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Although OLED display market has grown on the small sized display area for the past decades, but it still has some limitation of higher resolution and larger size. From these reasons, Micro LED display is getting more interesting with its superior optical performance. But, the production process of micro LED display is still struggling in terms of its efficiency (through put, yield rate). In this session, Omdia will summarize the latest Technical Trend & Market Forecast of micro LED display focusing on the main issues of the industry.

Toray Engineering has developed series of technologies to manufacture micro-LED displays based on technologies cultivated through its manufacturing equipment of LCD displays and semiconductors. By combining these technologies, Toray Engineering offers proposal for total solution, and so far, has large delivery records of micro-LED-related manufacturing equipment worldwide. In this presentation, Toray Engineering’s approach to the manufacturing process that utilizes its visual inspection system that uses photoluminescence technology, laser repair equipment, mass transfer equipment, and laser mass transfer equipment shall be introduced. Toray Engineering’s approach focuses measures against these main challenges ahead for the Micro-LED Display Manufacturing:
1) Smaller micro-LED chips & Stable process
It is important which method we use to achieve stable process in Micro LED.
2) Efficient repair process
In case of watch production, 500k chips are used in per product. So if the defect rate is 1%, 5 thousand chips need repairs. In case of a TV, 25 million chips are used. So 250k (two fifty thousand) chips need repairs.
3) Minimizing of image discoloration
Micro-LED chips have variation in luminance and wavelength caused in their manufacturing process. If such variations are transferred to the display pixels, they result in uneven images or mura. There is a need to reduce such image mura.
 
Toray Engineering is ready to offer total solutions to overcome these challenges to help realize high volume production of micro-LED display in the near future.

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The advantages of µLED are known well and positioned as a next-generation Display. To be widely applied on consumer electronics, cost and performance are both crucial factors. It is direct that micron-scale µLED (lateral size < 10 µm) brings the cost advantage. Therefore we choose the vertical structure to realize 5µm LED chips. Our proprietary process makes it easy to fabricate but high performance at the meantime. In addition, the micron-scale µLEDs also bring the merit of uniform current spreading, Lambertian emission, and even more, it is eye-friendly.
In terms of mass transfer technology, we develop a fast and concise stamp transfer specifically for micron-scale µLEDs. It is operated at a low temperature of 200 ºC, and press-free. We are focusing on these technologies to establish an effective and productive pipeline toward the true µLED Display.

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Despite most microLED application are currently at prototype stage the race for miniaturization is already ongoing towards 10-micron edge length and even below. This necessitates new solutions for the transfer and connecting these microLED chips to the main substrate. A promising material class are functional polymers or adhesives. These materials can be tailored in certain ways to comply with the demands of the display manufacturers.

In this talk we will present the capabilities of adhesives for electrical connection under the assumption of a non-monolithic flip chip design. It will be shown that the adhesive can be applied in multiply ways, while printing seems to be a promising option, yet. The tests have been conducted under lab scale conditions with two different pick & place tools (automated and manual). Moreover, two different substrates have been investigated, one is a wafer the other is rigid PCB.

The presented test results will show that adhesives are a versatile material candidate to enable the further development of microLED displays.

Despite the promising features of GaN-based micro-LED displays, their application has been impeded due to complexities in incorporating transistor logic and crafting multi-color emissions. Our research presents a comprehensive single wafer approach, capitalizing on GaN for micro-LEDs, transistor integration, and adjustable InGaN color-tunability. We showcase superior GaN MOSFETs with impressive on-off ratios exceeding eight orders of magnitude and electron mobility surpassing 300 cm2/V*s. These are vertically integrated with micro-LEDs for enhanced functionality. By manipulating different crystal planes, we engineer color-tunable InGaN micro-LEDs, enabling emissions from 640 to 425 nm. Our methods involve MOCVD growth and conventional semiconductor tools for fabrication. This research illustrates the multitude of advantages offered by a fully-integrated GaN-based solution, paving the way for the future of micro-LED displays.

Electronic displays have changed the way our society lives and interacts with technology. From the first TVs and personal computing devices to current smartphones and smart wearables, every new generation of technology demands a better display than the last. We want brighter, longer lasting, more energy efficient, and higher resolution displays—all at a lower cost. For years, microLEDs have been a sought after technology for achieving superior displays, but have been impeded by cost and manufacturing challenges.

Q-Pixel's Tunable Polychromatic microLED (TP-LED) technology introduces full-color tunability across a single 4-micron pixel, replacing traditional single-color (RGB) LED subpixels to overcome major manufacturing obstacles of current microLED-based displays. Q-Pixel’s TP-LED core competence both simplifies microLED assembly as we know it and facilitates previously unattainable pixel densities. In 2023, using TP-LED technology, Q-Pixel successfully demonstrated the world's first full-color LED display with a record-breaking pixel density of 5000 pixels per inch (PPI). With disruptive advances of the TP-LED, we expect the display industry to undergo a major paradigm shift, with microLED displays displacing most OLED and miniLED based technologies in coming years.

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In the mid-2000s, OLED panel makers entered the display space targeting the LCD monopoly. By 2022, OLEDs generated $42b of the $137b in display revenue and 50% of all the smartphone shipped. OLEDs targeted the high end of the TV, smartphone, monitor and automotive markets and is moving rapidly into tablets and notebooks. In the near eye segment, OLEDoS, which has been installed in Apple’s Vision Pro is rapidly replacing LCoS and LCDs as the go to technology.

15 years later, MicroLED technology seeks to enter the display market, but their base is much wider. When OLEDs entered the market, Samsung alone carried the banner, soon to be joined by LG Display. In 2023, just about every display maker has a MicroLED initiative and powerful new participates, such as Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft have embraced the technology.

MicroLEDs currently operate in two spheres, very large TVs and very small micro displays. They are relegated to high prices and low efficiency, which limits access to the primary markets. Even the expected 2025 release of Apple’s MicroLED based watch is expected to cost at least 3x a comparable OLED display and have comparable luminance, but with enhanced lifetime. The bourgeoning technology is researching smaller LED die sizes, larger wafers, more productive mass transfer, new error detection and repair techniques, all to reduce costs.

But the OLED industry is not standing still; is close to solving the problem of low blue efficiency and are qualifying an emitter expected to be available in 2024; new manufacturing approaches that double the luminance and triple the lifetime will be used in 2025. Panel makers are experimenting with patterning lithographically to increase pixel density, add luminance and lifetime and reduce production costs by eliminating Fine Metal Masks (FMM). By the end of the decade, a whole new material technology called plasmons could increase the EQE up to 3X the present level, making OLEDs the most efficient display technology while increasing lifetime and luminance.

This talk will provide a roadmap and rationale for how MicroLEDs will compete with LCDs and OLEDs through the end of the decade, speculating on how the advances will affect the penetration and the rate of adoption.

Spearheaded by efforts from apple and others, MicroLED has generated a lot of excitement over the past decade. All leading display makers now have sizable microLED efforts. The supply chain is shaping up, with alliances and takeovers amongst large LED and display makers. As some leading players are starting to establish volume manufacturing capacities, the industry is entering a “make or break” era. The success (or failure) of those first large-scale manufacturing efforts will decide on the fate of the technology.

Time has brought up more clarity about the benefits and challenges of microLED. We will take a closer look at what could be realistic expectations for microLED in a variety of consumer applications. Which applications are achievable and under which conditions.

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The explosion in interest in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications amongst the big technology players in recent years has already triggered frantic development activity in the markets for the key enabling hardware, components, and materials. With the ability to deliver a cost-effective, head-mounted display that delivers a world-beating user experience central to success in AR/VR applications, it is unsurprising that the technologies that have the potential to unlock this have seen accelerated investment in recent years.

Several candidate technologies are being pursued including liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic light emitting diodes (OLED), miniLEDs and microLEDs. It seems clear that if it can be made to work at a full commercial level, the microLED approach offers the optimum combination of attributes for this application. Forecasts suggest that the opportunity for microLEDs driven by AR/VR applications could hit USD21Bn by 2027 with a CAGR of 81% (ResearchAndMarkets.com, Dec 29, 2021). But despite millions of dollars of investment in the past few years, the market remains in its infancy and microLED use is currently confined to a few high-end applications where the resolution of the display can be catered for using current LED technology.

It is obvious that despite significant progress, there are still outstanding issues with microLED display technology. Most worryingly, there are signs that the improvements in performance available from squeezing conventional devices are dwindling. With a breakthrough required, a radical approach may be called for and one which combines advantages over existing technology but can be simply dropped into existing manufacturing lines would be very compelling.

This talk reviews the merits of one potential solution based on producing LEDs using the cubic form of gallium nitride, rather than the usual hexagonal phase of the material. Anyone who manages to overcome the technology stumbling blocks in microLEDs stands to control the AR/VR displays market.

The miniaturization of LEDs has made them suitable for displays of different sizes. As a new display technology, Micro-LEDs have unique advantages in the field of micro-displays. They have high brightness, low power consumption, and high reliability, making them considered the only solution for AR/XR devices. Building upon the foundation of traditional LED manufacturing processes, the development of Micro-LED micro-displays began with sapphire and flip-chip solutions, which were suitable for low-resolution displays in the initial stage. However, they faced numerous bottlenecks that couldn't meet the requirements of AR/XR displays. Additionally, due to limitations in GaN material growth and integration processes, achieving single-chip color displays has been a challenge. Now, Raysolve will redefine monolithic integration technology to achieve wafer-level full-color Micro-LED micro-displays, making it the best micro-display technology for the future AR/XR industry.

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Microdisplays for AR/VR headsets are set to usher in a new era of human-machine interactions. These microdisplays are typically manufactured using hybrid integration via chip-to-chip bonding performed using packaging-based technologies. However, the technical barriers to achieving high-throughput and cost-effective mass-manufacturing using these methods has limited the adoption of microdisplays to date.

At nsc, we have taken a different approach to microdisplay manufacturing that involves wafer-scale integration of GaN LEDs and CMOS devices using a truly monolithic solution. By leveraging existing CMOS devices and established back-end-of-line processes along with nsc’s proprietary wafer scale layer transfer techniques, we create microdisplays in a highly scalable and manufacturable process. This enables groundbreaking chip-based display solutions on a commercial scale, which will pave the way for innovative product, system, and software designs.

This is made possible by two key factors: (1) maintaining compatibility with existing silicon fabrication processes and equipment, thus avoiding cost and yield issues associated with advanced packaging solutions; and (2) and capitalizing on the wealth of knowledge amassed by the semiconductor industry over the last 50+ years. This approach facilitates rapid scalability and the adoption of CMOS + GaN microLED chips ideally suited for AR/VR displays in a truly manufacturable and economically advantageous way.