With the release of Apple’s Vision Pro, its Micro OLED display technology has caught the attention of more people. In fact, global Micro OLED display manufacturers have been working in this field for many years. In recent years, Chinese manufacturers have been particularly active in this area. TrendForce has compiled the recent global manufacturers’ product and technological advancements in this article.

eMagin

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in New York, eMagin Corporation is a leading enterprise in Micro OLED display technology, serving world-class clients in the military, consumer, medical, and industrial markets. Since 2001, eMagin’s micro-displays have been used in AR/VR, aircraft cockpits, heads-up display systems, thermal imagers, night vision goggles, future weapon systems, and various other applications. In May 2023, eMagin announced its final merger agreement with Samsung Display, with Samsung acquiring eMagin for $218 million.

Sony

Sony began developing the foundational display technology for Micro OLED in 2009, with the aim of applying it to electronic viewfinders for cameras.

In June 2023, Apple released the Vision Pro, featuring two Sony Micro OLED displays with a size of 1.42 inches, a resolution of 3648×3144, a pixel density of 3391ppi, and a module brightness of up to 6000 nits. It has been reported that this high-spec Micro OLED screen is also priced high, with a single screen costing $350, and its production capacity is limited.

MICROOLED

MICROOLED was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Grenoble, France. The company is dedicated to the development and manufacturing of high-resolution Micro OLED micro-displays. In January 2012, MICROOLED introduced its first 0.61-inch micro-display with 5.4 million pixels. In August 2012, STMicroelectronics invested 6 million euros in MICROOLED, and the two companies initiated collaborative development work. In 2015, MICROOLED announced that it had sold over 150,000 0.38-inch WVGA micro-displays. In 2020, MICROOLED announced a funding of 8 million euros to accelerate the development of consumer-grade AR solutions.

Kopin

Kopin Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts. Since 1990, the company has been providing LCD, LCoS, and OLED micro-displays for military, enterprise, industrial, medical, and consumer wearable products. In March 2023, Kopin announced significant progress in the Helmet-Mounted Display System (HMDS) project for the F-35 fighter jet, completing performance tests for OLED micro-displays.

Kopin has also been involved in the establishment of Chinese Micro OLED manufacturers, such as Kunming O-Film (now renamed “Yunnan Visionox Opto-Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.”) and Lakefield Optoelectronics.

BOE

In August 2017, BOE announced a joint investment of 1.15 billion RMB to establish Kunming BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd. (now renamed “Yunnan Invensight Optoelectronics Technology”). The company is engaged in the production, sales, and research and development of OLED micro-displays.

BOE announced further investment of 3.4 billion RMB for the construction of a 12-inch OLED micro-display production line to meet the demand of the high-end AR/VR market in December 2019. The designed capacity is 10k wafers per month, with main products including 0.99-inch and 1.31-inch OLED micro-displays.

In March 2021, BOE disclosed on the investor interaction platform that the 8-inch silicon-based Micro OLED production line of Yunnan Invensight Optoelectronics Technology had achieved mass production in August 2019 and is currently ramping up production. The newly established 12-inch Micro OLED production line will be completed in three phases and is expected to be fully completed in January 2024, with a designed annual capacity of 5.23 million wafers.

In May 2023, BOE unveiled its 1.3-inch 4K (3552×3840) Micro OLED display at SID Display Week.

Seeya Technology

Seeya Technology was founded in October 2016 and focuses on the research and production of 12-inch silicon-based OLED micro-display. In 2022, DJI released the Goggles 2, the world’s first consumer-grade FPV goggles utilizing Micro OLED screens, which features Seeya’s 0.49-inch 1920×1080 Micro OLED micro-display.

Lakeside Optoelectronics

Lakeside Optoelectronics was established in April 2017. In May 2023, Lakeside Optoelectronics announced a partnership with Panasonic. Prior to this, Lakeside Optoelectronics had established long-term strategic partnerships with Panasonic and US-based Lighting Silicon Corporation. Panasonic’s next-generation smart VR glasses, MeganeX, will incorporate Lakeside Optoelectronics’ third-generation Micro OLED display. The product is expected to be launched in 2023.

Samsung Display

In early 2022, Samsung Display announced that it was developing Micro OLED displays, with the project in its early development stage. The company planned to start building its first production line in 2023, begin mass production of Micro OLED displays in 2024, and expand capacity in 2025 for full commercialization by 2026.

In December 2022, South Korean media reported that Samsung had started ordering equipment for a 300mm pilot production line, with SFA Engineering and AP Systems as the equipment suppliers. The production line will be located in Samsung’s A2 factory in Asan, South Korea. Samsung aims to receive the first equipment in the first quarter of 2023 and start volume production by the end of 2023, with a monthly capacity of 6,400 wafers. The production line is expected to be fully operational in 2024.

In May 2023, eMagin announced the final merger agreement with Samsung Display. Samsung Display will acquire eMagin for a price of $218 million.

LG Display

In February 2023, it was reported by South Korean media that Meta would collaborate with SK Hynix and LG Display to develop Micro OLEDs for AR/VR headsets. Meta would primarily handle semiconductor design, SK Hynix would be responsible for wafer production, and LG Display would complete the OLED deposition on wafers and perform the final step of cutting them into Micro OLED panels.

It was mentioned that SK Hynix’s Icheon headquarters in Gyeonggi Province has three DRAM production lines: M10, M14, and M16. The production line designated for Micro OLED wafer production is the M10 line, which uses 12-inch wafers as the standard and has a monthly production capacity of 100,000 wafers. If product development proceeds smoothly, they plan to start producing 30,000 wafers per month from 2025-2026. Additionally, the team is expected to utilize 28nm or 45nm nodes for Micro OLED wafer production.

Epson

Epson has been conducting research on OLED-related technologies for nearly 20 years and has released several smart glasses equipped with Epson Micro OLEDs. Epson’s VM-40 AR optical module features a 0.453-inch 1920 x 1080 Micro OLED display.

(Photo credit: Apple)

TrendForce’s investigation into the supply chain reveals that Apple plans to upgrade the PCB materials in its new iPhone models in 2024. The current copper-clad laminate (CCL) will be partially replaced with resin-coated copper (RCC), aiming to reduce the size and thickness of the mainboard. This upgrade is expected to enhance electronic signal transmission efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and save internal space, providing more room for increased battery capacity.

Apple first introduced the substrate-like PCB (SLP) with the launch of the iPhone X in 2017. SLP offers advantages over conventional high-density interconnect (HDI) PCBs by reducing line width and spacing, optimizing PCB area, and increasing battery space. This design has remained unchanged since its introduction. However, recent discussions within the supply chain indicate that there are plans to introduce RCC materials in the second half of 2024 for the upcoming iPhones, marking an upgrade after a seven-year gap.

The main difference between RCC and traditional CCL lies in their structure. RCC eliminates one layer of fiberglass cloth, significantly reducing the overall thickness of the PCB. It also simplifies the manufacturing process and improves the laser drilling yield. In terms of component performance, RCC allows for further reduction in line width and spacing of circuit wiring based on SLP, reducing the spacing between various passive and active components on the board. It even enables the embedding of some passive components, thereby saving space required for surface mount technology (SMT) processes. All these upgrades contribute to greater power efficiency and improved performance in end devices.

Considering the similarities between RCC and ABF substrates in terms of the manufacturing process, the most likely supplier for RCC is the Japanese company Ajinomoto. If Apple successfully replaces some layers with RCC in 2024, it may impact the demand for existing CCL, particularly affecting the CCL supplier, Elite Material (EMC). It is anticipated that EMC’s RCC product may require 1-2 more years of research and development before it has a chance to be completed.

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considering factors such as pricing and the absence of certain essential features, TrendForce anticipates a modest shipment volume of approximately 200,000 units for Apple Vision Pro in 2024. The market’s response will heavily depend on the subsequent introduction of consumer-oriented Apple Vision models and the ability of Apple to offer enticing everyday functionalities that will drive the rapid growth of the AR market as a whole.

VR/AR shipments are expected to drop to 7.45 million in 2023

In the meantime, TrendForce forecasts a global downturn in AR and VR device shipments for 2023, predicting a shipment total of roughly 7.45 million units—an 18.2% YoY decrease. VR devices are expected to shoulder the majority of this decline, with projected shipments hovering around 6.67 million units.

Conversely, shipments of AR devices are expected to remain stable, with projected shipments exceeding 780,000 units. While Apple’s latest offerings could stimulate some demand, the high price tags attached to these units continue to pose a significant barrier to broader market growth.

TrendForce posits that the trajectory of the VR and AR device market may encounter certain limitations between 2023 and 2025. While affordable VR devices could pique the interest of mainstream consumers, the prospect of minimal profitability might dissuade manufacturers from substantial investment in the VR market in the immediate future. A shift towards AR devices and their corresponding applications seems more probable.

Nevertheless, the expansion of the AR device market hinges on a broader acceptance of consumer applications. Therefore, TrendForce anticipates that a significant rise in the VR and AR market, potentially nearing a 40% annual increase in shipments, might not be realized until 2025.

Apple’s latest MR device, the “Vision Pro,” utilizes Micro OLED technology. This technology, along with Micro LED, is considered the next generation of display technology. So what are the differences between Micro OLED and Micro LED, and which one is better suited for AR/VR/MR devices?

According to market research firm TrendForce, ideal smart glasses must meet three major criteria. Firstly, to minimize the burden of wearing glasses, the display engine’s size should be below 1 inch. Secondly, in terms of content recognition requirements, the display brightness specification should reach at least 4,000 nits to ensure immunity to external factors such as weather or venue conditions. Lastly, the resolution should be at least 3,000 PPI to ensure clear projection and magnification.

Currently, Micro LED and Micro OLED are the primary technologies that meet these requirements. However, Micro LED is still in the early stages of AR technology development and faces several challenges that need to be overcome. Therefore, Micro OLED is currently the mainstream technology in the field.

Micro OLED technology enables full-color capabilities and has become the preferred choice for AR/VR manufacturers. According to TrendForce’s comparison of display engines, Micro LED outperforms Micro OLED in pixel size, luminous efficiency, and brightness. It appears to be the most suitable for AR glasses based on specifications. However, Micro LED is currently limited to a single green color, while Micro OLED can achieve full color. As a result, Micro OLED has a competitive advantage in AR/VR devices.

In terms of manufacturers, Sony remains the main supplier for Micro OLED technology. Due to their longer investment time and technological advantages, South Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG Display (LGD) are expected to join Apple’s MR supply chain in 2024.

Last year, reports suggested that Samsung initially considered Micro OLED a niche market and lagged behind its competitor, LGD. However, due to demands from Apple, Meta, and Samsung’s parent company, they began developing Micro OLED in the third quarter of last year. The latest news reveals that Samsung will acquire American Micro OLED display manufacturer eMagin for a price of $218 million.

Meanwhile, Meta will also collaborate with South Korean semiconductor giants SK hynix and LGD to develop Micro OLED panels for Meta XR (Extended Reality) devices. This partnership is expected to lead to more Micro OLED applications in AR/VR in the future.

Micro LED technology is still facing bottlenecks, but it has the potential to surpass Micro OLED in the medium to long term. TrendForce states that Micro LED AR glasses, due to the bottleneck in achieving full colorization, primarily display monochromatic information such as informational prompts, navigation, translation, and note-taking functions. Achieving higher resolutions requires chip miniaturization, reducing the size of Micro LED to 5 micrometers. In this situation, epitaxial processes are affected by wavelength uniformity issues, which impact yield. Additionally, smaller chips raise concerns about the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of red chips.

Overall, although Micro LED faces many challenges in AR glasses, it still outperforms Micro OLED in contrast, responsiveness, lifespan, power consumption, and other specifications. Considering the limitations of waveguide component technology in transparent AR glasses, which restricts optical efficiency from exceeding 1%, Micro LED remains an excellent choice in the medium to long term.

Therefore, if Apple wants to introduce Micro LED technology, it plans to start with the Apple Watch. However, the project’s launch has been delayed from 2024 to a later date, possibly beyond 2025, due to technological bottlenecks. In fact, over the past decade, Apple has invested significant funds in collaboration with ams Osram to develop Micro LED components. Once the technology is ready for mass production, Apple is likely to take charge of the critical “mass transfer” process, which may be carried out at its secret research and development center in Longtan, Taoyuan.

It’s worth noting that in addition to Micro LED, the Longtan research and development center is also where Apple collaborates with TSMC on Micro OLED technology for MR devices.

(Photo credit: Apple)

The surge in AIGC and new technologies such IoT, AI, 5G, AR/VR are driving a huge demand for computational power of high-end chips. This has been even outpacing the performance increase offered by the long-standing Moore’s Law, ushering in a “post-Moore” era where revolutions in advanced chip design are crucial.

Over recent years, chiplet design has seemingly become the mainstream approach for upgrading high-end chips. The concept is to allow more transistors on a single chip, effectively increasing the production yield of high-end chips while reducing overall costs.

By the large, major IC players have all jumped on board. Even Apple has joined the game by releasing their M1 Ultra SoC using the chiplet concept, which doubles computational performance by integrating two M1 Max units in a single chip.

The CPU sector is definitely a clear demonstration of this trend:

• AMD took the leap with chiplet design in their 2nd-gen EPYC CPUs, doubling the computing cores from 32 to 64 within two years, while slashing costs by up to half. The company has extended this approach to their 4th-gen EPYC CPUs and even pioneered the GPU Navi 31, the first of its kind to use chiplets.
• Intel started incorporating chiplets into their Lakefield series SoC in 2020. Looking ahead, their upcoming CPUs like the Meteor Lake set for 2023, and Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake scheduled for 2024, will all use chiplet design.

Transition from Bumping to Hybrid Bonding

Our analysis in “Chiplet Design: A Real Game-Changer for Substrates” laid out the comprehensive impact of the evolution of chiplet technology on substrates. In fact, chiplets have already caused a significant disruption to the most advanced semiconductor packaging technologies, necessitating the transition towards advanced 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies.

The bottleneck of advanced packaging lies in the chiplets’ interconnections, with bump and microbump still being the key technology for linking chips and forming I/O joints. These connection densities are hard to enhance, thus limiting the overall chip’s transmission speed. In addition, the more chiplets being stacked, the bigger the chip volume gets. The challenge is how to limit the chip size within a specific range, considering the current technical constraints.

Therefore, copper-to-copper hybrid bonding, also known as DBI (Direct Bond Interconnect), has been emerging as the key technology route that overcomes major hurdles in chiplet integration from the bottom-up.

Unlike bumping technology, hybrid bonding significantly shrinks the I/O joint space. The future transmission demand requires the I/O joint space between chiplets to be less than 10µm. While bumping is limited to around 20µm, hybrid bonding can take this down to an impressive 1µm or even less. This also means more I/O joints can be fitted in the same chip size – even reaching up to millions on a mere 1cm2 chip.

On top of this, hybrid bonding only adds an extra 1-2µm of thickness, compared to the 10-30µm of microbump, thereby helping reduce the thickness of stacked chips.

To put it simply, hybrid bonding can boost transmission efficiency, minimize energy usage with higher density of copper joints, manage chip volume, and even cut down on material costs.

The Race for Advanced Packaging Is Kicking Off

Moving forward, hybrid bonding is set to become the key technology supporting the continuous development of chiplet design and 3D packaging. This has been exemplified by TSMC’s front-end So IC packaging technology which is based on hybrid bonding. This puts AMD, a key customer of TSMC, in a favorable position to get ahead.

From AMD’s roadmap of 3D V-Cache technology, they have stacked SRAM on top of CCX (CPU Complex), and gradually integrated it into Milan-X series, the EPYC server CPUs, and Ryzen series, the consumer-grade CPUs, over the past two years. This has significantly improved performance and power consumption as a whole.

Not to be outdone, this year Intel also launched their Foveros Direct packaging technology, which is also based on hybrid bonding route. Assuming everything proceeds smoothly, we can anticipate the release of CPUs utilizing Foveros Direct technology by 2024.

As we look at the current products, AMD’s hybrid bonding apparently focuses on stacking SRAM and computing units at the moment. However, as CPU leaders deepen their understanding of this technology, the application field is expected to further expand. In other words, the future of hybrid bonding solutions stacking multiple computation units is just around the corner.