Most start-ups choose to develop so-called monolithic displays that combine in the form of a single chip or two chips. This may be a shortcut to success, but it may only work for very small screens. For example, the AR device needs a monitor.
Apple has sufficient financial resources and started earlier. It is facing higher technical difficulty. In the vision of Apple, Micro LED can be used in smart watches and eventually used in a larger range. One startup company thinks it can be comparable to Apple. It may even defeat Apple to develop a Micro LED smart phone screen.
Reza Chaji, chief executive of VueReal, a startup company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, said that if the current usage model is adopted, the smart phone can be used for at least two days without charging. However, he said that at UHD resolution, the smart phone The application has the most demanding requirements for Micro LED. If the Micro LED smartphone can be used normally, then a large screen of any size can be manufactured with the same or even less difficulty, which is why VueReal currently focuses on smartphones.
Unlike monolithic displays, the screen pixels that VueReal and Apple are exploring consist of a single LED chip. This presents three manufacturing issues.
First of all, LEDs are very efficient when they appear in an illuminated size, but scaling down to a micron level reduces efficiency. And LEDs have a wider area that allows current to flow through to produce light. As the chip gets smaller, the ratio of the border to the emitter is close to 1 : 1, efficiency will drop.
Second, the monitor cannot tolerate “mistakes.” The 99% yield may sound very good, but on the display screen, the effect will be very poor. For UHD resolution, this means more than 250,000 dead pixels, and consumers must Will notice.
Finally, there is the question of how to transfer 20 million LEDs to the screen in less than a few weeks.
According to Chaji, VueReal solves the above three problems. But the last question is the most critical. Observers believe that this is in stark contrast to what Apple is doing. Although Apple did not talk about Micro LED display screen manufacturing technology, Chaji and others concerned with Apple’s patents believe that Apple is developing a rapid “Pick and Place” massive transfer technology to transfer LEDs in bulk.
Chaji did not disclose how VueReal's technology operates, but he said: "The technology can carry out a large number of concurrent transfers... Therefore, it can be placed on a TV in 10 minutes." He said, more like photocopying or File Print. "Apple may be earlier than us because they started early, but in the long run, our solutions will exceed the pick-and-place technology."
VueReal is planned to be fully operational in 2021 and will provide technology, equipment and materials to display screen manufacturing partners.