OLED TVs: Technology Advancements Thread - Page 19

Samsung 12.1-inch WXGA AMOLED panel using MOS-TFT technology
27 May 2008




At SID 2008, Samsung concentrated on displaying AMOLED applications including a 31-inch full HDTV, 14-inch HDTV, 3D display panel and several other AMOLED applications.

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Samsung 12.1-inch WXGA AMOLED panel using MOS-TFT technology
28 May 2008




Samsung displayed a 12.1-inch WXGA AMOLED panel using new MOS-TFT technology at the recent SID 2008 electronic display trade show.

Sony's Stringer Promises 27-inch OLED TV 'fairly Soon'
28 May 2008





Sony plans to launch a much larger version of its impressive OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) television within the next year, CEO Howard Stringer said Wednesday.

Sony launched its first OLED TV, an 11-inch model, in late 2007. The set, which also has the distinction of being the first commercial OLED TV in the world, won great acclaim thanks to the smoother, sharper and more richly colored images it offered over today's LCD (liquid crystal display) and PDP (plasma display panel) technologies.

At the same time Sony began showing a prototype 27-inch OLED screen and last month in Tokyo showed an OLED screen that was just 0.3 millimeters thick. Stringer, speaking at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference in Carlsbad, California, on Wednesday, introduced the thin prototype and talked about commercialization.

"This is 0.3 millimeters wide, it's a glass, we can produce this in plastic and you can wrap it around your arm, we're not quite sure why you would want to," Stringer told Walt Mossberg, a columnist for the newspaper and co-host of the event. "We're looking for applications for the next generation of the plastic version but this will come out in a 27-inch version fairly soon."

"Within the next 12 months, we haven't given a date," he said when asked to be more specific on timing.

Stringer didn't give much away when it came to pricing. The 11-inch model, which Sony calls the XEL-1, carries a relatively high price-tag of US$2,500.

"It's a complicated process and obviously we are working very hard to find out how to mass-produce it but until then it's very expensive," said Stringer.

Stringer's reference to a plastic OLED panel was to a prototype announced by the company in May 2007. Then it showed a small 2.5-inch OLED manufactured on a plastic substrate. The screen has a resolution of 160 pixels by 120 pixels and showed full-motion video while being bent and rolled.

Sony hasn't announced any sales targets for its OLED televisions but said earlier this month that it plans to sell 17 million LCD televisions in the fiscal year from April. That's a jump of about 7 million sets on the previous year. Sony hopes to achieve this by producing more models for the mid-market based on panels it will procure from Sharp. High-end sets will continue to feature panels produced by S-LCD, the LCD panel manufacturing joint venture it has with Samsung Electronics.

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Sony CEO Howard Stringer: Look At Our Awesome, Expensive, Money-Losing TVs!
28 May 2008




Sony (SNE) CEO Howard Stringer uses his D6 stage time to show off his tiny, expensive OLED screens. We're told they're amazing, but that's hard to tell from a distance. We do know they're expensive: The model that's for sale is $2,500, and Howard won't venture a price for the new card-thin model. But unless you live in a very very fancy neighborhood, your neighbor won't have one anytime soon.

Transcript follows:

A couple of years ago Howard Stringer had high hopes for his e-reader. But Jeff Bezos Kindle has stolen that thunder, and we assume we might hear about that when Walt Mossberg chats with him. We definitely know we're about to see a very, very thin TV.

Howard comes out to "Turning Japanese" (do the D6 folks know what that song is supposedly about?).

So Sir Howard, how are things going? "We're coming on, I think... culturally the word "profit" is not high on anybody's agenda in Japan. We're turning that around... there's a sort of sense that we're climbing the mountain. We're nowhere near the top, we're about halfway up."

But TVs are doing well, right? Yeah, but we're not making any money: "If we have any more success we'll be bankrupt". Why can't you make money? It's a commoditzed business. Lots of overhead from old biz we've exited, and race for market share puts pressure on prices.

What's next, beyond the LCD? LCD has had a good run, has plenty of life in it. But now getting excited about OLED. Very expensive at the moment, but is in the market. $2,500 for an 11" screen. DreamWorks guys like it a lot. I have one on my desk. It's really, really bright. Time to see the demo:

As we worried, it's really really hard to get a sense of what an OLED screen looks like when you're looking at on stage. But, as predicted, here comes the 0.3 mm thick OLED, thickness of a playing card. Will come out in 27-inch version fairly soon. Not at mass market quantity, and it will be "quite expensive... the only people who can buy one are in this room."

Do you believe that this will supplant LCD? "I'm biased. I have mine on my desk, and I haven't turned on the wall screen since I've had it. It's a perfect television companion."

Making these panels yourself? Yes. Very technologically sophisticated. Can't outsource.

Oxide Semiconductors: Potential Revolutionary AMOLED Fabrication Technology
3 June 2008





SID, the display industry's leading annual academic conference, is always a great source of information on R&D into future display technologies. Crystallization of a-Si to p-Si and its application to AMOLED fabrication have been a favorite topic of the symposium for several years now. However, looking over the proceedings of this year's recently held conference, there anecdotally seems to be shift in focus; I could only find one paper on LTPS crystallization for AMOLED backplanes. Instead, a variety of papers promote using oxide semiconductors as a panacea to technical and cost issues that continue to restrict the growth of the AMOLED industry.

Samsung SDI's development of a 12.1″ WXGA AMOLED (see Figure 1) highlighted the potential of this technology. The company used amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) to replace silicon as the semiconducting layer of the TFT backplane.

A staggered gate and etch stop layer TFT design (see Figure 2) was employed to prevent degradation of the subthreshold gate swing and uniformity of the threshold voltage.





Although IGZO TFTs have much lower mobility than p-Si based TFTs formed by ELA (Excimer Laser Annealing), at around 10 cm2/V-sec, mobility is greater than 10X that of a-Si TFTs and more than sufficient to drive OLEDs.

Advantages of IGZO compared to conventional p-Si TFTs include

• Deposited by PVD at low temperatures that might enable use of flexible or low-cost soda lime substrates
• Can be fabricated on conventional a-Si TFT lines at relatively low cost and scaled to large substrates (i.e., Gen 7 or larger)
• The smooth surface morphology of IGZO enables a clean interface with the gate insulator to provide a higher breakdown field
• Transparency
• Good uniformity and stability
• TFT characteristics are controllable by the metal composition and deposition parameters

In other words, oxide semiconductors are potentially a revolutionary technology that would negate the need for Si crystallization and enable large size, high quality, low-cost AMOLED displays.

Whether or not this will actually happen is still to be determined. Oxide semiconductor technology for display applications is not a mature technology and repeatability is said to be a significant issue. Currently all AMOLEDs in mass production are fabricated with some version of ELA or solid phase crystallization. Sony is investing in a dTLA (Diode Thermal Laser Annealing) pilot line to prove the manufacturability of its µc-Si technology. Others pursuing direct deposit p-Si, RTA (Rapid Thermal Annealing) and other techniques to overcome the continued uniformity, cost and scaling problems related to ELA. But, at least, the strong interest by the SID paper selection committee and the impressive results shown by Samsung SDI and others, suggest that oxide semiconductors are a technology to keep a close eye on when evaluating future AMOLED opportunity.

LG Display shows 15-inch XGA OLED TV
20 May 2008

LG Display one of the world’s leading TFT-LCD manufacturers, today announced its plans to showcase its latest next-generation displays at SID’s Display Week 2008 (May 18-23 in Los Angeles, Calif.).

“LG Display continues to pave the way for the future of displays through its leadership and unrivaled technical advances. We recently announced our elliptical and circular shaped LCDs, and there are many additional, exciting demonstrations to see at our booth this year,” noted Mr. In Jae Jeung, LG Display’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President.

LG Display shows a a-Si AMOLED panel with 15 inch and XGA resolution, with an contrast ratio from 10.000:1, and a 4-inch qVGA flexible AMOLED display on metal foil with increased flexibility and durability.

LG Display’s expert team will also present 12 technical papers and 10 posters on topics including 15-inch TFT LCDs produced with TFT and color filter substrates via roll-to-roll printing and a-Si 15-inch AM OLED.

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LG Display Dual-plate OLED Display (DOD) at SID 2008
24 May 2008




OLED displays are marvelous, at least the prototypes that I have seen at SID 2008. OLEDs are super thin, colors are brilliant and black levels are truly kuro! But there are many challenges to OLED displays becoming the next display standard. A LOT. One challenge is the short lifetimes of the OLED materials that lasts, at most, about 30,000 hours (Sony’s claim for its XEL-1 OLED TV’s lifetime). Another challenge is differential aging where brightness is lost at different rates leading to discoloration of the OLED display.

Another challenge is that in most cases OLED has to use a TFT backplane made from a Low Temperature Poly-Silicon (LTPS) process due to the need for higher electron mobility leading to faster performance. Well LTPS is a difficult process that has lower than wanted yields and is rather expensive.




LG Display showcased a concept called Dual-plate OLED (DOD) that uses the encapsulation glass as a OLED substrate and connects to an a-Si TFT backplane via a contact spacer. The contact spacer has a dual role: it is used as a spacer but also as a contact between the TFT backplane and the top OLED substrate. This allows for use of a-Si based backplane that is easier, more affordable and has high yields. The DOD prototype was rather large at 15″. Cheaper and larger OLEDs, I’m all for that! But I’m not holding my breath.

CMEL AMOLED panel yield expected to reach 85% by end of 2008
12 June 2008

Chi Mei EL (CMEL), a fully owned subsidiary of Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), expects its yield for AMOLED panels rise to 85% by the end of 2008 from the present 70%, and the company is mulling installing a new production line (5G or 5.5G) for the segment sometime in the future, according to company president Douglas Park.

CMEL, which is the only Taiwan-based company that has started volume production of AMOLED panels, currently offers a range of panels sized at 2-inch QCIF+, 2.4-inch QVGA, 2.8-inch QVGA, 3.4-inch WQVGA, and 4.3-inch WQVGA. It is also developing a 7.6-inch WVGA panel, which will be volume produced in the fourth quarter this year, Park revealed.

Park said the company's second production line, which is being constructed, will become operational in October. Total output from the two lines will reach 800,000 units (2.8-inch equivalent) per month, he added.

CMEL is aiming to enter the large-size segment in 2010, Park said. The company is showcasing a 25-inch AMOLED panel at Display Taiwan 2008.

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LG Display Launches OLED Production Line
13 June 2008

LG Display formally launched an organic light emitting diode (OLED) division at its Gumi plant in North Gyeongsang Province on Thursday.

OLED is touted as a driving force in the next-generation display field, and companies like Sony and Samsung Electronics have already entered the business. Because it does not require additional backlight, OLED panels can be made thinner than 1 millimeter.

LG Display will first focus on developing and producing small products but expand business to producing medium-sized to large televisions, the company said.

LG Display developed an active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) for a 20.1-inch television in 2004, and was the first in the world to produce a 4-inch flexible OLED in May 2007.

Matsushita Planning 37-inch OLED TVs?
24 June 2008

Reports have Japan's Matsushita aiming to mass-produce 37-inch OLED televisions within three years, potentially jump-starting the OLED market.

According to the Japanese trade daily Sankei Shimbun, electronics giant Matsushita—still in the process of transitioning its corporate identity to its better-known sub-brand Panasonic—is putting the finishing touches on plans to mass-produce 37-inch OLED televisions within three years. If the plans bear out, it would make Matsushita the first manufacturer producing OLED televisions over 30 inches in size, and could enable Matsushita to challenge Samsung for the top spot in the flat-screen television market.

According to the report, Matsushita is considering initial prices around 150,000 Yen (roughly $1,400), although Matsushita itself said only that the company is working on commercializing OLED televisions at some point in the future.

Sony launched an 11-inch OLED television in late 2007, bringing it to the United States early this year. Japan's Toshiba and South Korea's Samsung are also developing OLED televisions, although so far Matsushita's proposed 37-inch size would be the largest of the bunch. OLED panels are considerably slimmer than traditional LCDs and use less energy since they don't require backlighting.

Late last year, Toshiba and Matsushita ditched a joint effort to enter the OLED television market with a 30-inch unit, following difficulties getting the system from research to production. They had planned to offer the 30-inch set in 2009.

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CMEL expects to volume produce AMOLED TV panels in next two to three years
25 June 2008

Chi Mei EL (CMEL) expects that its AMOLED TV-panel technologies, which are being developed with help from Kodak and DuPont, will see a breakthrough next year, and volume production may start in 2010 or 2011, according to company vice chairman Peter Chen.

When the technology is ready, CMEL –a subsidiary of Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) – will then be able to work out a timetable for constructing its third production line to be dedicated to volume producing AMOLED TV panels, he said.

CMEL's yield for AMOLED panels has reached 70%, and is expected go up to 85% by the end of 2008, Chen said.

The company's second production line, which is under construction, will come online in October this year, and by then the company's monthly capacity will reach 800,000 units (2.8-inch equivalent), he added.

While CMEL demonstrated a 25-inch AMOLED panel at Display Taiwan 2008 earlier this month, Chen said that may not necessarily be the size that the company will volume produce.

As TV panels will have to be produced at 5G or above lines in order to be cost effective, CMEL is still assessing the panel size that it will make, Chen said.

Panasonic, CMEL Anticipate Volume Production of Large AMOLED-TVs in 2010 – 2011
26 June 2008

At $227 per diagonal inch (in the U.S.), Sony’s XEL-1 11-inch AMOLED TV set is a combination of technological stake in the sand, early adopter’s toy, and public relations coup. And, with a lifetime that is, according to tests supervised by Barry Young at DisplaySearch, much shorter than that claimed by Sony, the XEL-1 can also be viewed as a premature delivery.

Since the XEL-1 is clearly a triumph of public relations over sound product development, I’m only inclined to give it one-and-a-half cheers. But it does look beautiful, and the enthusiastic response people have to its screen images clearly show that AMOLED-TV will be a product category to threaten both LCDs and PDPs — but only when the technology matures a bit, screen sizes grow, and prices fall.

So when will that be? At least since last October’s FPD International in Yokohama, LG Display and CMEL have had 32-inch AMOLED-TVs on their roadmaps for late 2009 or early 2010. CMEL has been showing a 25-inch prototype and Samsung has been showing a handsome 31-inch FHD prototype, although nobody, understandably, was talking about price or volume.

The media’s recent focus on Matsushita has been on its taking over Pioneer’s plasma panel research, development, and manufacturing activities and on its assuming control of IPS Alpha, the LCD-panel manufacturer jointly owned by Matsushita, Hitachi, and Toshiba. But if you looked at the corporate fine print, you could see references to Matsushita intending to do OLED development at one of IPS Alpha’s facilities.

Still, it came as a surprise yesterday when Japan’s Sankei newspaper reported Matsushita has finalized plans to mass-produce 37-inch AMOLED-TVs within 3 years. Matsushita spokesperson Akira Kadota said his company plans to sell the 37-incher for the equivalent of $1,390.

Now, $1,390 is certainly not cheap for a 37-inch TV. Today, you can buy a Sharp LC-37D64U FHD LCD-TV for $1099 on-line from J and R, or a Sony KDL-37L4000 HD LCD-TV for $889, and equivalent sets will surely be cheaper in 2011. But it’s also not crazy to expect early adopters and demanding videophiles to buy this kind of set in significant quantities at such a price.

Also yesterday, CMEL VP Peter Chen said his company anticipates the mass production of TV-use AMOLED panels in 2010 or 2011, as reported in Digitimes. The TV panels will be made at a new third production OLED line, Chan said.

And what conclusions about CMEL’s initial volume-produced product should we draw from that 25-inch prototype we’ve seen so much of? Not much. Chen said CMEL would not mass produce that size.

So real AMOLED-TVs are coming. Not rich men’s toys, but real TVs in reasonable sizes at rational price premiums. You’ll just have to wait a couple of years.

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Samsung invests over $500 million to boost OLED production
30 June 2008

Samsung SDI said today that it will be spending over $500 million USD to boost production of next-generation OLED displays to six times its current level by mid-2009.

This latest move comes as panel makers try to get bigger shares of the growing market for OLED displays, which offer better contrast ratio, slimmer designs and better energy efficiency than current LCD or plasma displays.

Currently, however, production costs are still high, too high to make OLED TVs available to the masses.

Samsung currently produces small-sized AM-OLED screens used in watches and other handheld devices and there was no word on whether this large new investment will be to increase production of small OLED screens or for all OLED production including TVs.

Using 2-inch screens as a basis, the new investment should raise capacity from 1.5 million units a month to over 9 million by mid-2009.

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Samsung SDI to invest $529 million to up OLED output
30 June 2008

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean display maker Samsung SDI Co (006400.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it would boost production of next-generation organic displays to six times the current level by mid-2009, spending $529 million.

The move comes as leading panel makers try to grab a piece of the fast-growing market for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AM-OLED) displays, which make better-quality, slimmer and more energy-efficient screens than liquid crystal displays.

But makers need to clear hurdles such as cutting production costs and maximizing screen size in order to see an adoption in a wider range of applications.

Samsung SDI, which produces small-sized AM-OLED screens used in handheld devices, said in a filing with the local exchange that it would invest 551.8 billion won ($528.6 million) until mid-2009 to expand its AM-OLED output.

When the investment is completed, its production capacity will reach 9 million units a month in 2-inch screen terms, compared with 1.5 million currently, the company said.

Other makers are also moving fast to launch OLED products and build scale. Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) last November started selling small-sized TVs using OLED technology and Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to ship small-to-medium-size OLED screens for mobile devices in the autumn.

Last week, Japan's Sankei Shimbun daily reported Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research) is finalizing plans to mass-produce 37-inch OLED TVs in three years.

Market researcher iSuppli said in May it expected global shipments of AM-OLED panels to nearly quadruple in 2008 to 10.2 million units, with revenue reaching $225 million.

Shares in Samsung SDI ended up 0.12 percent at 83,600 won, outperforming the wider market's 0.57 percent loss.

($1=1043.8 Won)