Transparency - Page 2

Most companies in the display industry believe that microLED is the leading next-generation display technology, that will be able to replace LCDs and OLEDs in many applications. MicroLEDs offers many advantages – both technical such as higher durability and higher brightness and efficiency, but also in unique production processes and models.

The two leading Taiwanese display makers, AUO and Innolux, have been pushing forward aggressively with their microLED projects. This is mainly due to the fact that both companies do not have any real OLED projects, which means that it is easier for them to develop microLEDs as their next-generation technology. MicroLEDs could provide a way for both AUO and Innolux to “leapfrog” over OLED technology.

Against this backdrop, a potential merger between AUO and Innolux presents an intriguing strategic opportunity. By combining their technological expertise, manufacturing capabilities, and financial resources, a merged entity could potentially accelerate microLED development, and perhaps also receiving meaningful financial support from the Taiwanese government, as such as move could strengthen Taiwan's position in the global display industry.

Note that we have no indications that such a merger is even considered by the two companies, but we feel this is a fascinating topic that should be explored and is supported by several strong arguments.

In January 2025, microLED developer VueReal launched reference design kits (RDKs) to enable product designers to buy microLED display samples and integrate into new designs. There were three different kits: monochrome microLED lighting panels, microLED microdisplays, and passive matrix and active matrix (LTPS) transparent microLED displays, ranging in size from 3.5-inch to 10-inch.

Now VueReal announced that it is expanding its RDK portfolio, with new industry-specific bundles (what they refer to as vertical RDKs). These new kits are specifically built for automotive and consumer electronics.

AUO announced that it will showcase new microLED display prototypes and technologies at Touch Taiwan next week. First up, the company has demonstrated a 42-inch single module microLED, which is said to be the world's largest (beating AUO's own record at 31-inch from 2024). The module offers a brightness of up to 1,000 nits, and AUO is showing a 127-inch tiled TV made up from these new modules. AUO will also show a full range of microLED TVs, developed in collaboration with Samsung Electronics. These TVs are based on AUO's MicroLED backplane technology.

Another new display will be the world's thinnest 17.3-inch dual-sided transparent Micro LED display.  AUO did not detail any more information on that display - or just how thin is it. Among its use cases are interactive, first-class cabin interfaces that facilitate seamless communication between passengers and flight attendants via real-time translation on a transparent screen. The display also has use in commercial advertising, home decoration, points of sales and many other fields where the display can increase tech and style while also transmitting information.

NewSight Reality announced its next-generation transparent optical display module, the TOMM2. This is a see-through near eye display, that is meant to be used in front of the eye, placed  located within the eyeglass lens within millimeters of the pupil of the user’s eye.

The TOMM2 near-eye transparent display uses microLED chips produced by Mojo vision. We do not have any technical details on these microLEDs.

At CES 2025, Samsung is showing an interesting microLED application, a smart mirror device. The idea is to provide a mirror with a display on top, that can scan your face and recommend treatment solutions to tailor your skin. 

Samsung said that it employed a "aluminum and niobium micro-patterned mirror structure" to provide a 80% mirror-level reflectance. The mirror (and display) is 21-inch in size. It seems as if this is just a demonstration project, it is not likely to turn into a commercial product anytime soon.

AUO is showcasing its latest microLED technologies at CES 2025, focusing on automotive solutions, under the Smart Cockpit 2025 platform. The company is demonstrating several novel applications, enabled by the transparent and flexibility of microLED displays.

So first up we have the Virtual Sky Canopy, and XR Interactive Window technology - both of these adopt the use of tiled transparent microLED displays to embed within the car windows and windows, and extend the display beyond the normal instrument cluster and information displays.

MicroSolid Printing pioneer VueReal is going to unveil several new technologies and products at CES, as the company gets ready for microLED display commercialization. VueReal wants companies to take advantage of the unique properties of microLED displays (mainly the customized production process and the high transparency and high brightness) and this year it will focus on new applications that can be enabled only by microLEDs.

First up, VueReal is launching new microLED Design Reference Kits to enable product designers to buy display samples and integrate into new designs. The first kit will provide microLED-powered lighting panels. These resemble OLED lighting panels - area lighting that is uniform. But unlike OLEDs, microLEDs will provide high brightness, long lifetime, and reduced costs. These are basically monochrome simple displays, and VueReal will offer either in native colour (R, G, B) or phosphor coated (white, red, amber).

UK-based OTFT developer Smartkem announced that it has partnered with AUO to jointly develop rollable transparent microLED displays, based on Smartkem's OTFT backplane technology. The project will be based on a novel OTFT production process developed at ITRI.

Smartkem believes its technology will not only enable high-end rollable transparent microLED displays, but it will also enable drastic cost reduction that will bring costs down to mass market prices. Smartkem's low-temperature processing enables the use of low-cost and flexible plastic substrates rather than glass, which the company says will be a decisive factor in bringing production costs down.

The microLED display technology is highly promising, as these displays offer increased brightness, efficiency and lifetime over the current LCD and OLED displays. However adoption of microLED displays in the major display markets is still years away. One display segment that could see adoption of microLED display sooner, is the transparent display sector.

Transparent displays are very interesting and have been researched for many years - and we have seen commercial adoption of transparent LCD, LED and OLED displays. These never achieved meaningful market success, but microLED developers hope that once microLED transparent displays are available this could change, thanks to the higher transparency and brightness offered by microLEDs compared to OLEDs and LCDs.

In recent years, we have seen many companies demonstrating transparent microLED prototypes, and even deploying some solution commercially. We will detail some of these recent advances below.

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced a strategic partnership with PMOLED producer RiTDisplay display, that will enable device makers to access VueReal's microLED display technologies.

VueReal and RiTDisplay have been collaborating for several years, co-developing automotive displays and lighting solutions. The two companies will now target the consumer market with high-performance and cost-effective displays. The displays will be based on RiT's passive-matrix backplane and VueReal's microLED frontplane solutions.