Micro LED is a sub-100 um light source for red, green and blue light, which has advantages of outstanding optical output, ultra-low power consumption, fast response speed, and flexibility.
However, the current display industry has utilised the individual chip transfer of millions of LED pixels, causing high production cost. Therefore, the initial market of micro LED TV will be estimated to a $100,000 for global premium market.
To widely commercialise micro LEDs for mobile and TV displays, the transfer method of thin film micro LEDs requires a one-time transfer of one million LEDs. In addition, highly efficient thin-film blue micro LED is crucial for a full-colour display.
The team developed thin-film red f-VLED in previous projects, and now has realized thousands of thin-film blue vertical micro LEDs (thickness < 2μm) on plastics using a one-time transfer.
The blue GaN f-VLEDs achieved optical power density (~30 mW/mm2) three times higher than that of lateral micro LEDs, and a device lifetime of 100,000 hours by reducing heat generation. These blue f-VLEDs could be “conformally” attached to the curved skin and brains for wearable devices, and stably operated by wirelessly transferred electrical energy.
Professor Keon Jae Leeof KAIST, said, “For future micro LEDs, the innovative technology of thin-film transfer, efficient devices, and interconnection is necessary. We plan to demonstrate a full-colour micro LED display in smart watch sizes by the end of this year.”