. The first company we interview is Radiant Vision Systems, and we have Shaina Warner, Radiant''s Marketing Program Manager.

Q: Can you introduce your company and technology?

Radiant develops and manufactures test & measurement solutions that are used to evaluate the visual quality of displays, backlit components, LEDs, other light sources. Using photometric and colorimetric imagers calibrated to a model of human visual perception, Radiant offers the most sophisticated inspection technology for ensuring light-emitting products meet customer expectations for quality and performance.

Leaders in consumer electronics, virtual & augmented reality, automotive, aerospace manufacturing, and beyond rely on Radiant to ensure accuracy, automate quality control, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. We have over 30 years of proven production experience with thousands of cameras testing millions of lights and displays worldwide. We’re also happy to be a global organization, offering direct local access to products and support that help equip our customers for success.

Q: Can you say why you joined the microLED association and what it is you hope to achieve?

This is a sponsored post by Applied Materials

Applied Materials Baccini Cell Systems provides advanced screen-printing solutions and systems for a wide range of applications - including for MicroLED production.

Here is an interview we conducted with Applied Materials' Director of Global Product Marketing, Daniel Hada, who details the company's solutions for MicroLED production and R&D.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about Applied Materials' Baccini systems? What kind of systems are you offering?

We provide advanced screen-printing solutions for both R&D applications and high volume manufacturing. All Baccini systems are built for sheet-to-sheet printing, either on flexible or rigid substrates. In addition to our screen-printing capabilities, we also provide customers with different drying and curing solutions, in-line inspection systems to monitor the quality of the print immediately after the print, and fully automated print lines to enable low cost, and high volume manufacturing. Utilizing Baccini’s Esatto technology which provides high accuracy and high print repeatability, we developed the Double Print technology years ago, to allow print on print capability for printing narrow lines/small features with high aspect ratios and to minimize interruptions in the printed lines.

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).

The founder and General Manager of Bolite Optoelectronics, Dr. Bowen Cheng, was invited to present at the recent Touch Taiwan 2021 Conference in April. The title of his talk was “Laser Processing Applications for the Manufacturing of Mini and MicroLED Displays.” Since it was presented in Mandarin only, microled-info.com caught up with Dr. Cheng to learn more about this trending subject and the company he started.

Q: Dr. Cheng, can you please tell us a little about your background, prior to starting Bolite?

I was a research engineer at Xerox PARC and helped develop surface micromachined microspring interconnects in a project funded by the U.S. Army Research in collaboration with Oracle. I was also a vital member of the team that successfully demonstrated the world's shortest wavelength diode laser at the time, a 250 nm UV laser for military applications. With these experiences in both semiconductor laser processing and MEMS processing, I decided to start Bolite and build a team to develop state-of-the-art laser solutions for microprocessing applications.

Q: I must admit I’ve not heard of Bolite before. What differentiates you from other laser microprocessing companies?

USA-based eLux was established in 2016 as a spin-off from Sharp Labs of America, to commercialize a unique MicroLED production technology. A year ago we discussed the company's technology and business with its CEO, Jong-Jan Lee.

Today eLux announced that it has installed an automated fluidic assembly tool at its prototype fab in Taiwan. The new tool features fully automatic cassette-to-cassette fluidic assembly of ten display panels, each up to 15-inch in size. The tool has provisions for capture and recycle of microLEDs and assembly fluids to minimize operating costs, and its capacity can be expanded by adding two additional modules.

Taiwan-based STAr Technologies launched a new inspection system for MicroLEDs and mini-LEDs devices. the Unicorn-LAIT is an integrated system with parallel test instrument, probe station and probe cards and can meet mass production needs.

STAr says that its new system enables alignment of up to 6-inch wafers and probe cards for automatic probing test. The parallel test instrument will be based on STAr Taurus-LPX with PMU capable of performing 48 to a maximum of 240 LEDs in parallel. Attributed to the efficient system structure, The STAr Unicorn-LAIT is suitable for the LED industry chip maker and optical devices manufacturer.

High-precision 3D sensing developer CyberOptics Corporation reported its financial results for Q4 2020 - revenues were $16.9 million, pretty much unchanged from Q4 2019, while net income was $1.5 million. For the full-year 2020, revenues were $70.1 million and the net income was $5.7 million.

CyberOptics reported $600,000 in sales of SQ3000 Multi-Function systems for MicroLED inspection in the quarter, and $4.6 million in full-year sales. The company anticipates more orders for MicroLED systems throughout 2021 and believes that microLED inspection and metrology applications present significant long-term growth opportunities.

This is a sponsored post by Radiant Vision Systems

Introduction

MicroLEDs (micro-LEDs, mLEDs, or μLEDs) continue to demonstrate performance advantages for displays, ushering in a new generation of backlit and direct-view illumination technology. MicroLED displays consist of an array of microscopic LEDs (light emitting diodes) that form the display’s individual subpixel elements. This inorganic emissive technology offers many benefits over rival display technologies, including higher brightness and contrast, wider color gamut, and higher pixel density. MicroLEDs enable improved visual performance in ambient-light conditions, from total darkness to full daylight and when viewed from multiple viewing angles. These qualities make microLEDs especially attractive for applications such as mobile phones and watches, augmented- and mixed-reality (AR/MR) headsets, automotive display panels, and digital signage. 

Challenges associated with manufacturing high-quality microLED panels continue to hinder production efficiency and must be addressed before manufacturers can achieve commercially viable microLED display products. Producing displays with the level of visual quality customers expect while keeping component and production costs low demands quality control solutions that reduce waste while increasing yield of acceptable displays.

High-precision 3D sensing developer CyberOptics Corporation announced its financial results for Q2 2020, with $16 million in sales and a net profit of $1.6 million. The company says it is enjoying a "first-mover status" in the microLED inspection and metrology market.

CyberOptics says that at the end of the quarter it received a $2.5 million order for SQ3000 Multi-Function systems for micro LED applications, and additional micro LED-related orders are anticipated during the second half of 2020.