Aledia S.A. is a company separated from CEA-Leti, a micro and nanotechnology research and development center in Grenoble, France. They developed a subversive 3D LED technology based on a standard 200mm silicon platform. Compared with traditional 2D LED technology, this 3D LED technology can greatly reduce the monolithic cost of LED chips.
According to a foreign media Semiconductor Today report, in order to win related markets such as computers, tablets, smartphones and augmented reality (AR) smart glasses (estimated value of about 120 million US dollars), the company announced earlier this year that it plans to open in Greno Established the first factory in Boer region. Based on these plans, Aledia plans to achieve mass production of microdisplays by 2022.
Aledia and Cea-Leti have jointly developed a 3D LED manufacturing process based on GaN Nanowires (gallium nitride nanowire) technology on a large-size silicon substrate. Since 2012, Aledia has applied for more than 100 sets of patents for this technology (the same invention is applied for in multiple countries/regions), and there are more than 440 pending groupings and pending patents worldwide. "Interestingly, more than 180 patent applications have been authorized, focusing on Europe (more than 90 patents) and the United States (more than 50 patents), and relatively few in Asia," IP strategy consulting firm Knowmade's technology and patents Analyst Dr. Remi Comyn pointed out that his direction is in the field of compound semiconductors and electronic technology. He later added, "It should be noted that they still have 29 sets of patents in the same family that have not yet been granted; in addition, most of these inventions were filed in the past three years and are related to display applications."
As of September this year, Aledia has 58 sets of patents related to nanowire LED technology (as shown in Figure 1a). According to its introduction, the initial market planned by the start-up company is residential lighting and automotive lighting. This can be seen from the investment of companies such as IKEA and Valeo. However, later they made adjustments to this, and finally put the main market in display applications. It is this change that has added more than 40 sets of patents related to the display in Aledia's patents, 30 of which were filed in the past three years. In the field of nanowire LED patents, the strategic directions of companies such as Samsung and glō have similar trends. As a result, patent applications related to nanowire LED-based microdisplays began to increase in 2016/2017. As more and more competitors participate in the competition for the commercialization of Micro-LED, the market expects that the related patent layout will further accelerate in 2020/2021.
Another component of Aledia's display application strategy is that Intel also joined the ranks of its investors in 2018. At the same time, Knowmade identified the American company as a newcomer in the field of nanowire LED patents. Its method is somewhat similar to Aledia, but it directly focuses on the field of Micro-LED displays (top of Figure 1). Comyn said: "Intel is developing silicon-based LED structures and related display manufacturing methods based on nanowires (including GaN nanowires)." In fact, Knowmade has determined that Intel has filed 19 invention patent applications in the field of nanowire LED patents, but most of them are filed in the United States. As of September, Intel has been granted 5 US patents.
In 2020, Knowmade also investigated the field of silicon-based GaN patents, among which Aledia has 30 sets of patents in the same family. Comyn said: "Aledia's invention in the field of silicon-based GaN patents is mainly related to the precision and controllability of the growth of the nanowire light-emitting layer."
In addition, Aledia also has other patent support from its R&D partner Cea-Leti. Cea-Leti's deep cultivation in the field of nanowire LEDs and GaN-on-Si for optoelectronics has been widely known. The institute has 50 sets of patents related to nanowire LEDs, and more than 170 authorized patents in the United States (40+), Europe (30+), China (15) and Japan (15). Interestingly, at least five inventions in these patents are also focused on displays (for example, US8890111).
In general, thanks to its own patent layout and intellectual property agreements between its partners, Aledia currently has more than 170 sets of patents in the same family. This strong patent portfolio is conducive to protecting the commercialization of its technology.