KLIC buys Uniqarta
Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC), a provider of semiconductor process equipment and LED placement tools, has purchased Uniquarta (pvt) a small, private company for $26 in cash. As we have noted previously KLIC has been making a name for itself with its Pixalux tool (See our note 01/06/2021) that is used to move LED die to mini-LED substrates. KLIC had mentioned that they expected to come out with an even faster tool later this year, and while we originally thought they would possibly use similar technology to increase the die handling capabilities of the Pixalux tool, it seems they have taken the process one step further.
Uniqarta has developed a laser based process that can move much larger numbers of even smaller LEDs to a substrate, without damage. The process would reduce the bottleneck caused by the need to transfer over 24 million LEDs in order to produce a 4K micro-LED display, and could be scaled down to adapt it to mini-LED transfer, a process that involves far fewer and larger LEDs for LED backlights. While mini-LEDs are based on existing LED technology, micro-LEDs are self-emitting and are not LCD based, which is both a positive and a negative. The positive is such devices would compete with other self-emissive displays, such as OLED, and should provide high quality displays, with the negative being that the display industry has no existing commercial micro-LED infrastructure.
The biggest problem for micro-LED displays is the need to move such vast numbers of LEDs in a cost effective way, while also being able to replace those LEDs that prove defective once transferred. The LED industry has come up with a number of techniques for trying to make such a process financially viable, however the commercial application of same has yet to be accomplished. Based on what we have seen of Uniqarta IP, their (now KLIC’s) IP is viable for mini-LED transfer and, could be adaptable to micro-LED applications as the scale of the process is developed. KLIC expects to begin qualification of its ‘new’ transfer tool in September, so we should have a better idea then as to how far along the Uniqarta technology has moved and at what point KLIC will migrate from mini-LED applications to micro-LED.
Uniqarta has developed a laser based process that can move much larger numbers of even smaller LEDs to a substrate, without damage. The process would reduce the bottleneck caused by the need to transfer over 24 million LEDs in order to produce a 4K micro-LED display, and could be scaled down to adapt it to mini-LED transfer, a process that involves far fewer and larger LEDs for LED backlights. While mini-LEDs are based on existing LED technology, micro-LEDs are self-emitting and are not LCD based, which is both a positive and a negative. The positive is such devices would compete with other self-emissive displays, such as OLED, and should provide high quality displays, with the negative being that the display industry has no existing commercial micro-LED infrastructure.
The biggest problem for micro-LED displays is the need to move such vast numbers of LEDs in a cost effective way, while also being able to replace those LEDs that prove defective once transferred. The LED industry has come up with a number of techniques for trying to make such a process financially viable, however the commercial application of same has yet to be accomplished. Based on what we have seen of Uniqarta IP, their (now KLIC’s) IP is viable for mini-LED transfer and, could be adaptable to micro-LED applications as the scale of the process is developed. KLIC expects to begin qualification of its ‘new’ transfer tool in September, so we should have a better idea then as to how far along the Uniqarta technology has moved and at what point KLIC will migrate from mini-LED applications to micro-LED.
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