How far is Micro LED from being commercialized on a large scale?

Publisher: Supplier of LED Display Time: 2022-08-03 17:45 Views: 1041

Following Samsung's 1110-inch Micro LED TV priced at 1.05 million yuan, "the first reservations have been sold out" on the Jingdong platform, Ledman has recently released the world's first 8K 163-inch Micro LED giant screen, which sells for up to 1.68 million yuan. The price caused a huge shock in the market.

Known as the ultimate goal of display technology, Micro LED is a display pixel array display composed of LED chips below 50 microns combined with active drive arrays. It is a miniaturization and array of traditional LEDs.

Compared with the current mainstream display technology, Micro LED has the advantages of higher brightness, high resolution, high contrast, high reliability, low power consumption, long life, etc., coupled with unique advantages such as high transparency and seamless free splicing, it can realize small Screen to large size display global coverage.


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01 Micro LED applications go to the consumer field


After the forward-looking layout in recent years, coupled with the active promotion of domestic and foreign manufacturers and the growth of demand in emerging application markets, Micro LED has gradually been applied in large-scale displays, TVs, smart wearable devices and other fields.


On June 18, the first batch of Samsung 110-inch Micro LED TVs were sold out on JD.com. The TV is packaged in self-luminous COB, featuring a large-screen borderless smart display/household giant screen, with a price of nearly 1.05 million yuan.


On May 31, tooz announced that at AWE USA 2022, it will debut the first AR prescription glasses that can be worn all day - ESSNZ Berlin. The product uses a 0.13-inch single green Micro LED display with a resolution of 480x640, which can be adjusted for brightness, with a maximum brightness of 5000nits.


On May 20, Hisense Commercial Display launched the Vision One giant screen flagship U series of Micro LED all-in-one machines, known as the only all-in-one machine with real Micro LED chips that can be mass-produced in China.


On May 16, Junwan Microelectronics announced a key breakthrough in the mass production of its full-color Micro LED microdisplays, and publicly demonstrated the mass-produced full-color silicon-based Micro LED microdisplays with video images for the first time in China.


On April 26, Porotech announced that it will exhibit the world's first set of native InGaN-based red, green and blue Micro LED displays at the Touch Taiwan exhibition, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a brightness of at least 2 million nits (≥2M nits).


In late April, INMO Air's consumer-grade AR smart glasses, INMO Air, opened for pre-sale on JD.com. The product is equipped with a full-color Micro OLED display with a resolution of 640x400, a contrast ratio of 20000:1, and a 26° field of view. 100% sRGB color gamut.


02 Mass production of Micro LED large-scale displays started


Micro LEDs have broad application prospects, from commercial applications to consumer electronics, are all areas where Micro LEDs can show their talents. Especially in the field of large-size displays, Micro LED has officially entered mass production mode.


As one of the pioneers in the field of Micro LED, Leyard and Liancheng Fa have taken the lead in realizing the research and development, mass production and large-scale commercialization of Micro LED. It is understood that in 2021, its newly signed Micro LED orders will reach 320 million yuan, with a production capacity of 800KK/month, and it is expected to achieve a production capacity of 1600KK/month by the end of this year.


After Ledman released the Micro LED giant screen product based on COB technology, it also officially extended from the B-end to the C-end, embarking on the road to develop the consumer-level application market.


JBD, the leading manufacturer of Micro LED microdisplays, has also made a major technological breakthrough, realizing the mass production of 500,000 nits of ultra-high-brightness red light Micro LED microdisplays, which will benefit Micro LED technology in sports optics, vehicle display, near-eye display, etc. further expansion in this scenario.


At the beginning of June, part of the main building of JBD's plant in the Comprehensive Bonded Zone of Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone has been preliminarily completed. The operation of the plant will help it achieve an annual production capacity of 120 million Micro LED micro-displays, which can meet the blowout type of AR/VR industry. development needs.


Chichuang Technology, as a pure Micro LED concept stock, currently has substantial orders for Micro LED. According to Li Yunli, chairman of Chichuang Technology, "this year, Micro LED large-scale displays will be mass-produced."


In recent years, Chitron Technology has not only launched 89-inch ultra-wide curved Micro LED displays, but also cooperated with AUO to develop 1.39-inch high-pixel circular displays, automotive displays, and AR/MR applications.


Li Yunli said that in the fastest 2-3 years, more business opportunities for Micro LED to be introduced into AR/MR can be seen.


03 Micro LED mass production drives the acceleration of the industrial chain process


Micro LED has moved from commercial application to consumption field, and has gradually achieved mass production, which has become an important driving force in the development of related components, equipment and processes.


According to the observation of Gaogong LED, since the beginning of this year, many listed companies such as Ganzhao Optoelectronics, Guoxing Optoelectronics, and Jufei Optoelectronics have added the "Micro LED concept".


In addition to Qianzhao Optoelectronics, LED chip manufacturer Huacan Optoelectronics has also made significant progress in the Micro LED segment. At present, its 6-inch flat wafer has achieved good results. The wavelength uniformity of the blue epitaxial wafer is 0.62nm, and the wavelength uniformity of the green epitaxial wafer is 0.8nm.


Huacan Optoelectronics said, "The company has sub-micron yellow light area and Micro LED operation equipment such as Bonding/LLO/ALD/ICP/Sputter, which can provide chip, UBM and module production capabilities."


Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics also has the country's leading integrated Micro LED design and manufacturing technology.


After mass production of integrated monochrome Micro LED display chips, the company is committed to realizing the ultimate form of Micro LED - full-color display. " said Wu Yongsheng, general manager of Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics.


It is understood that Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics Micro LED chip integrates 1.31 million pixels within a range of 2cm2, with a resolution of 1284*1028. The pixel pitch of the display chip is 9μm, and the pixel density reaches 2800ppi.


As a mid-stream packaging manufacturer, Nationstar has joined the Micro LED concept, which also means that it has completed the initial layout of the Micro LED business.


As early as 2018, National Star Optoelectronics has established a Micro/Mini LED research center; in June 2020, it launched the first-generation Micro LED product nStar I; in October 2021, it successfully developed a high-consistency pixelated quantum dot color conversion The color film preparation technology effectively solves the technical pain points of low yield rate, low light efficiency and high difficulty of mass transfer of Micro LED red light chips.


As optimistic about the future momentum, Fucai has recently privately placed about 800 million yuan to expand the Micro LED layout and build a dedicated 6-inch wafer fab and other equipment. Shentianma has also established a joint venture with an associate company to build a full-process Micro LED test line from mass transfer to display modules.


In addition, Kura Technologies, an AR smart glasses start-up company in Silicon Valley, also announced that it has joined hands with TSMC to jointly develop Micro LED display modules, "Nuggets" Metaverse.


In order to meet the needs of the future application market, LED equipment manufacturer Huite Optoelectronics continues to develop and verify new Micro LED equipment. According to him, "At present, Micro LEDs are also starting to ship in small quantities, and they are optimistic about the shipment situation in the next few years."


The testing equipment and system solutions provider Jingzhida is also continuing to invest in "miniaturized display device-related production testing technology and equipment research and development", focusing on the layout of Micro LED testing equipment.


Although end-use products are emerging, the development of Micro LEDs is still in its early stages. However, as the ultimate display solution, the future application prospects of Micro LED and the value it can create are very attractive. Today, the mass production of large-scale displays has reached a milestone, and new opportunities for applications such as AR glasses, automotive and wearables will continue to develop.