On November 6, 2024, TIANMA hosted the global innovation conference (TIC 2024) in Xiamen. The event gathered global partners in display innovation to showcase TIANMA‘s latest R&D achievements. Through technical forums, joint exhibitions, product releases, and strategic collaborations, TIANMA demonstrated its strength and exploration in the display technology field. Among the innovations, the Micro LED display products stood out.
Key Highlights of the Event:
- Chairman Peng Xuhui emphasized that the success of TIANMA is rooted in its commitment to manufacturing, independent R&D, globalization, and creating extraordinary visual experiences. TIANMA is not only focused on becoming a pride of Chinese brands but also aims to be a global leader in display technology.
- The event saw the launch of a Micro-LED technology product collaboration, where TIANMA partnered with Hisense Visual and Qianzhao Optoelectronics to release the world’s highest PPI Micro LED display prototype. The prototype utilizes TFT-based drive technology, with a pixel pitch of P0.4 and an impressive contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, achieving a zero bezel design.
- This Micro LED seamless splicing display incorporates TIANMA‘s unique GOA in AA backplane drive design, innovative side-wiring process, and advanced laser mass transfer technology. With a TFT-based AM drive, it achieves precise pixel-to-pixel control, showcasing TIANMA‘s advancements in Micro LED technology.
- Additional Micro LED products showcased included an 8.07-inch transparent AM-driven Micro LED screen for automotive and consumer electronics, an 8-inch transparent HUD Micro LED product, and a 1.64-inch full-color Micro LED screen, highlighting TIANMA‘s extensive application prospects in Micro LED technology.
- The Honorary Chairman of the German Display Forum praised Micro LED technology for its potential to become the ultimate technology for automotive displays, citing its superior brightness and longevity compared to existing technologies, and its immense market potential.
The conference not only highlighted TIANMA‘s progress in Micro LED technology but also provided a significant platform for global display innovation partners to exchange ideas and collaborate.
Industry Insight from Experts:
Liang Xinqing, Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Optics and Optoelectronics Manufacturers Association LCD Branch, remarked that innovation is the driving force behind the display industry’s healthy development. He emphasized TIANMA’s vital role in China’s new display industry, contributing significantly to technological innovation and self-reliance in the sector.
Academician Ouyang Zhongcan, Director of the Strategic Development Committee at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, shared insights on the development trends of China’s new display industry, highlighting the country’s progress from “lacking chips and screens” to being a world leader in display technology. He also advocated for accelerating innovations in new display technologies to achieve high-level technological independence and strength.
Professor Karlheinz Blankenbach of Pforzheim University, Honorary Chairman of Display Forum, delivered a speech on Automotive Intelligent Cockpit Displays, emphasizing the shift toward OLED and Micro LED technologies, which offer superior characteristics like high transparency and brightness, positioning Micro LED as a potential “ultimate display technology” for automotive applications.
TIANMA‘s Unwavering Commitment to Innovation
In his keynote titled “Persistence,” Chairman Peng Xuhui reflected on TIANMA‘s continuous growth and breakthroughs, attributing the company’s success to its commitment to advanced manufacturing, self-research, globalization, and visionary displays. He outlined TIANMA‘s four core principles of persistence:
- Persistence in Manufacturing – Adhering to advanced manufacturing processes and building cutting-edge production lines.
- Persistence in Independent R&D – Developing unique technologies and continuously leading market innovation.
- Persistence in Globalization – Expanding beyond domestic markets and establishing a strong presence in the automotive display field since the early 1990s.
- Persistence in Visionary Displays – Creating “extraordinary visual experiences” with boundless imagination.
Qin Feng, general manager of Tianma R&D Center and dean of Micro-LED Research Institute, delivered a technical theme report titled “The Ambition of Innovation is Long, and the Boat of Expansion Breaks the Waves”, focusing on Tianma‘s thinking and exploration in display innovation. From the historical leap of human civilization to the technological changes in information dissemination, innovation has always been an eternal proposition of human exploration. As a pioneer in breaking the waves, Tianma has been pioneering and forging ahead in various display technology cycles from 1983 to 2024, from TN and STN passive displays to a-Si, LTPS, Oxide LCD, and then to AMOLED and Micro-LED active light-emitting displays. Tianma continues to “create brilliance and lead the world”.
Tianma’s Commitment to Innovation and Technological Excellence
Tianma insists on original innovation, joint innovation, and the dual-wheel dual-drive model of “scenario application innovation + technology platform innovation,” that is, expanding product space through scenario application innovation and enhancing solution value with technology platform innovation, to provide humanity with a healthy, portable, beautiful, green, and intelligent new vision.
Following the successful release of the three major technology platforms in 2023—SFT (Extreme Color Display Technology Platform), SFO (Extreme Soft Display Technology Platform), and SFM (Extreme Display Technology Platform)—Tianma has grandly launched the SFX technology platform (Extreme Han Intelligent Sensing Technology Platform) to adapt to more innovative scenarios. This platform is focused on the TFT sensing field, utilizing mature processes to quickly iterate and develop innovative technologies, shorten product incubation cycles, and accelerate the industrialization of cutting-edge sensing technologies. To date, it has successfully developed innovative technologies such as microfluidics, fingerprint sensing, and smart glass.
The pace of technological innovation is endless. Tianma remains committed to focusing on innovation with an open and inclusive mindset, determined to change the world through groundbreaking technologies and partner collaboration. Tianma’s goal is to take practical actions to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the display industry.
Nine Innovative Achievements
Green and healthy organic light-emitting devices
In the pursuit of “green and low-carbon” and “healthy eye protection” display screens, Tianma is forging ahead and is committed to innovation.
In the field of “green and low-carbon”, we have reduced the power consumption of U9 devices by 8% compared with conventional OLED devices on the market through innovations in materials and structures. At the same time, we have also successfully developed Tianma’s unique SLOD (Stacked Layer OLED Device) device, which is formed by connecting two light-emitting units with a charge generation layer (CGL) and electrically connecting them in series inside the device. Tianma has achieved a significant reduction in power consumption through a unique device design solution, which is 30% lower than conventional stacked devices.
In the field of “healthy eye protection”, we have ensured a significant reduction in screen power consumption through a variety of technical combination strategies, while reducing the proportion of high-energy blue light to 4.7%.
Looking to the future, we are committed to building SLOD technology into an innovative platform for OLED. By integrating new technologies such as blue phosphorescence, TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence), PSF (photosensitive fluorescence), etc., we will achieve high-performance OLED display effects such as low power consumption, long life, low blue light radiation, high brightness, and wide color gamut, truly realizing green, healthy, and high-definition display, and further highlighting the advantages of SLOD technology.
Extreme narrow frame technology
The narrow frame design can provide a larger viewing area for the screen, optimize the display appearance, and also bring users a more extreme visual immersion. Tianma has developed an innovative “Smart and Wonderful” extreme narrow frame technology. Through systematic mechanical simulation and technological innovation, it has accurately developed an integrated ultra-thin structure, and combined with high-precision sealing technology to improve the waterproof/grease-proof performance of the screen, achieving a module upper frame of 1.0mm, left/right/bottom frames of 1.2mm, and an ultimate visual experience of up to 95% screen-to-body ratio.
Multi-Form Folding Technology
In order to continuously explore the morphological boundaries of OLED displays and accelerate the commercialization of multi-form folding, Tianma has established a multi-form folding full-scene simulation platform with 6 dimensions and 30+ sub-scenes, including basic materials, morphological simulation, bending evaluation, impact resistance evaluation, surface evaluation, and process influence. Through the construction of the simulation platform and continuous technological innovation, we not only quickly mass-produced left-right inward folding/up-down inward folding products, but also successfully developed a “spiritual” curved and boundless G-form tri-folding product. In the future, Tianma will continue to innovate and make breakthroughs in multi-form folding to bring users a more creative user experience.
Smart Interior Technology
Smart interior technology is a very popular emerging technology. In the non-operating state, only the decorative texture integrated with the interior can be observed. After the display is turned on, the operation content clearly appears above the decorative layer. This product adopts the industry’s best high-transmittance hidden display technology, with innovative Mini-LED backlight design, small icon brightness is improved, showing excellent display quality and integration effect, improving visual perception and user experience, matching special processes and material optimization, and the module thickness is thinner. Compared with conventional display modules on the market, the total power consumption is reduced by about half, catering to the contemporary green, healthy and beautiful development concept.
Intelligent Cockpit Integrated Sensing Technology
The in-vehicle display intelligent sensing integration technology is developed based on the existing LTPS process, and the new module is integrated into the original display panel or module. Compared with the traditional external module solution, this technology not only retains the extremely narrow frame characteristics of the traditional cockpit display, but also has certain cost advantages. Among them, the integrated ambient light sensing function can adaptively adjust the brightness and color of the screen according to the intensity and color temperature of the ambient light in real time, greatly improving the user experience on the car; the integrated near-field communication function can conveniently and sensitively interact with the mobile phone or other components with NFC and the car machine with one touch, eliminating many tedious steps and improving user convenience. The above two technologies are the first leading technologies in the industry that can be realized based on the conventional LTPS process.
Flip Cell Full-Screen Technology
Tianma combines Tcon Embedded Driver and Flip Cell technologies to create a full-screen technology platform. The screen-to-body ratio of IT products can be increased from 88% to 96%, expanding users’ visual enjoyment and usage experience.
Low-Power Technology Platform
Tianma‘s independently developed low-power technology platform effectively reduces the panel’s power consumption by 45% through SFT-Pro pixel optimization technology, intelligent frequency conversion technology, and embedded drive technology. At the same time, combined with full-screen technology, it forms the Tianma LEAF technology platform, constantly pursuing a green, intelligent, and beautiful future life.
Unbounded Crystal Link Micro-LED Display Technology
This seamless splicing display screen utilizes Tianma’s original GOA in AA backplane driver design, independently developed innovative side routing technology, and precise and efficient full laser mass transfer technology to achieve borderless display. Compared with traditional PCB products, this display screen uses TFT-based AM driver to achieve pixel point-to-point control, which improves image quality while eliminating screen flicker, making it healthier and more eye-friendly.
In addition, the ultra-small pitch design (Pitch=0.4mm) can effectively reduce or eliminate the physical seams between screens, achieving free splicing between screens in the horizontal and vertical directions, and the splicing display effect is the same as the whole machine display, supporting diversified application scenarios, such as: high-end TV, video wall, home theater, commercial display, car-mounted large screen, etc.
Green Smart Communication Technology
The PAMETRIA panel-level metamaterial smart antenna technology released this time has made a major innovative breakthrough in the field of smart communications.
At present, there is a strong demand for wide-area broadband networks in scenarios such as navigation and vehicle-mounted. PAMETRIA technology integrates multiple advantages and performs well in terms of lightweight, low power consumption, high precision, and high quality. The S series metamaterial smart antenna launched globally for the first time is aimed at navigation scenarios, adapted to the K and Ka bands, and can achieve high-throughput data transmission. In the future, it will also actively expand multiple scenarios such as vehicle-mounted, help accelerate the arrival of the era of the Internet of Everything, and fully promote the transformation of green smart communication technology.
Adhere to Green Creation and Launch the “1+2+8” Carbon Neutrality Plan
Tianma President Cheng Cheng shared Tianma’s progress in carbon neutrality with the guests. He said that the world has entered a new stage of green and low-carbon transformation. Tianma will take “zero-carbon digital intelligence creates a wonderful vision” as the beautiful vision of carbon neutrality, continue to promote green and low-carbon practices, and work with global partners to make positive contributions to the self-reliance and self-improvement of my country’s display industry and the realization of the grand goal of global carbon neutrality.
For many years, Tianma has always adhered to green technological innovation, hoping to create a wonderful vision for mankind that is both environmentally friendly and intelligent, efficient and beautiful through the use of zero-carbon emission environmental protection concepts and digital and intelligent technical means. Cheng Cheng said that with zero carbon as the guide and digital intelligence as the support, Tianma will achieve carbon neutrality in its own operations in 2050. At the same time, in order to ensure the effective promotion and implementation of the carbon neutrality goal, Tianma has formulated a “1+2+8” carbon neutrality plan, namely “to consolidate the foundation of carbon management as a guarantee, to take the two pillars of organizational carbon emission reduction and product carbon emission reduction as the starting point, and to implement eight carbon emission reduction paths as the direction”, to help achieve the carbon neutrality goal.
At this conference, Tianma also officially released the “Tianma Carbon Neutrality White Paper”, opening a new green chapter. In this regard, Cheng said that under the guidance of the white paper, Tianma will continue to uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, unswervingly promote green, low-carbon and sustainable development, and will continue to optimize strategies, accurately implement carbon neutrality planning, accelerate green transformation, and firmly move towards the goal of becoming a leading sustainable development company in the global display field.
Subsequently, TÜV Rheinland, an international independent third-party testing, inspection and certification agency, issued three certificates to Tianma, namely “High Visibility Car Transparent Screen”, “Product Carbon Footprint” and “Hardware-Level Low Blue Light”, setting higher standards for the development of products and quality.
Adhere to Openness and Collaboration to Achieve Win-Win Results in the Industrial Ecosystem
The road is long, and we will go hand in hand to embark on a new journey. In the past 41 years of development, Tianma has actively cooperated with scientific research institutions, research institutions, and customer partners to continuously promote the deepening integration of industry, academia, and research. Through project research, resource sharing, and technical exchanges, we have jointly launched many innovative scientific research results, realized the application of technology from the laboratory to the market, enabled technology to achieve application value, and jointly promoted the development of the display industry.
Collaborative Innovation and Strategic Partnerships
The road ahead is long, but we will go hand in hand toward a new journey. Over the past 41 years, Tianma has actively collaborated with scientific research institutions, research bodies, and customer partners to promote the deepening integration of industry, academia, and research. Through project research, resource sharing, and technical exchanges, numerous innovative scientific research results have been jointly launched, enabling technology to move from the laboratory to market application. This process has contributed to both the application value of the technology and the overall development of the display industry.
At this innovation conference, Tianma signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Corning for the joint promotion of new displays for smart cockpits. Tianma also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the China Electric Vehicle Hundred People’s Association on the innovative development of the automotive industry. Additionally, Tianma partnered with the Wujin Nanda Future Technology Innovation Institute on Micro-LED business and non-display business. By combining resources with universities and enterprises, they aim to foster collaborative innovation, build industrial ecosystems, and achieve capability symbiosis, which will accelerate the adoption of new display technologies, products, and applications in the market.
In addition, Tianma also joined hands with Hisense to jointly release the borderless Micro-LED new technology product, leading the new display trend; and jointly launched the first in-vehicle display innovation competition with SID China, setting up open competition topics for the first time from the four dimensions of technology innovation, application innovation, solution innovation and scenario innovation, exploring the application of new display technology in the field of smart cars and empowering the new future of in-vehicle displays.
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