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Peter Ramvall
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A revolution in blue light at the micro level
In the summer of 2023, a highly controlled blue light from Polar Light Technologies' microLEDs in the shape of small pyramids appeared for the first time. The breakthrough could mean a revolution in the global display market, which is about to undergo a transformation – both in terms of technology and sustainability.
Micro LED (μLED) is the next generation of LED technology, commonly known as light-emitting diodes. The diodes have unique properties in terms of small dimensions (down to microns), high brightness and efficiency, and are expected to eventually replace older technologies in existing displays.
Per-Olof Holtz, CSO and founder of Polar Light Technologies, explains that microLEDs can fit 600 million pixels on a fingertip:
"This makes them particularly important and applicable for AR-based applications such as HUD (head-up display) and HMD (head-up display / smart glasses).
Using RISE clean room labs
Polar Light Technologies was founded in 2014 and is based on research into nanostructures in semiconductor materials at Linköping University, but it is only in the last two years that the company has come out of stealth mode. This has included a collaboration with RISE, using its cleanroom laboratories in Kista (Electrum) and Lund (Pronano) in various ways.
"Having access to RISE's epitaxy expertise in Lund and Kista has been an absolute success factor for us. The RISE research team in Lund has supported us, and the MOCVD tool at ProNano has resulted in a much higher quality of our quantum structures, which are the light emitting component in our micro-LEDs," says Per-Olof Holtz.
We are very happy and proud to have reached this point, it is proof that our design and concept is valid
New manufacturing process for micro-LEDs
The prototyping and production of Polar Light's microLEDs involves many different process steps in a clean room environment, and the pyramidal structures are a novelty in LED manufacturing. The Polar Light model is based on a completely new manufacturing process:
- a unique hybridisation technology to integrate the LED front plane with the back plane
- the first pyramidal micro-LEDs that offer the highest optical performance even before optimisation: 4 um pyramidal LEDs with a brightness of 2.9 MNits at 470 nm.
"We are very happy and proud to have reached this point, it is a proof of our design and concept. The measurements showed a remarkable luminance of 2.9 million nits[1] - a 10,000-fold improvement compared to autumn 22 when we first saw some blue light," says Per-Olof Holtz.
Support from experienced researchers
Ashutosh Kumar and Peter Ramvall work in nanotechnology at RISE in Lund. Both researchers have extensive experience in semiconductor research and have supported Polar Light Technologies.
"It is very exciting to see the results of our work in such a concrete way and to support a small Swedish company operating in such a highly competitive market," says Peter Ramvall.
"We are very happy to have reached this point in the development and to be able to support a small Swedish high-tech company. It is a delicate process and it is all the more exciting to literally see the light - it makes our work so much more concrete. We hope that this is just the beginning of our cooperation with Polar Light Technologies," says Ashutosh Kumar.
Polar Light Technologies is still a small SME but sees a global market for Augmented Reality and this technical breakthrough is a milestone for growth.
"This breakthrough means more opportunities for us to get funding, so we are very happy to be working with RISE," says Polar Light's CEO Peter Nilsson.
[1] Nits is an older term for the SI unit candela per square metre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela_per_square_metre
RISE clean room laboratories
RISE operates two semiconductor research laboratories, ProNano in Lund and Electrum in Kista. Electrum is operated in collaboration with KTH, and ProNano is located close to the NanoLund materials research area. In both laboratories, industrial companies can develop processes and designs together with RISE researchers, and today RISE has customers from all over the world, from start-ups to multinationals.
