Importance of LED Driver ICs Increases with Demand for Quality Screens
Macroblock, an LED driver IC (integrated circuit) manufacturer founded in June of 1999 in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is a maker of everything related to LED applications. Lately, they’ve been expanding into live events by creating products for LED displays that are getting noticed in a big way. They developed the world’s first 16-bit PWM (pulse-width modulation) embedded LED driver with patented S-PWM technology, which they showed off at a little show called the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
Projects Around the World
“Our products have been applied in major events and building exteriors to present the aesthetics of light,” says Macroblock Marcom [Marketing/Communications] manager Lisa Liu. “Our products have been used for several LED billboards at Times Square [in New York], the indoor commercial LED display at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport and the indoor video display at the Houston’s Toyota Center [home of the Houston Rockets], Lui notes. Other big screen applications making use of Macroblock technologies have appeared in Shenzhen, China (the Universiade Shenzhen Sports Centre), Shanghai (the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Expo), Tokyo Dome stadium in Japan and broadcast studios in France.
The Latest Technologies
The company has positioned itself as a mixed-signal IC design house with a special focus on power management and opto-electronic applications. Today there are around 170 employees working for Macroblock, and they hold more than 160 LED related patents. The company’s exclusive S-PWM technology has significantly enhanced the refresh rates of LED video displays and reduced the flickers. “Macroblock is now a leading LED driver provider and focuses on the LED driver design, which contributes to ultimate LED performance for LED display and lighting applications,” says Liu.
According to a 2014 IHS Research Report, Macroblock is ranked third in the leading suppliers of LED Driver ICs and first in the leading supplier of LED Video Display Diver ICs. Impressively, the company has been successfully marketed to over 500 worldwide customers, and its distribution network is spread across more than 20 countries, with a worldwide driver IC shipment of more than 600 million units in 2015.
Reliability, Top Image Quality
Lui adds that, in addition to its ability to provide reliable, high-quality products, Macroblock offers a wide range of services including technical consultation and supportive documents for its customers. She credits that “strategic collaboration” for helping Macroblock and its customers get their joint projects completed quickly and effectively. The company is also dedicated to staying up on, and ahead of, market trends.
“For LED display application, as the pixel pitch of LED is getting smaller for either outdoor or indoor displays, fine pitch LED displays become the focal points for many display vendors in recent years,” Liu points out.
System reliability and image quality are key to LED displays, and these performances are actually connected with their LED driver ICs, Lui noted. “This is especially true in the case of fine pitch LED displays. Foreseeing the challenges ahead, Macroblock launched a series of LED driver ICs for fine pitch LED displays two years ago.” This series solves what the company believes are the seven deadly sins of image quality on fine pitch LED displays: ghosting effect; color shift at low grayscale; non-uniformity at low grayscale; dime line at first scan line; gradient dim line; cross effect or bright lines caused by LED dead pixel; and high contrast interference. “With the technology breakthrough, Macroblock’s LED driver ICs for fine pitch LED displays have accounted for 80 percent of the market share in fine pitch LED displays worldwide.”
On the Horizon
Moving forward, the company has its sights set on stage lighting technologies along with LED displays. Macroblock has launched several DC/DC drivers for LED stage lighting including flood light, profile spot, followspot, Fresnel spot, Pars and more. Lui notes that Macroblock’s driver ICs, noted for quality in terms of high grayscale and dimming curve performance, also show promise as LED alternatives are replacing other kinds of light, including fixtures with halogen and HID as the light source. “Macroblock plans to introduce more DC/DC drivers with high dimming resolution in the high power application,” Lui says. “The goal of Macroblock is to satisfy all the requirements in the staging applications no matter what LED display or stage lighting is going to be used.”
Company Snapshot: Macroblock
Macroblock is a global supplier of LED drivers, including LED display driver ICs and LED lighting driver ICs.
When Founded: 1999
Where Based: Hsinchu City, Taiwan.
Major Projects: 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and big LED screen displays in Times Square (NYC), Toyota Center (Houston), Talking Stick Resort Casino (Phoenix, AZ), Universiade Sports Centre (Shenzhen, China), Taoyuan International Airport (Taiwan) and the Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, TN — see related story).
More Info: www.mblock.com.tw
