2012 year for OLED technology extended to tablet PCs and flat panel TVs

According to DisplaySearch NPD DisplaySearch recently released the latest OLED technology and market trend report (OLED Technology Report). The report pointed out that OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode Display) technology is progressing rapidly in 2011, and 2012 will be the beginning of mass production of many Active Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) devices and the application of large-scale panel production. NPD DisplaySearch expects the future OLED technology will continue to flourish in the year, especially in organic light emitting materials, organic material coating, circuit driving and encapsulation. Although the current production volume of glass substrates for OLEDs is 5.5 generations, and the mass production cost structure of more than 5.5 generations is not yet clear, as AMOLED technology matures and matures, AMOLED panel makers will begin mass production in large-scale applications. It is expected that more than 10 million AMOLED tablet panels will be shipped in 2012 and AMOLED TV shipments will reach more than 100,000 units.

OLED technology was developed in the 1980s, and commercial applications began in the late 1990s. In recent years, many manufacturers are keen to develop active organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display technology, which is represented by the Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) 5.5 generation production line. At the same time, SMD and LG Display have also announced their 8th-generation line of AMOLED investment plans, respectively, while other panel makers have entered or re-entered new entrants, such as AUO, CMO, and Rainbow. IRICO, Tianma and BOE have gradually developed and gradually made progress in AMOLED technology.

NPD DisplaySearch OLED Technology and Market Trend Report (OLED Technology Report) details the advantages and solutions of OLED for display and lighting applications. The OLED display has high contrast, fast response, wide color gamut, wide viewing angle, wide application temperature range, and low power consumption. In addition, the OLED display can be applied to thinner backplanes to make Flexible or transparent display.

According to analysis by NPD DisplaySearch, the output value of OLED panels in 2011 is expected to reach 4 billion US dollars, which is about 4% of the output value of all flat panel displays; in 2018, it will create output value of more than 20 billion US dollars, reaching 16% of the output value of all flat panel displays. Applications have also taken off in 2011 from lighting, and OLED lighting is expected to reach US$6 billion by 2018. NPD DisplaySearch predicts that AMOLED TV will reach a scale of more than 10 million units in 2017. Although there are issues such as insufficient scale economy, insufficient mass production stability, and high cost at the initial stage of mass production of AMOLED TV panels, under the motive of TV brand manufacturers seeking product differentiation, it is expected that there will be strategic AMOLED TV pricing. Ways to stimulate the purchasing motivation of end-market consumers.

Dr. Jennifer Colegrove, research vice president of display technology at NPD DisplaySearch, said: “OLED display technology has made great progress, but it still poses a big challenge for large-scale panel manufacturing costs. Nowadays, OLED has been realized in small and medium-sized areas. Production and application in smart phones.Once the OLED 8 generation line starts mass production in 2 years, it also means that AMOLED is about to compete with TFT LCD in the field of large-size applications such as flat-panel TVs, notebook computers, etc. Last December, Samsung introduced 7.7” AMOLED. Tablet PCs, we expect there will be more tablet PCs using AMOLED panels in 2012. At the same time, SMD and LG Display will also implement AMOLED for mass production of large-size flat-panel TVs such as 55”.

One of AMOLED's key technologies is Back Plane. The NPD DisplaySearch OLED technology and OLED Technology Report also provide a comprehensive analysis of backplane technology. Currently, almost all AMOLED applications are based on LTPS (low-temperature polysilicon) backplane technology, but more and more manufacturers are developing metal oxide or amorphous silicon TFT (a-Si TFT) backplanes, and It plans to start production in 2012.

The following summary illustrates the focus of the report:

Various organic materials have different luminous efficiencies ranging from 10 cd/A to 100 cd/A. With the efforts of many material manufacturers, it is now possible to improve luminous efficiency by using better red and green phosphorescent materials.

At present, almost all color patterning techniques of AMOLED display screens employ a thermal metal mask (FMM, Fine Metal Mask). However, this method has a large material loss and is limited by the substrate. At present, many new technologies have been gradually developed to improve the material utilization rate and the evaporation uniformity, such as changing the organic material source during evaporation from dots to linear and area sources.

Other organic material coating methods such as the use of color filter films with white light AMOLEDs or organic-luminescent materials using ink-jet coating (Process-Processed) have also been developed by panel makers and have been validated for large-scale production lines. These will also be a major breakthrough in AMOLED volume production.

NPD DisplaySearch has recently published the OLED Technology Report (OLED technology and market trend report), and the report has a detailed discussion on the fast-growing OLED technology, including organic material development, circuit driving methods (including passive matrix, LTPS, amorphous silicon TFT, metal oxide TFT and organic TFT, etc.), color patterning methods, and production and application-by-application market analysis and forecast by 2018.