According to LEDinside’s latest findings, micro-LEDs will enter mass production by 2018. To understand micro-LED technology comprehensively, and tap into its market potential, LEDinside has organized its history, current situation, theory, manufacturing process, and related manufacturers.

Following LCD and AMOLED, micro-LED has emerged as the next-generation display technology that is expected to be deployed widely in various applications. Increasing interests from electronics giants Apple and Sony during the recent period have encouraged further investments in micro-LED and accelerated the timetable for its commercialization. The latest analysis from LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, forecasts that micro-LED displays for smart wearable devices will enter the mass production stage in 2018. The technology will become available for smartphones later in 2020.   “Compared with the existing technologies, micro-LED offers significant improvements in many areas, including brightness/contrast, energy efficiency and response time,” said LEDinside analyst Philip Chang. “It also satisfies the demand for higher pixel density (expressed as pixels per inch or PPI) and other product design requirements, such as flexible and transparent screens. In sum, micro-LED overcomes the limitations of both LCD and AMOLED, and the mass production of displays based on this technology is foreseeable in the near future despite many unresolved technical issues.” Chang added: “Currently, the most significant technical hurdle that prevents the mass production of micro-LED displays is finding the best balance in the trade-off between pixel density and pixel volume. In this matter, Apple and Sony diverge in their strategies to commercialize the technology.”

Ivan-Christophe Robin, Strategic Marketing Manager at Leti, spoke to LEDinside recently about the French research institute’s outlook for micro-LEDs in various end-market applications, especially the wearable sector.

With OLED gaining traction on the market and rumored to be adopted in upcoming Apple iPhones and MacBook touch panels, it is surprising that the third generation Apple Watch might be switching to another innovative display technology, according to a report from Mac Rumor.

Apple has been the main driver behind many new technology advancements, OLED technology has come under media center spotlight spurred by market rumors about upcoming OLED touchpad panels in the MacBook Pro, and curved screen smartphones. Contending display technology micro-LED has somewhat faded into the background.

Micro LEDs are gaining traction in the LED industry since it is a technology that industry experts view as capable of breaking LCDs low light efficiency, and achieve “real LED display” technology. Current LCD designs are very inefficient in light output, with only an estimated 10% light emission. Light emitted from the LED backlight module has to travel through polarization filters, TFT, liquid crystals, and color filters, about 90% of light is trapped in these layered structures.

New research may help explain why drug treatments for addiction and depression don’t work for some patients.

A display expert believes micro-LED displays, such as those made by Apple’s newly acquired low-power display maker LuxVue could become a game changer in the display market, according to a report by Apple Insider.

CEA-Leti announced that it has demonstrated a path to fabricating high-density micro-LED arrays for the next generation of wearable and nomadic systems in a process that is scalable to the IC manufacturing process.

Apple has acquired LuxVue Technology, a startup company that focuses on making low power micro-LED based displays in the consumer market, according to a TechCrunch report.

InfiniLED claims its latest MicroLEDs (µLEDs) have set up the highest recorded for a commercially available LED type device, with a light output density of more than 300 W/cm2. The device can produce up to 1mW of light from a single 20µm pixel at 405nm. The MicroLED combines the benefits of a laser and a LED to produce ultra-high light output. The MicroLED provides the wavelength flexibility, drive characteristics and simplicity of a LED as well as the power and collimated beam of a laser. The ability to produce such light intensity and ...

InfiniLED, backed by ScienceWorks Ventures plc and a Tyndall National Institute (UCC) spin-out, has signed an access agreement with Tyndall National Institute, Cork (Tyndall). Under the agreement, InfiniLED’s engineers will work within the institute’s ISO 9001 Certified Compound Semiconductor cleanrooms to fabricate μLED (MicroLED) technology. In MicroLEDs, a parabolic structure is etched on the back of the LED wafer to focus the light generated into a collimated beam - the core differentiator of the μLED technology. The...

Reportedly, Ireland’s Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock T.D., has set up InfiniLED Ltd of Cork, Ireland, a spin-off from Tyndall National Institute, UCC (University College Cork), as a development and production company for next-generation LEDs. InfiniLED is based on Micro LED (µLED) technology invented by a team of researchers led by Brian Corbett in the III-V Materials and Devices group of Tyndall National Institute, supported and funded by Enterprise Ireland (EI). With free-standing gallium nitride (G...