Is the Mini LED the outpost of the Micro LED? Can Micro LED replace OLED?

In 2017, Mini LED.html' style='font-weight: bold;color: #900916;border-bottom: 1px #900916 dotted; padding-bottom: 2px;' target='_blank'>LED, Micro LED and OLED In the display field, it became a "red fried chicken". From the upstream chip companies, to the midstream package, to the downstream display application companies, they have followed the “window”.

Compared with MicroLED, Mini-LED technology is less difficult, easy to mass-produce, and can develop a large number of LCD backlight market, and the product economy is better. In 2017, large-scale manufacturers such as Jingdian, Longda Electronics and Sanan Optoelectronics successively deployed to promote the rapid development of Mini LED technology. However, many companies believe that the Mini LED is only a transitional product, and the future of the display will eventually belong to the Micro LED.

What is the charm of Micro LED, so that the industry is so persistent? It is understood that Micro LED is to thin, miniaturize and array the LED structure design, and the volume is about 1% of the current mainstream LED size. Each pixel can be addressed and illuminated separately, and the pixel distance is reduced by the order of magnitude. Micron, and has the advantages of low power consumption, high brightness, high resolution and color saturation, faster response, longer life and higher efficiency. However, industry insiders predict that real Micro LED products will not be ready for mass production until 2020.

Micro LEDs are used in a wide range of applications, both in large and small sizes. But at least for now, OLEDs occupy an important position in the display field. Some insiders predict that in the high-end display field, OLED will have a market share of 30% in the next five years, and the market share will reach 45% in the next eight to ten years.

However, at this stage, Mini LED, Micro LED and OLED have been “pursued” by many companies. High-tech LEDs list the layout of some manufacturers to explore the hotness of Mini LEDs, Micro LEDs and OLEDs.

Mini LED

Compared to traditional LED displays, Mini LEDs offer the opportunity to achieve higher dynamic contrast and wide color gamut effects. Due to the high brightness and high dynamic contrast of the Mini LED, there will be opportunities to import high-end TV products. In addition, in mobile phone applications, Mini LED can manufacture OLED-like products with high contrast and high brightness, and increase local dimming function. The goal of related panel manufacturers is to achieve OLED with performance and price. competition.

At present, many manufacturers around the world have actively developed related applications of Mini LEDs. The chip factories include Jingdian, Longda, Sanan, Huacan, etc.; the packaging factories include Yiguang, Rongchuang, Hongqi, Seoul Semiconductor, etc.; IC design plants have accumulated , Ruiding, etc.; panel manufacturers have AUO, Innolux; display manufacturers include Liard and so on.

Crystal electric

LED chip maker Dajing Jingdian and panel makers and mobile phone factories in Taiwan, South Korea and mainland China jointly developed Mini LEDs, and next year will launch backlights and car monitors for small-pitch displays, TVs and mobile phones, except In contrast to OLEDs, as an outpost for the development of Micro LEDs, it will be the growth momentum of next year.

Xie Mingxun, deputy general manager of Jingdian, said that the panel industry in Taiwan has not developed OLEDs. The development of OLEDs in the mainland is not easy. In order not to wait and see, the Mini LED has been developed as a backlight, which can achieve the same thickness as OLEDs, and the color rendering ratio is OLED. Well, at present, Jingdian has cooperated with at least four major manufacturers and will start shipping next year.

Ronda Electronics

Recently, LED manufacturers have begun to develop toward high value-added products. Existing LEDs must enhance their technological competitiveness. On the other hand, they must develop new technologies. Mini LEDs are the products of the pursuit of new technologies. At present, Ronda Electronics is actively investing in the research and development of Mini LED and Micro LED technology. It is expected that there will be a new mass production of Mini LED backlights in 2018.

Sanan Optoelectronics

With the industrial turn of Sanan Optoelectronics, the LED industry is expected to decompress. Next year, with the entry of MiniLED for mobile phones, the industry has the opportunity to resist price disadvantages.

Rongchuang

Rongchuang locks in the small-pitch market transformation. Among them, Mini LED will introduce TV backlight application next year and will start shipping in the third quarter of next year.

Hong Qi

At present, Hongqi's Mini LED technology research and development is in the final stage, and it is expected to be shipped in the second quarter of 2018 as soon as possible.

Innolux

The next generation display technology of Group Creation, MiniLED and MicroLED are developed simultaneously. MiniLED can realize profile cutting and curved surface, and have the opportunity to mass-produce and ship in one or two years. On the other hand, it also announced that it will enter the fingerprint identification. In the third quarter, it will mass produce the world's first thermal-sensing flexible fingerprint sensor.

Micro LED

In recent years, Taiwanese manufacturers have actively seized the future of MicroLED's commercial boom, including key component PCBs and early investment in R&D and related patent layout acceleration.

According to industry observations, the application of MicroLED terminals is not limited to mobile phones. The demand for more innovative smart home devices and high-definition display applications is also quite strong. The focus is on actually reducing production costs and introducing commercial speeds.

Sony

When the Micro LED miniaturization technology entered the mass production stage, it attracted the attention of the industry. Sony introduced the latest CLEDIS large-scale display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), highlighting that Micro LED is about to open a new battlefield in the commercial display market.

Sony is expected to introduce mass production in 2017. Taiwanese companies are also actively investing in the Micro LED process to break through the mass production threshold. It is expected that in the second half of 2017, Micro LED large indoor displays and wearable devices will have the opportunity to mass production.

Samsung

According to the Korean media Investor and Apple's message website MacRumors reported on the 1st, Samsung's Micro LED technology, the proposed price of 150 million US dollars to buy the technology. Samsung is not willing to respond to the acquisition rumors.

apple

In June 2017, after signing a large purchase order for OLED mobile phone screens with Samsung, Apple still did not forget to promote the development of Micro LED. It is reported that Apple will test the equipment equipped with Micro LED in Taiwan in 2017 and will be the first to launch a batch of Apple Watch using this technology. It is not ruled out that the Micro LED display will be applied to the Apple mobile phone.

Sanan Optoelectronics

In June 2017, Sanan Optoelectronics responded to investors' questions and said that Micro LED is the key development direction in the future. The company started research and development in a year or two.

Huacan Optoelectronics

Huacan Optoelectronics cooperates with overseas large customers to develop MicroLED next-generation display technology company to cooperate with large customers at home and abroad to develop MicroLED technology and lay out new application fields in the future. The TV and mobile phone panels to be replaced by MicroLED are a huge market, compared with existing LEDs. The scale of the chip is several times larger. With the gradual application of MiniLED and MicroLED in the next 3-5 years, the company's performance is expected to continue and grow rapidly.

Crystal electric

Mini LED is the outpost of Micro LED. Crystal has already shipped Mini LED. Micro LED is determined to use 6-inch wafer crystal growth. Crystal is still thinking about producing epitaxial or chip, the fastest There is an opportunity to apply to the wearable device before the end of 2018.

Hon Hai Group

In May 2017, Hon Hai Group did not allow South Korea's Samsung and US Apple to continue to lead the R&D in order to lay out the most promising new generation display technology Micro LED after OLED. It is estimated that it will save more than NT$800 million through its creation. Investment company, Innolux, Japan Sharp, and its LED packaging factory Rongchuang Technology and other four companies, jointly acquired the US startup eLux, and strive to commercialize Micro LED technology.

OLED

Since the release of the iPhone X mobile phone, the OLED screen has become the new favorite of the mobile phone market, and the full-screen mobile phone will explode next year. At present, a number of listed companies are actively promoting the mass production of OLED panels.

In contrast, in the field of LED lighting, the price war has become hot, and the situation of oversupply is irreversible, so many manufacturers have transformed into OLED battlefields.

LGD

In May 2017, LG Display (LGD), a Korean panel maker, decided to set aside 10 trillion won to build the world's largest OLED panel production base. LGD will build a P10 plant in Paju, South Korea, and plans to produce large-scale OLED panels for TVs and small and medium-sized OLED panels for mobile devices. 70% of the production capacity is expected to be small and medium-sized OLED panels. The P10 plant is scheduled to go into production in the first half of 2018.

In June 2017, LG Display (LGD) actively competed for Apple orders, but was limited by the lack of vacuum machines needed to produce OLEDs, and it was too late to win Apple's favor. The latest news pointed out that LGD successfully bought two devices, which is a step closer to Apple's big single.

In July 2017, according to South Korean media The Korea Herald, Apple is negotiating with LG Display. Apple will invest 2 trillion to 3 trillion won (about 11.8 billion to 17.8 billion yuan) to LG Display to build OLED. Production line, and in return, LG Display will only produce OLED screens for Apple iPhone.

In July 2017, LG Display said it plans to invest 7.8 trillion won (about 47.3 billion yuan) to expand production facilities to manufacture large and small OLED panels.

BOE

In August 2017, BOE intends to cooperate with Yunnan North Aurode Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., Gaoping Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and Yunnan Yuzhong Industrial Development Group Co., Ltd. to jointly invest RMB 1.15 billion in Kunming, Yunnan Province. Construction of the first large-scale OLED microdisplay device production line project in China, engaged in the production, sales and R&D of OLED microdisplay devices.

In November 2017, Korean media etnews reported on the 28th that BOE's B11 and B12 plants will become Apple's exclusive OLED production line. The B11 plant is located in Mianyang, Sichuan, and is the second flexible OLED panel producing area after BOE's B7 plant in Chengdu, Sichuan. The B12 plant may be located in Chongqing, and the future production of flexible and foldable panels will be 50:50.

Samsung

With the entry of Apple's iPhone 8, Samsung is now focusing more on OLED screens, so speeding up the departure of LED business is a matter of course. For Samsung, the abandonment of LED business can be better invested in OLED screen production. At present, they occupy 90% of the world's small and medium-sized OLED screens, and even Apple can't get around.

Gaogong LED believes that with the use of OLED displays in 2017, OLED displays are expected to accelerate penetration. In the next 2-3 years, high-end OLED displays will be in short supply.

UDC

Benefiting from the explosive growth of performance, US stock OLED leader UDC's share price rebounded strongly, the stock price broke through the one-dollar mark, and the highest price reached $116.85 on May 8. Driven by it, the OLED concept stocks in the A-shares performed equally strong. Institutional sources pointed out that the explosive growth of UDC companies may mean that the entire OLED industry is on the eve of the industry outbreak.

Sharp

Sharp will begin commercial production of OLED panels for smart phones this spring, and it is estimated that some high-end smart phones that Sharp will sell this summer will be adopted. Later, it plans to expand to other uses such as smart phones for vehicles, and plans to supply them. Used by other companies.

It is reported that Sharp has invested tens of billions of yen to set up a small-scale OLED panel production line, and now the relevant mass production technology is ready, and began to sample shipments, is expected to be mass production from April to June 2018. Sharp will also fine-tune the brightness, image quality and other parts in the future so that the OLED panel products produced can reach the level required for commercialization.