Chipone Jinxin: Silicon-based OLED is the best choice for VR/MR

——2023 Global AMOLED Ecological Chain Conference

On October 20, under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology and the People's Government of Jinshan District, Shanghai, the 6th "Jinshuihu" Forum and the 2023 Global AMOLED Ecological Chain Conference were held in Shanghai under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology and the People's Government of Jinshan District, Shanghai, and jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Bay Area High-tech Industrial Development Zone, the Liquid Crystal Branch of the China Optics and Optoelectronics Industry Association (CODA), and the China OLED Industry Alliance. At the conference, Jin Xin, senior marketing manager of the marketing department of Chipone ADT BU, delivered a speech.

On October 20, under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology and the People's Government of Jinshan District, Shanghai, the 6th "Jinshuihu" Forum and the 2023 Global AMOLED Ecological Chain Conference were held in Shanghai under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology and the People's Government of Jinshan District, Shanghai, and jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Bay Area High-tech Industrial Development Zone, the Liquid Crystal Branch of the China Optics and Optoelectronics Industry Association (CODA), and the China OLED Industry Alliance. At the conference, Jin Xin, senior marketing manager of the marketing department of Chipone ADT BU, delivered a keynote speech.

Jin Xin pointed out that with the release of Apple Vision Pro, XR's attention has increased again. Compared with the previous XR attempts, this change mainly focuses on the display, from the traditional glass-based to silicon-based display, which has made a qualitative leap in visual effects, thus meeting the public's visual needs for XR.

XR requires higher resolution display technology

XR is a collective term for VR, MR, AR, and near-eye display devices. Among them, VR (Virtual Reality) focuses on Virtual, that is, presenting the 3D world as realistic as possible in a virtual environment, which will promote the transformation of display technology from 2D to 3D. AR (Augmented Reality) is an augmentation of the real world, and its display technology will supplement or become an extension of the current display mode. Jin Xin believes that MR (Mixed Reality) combines the characteristics of VR and AR, and users can switch between the virtual world and the real world with the help of MR. Apple Vision Pro is an MR head-mounted eye display device, with 3D pictures, 3D cameras, 3D displays, etc., it is not only an extension or auxiliary of traditional display technology, but also can achieve 2D to 3D visual conversion.

Jin Xin, Senior Marketing Manager of Marketing Department of Chipone ADT Division

Looking back at human history, upgrading from 2D display to 3D display has been a long development process. Jin Xin said that we have long stayed in the 2D display stage, text, pictures first brought human beings into an imaginary space, and then there was a shadow puppet drama (moving picture), with the development of technology, and there are movies, television, computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets and other 2D display products, constantly enrich people's work and life.

VR/MR is a near-eye display device that imitates the structure of the human eye, making the virtual world infinitely close to the visual effect of the real world, thus promoting the transformation from 2D display to 3D display. Jin Xin pointed out that under the standard vision, the longitudinal and recognizable angle of the human eye is 135 degrees, the horizontal recognizable angle is 200 degrees, and the 120-degree area where the two eyes coincide can form a 3D image, with a minimum resolution angle of 1/60 degree and PPD (Pixel Per Degree, angular resolution) of 60, so if the VR/MR display is to achieve a visual experience close to the human eye, the resolution of the monocular display screen should reach 7K*8K.

Silicon-based OLED is more suitable for VR/MR needs

Due to the high resolution of the ideal XR display, the general display technology cannot meet its requirements. At present, LCOS, silicon-based OLEDs, silicon-based Micro LED, TFT LCD, glass-based OLED and other display technologies are applied to XR devices, for example, the Pico 4 / Pico 4 Pro uses a 2.5-inch TFT LCD with a pixel density of 1200PPI; Sony's PlayStation VR uses a 3.36-inch glass-based OLED with a pixel density of 850 PPI, while the Apple Vision Pro uses a silicon-based OLED with a pixel density of about 3,400 PPI.

However, due to process limitations, the pixel density of glass-based OLED can theoretically reach 1500PPI, and the pixel density of glass-based LCD can be increased to 2000PPI, which cannot meet the ideal requirements of XR applications, making XR displays appear screen window effect and reducing the user's immersive experience. For example, Pico 4, Meta Quest Pro, and PlayStation VR all have a certain sense of screen window, and they cannot be completely eliminated through optical design or algorithms, which has become a major pain point in the XR field.

Jin Xin believes that silicon-based OLED is different, with the advantage of high pixel density, it can reach 3000~4000 PPI at the beginning, and with the upgrading of technology and the improvement of the ecological chain, silicon-based OLED specifications still have room to rise, so that users can not feel the sense of screen windows, which can greatly improve the immersive experience, and silicon-based OLED also has the advantages of light and thin, high resolution, and fast response speed. This means that silicon-based OLEDs are the best choice for VR/MR brands to meet the needs of end users. The Apple Vision Pro's choice of silicon-based OLED is the best proof of this.

At present, silicon-based OLED is still being updated and iterated at a high speed. Jin Xin said that in the short term, the silicon-based OLED market cannot break out, and it is difficult to popularize, because the cost of silicon-based OLED is high, and the ecological chain does not have the ability to undertake the tens of millions of markets, but silicon-based OLED is the beginning of the next generation of display technology, just like glass-based LCD, glass-based OLED has continued to develop for more than ten years. From this perspective, the release and sale of Apple Vision Pro is an important milestone in the application of silicon-based OLED in the VR/MR field, opening a new era of development in the next decade or so.

Silicon-based OLED is more suitable for VR/MR needs

In order to seize the historic opportunity of silicon-based OLED, Chipone has established the ADT (Advanced Display Team) division since 2021, specializing in the design and development of silicon-based OLED DDIC. According to Jin Xin, the ADT business unit team is composed of many senior developers, who have generally worked in the XR field for more than ten years, and supervisor-level developers have more than 20 years of R&D experience.

Relying on a strong R&D team, Chipone has successfully developed 0.5-inch silicon-based OLED DDIC and 1.3-inch silicon-based OLED DDIC, and plans to start the development of the next-generation VR/MR product line by the end of 2024, and is expected to achieve mass production by the end of 2025. Among them, the first version of 0.5-inch silicon-based OLED DDIC has achieved illumination, which is higher than the industry average CP yield, and can support 4032ppi, 120Hz, and 3000 nits brightness of silicon-based OLED.

Chipone's 1.3-inch 4K silicon-based OLED DDIC is also lit in the first version, and the second version has reached the level of mass production, which can support up to 4K*4K resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 4032PPI pixel density and 5000nits brightness silicon-based OLED, and integrates self-developed Foveated Rendering (foveated rendering technology) and DEMURA algorithm, which effectively solves the problem of viewing area rendering, improves display uniformity, and greatly improves VR/ MR device experience.

Chipone and Sony are the only two suppliers that can launch a 1.3-inch 4K x 4K silicon-based OLED DDIC in 2023, and compared with the silicon-based OLED DDIC specifications used by Apple Vision Pro, Chipone can support higher resolution and PPI, which is highly recognized by the industry. In May, Chipone's 1.3-inch 4K silicon-based OLED DDIC was displayed at SID Display Week, which amazed the industry personnel on site, and further won the 18th "China Chip" Excellent Technology Innovation Product Award in September.

At present, a new round of metaverse boom is sweeping, and microdisplays represented by silicon-based OLED will usher in huge development opportunities. However, at present, the silicon-based OLED industry chain is not perfect, and DDIC cannot keep up with the needs of market development, and it is urgent for upstream and downstream manufacturers to collaborate and innovate. As an international leading display chip design company, Chipone is committed to becoming a leader in display chip design, and will take on the important task of improving the silicon-based OLED ecosystem, and continue to develop silicon-based OLED DDIC that supports higher resolution and higher PPI by actively innovating with upstream and downstream manufacturers, continuously promoting the iterative upgrading of XR and accelerating the arrival of the metaverse era.