Chinese University Researchers Develop LEDs So Small 127K Can Be Packed In Per Inch Of A Display

March 25, 2025 by Dave Haynes

It is not all that long ago that display industry people were debating with solutions providers the merits of 4K vs full HD, and the dubious value of next-gen,pixel-rich 8K displays, so it’s almost funny now to read about R&D efforts to reduce LED light chips down to nano sizes. Like displays that have 127,000 pixels per inch.

Research teams at a pair of Chinese universities are reporting that they have successfully developed micro and nano-scale perovskite LEDs (also called micro-PeLEDs and nano-PeLEDs, downsizing from the kinds of miniLEDs now widely used on the market and measuring in 100s of micrometers to LEDs that are just 90 nanometers. That’s stuff you can’t even really see without optical equipment.

The intent here is for ultra high density displays for highly specialized uses, like perhaps medical research or semiconductor manufacturing. There would be no practical need for all those pixels for mainstream uses like digital signage displays, and it is reasonable to suggest even getting to microLED because of the tinier pixels is unnecessary except in highly specialized cases. Long-term, there are other reasons microLED might get mainstreamed – like energy efficiency, brightness and operating life.

If you want to nerd out, Display Daily has a more scientific post up about this … though it may be paywalled (some stuff is, others not).