Archives 2025

Aug 2025 14

August 14 2025

New Perspective on Old Problems: Modern Display Failure Analysis

Dr. Evan Brown, Exponent, Vice President & Principal Engineer, Material Science & Electrochemistry Practice

Presentation Abstract

Displays have exhibited profound evolutions in recent years, with novel product applications, form factors, and underlying technologies being developed each year. Growing display applications and ever-increasing consumer expectations in performance and quality push the limits of design, manufacturing, and reliability engineering. A key factor to keeping pace with these rapid developments is maintaining a robust understanding of how and why particular failure modes occur. These understandings translate into component and process improvements and can be implemented prior to product launch (ideally) or to correct failures occurring in released devices. But with all these new technologies, are modern display failures also wholly unique? In my nearly 15 years of experience, the answer is almost always “no”. When taking a scientific method approach to seemingly novel display failure modes, we have found that traditional branches of study still lend themselves to unlocking deeper insights into the "how" and “why” of failures. Using an example from thin film fracture mechanics, I will showcase Exponent’s approach that reduces a complex problem into its constituent parts, and then applies well-established scientific principles to uncover the root cause. I will show how relatively new techniques (e.g., nanoindentation, nanoscratch testing, and single-cantilever beam testing) enable the translation of modern display failures into tractable physics, chemistry, and materials science problems that are solvable.

Dr. Evan Brown, Exponent, Vice President & Principal Engineer, Material Science & Electrochemistry Practice

Dr. Brown is a Corporate Vice President and Principal Engineer in Exponent’s Materials Science and Electrochemistry Practice. Dr. Brown's primary area of expertise is failure analysis in support of product development, in particular for displays in the consumer electronics industry. He specializes in complex, multidisciplinary technical problems that span materials, mechanical, chemical, and optical root causes. He has extensive experience diagnosing failures in full consumer electronic systems, display modules, camera modules, PCBs, thin film stacks, housing enclosures, flexible cables, small-scale electronic elements, and a variety of electronics packaging. With well over a decade of experience, Dr. Brown has worked on hundreds of failure modes, such as materials fracture, corrosion of small-scale components, delamination, thin film mechanical failures, nano-/micro- scale fabrication process issues, active display element failures, and manufacturing process quality issues. As part of fracture analysis in brittle materials, such as glass and both single-crystal and polycrystalline ceramics, Dr. Brown routinely performs analyses of stress-at-failure, fracture origin identification, and assessment of the cause of fracture.

Jul 2025 10

July 10 2025

Yield and Manufacturing Challenges for MicroLED Micro-displays

Dr. Soeren Steudel, MICLEDI Microdisplay BV, CTO & Co-founder

Presentation Abstract

Why is it so difficult to ramp-up volume manufacturing of microLED microdisplay with decent yield and cost?

Tight pitch integration of compound semiconductor with advanced node CMOS like in microLED displays requires a full wafer level monolithic approach. Dedicated microLED display fabs are hereby an unlikely solution since older generation fabs used for compound semiconductor (e.g. 4”-6”) do not have the capability and precision while Si-CMOS fabs (e.g. 200mm/300mm) require a very large CAPEX that during the slow AR market ramp up would be under-utilized for several years. Process and tool compatibility to existing CMOS foundries is therefore a must.

At pitches below 5um, the CMOS bonding is at the center and cannot be considered as an afterthought of a great LED process. In this presentation we discuss different option for CMOS integration, color generation and how they influence cost effective volume manufacturing.

Finally, we present an update on MICLEDI 300mm foundry integration approach implemented using standard volume manufacturing equipment with a similar integration scheme as is done for 3D-stacked backside illuminated imager (BSI). This includes the realization of wafer level optics for beam-shaping.

Dr. Soeren Steudel, MICLEDI Microdisplay BV, CTO & Co-founder

Soeren Steudel is co-founder and CTO at MICLEDI microdisplays BV developing the next generation µLED displays on CMOS for AR waveguide optics and automotive HUD. Prior to founding MICLEDI in 2019, he worked as principal member of technical staff at imec on process integration for AMOLED displays, X-ray imager, fingerprint sensors, 3D stacked logic and DRAM.

Jun 2025 18

June 18 2025

Display Week 2025: What's New?

Paul Semenza, Department of Engineering Management and Leadership, Professor and Chair at Santa Clara University

Presentation Abstract

This seminar will provide a selective review of developments from Display Week, with a focus on innovations that could have an impact on the display industry over the mid-term, including OLED, quantum dots, LED backlights, microdisplays, integration of sensing and control into displays, as well as industry-wide issues such as application of AI and sustainability.

Paul Semenza, Department of Engineering Management and Leadership, Professor and Chair at Santa Clara University

Paul Semenza is professor and chair of the Department of Engineering Management and Leadership at Santa Clara University where he teaches marketing, innovation management, and the history of Silicon Valley, as well as an industry consultant in displays, flexible electronics, and advanced packaging. In 2015, Paul co-founded NextFlex (a Manufacturing USA institute), where he was director of commercialization until 2018. From 1997 to 2014, Paul was an executive at display market research firms iSuppli/Stanford Resources and NPD/Displaysearch. From 1992 to 1997, he was an analyst at the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment and a program officer at the National Research Council. Paul started his career as a Member of Technical Staff at The Analytic Sciences Corporation. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University and a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Apr 2025 10

April 10 2025

Advancements in Optical Metrology and Demura Technologies for Microdisplay Testing

Dr. Gang Wang, Director of Technology Center, HYC Jiaxi Zhou, Optical Engineer, HYC

Presentation Abstract

This seminar will provide an in-depth look at HYC's cutting-edge optical metrology solutions designed to meet the evolving demands of display testing. We will introduce HYC’s comprehensive portfolio of display measurement systems, positioning them within the current market landscape. A key focus will be HYC’s advanced 3D structured light scanner, detailing its working principles, capabilities, and real-world applications. Additionally, we will explore the latest advancements in microdisplay technologies, with an emphasis on Demura solutions for AR/VR applications. This session will highlight key industry trends, technical challenges, and how HYC’s innovations are enhancing microdisplay uniformity correction and performance optimization.

Dr. Gang Wang, Director of Technology Center, HYC

Dr. Wang received Ph.D. in Optical Engineering from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Completed postdoctoral research at the State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry. He has over 20 years of experience in the TFT-LCD, AMOLED, flexible display, Oxide TFT, and PLED industries.

Dr. Wang previously held senior positions at BOE Technology Group, CSOT (China Star Optoelectronics Technology), and Visionox. Currently, he worksfor the technology center of Suzhou Huaxing Yuanchuang Technology Co., Ltd, and in charge of the development of advance technologies for inspection equipments. His contributions have been recognized with honors such as the Beijing Science and Technology Award and the China Excellent Patent Award.

Jiaxi Zhou, Optical Engineer, HYC

Jiaxi specializes in optical system design, validation, and manufacturing. Currently, Jiaxi focuses on delivering optical solutions for display, AR/VR, and automotive system inspections. Currently, at HYC USA Inc., Jiaxi leads the design and optimization of high-precision optical testing systems, working closely with cross-functional teams to bring customized solutions to mass production.

Mar 2025 20

March 20 2025

Design of Holographic Display Systems Based on Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Suyeon Choi, Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University

Presentation Abstract

Spatial computing systems aim to seamlessly connect people in hybrid physical-digital spaces, offering experiences beyond the limits of our physical world. To this end, wearable displays are required to present perceptually realistic imagery indistinguishable from reality within visually and socially comfortable form factor. Holographic displays have the potential to achieve these goals elegantly by addressing practical challenges, including true 3D capabilities, vision correction, retinal resolution, small device form factors, low power consumption, as well as high brightness and color gamut. However, for decades, holographic displays has always been relegated to the status of future technology, due to several major challenges, including the lack of appropriate hardware architecture, poor image quality that never met the computer graphics standard, the fundamental tradeoff between algorithm runtime and achieved image quality, and the limited degrees of freedom to accurately depict 3D scenes. In this talk, I will talk about how artificial intelligence (AI) can drive a paradigm shift in holographic display design by overcoming existing obstacles. First, I will give a gentle introduction to holographic displays and then present an algorithmic framework for these displays that approximates real-world scenes using partially coherent engines, along with a real-time rendering method. I will then introduce an AI-driven algorithmic approach focused on modeling and learning light transport in arbitrary optical systems with differentiable wave optics, effectively bridging the gap between simulated and physical models. Following this, I will discuss validation methods for holographic display rendering algorithms to ensure they provide perceptually realistic experiences. I will show some practical holographic display architectures designed for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) applications, achieving unprecedented form factors.

Dr. Suyeon Choi, Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University

Suyeon Choi is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, working with Professor Gordon Wetzstein. His research focuses on developing computational optical systems at the intersection of graphics, computational optics, artificial intelligence, and applied vision science. Suyeon received a doctoral degree and a master's degree from Stanford University, and a bachelor's degree from Seoul National University, all in electrical engineering.

Feb 2025 27

February 27, 2025

Quantum Dots for Thin Optical Conversion

Dr. David O’Brien, Director QD Materials, ams OSRAM

Presentation Abstract

Quantum Dots are unique as an optical conversion technology. Properties such as fine control and tuning of emission wavelength, spectral characteristic, nanoscale size and high absorption per unit volume all allow for applications in areas that were previously not addressable by traditional optical conversion technologies. However, stability and processing issues related to sensitivity of these nanoparticles to high light flux and environmental conditions have historically been a challenge in bringing these technologies into products. In this talk, both Cadmium and Cadmium-free Quantum Dot technologies are explored which are stable enough to enable real world on chip applications. Current optical & reliability performance of such layers in on-chip configurations will be discussed as well as the possibilities that such a QD conversion layer applied through liquid phase deposition processes can enable. The limits of such a system in terms of minimum thickness for full conversion and the potential for application in display, MicroLED and other photonics applications will also be discussed.

Dr. David O’Brien, Director QD Materials, ams OSRAM

David O’Brien, Director of QD Materials at ams OSRAM, holds a PhD in Physics from University College Cork and BSc. Hons in Physics form University of Galway, Ireland. He has more than 20 years’ experience working in photonics from fundamental research both at University of St Andrews and later ams OSRAM, through product design and development up to and including ramp up to high volume production. He has over 20 patents granted in diverse areas from LED packaging, Vital Sign Monitoring, Chip and Device Architectures for IR, UV, and Quantum Dots.

Jan 2025 30

January 30, 2025

Holographic Displays for Augmented Reality

Dr. Edward Buckley, Vice President

Presentation Abstract

Swave’s Holographic eXtended Reality (HXR) is the first Spatial Compute display technology, delivering lifelike, high-resolution 3D images indistinguishable from reality. Swave’s HXR technology projects lifelike holographic images that eliminate today’s AR/VR/XR challenges of focal depth and eye tracking, enabling unique new use cases such as visual search. In this talk we will describe the requirements for augmented reality (AR) displays, and describe how such a holographic display technology can satisfy them.

Dr. Edward Buckley, Vice President

Edward Buckley is a recognized display expert, having taken numerous novel display technologies from the lab bench to production. He is also a prolific inventor having accumulated more than 90 granted patents. At Swave, he leads the development of Augmented Reality reference designs based upon Swave’s breakthrough HXRTM holographic solutions. Dr. Buckley was a founder of Light Blue Optics and a co-inventor of the revolutionary holographic projection technology upon which the company’s products were based. He has also served in technology leadership roles at Meta (formerly Facebook), Eink and Pixtronix (acquired by Qualcomm). Dr. Buckley has a PhD from Cambridge University and is a senior member of the IEEE, SPIE and SID.

To view past year archives visit: https://www.sid.org/Chapters/Bay-Area/SeminarArchive