I’m Chris Chinnock here for Insight Media at CES 2025 in the Shoei Chemical suite at the Westgate. Shoei recently acquired Nanosys, the leading maker of quantum dot materials. What they’re showing here is, as far as I know, the first public demonstration of a microLED display produced by CTC (a Foxconn division) using Applied Materials equipment and processes, combined with Shoei quantum dots.
How It Works
- The process starts with UV microLEDs as the light source.
- Then, inkjet printing is used to deposit red, green, and blue quantum dots directly onto the substrate.
- Red and green QDs have been commercialized before, but blue QDs have seen very little commercialization—making this approach unique.
Why This Approach?
- Efficiency:
- Green QDs excited by UV light are much more efficient than those excited by blue microLEDs.
- Better Lambertian Response:
- This method improves color and luminance uniformity across viewing angles compared to traditional QD conversion using blue microLEDs.
- Manufacturing Advantages:
- All QDs can be deposited simultaneously via inkjet printing.
- After deposition, the QDs self-cure under UV light, simplifying the process.
- Because all layers are at the same height, the surface remains planar, which helps achieve the Lambertian viewing profile.
Device Specs
- Size: ~1.2 inches diagonal
- Resolution: ~300 PPI
- Brightness: Around 1,000 nits, with potential for higher
- Pixel Structure:
- Each pixel uses four microLEDs instead of one.
- This design improves yield because the display can tolerate one or more dead emitters per pixel without noticeable defects.
- Yield: The demo unit reportedly has only one dead pixel, which is impressive.
Why It Matters
This is a new way of thinking about microLED display manufacturing, combining UV microLEDs with inkjet-printed quantum dots for better efficiency, color performance, and yield. It could represent a major step forward in microLED commercialization.
Summary: Shoei Chemical, now with Nanosys, is pioneering a UV microLED + QD approach that promises higher efficiency, better viewing angles, and improved manufacturing yields—potentially reshaping the future of microLED displays.