Micro-LEDs to Power the Next Generation of Displays

By Owais AliReviewed by Louis CastelNov 5 2025

Micro light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) are revolutionizing display technology by offering exceptional brightness, energy efficiency, durability, and wide color gamut, making them ideal for AR/VR systems, wearables, and next-generation consumer electronics. However, their widespread adoption has been limited by manufacturing challenges that complicate large-scale production and increase costs. Recent research by Dr. Jiho Shin provides strategies to overcome these manufacturing hurdles, offering pathways toward scalable, high-yield, and cost-effective micro-LED production.

Image Credit: ED Reardon/Shutterstock.com

What Makes Micro-LEDs Game-Changing for Displays?

Micro-LEDs are inorganic semiconductor p–n junction diodes based on III–V compounds such as AlGaInP/GaAs for red and InGaN/GaN for green and blue emission. These small, flat light sources can be arranged in dense arrays, providing exceptionally high contrast and resolution.

Their active region comprises multiple quantum wells (MQWs) that confine charge carriers, producing photon emission through efficient radiative recombination. This quantum confinement enables superior brightness, contrast, and energy efficiency compared to OLED and QD-LED technologies.

Micro-LEDs achieve ultra-high brightness exceeding 100,000 nits without efficiency loss, compared to 500–1,000 nits for OLEDs and about 3,000 nits for LCDs. Their inorganic structure provides long operational lifetimes, strong oxidation resistance, and stable performance across −100 to 120 °C. They also exhibit nanosecond-scale response times, wide viewing angles, and excellent sunlight readability.

Despite commercialization challenges, their superior brightness, efficiency, image quality, and durability are accelerating applications in wearables, AR/VR systems, automotive and aerospace displays, visible light communication, and flexible display platforms, positioning them as the most viable successor to OLED and LCD technologies.^1,2

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Challenges in Micro-LED Manufacturing and Integration

Micro-LED development faces two critical challenges that constrain large-scale commercialization: size-dependent efficiency degradation and mass transfer limitations.

When chip size falls below 20 µm, external quantum efficiency (EQE) decreases sharply due to sidewall defects that induce non-radiative recombination, significantly reducing device performance. This effect is most pronounced in red AlGaInP micro-LEDs, which exhibit longer carrier diffusion lengths and higher surface recombination velocities, while InGaN-based green and blue micro-LEDs maintain EQEs of around 40% and 30%, respectively, at similar scales. Ongoing research is directed toward optimizing epitaxial growth, device structures, and materials to achieve efficient full-color emission at the microscale.³

Mass transfer represents a second major bottleneck, as it is essential for integrating separately fabricated RGB micro-LED chips onto a CMOS backplane for active-matrix operation. This is particularly evident in a 4 K display requiring approximately 24 million RGB chips, where even a defect rate of 0.01% results in thousands of faulty subpixels.

Such defects can be corrected using repair techniques such as laser rework, selective chip replacement, or redundant pixel compensation. However, these methods are costly, time-consuming, and require rigorous quality control, which significantly increases the manufacturing costs of micro-LED displays compared to OLED and QLED technologies.⁴

Spotlight on Dr. Jiho Shin's Research

Dr. Jiho Shin, a chemical engineering professor at Texas A&M University, published a comprehensive review in Light: Science & Applications that evaluates micro-LED potential and identifies manufacturing hurdles impeding broad adoption. The research focuses on both efficiency and mass transfer challenges through the exploration of alternative materials and advanced assembly methodologies.⁵

One promising solution the researchers came up with involves the development of InGaN-based red micro-LEDs to overcome size-dependent efficiency loss. Unlike conventional AlGaInP red LEDs grown on GaAs substrates, red InGaN LEDs are fabricated on sapphire substrates with compositions and epitaxial structures similar to green and blue InGaN LEDs. This configuration minimizes sidewall-related non-radiative recombination, preserving higher external quantum efficiency at smaller chip dimensions. This approach also simplifies fabrication by standardizing epitaxial growth, chip processing, and integration steps, lowering both complexity and production cost.

To address mass transfer challenges, the study explored high-precision placement technologies such as laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) and fluidic self-assembly (FSA), where LIFT employs laser pulses for chip positioning and FSA utilizes fluid dynamics and surface tension for alignment.

Additionally, it also proposed the development of microscopic assembly lines to automate chip placement, offering faster and more precise assembly compared to conventional manufacturing methods.⁶

What's Next for Micro-LED Displays?

Micro-LED technology is transitioning from prototype development to early commercialization in premium television and digital signage, led by Samsung, LG, AUO, and TCL. While initial prototypes were under 10 inches, production has scaled to models exceeding 100 inches on Generation 4.5 substrates, improving fabrication efficiency, yield, and cost through optimized substrate utilization.

Despite these advances, Micro-LEDs are expected to remain limited to high-end markets in the near term due to complex fabrication, low transfer yields, and high manufacturing costs.

As production efficiency improves, Micro-LEDs are projected to expand into mainstream applications such as smartphones, wearable electronics, and AR/VR systems, where their superior brightness, energy efficiency, and longevity offer distinct advantages. The automotive sector is also expected to drive adoption through integration in infotainment systems, transparent dashboards, and advanced heads-up displays.^4,7

With continuing innovation in materials, process integration, and yield optimization, Micro-LEDs are positioned to redefine next-generation display technologies across consumer electronics, automotive systems, and immersive environments.

References and Further Reading

1. Wu, T., Sher, C., Lin, Y., Lee, C., Liang, S., Lu, Y., Huang Chen, S., Guo, W., Kuo, H., & Chen, Z. (2018). Mini-LED and Micro-LED: Promising Candidates for the Next Generation Display Technology. Applied Sciences, 8(9), 1557. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8091557
2. Ansys. (2025). What is a MicroLED? https://www.ansys.com/simulation-topics/what-is-a-microled
3. Horng, R., Ye, C., Chen, P., Iida, D., Ohkawa, K., Wu, Y., & Wuu, D. (2022). Study on the effect of size on InGaN red micro-LEDs. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05370-0
4. Lin, C.-C., Wu, Y.-R., Kuo, H.-C., Wong, M. S., DenBaars, S. P., Nakamura, S., Pandey, A., Mi, Z., Tian, P., Ohkawa, K., Iida, D., Wang, T., Cai, Y., Bai, J., Yang, Z., Qian, Y., Wu, S.-T., Han, J., Chen, C., & Liu, Z. (2023). The micro-LED roadmap: status quo and prospects. Journal of Physics: Photonics, 5(4), 042502. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/acf972
5. Wuebker, R. (2025). Micro-LEDs could power next-gen screens. https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2025/09/micro-leds-could-power-next-gen-screens.html
6. Kim, T. S., Ryu, J., Park, J., Liu, R., Choi, J., Kim, J., Hong, Y. J., Kim, D., & Shin, J. (2025). Future trends of display technology: Micro-LEDs toward transparent, free-form, and near-eye displays. Light: Science & Applications, 14(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02027-1
7. Wu, Y., Tsai, C., Chen, L., Chen, F., & Kuo, H. (2024). Current Landscape of Micro-LED Display Industrialization. Nanomaterials, 15(9), 693. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15090693

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