Porotech raises £3m for microdisplay development

Cambridge University spin-out Porotech has raised £3m to fund the development of its micro-LED production technique that promises a new era of brighter and sharper microdisplays.

Micro-LED is the next evolutionary stage for displays on products including smartphones, smartwatches and VR/AR headsets. It is particularly useful outdoors where sunlight can make existing displays difficult to see but the performance of current micro-LEDs deteriorates as device sizes shrink.

According to Porotech, their new class of porous gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor material offers performance improvements suitable for mass production or customisation and in November 2020 the company launched what it said was the world’s first commercial native red indium gallium nitride (InGaN) LED epiwafer for micro-LED applications.

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Porotech’s next step is to expand its novel approach to integrate InGaN-based red, green, and blue (RGB) micro-LEDs for full-colour microdisplays, leading to the creation of 'smart' pixels that can be controlled independently for exceptional responsiveness and accuracy in applications such as AR gesture.