CES 2019 Highlights: Nanoco, Plessey, and Others Showcase Breakthroughs in State-Of-The-Art Quantum Dot Enhanced Displays, microLEDs and More
CES 2019 was another great event of tech innovations, especially in state-of-the-art displays. Many of the top brands showed off their 8K HDR (high dynamic range) displays. TCL introduced quantum dot mini-LED TVs, where a full array of small LEDs are used as a backlight to the LCD display, producing a bright and colourful image with a large number of local dimming zones for incredible contrast. Other companies like Skyworth and Hisense also showed a double-LCD prototype, which looked particularly impressive.
Both quantum dot and OLED technology had a strong presence at the event again and could be seen in all the top-range displays. Additional highlights at CES included huge interest around autonomous vehicle-related technologies where Nanoco is using their expertise in nanoparticles to develop the next generation of sensors.
And in case you missed our news leading up to CES, Nanoco and Plessey, a global leader in microLED arrays, announced a partnership to create more colourful experiences in VR/AR and wearable applications through the power of Nanoco’s Cadmium-free Quantum Dots.
Using Plessey’s patented microLED technology, pixel sizes can shrink from 30µm (the previous standard limit) to an impressive 4µm without loss in performance. The combination of Plessey’s blue microLEDs embedded with Nanoco’s red and green CFQD® quantum dots dramatically enhances colour gamut and energy efficiency for higher-resolution microLED displays in various applications, including AR/VR devices, watches, and mobile devices.
Plessey was recently named as a ‘CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree,’ and rightfully so; this combination is a significant breakthrough in the industry. Previously, colour conversion for pixels of 30µm or greater has been performed by adding phosphors to the blue dye. However, since the smallest phosphor particle is around 30µm, the efficiency of colour conversion deteriorates as the pixel size shrinks. Nanoco’s CFQD® quantum dot technology overcomes this limitation with no reduction in performance while also facilitating efficient, compact device packaging.
Compared with all other display technologies, microLEDs are brighter, smaller, lighter, more energy-efficient and have a longer operating life. Where they replace OLEDs, for example, in AR/VR goggles or head-up displays, Plessey microLEDs offer ten times the resolution, 100 times the contrast ratio, and up to 1,000 times the luminance. And they do so at half the power consumption, doubling battery life in portable devices.
The combination of Plessey’s blue microLEDs with Nanoco’s red and green cadmium-free quantum dot technology gives display customers the performance they require to rapidly commercialise products.
