Progress and Prospects of Nanoscale Emitter Technology for AR/VR Displays

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are emerging interactive technologies that realize the "metaverse," leading to a totally new digital interactive experience in daily life in various aspects. In order to provide users with a more immersive experience, displays for AR/VR have rapidly evolved to achieve high resolutions and a large color gamut on small panels. Recently, nanoscale light emitters such as quantum dots (QDs) and metal halide perovskites (MHPs) with high photoluminescence quantum efficiency and color purity levels have garnered much attention as color conversion materials in AR/VR displays. However, the low material stability and the absence of a high-resolution patterning process that does not impair the optical properties of nanoscale emitters act as obstacles preventing the realization of high-resolution AR/VR displays. Here, the state-of-the-art technologies constituting current AR/VR devices are reviewed from an industrial point of view and the recent progress in QD and MHP emitter technologies are discussed, including their basic structural properties, synthesis strategies to enhance the stability, advanced patterning technologies, down-conversion and light-emitting diode applications. Based on the review, the authors' perspective on future research directions of nanoscale emitters for next-generation AR/VR displays is presented.