7 patents in this list

Updated:

Manufacturing micro-LED displays presents significant yield and cost challenges across multiple process steps. Current transfer processes achieve yields of 99.99%, yet even this leaves thousands of defective pixels in a 4K display containing 25 million micro-LEDs. Combined with substrate costs of $15-25 per square inch and complex testing requirements, manufacturing expenses remain a key barrier to widespread adoption.

The fundamental challenge lies in balancing manufacturing yield, process complexity, and material costs while maintaining the display performance advantages that micro-LEDs offer.

This page brings together solutions from recent research—including monolithic multi-color growth techniques, wafer-level transfer methods, simplified electrode architectures, and optimized pixel array configurations. These and other approaches focus on reducing process steps and improving yields while preserving the high brightness and efficiency that make micro-LED technology compelling.

1. Graphene Layer-Based Micro LED Structure Transfer and Electrical Connection Fabrication Method

Shanghai Tianma Micro-Electronics Co., Ltd., 2021

Micro LED display substrate fabrication with reduced process steps and costs. The method involves forming a graphene layer on a transfer substrate, growing a micro LED structure on the graphene layer, transferring the micro LED to an organic layer on an array substrate, etching holes through the protective layer and array substrate to expose the LED and transistor electrodes, then depositing a metal layer to electrically connect the LED and transistor.

2. Micro LED Device with Transparent Variable Resistance Material as Integrated Protective Layer and Electrode

KOREA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND BUSINESS FOUNDATION, 2020

Micro LED device with improved manufacturing efficiency and cost. The method uses a transparent variable resistance material as the protective layer and electrode material. By applying voltage to the protective layer, a conductive filament can be formed in the material, converting it into a transparent electrode layer. This eliminates the need for separate transparent electrodes and simplifies the manufacturing process by reducing the number of required masks.

3. Micro-LED Display with Transfer-Printed Inorganic LEDs and Integrated Circuit Control

X-Celeprint Limited, 2019

Micro-LED display technology that enables low-cost high-resolution displays with improved yield and reliability. The displays use tiny inorganic LEDs transferred onto a substrate using printing techniques. The LEDs have metal contacts on one side and emit light out the other side. The metal contacts are separated by a small distance, allowing simple interconnection. By transfer printing the LEDs, they can be assembled on large-area substrates. The displays can have high pixel density and yield, and use integrated circuits to control LED sets.

4. Micro-LED Display Panel with Rectangular Active Areas and Multi-Micro-LED Pixels

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., 2019

A micro-LED display panel with high resolution and no screen door effect while reducing costs. The panel has an array of rectangular active areas on the substrate, each containing a uniform grid of micro-LEDs. Multiple micro-LEDs per pixel allow high resolution without gaps or a screen door effect. Adjusting the number of micro-LEDs per active area also enables cost control while still providing high overall pixel density.

5. Monolithic Wafer-Based Growth and Transfer of Multi-Color Micro-LED Arrays

Intel Corporation, 2019

A technique to produce high efficiency micro-LED displays with lower manufacturing costs. The technique involves monolithically growing different colored micro-LEDs on the same wafer and transferring them to the display backplane to form pixels. This eliminates the need for separate growth and transfer steps for each micro-LED color. For example, blue and green micro-LEDs can be grown together in a "BG" structure, then transferred as a unit to the backplane.

US10177195B2-patent-drawing

6. Wafer-Level Micro-LED Transfer Method Using Laser-Assisted Bonding and Selective Substrate Transfer

GOERTEK, INC., 2018

Micro-LED array display manufacturing method that enables wafer level transfer of micro-LEDs to improve yield and reduce cost. The method involves temporarily bonding micro-LEDs on a donor wafer to a carrier substrate, lifting them off the donor wafer using laser irradiation, transferring them to a transfer head substrate, bonding them to a receiving display substrate, and finally removing the transfer head to leave the micro-LEDs on the display. This allows selective transfer of only good micro-LEDs, repair of defects, and use of laser-transparent substrates.

7. Rectangular Active Area Micro LED Display Panel with Uniform Micro LED Distribution

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., 2018

Micro LED display panel configuration that provides high-resolution with reduced screen-door effect and lower manufacturing cost compared to using numerous micro LEDs per pixel. The panel has an array of rectangular active areas on the substrate, with each area containing a uniform distribution of micro LEDs. The number of micro LEDs per area can be optimized to balance resolution and cost. This arrangement allows achieving high resolution without requiring a micro LED for every subpixel area, avoiding the screen-door effect.

US10002915B2-patent-drawing

For widespread use, considerable measures in cost reduction of micro-LEDs are necessary. A number of promising avenues, including novel fabrication techniques utilizing graphene and monolithic transfer processes, in conjunction with high-resolution display designs and optimized micro-LED distribution techniques, could lead to the commercial replacement of current display technologies with micro-LED technology.