Quantum Materials Corp. (fka QTMM)

[TedJ]

In 2015 QMC released their QDX™ class of rugged Cadmium-free quantum dots with the highest heat, oxidation and moisture resistance available industry-wide.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/06/01/740977/10136757/en/Quantum-Materials-Announces-QDX-TM-Class-Quantum-Dots-With-High-Heat-Oxidation-and-Moisture-Resistance.html

"Our QDX Quantum Dots represent a game-changing development in advancing next generation display and lighting applications," said Quantum Materials Corp CEO Stephen Squires. "Their stability under high heat allows for more effective high temperature dispersion onto LCD display thin-film. In Solid-State Lighting, QDX Quantum Dots used in QD-LEDs will give better performance and effective life in high-heat and moisture-laden environments without degradation. We are excited to see QDX Quantum Dots unleash the engineering and design teams of our customers to facilitate advances in display and lighting applications never before possible."

In June of 2017, QMC started the QD-LED testing and surpassed 1000 hours in mid Aug 2017.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/08/16/1088194/0/en/1000-Hour-Quantum-Dot-LED-Milestone-Surpassed-by-Quantum-Materials-Corp.html

The testing has been conducted with red and green quantum dots encapsulated in resin and mounted to blue emitting LED's (see diagram below), which are similar to the type of LED's used in standard LCD display back light units (BLU).

No mention of perovskites.

In September 2018, QMC announced it has developed a continuous flow manufacturing process to produce stable, low cost, high purity perovskite quantum dots (PQDs).

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/09/18/1572510/0/en/Quantum-Materials-Corp-Announces-Capability-to-Mass-Produce-High-Performance-Low-Cost-Perovskite-Quantum-Dots-Paving-the-way-for-Next-Generation-Solar-and-Display-Applications-Inco.html

PQDs have many unique properties that make them an ideal material for utilization in applications such as next generation solar cells and displays. For instance, in solar cells perovskites have demonstrated conversion efficiencies of 22.7% which is higher than today’s best dye-sensitized or thin-film technologies (CiGS, CdTe) and can also extend efficiency (up to 1.3x) of silicon PVs when coated as an absorption enhancement layer. High purity PQDs hold the promise to achieve high conversion efficiencies while also solving many of the reliability and stability challenges.

As we are approaching the final stage of bringing to market our first commercial level red-green QD infused film component, we see tremendous potential in advancing the performance level of our QD based film components even further with the incorporation of PQD's to bring the color gamut up to nearly 100% of the new color standard Rec 2020 coverage, which will set a new standard in flat panel display color rendering" stated Quantum Materials CEO, Stephen Squires.

So they planned to incorporate the PQDs into QD infused films for solar and displays, but no mention of PQDs in QD-LEDs.

In November 2018, QMC announced that it has produced and extensively tested a 100% cadmium-free remote phosphor (or "on-chip") quantum dot LED technology that achieves an industry leading 91% Rec2020 color gamut coverage.

http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/11/07/1646844/0/en/Quantum-Materials-Corp-Achieves-Industry-Leading-91-Rec2020-Color-Gamut-Performance-with-Remote-Phosphor-On-chip-Quantum-Dot-Technology.html

To break this impasse, QMC has developed cadmium-free green quantum dots with an extremely narrow FWHM (full width half max) of 16 nanometers. Importantly, QMC is able to produce these infinitely small semiconductors with precise emission wavelengths that possess high stability characteristics when placed in close proximity to LED's. By combining these materials with QMC's cadmium-free red quantum dots and proprietary encapsulation process a color gamut of 91% Rec2020 was achieved.

QMC's "on-chip" LED technology recently passed the 10,000 hour on-time testing level with virtually no change in overall performance (FWHM, PLQY and target emission wavelength) and 30,000 hour accelerated testing protocols are now forthcoming.

The original QD-LED testing is continuing on and no mention of switching to perovskites. Is the new green perovskite? Maybe, but why didn’t they also make a better red perovskite QD to achieve an even higher Rec2020 rating like the 98% that perovskites are capable of?

while PQDs have the ability to deliver roughly a 98% Rec 2020 coverage (with properties that include: PLQY>95%, FWHM <25 nm and adjustable peak position).

In Feb. 2019 the 10-Q states:

In addition to Company’s efforts to commercialize its QD-LED remote phosphor technology for displays, the Company plans for its core focus in the first half of 2019 to be research and development for the optimization of its 3rd generation perovskite QD based solar technology in preparation of scaling up to commercial production levels in Assam, India.

They made it a point that the solar cells are perovskite but did not indicate that the QD-LEDs are perovskite.

Did QMC license the QD-LEDs made with the old QDX QD technology to Amtronics and keep the better performing perovskite QD technology for themselves? I don’t think so.

I think that the perovskite QDs may not be tough enough to survive in the on-chip QD-LED environment, or at least there may have to be a further optimization and a new test program run to prove their capabilities under the harshest conditions.

For now, perovskites seem to be headed for use in thin films for solar cells and displays and not "ready to go" in QD-LEDs for displays and lighting.