As a composite integration technology combining display technology and LED technology, Micro-LED has many advantages and is popular with the public, but at the same time, there are still many technical problems that hinder its market development.
Micro-LED is a micron-scale LED light-emitting pixel based on active addressing drive and mass transfer technology. It has the advantages of self-illumination, high efficiency, low power consumption, high integration, high stability, and all-weather work. Considered to be a very promising next-generation new light-emitting and display device, Micro-LED display is an inevitable trend of LED display technology.
Technology Status
Micro-LED has been developed for more than ten years, during which many project teams around the world released results and promoted the further development of related technologies. At present, the leading technologies in the research of Micro-LED technology are the passive addressing Micro-LED technology of Professor H.X. Jiang of Texas Tech University, the high-resolution Micro-LED technology of active addressing of Professor Liu Jimei and Dr. Liu Zhaojun of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. LED fully integrated technology and color painting technology, Professor Martin Dawson of the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom Micro-LED technology combined with biological detection.
my country’s Micro-LED technology is at the same level in the world, and the active addressable high-resolution Micro-LED fully integrated technology and color painting technology are internationally leading.
Application fields, market size and latest developments
Micro-LED displays are expected to grow rapidly in the next five years. It is estimated that smartphones and AR/VR applications will be introduced after 2020, and shipments will reach 330 million units in 2025. In the future, only the potential market size in the display field can be Reached around 30-40 billion US dollars.
MicroLEDs can be deployed in any display application from the smallest to the largest. In many cases, they will be better than the resulting combination of LCD and OLED displays. However, current production feasibility and economic costs limit their use. In the future, Micro-LED will expand to wearable/implantable devices, AR/VR/MR, optical communication/optical interconnection, medical detection, smart car lights, space imaging and other fields.
The main developments in the Micro-LED field in recent years are:
Domestic research and development status
In recent years, as Micro-led computer monitor has become increasingly popular, universities, scientific research institutes, and major enterprises in my country have announced to join the R&D camp. In terms of universities, the teams of Southern University of Science and Technology and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology started earlier and accumulated certain research results; Nanjing University has carried out exploratory work on deep ultraviolet detector arrays; Fuzhou University has done some research in space imaging. In terms of enterprises, BOE, TCL, Yimei Xinguang, Sanan Optoelectronics, Huacan Optoelectronics, Qianzhao Optoelectronics, NationStar Optoelectronics, Visionox, JBD, etc. have all invested in different degrees (the project has been formally approved or is in the stage of preparing for the establishment of the project, or buy companies, or buy patents). In November this year, Sanan Optoelectronics reported its passive addressable Micro-LED array at the Nanjing Micro-LED Conference.
Unsolved problems of Micro-LED
In the development of Micro-LED, there are still many technical and industrial problems that need to be solved:
At present, China has become the world’s largest LED and LCD production base, and the supporting facilities in the Micro-LED industry chain are relatively complete. Therefore, China has the conditions for synergy in the Micro-LED industry chain. It is believed that with the support of national policies and funds, we can give full play to the advantages of my country’s LED and LCD industries, and it is expected to realize the corner overtaking of my country’s display industry through Micro-LED.
