Achieving Baseline Efficiency in Red microLEDs for AR/VR Applications

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.