Toray Engineering Co., Ltd. brings to market MT3000L high-efficiency micro-LED chip transfer equipment. The new machine was designed for use in the existing manufacturing process of micro-LED displays. Specifically, it has achieved about twice the transfer speed of the previous model. Toray Engineering will propose MT3000L to micro-LED display manufacturers. It targets 800 million yen (US$5.85 million) in orders received in FY2023, and 1.5 billion yen (US$10.96 million) in FY2025.

The company expanded MT3000L’s display size involving high-efficiency manufacturing process. It is the first in the industry to enable high-speed transfer of chips to 2.5-generation large substrates of 370×470mm in size.  

Eco-friendly Displays

Generally, micro-LED displays do not require backlight and feature low power consumption. As such, they are attracting attention as environment-friendly displays. Also, they feature high contrast ratios and clear images. These features regard them as promising next-generation displays. 

However, micro-LED displays use huge number of micro-LED chips measuring several tens of micrometers square. Moreover, they require time for the transfer of micro-LED chips. However, there are challenges in bringing the technology to mass production. Specifically, removal of defective chips, which are included in a certain proportion, and the time and cost needed for retransfer are hindering their mass adoption.

High-speed Laser Transfer

Toray Engineering’s RAP-LLO Series micro-LED chip transfer equipment is capable of high-speed laser transfer of 10,000 chips per second. It can select and transfer only good-quality chips, leaving defective chips on the wafer. 

Through the deployment of the RAP-LLO, the company was able to propose an integrated production process. In this process, defective chips are extracted and removed with high accuracy and only good-quality chips are transferred at high speed. 

At present, the mainstream manufacturing method is to remove defective chips that are included in a certain proportion and retransfer good chips after high-speed transfer of micro LED chips. While promoting the new high-efficiency process using RAP-LLO, Toray Engineering also focuses on the improvement of the efficiency of the existing process, which attracts growing demand.

Integrates Proven Technologies

Toray Engineering has applied diverse element technologies nurtured in the production of semiconductor packaging equipment to MT3000L. As a result, MT3000L has achieved transfer speed about twice that of the company’s previous equipment, which is widely installed in the industry. 

By applying the company’s high-speed, high-accuracy positioning technology for large substrates, nurtured in its flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing equipment business, the MT3000L supports 2.5-generation large substrates.