MicroLEDs: status and reality check
MicroLEDs are drawing an increasing amount of attention. Startups have raised more than US$800 million to date, including at least US$100 million in 2019. It is estimated Apple has spent in the range of US$1.5 to US$2 billion on the technology over the last five years. Panel makers such as Samsung Display, LG Display, AUO or Innolux have also significantly increased their efforts…
Under this dynamic context, Yole Développement (Yole) is continuing its investigations towards microLED technologies and related applications. In addition to a wide collection of reports focused on the display applications , the market research and strategy consulting company proposes today a comprehensive overview of the microLED industry with a new report, titled MicroLED Displays. Under this new technology and market analysis, Yole details the technology status and trends including epitaxy, microLED efficiency versus OLED, assembly processes and equipment, light management and color conversion. The company also presents a specific section focused on yield and defect management with status and roadmaps, providing a technical and a cost analysis of the different strategies.
“Without doubts, microLEDs are today progressing on all fronts,” announces Principal Display Market & Technologies Analyst, Eric Virey, PhD. at Yole. Under its new MicroLED report, Yole reveals the status of the technology and its progressive adoption.
Patent filings are growing exponentially and technology is progressing. The external quantum efficiency of blue and green microLED chips has more than doubled over the past 24 months. Some transfer and assembly processes are reaching performance close to what is required to enable some microLED consumer applications.
Progress is also visible in the proliferation of prototypes presented over the last 18 months by close to 20 companies.
Zine Bouhamri, PhD. Technology & Market Analyst and part of the Display team at Yole explains: “The demos cover a broad range of display types, sizes and technologies. Native RGB or color converted displays on TFT backplanes are offered by many companies, with some examples including Playnitride, CSOT, Samsung, LG, glō, AUO, eLux, and Kyocera. Lumiode has developed native RGB or color converted displays on monolithicaly integrated LTPS .”… More info.