The MicroLED-Info newsletter (August 16, 2022)

Belgium-based microLED microdisplay developer MICLEDI launched microLED microdisplays with integrated micro-lenses, which it says it is a first for the display industry.

MICLEDI has already produces samples and test kits of blue microLED arrays, in addition to blue and green microLED arrays, and has shipped samples to potential customers. The company says that red microLED arrays will arrive in Q4 2022. The microLED arrays were produced in the company’s proprietary 300 mm manufacturing flow.

According to Ennostar, the company intends to invest around $122 million USD in its Epistar subsidiary, with an aim to setup a production capacity of 150mm microLED epitaxial wafers. The investment will be performed in several stages.

Ennostar also updates that Epistar has completed its mini LED chip production capacity, but the demand for such chips is lower than expected, and so the company's mini LED production utilization is not at 100%.

China-based MicroLED microdisplay developer Jade Bird Display secured its Series A3 financing round, co-led by Eight Roads and Lightspeed China Ventures. JBD raiased "several hundred million Yuan", which could mean anything from $30 million USD to $130 million.

In June 2022 it was reported that JBD is building a $92 million USD display production line in Hefei. The production line will have an annual capacity of around 120 million panels (likely JBD's 0.13" monochrome variant). JBD recently announced that it has developed a new red microLED emitter, that offers up to 500,000 nits of brightness at 2 micron sizes, and also that the company is developing native full-color microLED microdisplays.

UK-based Kubos Semiconductors raised $605,000 to launch its cubic-GaN LED technology into new markets, such as microLED displays.

Image

Kubos says that its unique cubic-GaN technology can increase light output (and efficiency) of green LEDs. Kubos operates in a fabless model and says that its technology is fully compatible with standard LED development process on large wafers, offering lower cost volume production. Kubos is also looking to use the technology to produce red GaN LEDs.

QustomDot and MICLEDI announced a joint  development program to develop color microLED microdisplays using QustomDot's color conversion technology. The companies will demonstrate a microdisplay that offers a new architecture tailored for high-efficiency color conversion using stable RoHS-compliant QD materials. The displays will be produced using a high-throughput QD transfer and patterning techniques on micron-sized pixels.

QustomDot developed a patented method to produce high-quality and stable QD materials suitable for microLEDs. MICLEDI is producing its microdisplays on 300 mm wafers, and the company developed a new pixel architecture that has been optimized for high-aperture (>60% aperture at a 3μm pixel pitch) which the company says is a key requisite to achieve a high brightness with quantum dots.