In recent years we have seen AMOLED displays fall out of favor in the VR market, as most devices have opted for high-end LCDs, due to the better image definition, mostly. According to DSCC, this is set to change next year (in 2023).

Sony has already adopted high density (>800PPI) AMOLED displays in the Playstation VR2, DSCC says that this trend will continue. DSCC also sees OLED microdisplays finally entering the VR market in 2023, with around 15 million such displays shipped in this market by 2024.

China-based Semiconductor Integrated Display Technology, or SidTek, is an OLED microdisplay developer established in 2016. The company has recently started to produce OLED microdisplays on 8-inch silicon wafers, at its first production line located in the Chenhongda industrial park, in Wuhu, Anhui province, China.

Sidtek currently produces three display types in production

• 0.39" 1024x768 full-color
• 0.61" 800x600 or 1280x1024 full-color and monochrome
• 0.97" 1400x1050, monochrome

Towards the end of 2021 we reported that Apple plans to launch its first AR headset in Q4 2022, powered by dual 4K OLED microdisplays, produced by Sony

According to Ross Young from DSSC, Apple first headset will actually be a VR headset, that uses a foveated display system. The headset will feature three displays - two 4K microLEDs (indeed produced by Sony) and one larger AMOLED display.

This is a guest article by Assaf Levy-Be'eri, co-founder at JOYA Team, an optical technologies house offering development services for optical systems with an expertise in AR and VR.

The Augmented Reality (AR) systems field has recently expanded to many different applications and markets. With all the buzz around Metaverse, there is an understanding that AR systems will become the bridge between the real world and the virtual world and will allow the user to combine these worlds.

However, the road to a sustainable, affordable AR system that is user-friendly and that provides real-life experience is still a long one.

Apple analyst Ming-chi Kuo says that Apple plans to launch its first AR headset in Q4 2022, powered by dual 4K OLED microdisplays, produced by Sony. The headset will feature Mac-level computer power and will not require a tethered smartphone to operate.

Apple has been working on AR technologies for many years. Last year it was indeed reported in Japan that Apple is working with Sony on its microdisplays. Earlier this year it was reported that Apple has teamed up with TSMC for microdisplay production - but it could be that TSMC will be the manufacturing partner, while Sony will provide the OLED technology and knowhow.

China-based Sidtek is a relatively newcomer to the OLED microdisplay industry, having been established in 2016. The company started to produce its first product in 2020, a 0.39" 1024x768 panel.

We're now happy to announce that the display is available on the OLED marketplace, and anyone interested in this display is welcome to send us a message to connect to a reliable supplier. Sidtek's 0.39" display is available in a color version (1,000 nits) or a monochrome one.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin has been developing direct-emission OLED microdisplay (also called directly-patterned, or dPd) for many years, and the company today unveiled a new WUXGA (1920x1200) dPd microdisplay prototype. The new display offers a brightness of 10,000 nits, which makes it (according to eMagin) the world’s brightest high-resolution full-color OLED microdisplay.

eMagin says that using direct patterning instead of color filters enabled it to improve the brightness 20-fold, compared to its typical XL microdisplays, and 3-4X compared to its brightest XLE microdisplays.

This is a sponsored post by 3D-MicroMac

Laser cutting processes of glass materials based on filament technology have been increasingly adopted in industrial applications. Besides standard glass thicknesses ultra-thin glass offers exciting opportunities for further improvements of new devices.

The main reason for this is the perfect match of material properties like mechanical resistance and flexibility as well as optical performance. The required machining processes to perform perimeter cutting as well as structuring and via drilling are confronted with high quality requirements.

According to a report from Korea, Facebook recently hired a large number of OLED engineers, in Korea, through Facebook's Reality Lab. The company is now hiring more OLED experts to work at its Reality Lab US offices.

Facebook new job openings includes many roles in OLED display technologies. The company does not aim to start producing OLED, of course, but to secure technology to develop innovative OLED displays and applications in VR and AR devices.

Taiwan-based INT Tech announced that it has produced new AMOLED microdisplay samples at its $143 million fab in Taizhou in Zhejiang province, China, and the company is still on track for mass production in Q4 2021.

The new 0.7-inch INT Tech uNEEDXR display is a direct-emission display that features a brightness of over 5,000 nits, 3147 PPI and a low power consumption (less than 500mW@5000nits).