OLED production - Page 17

Korea's The Elec says that Samsung Display aims to start trial runs at its QD-OLED 8.5-Gen production line next month (December 2020).

SDC will brand these displays as QD Displays. The first generation ones will adopt SDC's current hybrid QD-OLED architecture, but later ones may adopt QNED (quantum-rods) emitters. In any case, SDC's plan is to start mass production by the end of 2021, in the first line (15,000 monthly substrates). SDC is also planning a second line to follow the first, to arrive at a total of 30,000 monthly 8.5-Gen substrates.

Dongxu (Tungshu) Optoelectronics has started to construct China's largest OLED substrate glass factory, in Tianshui City. Total investment in the new glass factory will be 5 billion yuan ($760 million), and the plant will include four 6-Gen glass production lines.

The local Tianshui Municipal Government helped finance the project and provided 2 billion yuan.

SCREEN Finetech Solutions developed a new coater (SK-F1500H) for color filter film forming with anti-reflective properties. These color filters are intended to be used in flexible (foldable/rollable) OLED devices. The company says the new coater is able to achieve outstanding efficiency by executing the entire process in a single integrated line (6-Gen / 2 substrate).

SCREEN FT explains that in current rollable and foldable OLEDs, the multi-film structure is a weak point that is one of the reasons these display get wrinkled and damaged when bent. One of the problems is in the multi-layered circular polarizers. Color filter films can replace the polarizers, reduce the number of layers, and enable high transmittance and higher energy efficiency.

Earlier in 2020 Taiwan-based INT Tech signed an agreement to establish a $143 million OLED display fab in the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang province, China. The company now updated us that the plant construction is progressing and production of the company's first displays (0.7-inch RGB AMOLED) is expected to begin in Q4 2021.

INT Tech developed a proprietary glass-based high pixel density OLED technology - which enables ultra high-resolution displays on glass TFT backplanes. The company is aiming to produce lower-cost and higher-performance microdisplays for the AR/XR markets. Earlier this year INT Tech announced that it has produced its first prototype - a 0.7" 2,300 PPI real RGB side-by-side AMOLED display, which will be the company's first commercial display.

Chinese OLED developer Royole announced that it will establish a 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion USD) OLED production line in Qingdao, China.

Royole did not provide any details, besides that this production line will be used to make flexible and foldable OLEDs. We do not know yet the timeline, technologies and production capacity at the new line.

According to reports from China, TCL says its CSOT OLED inkjet printing project is going well, and the company expects to start mass production at its 8.5-Gen Guangzhou T8 (owned by Huaxing Optoelectronics) production line in 2024.

Earlier this year the Guanghzhou development commission issued a report that says CSOT's investment in this R&D and production project will amount to 46 billion yuan ($6.8 billion USD), and the construction of the actual production line will be in 2021-2023.

DSCC says that the first half of 2020 has seen lower production at OLED fabs, due to normal season-related weakness in combination with the COVID-10 pandemic. Utilization rates and production capacity, however, rebounded in Q3 and will continue to be higher in Q4 of 2020.

The main reason for the bounce of flexible OLED production in Q3 was due to new products by Apple, Samsung and other device makers. In fact flexible OLED production in 2020 was higher in all months of 2020, including the weak quarters. However rigid OLEDs have seen a large drop in 2020 which has risen slightly in Q3 and will continue to rise - but remain smaller than 2019.

Notion Systems and M.Braun announced a strategic partnership in OLED processing equipment. The two companies will combine their best-in-class OLED production technology to improve the production process offers and enhance market access in Asia.

M.Braun is a developer of glove boxes, inert gas purification and automation solutions while Notion Systems is a leading developer of industrial inkjet-printing systems for functional materials, and both companies already enjoy the growing demand of OLED manufacturing in Asia.

China-based Eternal Material Technology (EMT) announced that it has started to construct its 15-tons OLED material production facility in Hefei. Yesterday the company held a groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site. EMT company expects the plant to begin mass producing materials in the second half of 2021. The planned total investment of the project (which will also include production of other materials) is 500 million yuan (or around $72 million USD).

EMT says that it has been able to achieve design wins for its ETL materials, and also other OLED related materials - and has already achieved sales of over 230 million Yuan ($33 million USD). EMT offers over 20 different OLED materials.

LG Display's original plan was to start producing OLED TV panels at its 8.5-Gen OLED fab in Guangzhou in October 2019, but following some technical issues, production was pushed back, several times.

Yesterday LGD announced that it has finally started mass production of its Guangzhou fab. The capacity of the Guangzhou fab is 60,000 substrates per month, which will almost double LGD's total OLED TV capacity to 130,000 substrates per month.LGD also plans to expand the Guangzhou fab to 90,000 monthly substrates in the future. The plant will be used to produce 48-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch panels, and 48-inch OLED TVs will shortly start to ship.