Inlighten has recently emerged from stealth mode and had a booth at Display Week. On display were GaN-based red, green and blue microLED devices along with an AlInGaP-based red device. These monochrome devices will be sampling soon along with monochrome engines with optics attached for use in AR glasses.

The company has an exclusive partnership with WuHan, China-based StarkSemi as the microLED foundry. Starting in 2022, StarkSemi now is running an 8-inch microLED line with over 1600 square feet of cleanroom space. With $50M invested so far, the foundry is vertically integrated with the manufacturing process starting with the internal growing the GaN epi layers on an 8-inch silicon wafer. LED devices are then defined and wafer-bonded to a sourced CMOS backplane. The silicon carrier is removed so the displays can then be tested, diced and packaged.

Headed by experience team from ams Osram, Global Foundries and Ostendo, the company is focused on developing microLED devices that can be mass produced. That means their performance may not necessarily be cutting edge, but if they can deliver millions of devices, they will be successful. While their 8-inch line can now produce 12K wafers per year, they are also developing the tooling to support 12-inch manufacturing.

For full color, developers can use an x-cube with three monochrome panels, but the company is also developing a stacked full-color solution as well. If you are attending the CIOE show in China is September, stop by their booth as they may have a full-color demo ready by then.