In recent years, Chinese panel powerhouse Tianma has been doubling down on Micro LED technology, drawn by its myriad advantages like high contrast, wide color gamut, exceptional brightness, compact size, and high energy efficiency. At a Micro LED seminar held by TrendForce in 2024, Yong-Feng Liu, Product Planning Director at Tianma Micro LED Research Institute, shed light on the latest advancements in Micro LED technology and outlined the company’s strategies and future plans.

Tianma Focuses on Three Key Micro LED Applications: Automotive Displays, Public Information Displays, and Transparent Displays
Tianma has established a dedicated Micro LED research institute to drive innovation and advance its "2+1+N" strategy, aiming to seize opportunities in Micro LED technology.

The company is leveraging glass-based LTPS (low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) technology to develop various Micro LED applications. Its primary focus is on developing automotive displays, public information displays (PIDs), and transparent displays.

Automotive Displays: As vehicles incorporate more screens, automakers are increasingly demanding higher quality in-car displays. Given that cost sensitivity is lower for automotive products, this sector is seen as a breakthrough point for Micro LED. However, as the PPI (pixel per pitch) of automotive displays increases, display transparency can decrease significantly, posing challenges for automotive Micro LED applications. To address this problem, Tianma has divided backplane designs into transparent and non-transparent areas, optimizing the non-transparent region with specialized designs to achieve over 75% transparency in its automotive displays.

Tianma’s automotive display technologies

PIDs: Tianma has successfully tackled the challenges of achieving bezel-less designs (a priority for PIDs) in glass-based Micro LED displays, where decreased pixel pitch and limited side wiring space complicate processes like dicing and grinding. Utilizing its GOA-in-pixel technique, along with LTPS dual-side wiring and Cu processes, Tianma has successfully developed bezel-less backplanes with a pixel pitch of 0.15 mm, enabling seamless Micro LED splicing for bezel-free displays. 

LTPS backplane design for seamless splicing

Transparent Displays: Micro LED outperforms OLED and LCD technologies for transparent applications due to its superior brightness, reliability, lifespan, and transparency rate. Transparent displays have wide-ranging uses, from landmark constructions and museum exhibits to metro stations, retail setups, and hotels. Tianma views transparent screens as one of the key breakthrough areas for future Micro LED advancements.

Expanding Product Lineups and Aligning Manufacturing Processes
Since 2019, Tianma has unveiled multiple Micro LED displays, including several transparent displays, a spliced display, and a high-resolution display.

Micro LED displays announced since 2019 (from left to right: the 7.56" transparent screen, 5.04" spliced display, 9.38" transparent screen, 1.63" display (403 PPI), 8.75-inch transparent screen, and 9.38" adjustable display)

Collaborative development plays a crucial role in Tianma’s strategic planning. In October 2024, the company partnered with Xiamen University and the Xiamen Institute of Future Display Technology to announce a 1.63-inch super-retina TFT-based full-color Micro LED display with 403 PPI. In November, the panel maker cooperated with Hisense to reveal a display engineered with its Borderless Crystal Connection Micro LED technique, boasting an ultra-fine pixel pitch of just 0.4 mm.
Further, Tianma aims to align all Micro LED manufacturing processes by the end of 2024 and continue to enhance yield and efficiency in 2025, with an eye towards small batch shipments.

The Future of Micro LED
From the technical perspective, Micro LEDs will have higher PPI with stricter requirements of related equipment and processes. From the market development perspective, Micro LED technology will first be applied to high-end sectors before it trickles down to consumer sectors.

The rollout will begin with large spliced displays, gradually transitioning to smartwatches and automotive displays, and eventually making its way to tablets, monitors, and smartphones. Cost reduction remains the pivotal factor for future Micro LED development.

Tianma recognizes the commercialization of Micro LED faces challenges primarily in backplanes, manufacturing processes, and chip-making technology. Nonetheless, the company is confident that through strategic collaborations, it can boost yield rates, reduce costs, and ultimately commercialize this cutting-edge display technology.

(Photo credit: Tianma)

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