News: LEDs
10 May 2022
IQE enters micro-LED market in partnership with Porotech
Epiwafer and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, UK has announced a strategic partnership with Porotech (a spin off from the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride at the UK’s University of Cambridge that has developed porous GaN material).
The focus of the partnership is to develop, scale and commercialize Porotech’s unique wafer technology that achieves all three colours (RGB) on a single 200mm or 300mm GaN-based wafer for ultra-high-density and efficient micro-LEDs, the applications for which include augmented/mixed/virtual reality (AR/MR/VR), wearable devices, smart displays and large-scale direct-view displays.
The intention is for IQE to be Porotech’s epitaxial wafer foundry partner, providing GaN metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) capacity for the volume production of Porotech’s PoroGaN micro-display technology platforms. Together, the companies aim to develop and productionize 200mm manufacturing platforms as well as 300mm wafer formats.
“This partnership marks IQE’s entrance into the micro-LED market with a unique platform,” says IQE’s CEO Americo Lemos. “The micro-LED market presents a significant opportunity for our business. IQE’s proven heritage in GaN epitaxy and our industry-leading footprint in high-volume wafer manufacturing, combined with Porotech’s PoroGaN micro-display technology platform, will create a compelling and differentiated product offering,” he believes.
“IQE’s deep heritage and innovation in MOCVD epitaxial growth technologies, as well as its mass-production capability, are optimized for very small high-brightness micro-LED pixels that match perfectly with Porotech’s platform,” comments Porotech’s CEO & co-founder Dr Tongtong Zhu.
Porotech demonstrating tunable-colour DynamicPixelTuning technology
