News: LEDs
5 May 2021
Lextar showcases micro/mini-LED display technology at Touch Taiwan
At the 2021 Touch Taiwan event (21-23 April), vertically integrated LED product maker Lextar Electronics Corp of Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan launched its latest series of micro/mini-LED display offerings, including both LED display and backlighting applications. In terms of LED display technology, the company exhibited transparent micro-LED displays, micro-chip-in-package displays, and ultra-fine-pitch (P0.46) mini-LEDs.
Also on display were the firm’s latest mini-LED backlight offerings, featuring the i-mini backlight series ranging from 12.3-inch to 65-inch chip-on-board (COB), driver-on-board (DOB) solutions and LED modules for specialty applications.
The theme ‘LED Next’ was the showcase for next-generation LED display technologies, including:
Micro-LED displays
Lextar exhibited transparent micro-LED displays and the latest micro-chip-in-package technology. A 10.6-inch transparent micro-LED display that combines micro-LED chips with TFT substrates, able to achieve penetrations of over 60% with brightness as high as 3000cd/m2, was on display.
Another 5.1-inch transparent micro-LED display featured at the exhibit is the product of further cooperation between Lextar and X Display that adopts micro-LED chips and a micro driver IC combined with transparent glass substrates; its penetration is over 70%.
These two transparent displays utilize differing substrate and driving solutions, highlighting the company’s diversity and technical capability in developing micro-LED displays as the firm continues to progress towards future transparent display technologies.
At the show, Lextar released one of the first of its kind micro-chip-in-package products. This technology makes it possible to reduce micro-R/G/B LED chips to a pixel-sized package that is embedded onto PCB substrates. The most notable feature is that it increases the black ratio to 99% and the contrast ratio to 1,000,000:1. This technology not only makes screens appear more three dimensional but it is also possible to achieve excellent color uniformity over a wide range of viewing angles.
Mini-LED displays
Lextar and Yenrich Technology (both subsidiaries of Ennostar Group) showcased a 16-in-one mini-LED display package featuring a small pixel pitch of 0.46mm (P0.46), making it the premier ultra-fine pitch product currently available, it is claimed. As for LED display modules, the two companies co-debuted a mini-LED display module series featuring a pixel pitch ranging from 0.78 to 1.25mm, demonstrating an LED display lineup including 54-inch, 135-inch and 147-inch screens.
The entire series adopts high-efficiency flip-chip mini-LEDs, achieving efficiency 3-4 times higher than that of lateral chips currently available on the market. The module and cabinet can be freely assembled in a variety of configurations, and is suitable for indoor or semi-outdoor entertainment and retail display purposes. Lextar says that, due to its vertical integration, it can provide the most suitable mini-LED display solutions for customers’ requirements — from packaging and modules to applications.
i-mini LED backlight series
As part of its i-mini LED backlight series of products, Lextar released the latest in COB (chip-on-board) and DOB (driver-on-board) technologies, with sizes ranging from 12.3-inch to 65-inch screens for the complete series. Applications include automotive panels, marine panels, notebook computers, desktop monitors and TVs. Chip-on-board technology embeds mini-LED flip chips on a light board, making it possible to achieve ultra-thin designs. In addition, driver-on-board technology, which is the latest technology that integrates driver, micro-controllers, TCON and power components on the light board, enables the firm to provide customers with easy-to-design-in solutions.
The two new i-mini backlight products are suitable for outdoor applications, including automotive and marine monitors. These LEDs are capable of 3000cd/m2 brightness and improved readability in sunlight. They also provide high reliability, with a 50,000-hour lifetime.
LED for specialty applications
Beyond traditional applications, Lextar is also focused on specialty LEDs for 3D facial recognition that can be applied in access control, IR and UV disinfection modules combined with distance sensing for touch screens, and professional lighting modules for automotive and horticulture lighting.
LED for automotive solutions
Lextar also presented automotive LED solutions, including a dynamic indicator module, tail-lamp module and headlamp module, indicating the firm’s ability to provide automotive solutions.
In addition, Ennostar Group subsidiary Epistar hosted a chip section that demonstrated a variety of full-wavelength products with applications ranging from high-efficiency and low-blue-light backlight, wide color gamut for displays, comprehensive industrial/physiological monitoring and sensing, to applications requiring flexible spaces, as well as many other chip solutions.
Finally, a compound semiconductor exhibit featured the first public display of the Ennostar Group’s compound semiconductor foundry services for micro-LEDs, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), gallium nitride (GaN) power devices, GaN RF power amplifiers (PAs), PIN/APDs (avalanche photodiodes) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, which are available through Ennostar Group subsidiary Unikorn Semiconductor Corp.
Epistar and Lextar form JV Ennostar, targeting mini/micro-LEDs
