Researchers from the Beijing Institute of Technology developed a spatially shaped femtosecond-laser method for fabricating ultrafine quantum-dot pixels, that can be placed on top of microLEDs, for color-conversion display production.

The method combines high-precision laser drilling with selective quantum-dot filling. The research report several advantages of this method compared with other patterning alternatives, including smooth sidewalls, low taper, clear QD shapes, and densities as low as 100 nm.

Korea-based OLED and QD materials developer Duksan Neolux says it has secured core material technology for QD-EL microdisplays on silicon (QLEDoS), aimed at AR and VR devices. The company plans to start prototype production and customer evaluations in 2027.

According to industry sources, Duksan Neolux has filed four QD-related patents as part of a project to develop a photopatternable RGB independent-pixel frontplane for QLEDoS displays with a pixel density of 6,000 PPI or higher. The patents cover technologies that protect the structure of the QD particles in order to improve stability and maximize luminous efficiency.

Researchers at Korea's Seoul National University and Sungkyunkwan University have applied AI to reverse-engineer QD-EL device production conditions, and have come up with a solvent that can arrange QDs in an optimal way.

The researchers say that by applying this solvent in a commercial QD-EL device, it can increase the efficiency twofold, and the lifetime by more then 40X.

Samsung Display is showing two new QD-EL displays (Samsung actually calls these displays EL-QD) at SID Displayweek 2026.

The first display is a 18-inch panel that offers 500 nits brightness, improving 25% over the display it has shown last year. The second display is a smaller, 6.5" panel, that achieves up to 400 nits brightness (33% up from a similar panel developed last year).

Reports from Korea suggest that Samsung Display has decided to resume its QD Nanorod Diode (QNED) technology development, that it has paused a few years ago.

SDC considers QNED to offer superior performance compared to the company's QD-OLED technology - mainly in terms of lifetime and brightness. According to the new report, SDC established a QNED R&D organization towards the end of 2025, to restart the R&D, bringing back its previous employees that were involved with QNED R&D.

In 2009, when the EU finalized its Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations, to limit the use of a range of hazardous materials in consumer products, the included some exemptions, including one (#39) that allowed the use of cadmium in quantum dots for display applications.

The exception was supposed to have lasted only 2 years, but now, finally after 16 years, it is finally being removed - in fact the exemption expired on November 21, 2025. From now on, any display sold in the EU market must respect the regular cadmium limit of 0.01% by weight (100 ppm).

Researchers from the Beijing Institute of Technology together with colleagues from the Beihang University have developed a new method to fabricate color-converted QL-ED panels using photolithographic fabrication.

The panels are based on emissive QDs, at a resolution of up to 6350 PPI (the researchers fabricated a range of panels, using pixel sizes ranging from 20 x 20 micron down to 2x2 micron). The patterned blue devices achieve a peak EQE of 7.8% and a maximum brightness of almost 40,000 nits. The patterned red devices achieve a peak EQE of 18% and a maximum brightness of just over 100,000 nits.

This is a sponsored post by QNA Technology

Cost and performance could make QDEL technology a real competitor to OLED. A potential scenario? Notebooks will adopt it first, followed by TVs and perhaps smartphones. Implementing this technology is relatively straightforward, provided blue quantum dots help the industry achieve its desired lifespan goals. This is an opportunity for Europe, which has blue quantum dots know-how and product at home (QNA Technology, Poland).

Low-Cost Production, High Performance

Quantum-Dot Electroluminescence (QDEL) represents a major evolution in emissive display technology, relying on electrically stimulated quantum dots (QDs) rather than photoluminescent down-conversion. QDEL’s core advantage lies in its solution-processed manufacturing—using coating, lithography, etching (C+L+E), or inkjet printing (IJP)—instead of vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE), which dominates OLED fabrication. 

Quantum dots developer QustomDot, a spin-off from Ghent University, announced the commercial availability of its second-generation QustomJet Red ink that makes high-efficiency color conversion a viable pathway for microLED cost reduction.

The company says that its new cadmium-free, solvent-free inkjet ink is specifically designed for quantum dot color conversion (QDCC) applications and delivers multiple competitive advantages for display manufacturers: excellent optical specs, enhanced printability with standard industrial inkjet systems, superior shelf life stability, and exceptional reliability under high-intensity blue light exposure, addressing the key challenges that have limited widespread adoption of quantum dot color conversion.

Researchers from Korea's Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) developed a stretchable QD color conversion layer, that can be used in stretchable microLED displays. These QD films use a technology developed at DGIST that enables the direct linkage of quantum dots.

The researchers say that the color-conversion layer delivers high color reproducibility while maintaining performance even when stretched by more than 50%.  The color-conversion layer fabricated with this technology achieved a high resolution of 313 PPI.