The global Micro-LED display market will exceed US$5.2 billion by 2034, including sensors, haptics and displays, and a range of other relevant technologies. That the most colourful and vibrant displays are on the rise is occurring as micro-LED technology becomes increasingly refined. This is central to a recent report – IDTechEx’s “Micro-LED Displays 2024-2034: Technology, Commercialization, Opportunity, Market and Players“.
This report covers the entire market from production and assembly to image quality and power consumption, and details the main players operating within the sector.
The characteristics of micro-LEDs
Micro-LED displays possess many qualities that give them value within the electronics market. They are self-emissive and have great stability, more so than OLEDs and QLEDs, as they do not have the same sensitivity to oxygen and water. Micro-LEDs, therefore, have a longer lifetime of over 50,000 hours. Companies such as Sony, Samsung, LG, Konka, and TCL are included in the report as examples of some of the existing micro-LED display manufacturers.
High luminous efficiency and brightness, and subsequently lower power consumption, are also achievable with micro-LEDs. They can achieve near-perfect black as a result of this efficiency, because the light source is only needed to have a 1%-pixel area, with light-absorbing materials able to cover the remaining areas. Micro-LEDs’ ability to achieve perfect black means they are able to have a high dynamic range and better contrast.
Wider application areas with higher resolution are possible with micro-LEDs, with no screen size limitations. The large non-pixel space also creates the possibility for sensor integration, such as fingerprint sensors or gesture control in devices. They are therefore a versatile display option in applications where sensor use is growing, with their fast refresh rate also working in their favour.
Direct view and micro-displays
In a direct view micro-LED display, the pixels are assembled on small pixel pitch epi-wafers, which are divided into individual dice and moved onto a backplane, with the micro-LED area only taking up a small portion of the total area. Micro-LED micro-displays, on the other hand, build displays that could be smaller than 2 inches on average. The combination of small pixel-pitch micro-LEDs with a backplane can be integrated into optical systems like projection lenses or see-through glasses.
Achieving full color realization in micro-LEDs
Direct RGB, color filters, color converters, colour changeable LEDs, vertical stacked RGB, and three-panel systems are all strategies used in display applications explored by IDTechEx. Direct side-by-side RGB is a more straightforward approach; however, vertically stacked RGB can be beneficial for achieving high-density pixels for high PPI displays, as it saves space. This approach could also reduce costs and difficulties with transfers and repairs.
Color filters consume a large amount of power, which is generally too demanding for micro-LED displays, so blue light could be used as a light source directly, rather than having to be converted to white light and followed by the use of colour filters. Micro-LEDs can also use quantum dots to enhance performance and achieve high colour purity and luminance with their ability to emit light naturally without filters. Their simplified device structure, lower power consumption, and efficiency make them a great option for micro-LED applications.
Transparent displays and sensor-integrated displays are targeting applications for micro-LED display technology. With the demand for higher brightness and better colours on the rise, micro-LED displays are likely to continue to expand as a popular technology.
