Since Apple entered the micro LED display field, there has been a "hype" about this technological advancement at regular intervals. However, the news from AU at the end of May was not "good."
AUO micro LED "no timetable"A few days ago, the media reported that AU Optronics (AUO) said that there is no specific roadmap and production schedule for micro LED display products. It is generally indicated that the perception of “no timetable†in the industry is something that is “possible†after three or five years. AUO’s statement is undoubtedly far behind the industry’s long-awaited breakthrough of micro LEDs. Especially when AUO has just achieved new achievements in micro LED technology, this statement is more meaningful.
At SID Display Week 2018, held in late May, AUO demonstrated the prototype of an 8-inch micro LED display device driven by the LTPS-TFT backplane. The product uses a 30 micron micro LED crystal with a resolution density of 169 ppi. This product is almost one of the most technologically advanced samples exhibited in the micro LED industry.
The breakthrough in AUO's technology has formed a sharp contrast with the statement of the “production-free timetableâ€. This has caused many people in the industry to worry about the future of micro LEDs.
For AUO's new attitude, the author's point of view is that too optimistic and too pessimistic attitudes are not in line with the reality of the development of the micro LED industry. In fact, the display application of micro LED technology has up to 5 different types, the difficulty of each application is very different, and the market process is very different.
First, the first major category is the small and medium size display application demonstrated by AUO SID Display Week 2018: the target market is a mobile phone screen, and the competitive technology is a flexible OLED display. For this application, micro LEDs must achieve resolutions above 400 PPI, flexible screens, large scale of output and economics, and then "market competition" with the booming OLED technology. AUO's so-called "no timetable" is mainly for products in this market.
Second, the micro LED will also be applied to smaller screens. For example VR display. The main future competitive technology in this field is the silicon-based backplane OLED. Its core technology is characterized by a higher PPI, even to achieve 2000PPI to achieve the desired near-eye display. Obviously, the technical ability of micro LED in this aspect is still not up to standard, and mass production will not be discussed.
Third, the micro LED may also be applied to larger display devices, such as color TVs. In such large-size applications, the PPI pixel density of micro LEDs is not as high as required, and the prior art is fully capable. However, in the context of LCD TVs leading to 55-75-inch large size and OLED large-scale technology, the cost-effectiveness of micro LEDs is a "big problem" in the field of color TVs.
Fourth, the micro LED can be used in the engineering large-screen display market. For example, Sony's black color LED large screen launched in 2016 can be considered as a product that meets the micro LED standard. In the large-screen field of large display area, micro LED does not need to directly compete with flat panel display technologies such as liquid crystal and OLED. Because the latter's splicing display can't avoid having a picture gap. At the same time, the engineering market has lower requirements on the scale and economic requirements of micro LED output. In the future, the small-pitch LED display technology will be a recognized roadmap from the surface mount to the COB and then into the micro LED era. ——This aspect is already in the “productionâ€, except that the LED crystal particles are not reduced to 10-50 microns, but 100-300 microns particles are used.
Fifth, micro LED technology can also be used for liquid crystal backlights. Taiwanese manufacturers have launched high-end LCD products based on this technology. In theory, the liquid crystal display system using a micro LED backlight is eager to obtain an effect comparable to OLED in terms of color and HDR. In the backlight market, micro LED technology is also known as mini-LED: the latter is mainly because the LED crystal particle size and arrangement density specifications are more relaxed, which is conducive to the "production" of micro LED.
In short, the application types of micro LEDs are quite different. The PPI index varies from one or two thousand PPIs in the near-eye VR to dozens of PPIs in the backlight or engineering large screen. The technical difficulty is very large. Faced with such a broad market setting, it is obviously impossible for micro LED products to "break through the entire line of mass production." At present, the backlight and engineering large screen are the green niche market for micro LED related technology “low level start and fast landingâ€.
Micro LED technology is the "anxiety" of Taiwanese manufacturersIn the global micro LED display technology camp, the fastest charge is the Taiwanese camp; the strongest appeal is Apple. Through the study of the entire display industry system, we can find that these two camps have "similar interests."
For Apple, it is subject to Samsung's supply on the OLED screen, and it has long been unable to purchase OLED mobile phone screens. Samsung's exclusive OLED screen, between 2010 and 2017, has become the biggest selling point for Samsung mobile phones. This is the direct reason that Apple decided to enter the field after evaluating the micro LED in 2013-2014 – that is, it must break the “opponent position†on the mobile phone screen. Of course, Apple's efforts on the screen are not only a fulcrum of micro LED, but also its cooperation with LG and other companies on the OLED screen.
For the Taiwanese display industry, it has achieved the world's second "advantageous position" in the LCD era. However, in recent years, it has become "heartless" in terms of new technologies and new capacity investment. In OLED and large-size LCD products, it has been surpassed by the mainland. In this context, Taiwan shows the industry chain, and hopes to achieve “differentiated development and survival†by building a product that is niche but has higher technical barriers, namely micro LED. In other words, for the Taiwanese panel industry and display camp, the choice of micro LED is not an "optimal solution" but a "helpless solution" - which does not give "anxiety under competitive pressure."
From the above analysis, it can be seen that both Apple's micro LED and Taiwan's micro LED have the characteristics of "sudden tool". The opposite of this feature is that micro LEDs are not the mainstream of the mass display market: more display giants are more willing to develop OLEDs and large-size LCD products in the context of financial strength. In the latter two, there have been only 450 billion yuan of capital investment in the mainland in the last three to five years.
Another manifestation of this point of view is that companies with strong strength in OLED and LCD, involved in the micro LED market, more major "engineering display" - such as Samsung and LG, complete the micro LED around the big screen project And a small pitch LED display. In the view of these brands, micro LEDs are not competing with OLEDs and LCDs, but more in the fields of OLEDs and LCDs that are “not doing well, can't do itâ€.
How to go in the future of micro LED: also look at the project big screenSince the beginning of 2014-2017, the small-pitch LED display market has increased by more than 60-80%. In 2018, only the domestic small-pitch LED display market is eager to reach 10 billion yuan. With the development of smart society, big data and smart industry, the future growth of engineering large screen display will be "better".
Based on this market awareness, the author believes that the best way out for micro LEDs at present is in the engineering big screen market. In this market, micro LEDs do not need very high PPI indicators - high PPI is the biggest difficulty of micro LED display technology; at the same time, you can also say goodbye to the "positive competition" of OLED and LCD - this is the biggest competitive pressure of micro LED technology Even the application of the micro LED in the engineering market does not require too much economic efficiency - if the cost per square meter can be reduced to 30,000 to 50,000 (the corresponding liquid crystal display product is 2,000 yuan), it can be widely popularized.
For a new display technology, its growth prospects depend not only on the "technical" factors. It also depends on competitive factors and market affordability factors. In the engineering market, micro LEDs do not play its inherent "limit performance", but they have the "feasibility" of competitive factors and market affordability factors.
The latter is like the liquid crystal backlight display product of micro LED (MINI-LED) technology introduced by Taiwanese companies: the technical threshold is appropriately lowered and the market feasibility is sought. -- However, the LCD backlight market is not a "long-term market." Under the general trend of liquid crystal to OLED transition, there is no "strategic future" for backlight products. The application of the micro LED in the backlight market can only serve as a short-term strategy, the first bucket of gold and an expedient to win opportunities for further innovation.
In other words, in the conventional display market, micro LEDs cannot avoid the frontal comparison with OLEDs. Under the OLED's initial investment, scale and maturity, the future of the micro LED camp is not optimistic. On the contrary, in the global engineering large-screen market, micro LEDs can move forward spontaneously without a rival and have a better future.
The author believes that the above analysis, AUO is more detailed, which constitutes AUO's "micro LED product type that competes directly with OLED and LCD", "that is, technology research and development", but "no mass production" The attitude of the timetable. On the other hand, in 2018, COB-LED large-screen products are at the forefront, and the introduction of more advanced technologies such as micro LEDs coincides with the fact that micro LEDs are the first to land in the engineering large-screen market.
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