MicroLED

microLED, also known as micro-LED, mLED or µLED, is an emerging flat-panel display technology. MicroLED displays consist of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. When compared to the widespread LCD technology, microLED displays offer better contrast, response times, and energy efficiency. microLED, also known as micro-LED, mLED or µLED, is an emerging flat-panel display technology. MicroLED displays consist of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. When compared to the widespread LCD technology, microLED displays offer better contrast, response times, and energy efficiency. Along with OLEDs, microLEDs are primarily aimed at small, low-energy devices such as smartwatches and smartphones. OLED and microLED both offer greatly reduced energy requirements compared to conventional LCD systems. Unlike OLED, microLED is based on conventional gallium nitride (GaN) LED technology, which offers far higher total brightness than OLED produces, as much as 30 times, as well as higher efficiency in terms of lux/W. As of 2019, microLED displays have not been mass-produced, though Sony sells microLED video walls, Samsung demonstrated a prototype at CES, and Apple has begun in-house development of microLED screens of its own.. Inorganic semiconductor microLED (µLED) technology was first invented in 2000 by the research group of Hongxing Jiang and Jingyu Lin of Texas Tech University while they were at Kansas State University. Following their first report of electrical injection microLEDs based on Indium gallium nitride (InGaN) semiconductors, several groups have quickly engaged in pursuing this concept. Many related potential applications have been identified. Various on-chip connection schemes of microLED pixel arrays have been employed allowing for the development of single-chip high voltage DC/AC-LEDs to address the compatibility issue between the high voltage electrical infrastructure and low voltage operation nature of LEDs and high brightness self-emissive microdisplays. The microLED array has also been explored as a light source for optogenetics applications and for visible light communications. Early InGaN based microLED arrays and microdisplays were primarily passively driven. The first actively driven video-capable self-emissive InGaN microLED microdisplay in VGA format (640 x 480 pixels, each 12 microns in size with 15 microns between them) possessing low voltage requirements was realized in 2011 via a hybrid complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and integrated circuit (IC) hybrid assembly. MicroLEDs are considered to have innate potential performance advantages over LCD displays, including lower latency, higher contrast ratio, and greater color saturation, plus intrinsic self-illumination and better efficiency. As of 2016, technological and production barriers have prevented commercialization.