Technical / research

BluGlass to collaborate with a display maker and test its RPCVD production process for Micro-LED production

Australia-based RPCVD developer BluGlass announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with a "well-funded" microLED company to investigate the use of its Remote Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (RPCVD) production technology to produce RGB MicroLED devices.

p-GaN LED growth using RPCVD (BluGlass)

BluGlass estimates that Micro-LED production will benefit from its low-temperature RPCVD manufacturing solution. The two companies will work together to demonstrate proof of concept of a unique red, green and blue (RGB) microLED display application. BluGlass will be paid for its deposition services and retain all RPCVD related IP rights resulting from the collaboration.

Optovate developed a technology to transfer micro-LEDs to an aligned optical array

UK-based Optovate announced that it has developed a technology that enables multiple microLEDs transferred in parallel from a wafer to a substrate to be aligned in one step with a precision optical array.

Micro-optic array and visualized light cones (2018, Optovate)

Optovate says that this technology is protected in a portfolio of 20 granted and pending patents dating from 2008. The company is now looking for display partners to commercialize its technology.

Researchers develop a breathable ultrathin bendable electronic skin with a MicroLED array

Researchers from the University of Tokyo developed a new "electronic skin" - which is a breathable, ultra-thin flexible display that includes an on-skin electrode sensor, a wireless communication module and a 16 x 24 array of micro LEDs.

Such a device could be used to monitor health via vita sign reading, and transmit the information wireless to a smartphone.

KAIST researchers develop flexible vertical micro-LEDs using an ACF-based transfer process

Researchers from Korea's KAIST developed flexible vertical micro-LEDs (f-VLEDs) using anisotropic conductive film (ACF)-based transfer and interconnection technology.

The researchers developed their own transfer equipment and used it to fabricate a 50x50 array of f-VLEDs using simultaneous transfer and interconnection through the precise alignment of ACF bonding process. The researchers report that the micro-LEDs achieved an optical power density of 30 mW/mm2 - which is three times higher than that of lateral micro LEDs. The LEDs offer improving thermal reliability and lifetime by reducing heat generation within the thin film LEDs.

Researcher use a micro-LED in a blood sugar level contact lens

Researchers from Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Sungkyunkwan University contact lenses that has an ultra-sensitive blood glucose sensor that analyze tears.

Blood glucose level micro-LED contact lens photo

To the wearer, the contact lens appear like regular ones, but when the sensor detects fluctuations in the blood glucose level, it lights up the chipset and an embedded micro-LED that stays lit if the blood glucose level is normal, so the wearer understand his blood levels. The contact lens are powered by wirelessly transmitted electricity.

Plessey and Artemis to co-develop MicroLED based HUD displays

UK-based optical thin-film developer Artemis announced a partnership with Plessey Semiconductor to co-develop HUD displays that use Plessey's GaN-on-Si MicroLEDs and Artemis' thin-film coatings for HUDs.

Plessey MicroLED HUD prototype (CES 2018)

Plessey recently announced its new licensing platform and also its intentions to bring a monolithic MicroLED display to the market in H1 2018. Plessey demonstrated an HUD prototype powered by its MicroLED display.

Jasper Display unveils a new silicon wafer specialized for micro-LED displays

Taiwan's Jasper Display Corp (JDC) unveiled its new silicon micro-LED backplane, the eSP70, which reportedly features high brightness and contrast possible. JDC's eSP70 is capable of FHD (1920x1080) resolution using a pixel pitch of 8 um and JDC says that it offers excellent current uniformity via a proprietary current source pixel (uniformity is better than 1% across the array).

JDC demonstrated the eSP70 using micro-LEDs provided by glō. The company says that this is the industry's first specialized micro-LED ready silicon. JDC's technology can be customized and it can be suitable for a wide range of applications, from AR headsets to automotive headlights. JDC's eSP70's 8" are now shipping.

Researchers use a micro-LED covered with perovskite QDs to achieve high-speed visible light communication

Researchers from Fudan University, Shanghai develop a high-bandwidth white-light based system made from a blue gallium nitride (GaN) micro-LED with a yellow-emitting perovskite quantum dots. This system could be a way to enable high-speed real-time visible light communication (VLC).

The researchers used a 80 x 80 um blue-emitting micro-LED that has a modulation bandwidth of about 160 MHz and a peak emission wavelength of ~445 nm. The white-light system (following the perovskite QD conversion) achieves 85 Mhz - which means a maximum data rate of 300 Mbps.

Solar-Tectic announces new backplane technology suitable for Micro-LED displays

US-based Solar-Tectic has launched a new low-temperature backplane technology that could replace LTPS in future high-end mobile displays and bridge the performance gap between IGZO and LTPS.

The main target application for this new backplane are OLED displays, but the company says that its new technology could also be used in micro-LED displays. Solar-Tectic process, called LT1CS (Low temperature single crystal silicon) is a silicon based technology that creates highly oriented c-axis aligned or "textured" silicon crystals. Solar-Tectic says that the performance of LT1CS backplanes will be higher than IGZO performance.

Veeco and ALLOS demonstrate 200mm GaN-on-Si wafers for micro-LED production

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

ALLOS GaN-on-Si wafer photo

ALLOS says that it now has an MOCVD technology that is capable of high yielding GaN Epitaxy that meets all the requirements for processing micro-LED devices in 200 millimeter silicon production lines. Within one month the two companies managed to establish the ALLOS technology on Veeco's Propel systems and have achieved crack-free, meltback-free wafers with less than 30 micrometers bow, high crystal quality, superior thickness uniformity and wavelength uniformity of less than one nanometer.