[Merck Display Insight 2015] Merck Reveals Latest Performance Results for Red and Green Solution Process Materials

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On November 5, during the 16th Merck Display Insight 2015 seminar, Merck revealed the development results for solution process materials. The solution process materials presented were red and blue materials’ efficiency, lifetime, and CIE.

 

At present UDC’s evaporation materials are being used in OLED mass production. UDC’s evaporation material performance, published on the company website, were compared with Merck’s materials. Merck’s red material’s efficiency was 19.1cd/A, lifetime was 5,900 hours, and the CIE was (0.66, 0.34) which were approximately 66% of UDC material’s efficiency (29cd/A), 26% of UDC material’s lifetime (23,000 hours), and showed equal CIE.

 

For Merck’s green material, efficiency was 76.4cd/A, lifetime was 5,200 hours, and the CIE was (0.32, 0.63). These were approximately 89% of UDC’s green’s 85cd/A of efficiency, and 29% of 18,000 hours of lifetime. The CIE were similar with UDC’s (0.31, 0.63).

 

The comparison of the published materials’ performance, efficiency of solution process materials are developed to the similar levels as evaporation materials, but material lifetime require more research. Through this seminar, Merck revealed that the LT95’s solution process material’s lifetime will be solution process OLED’s most crucial challenge.

 

During the question and answer part of the poster session, Merck also revealed positive outlook that full stack solution process OLED product will be produced within the next 3-4 years.

 

Despite being one of the latecomers within the OLED material business, Merck is producing notable results in solution process material development and OLED material sales. This year’s sales results are anticipated to be higher than expected.

 

According to 2015 Solution Process OLED Annual Report, published by UBI Research, the key issue for solution process OLED is solution process emitting material performance. The solution process red and green’s efficiency reached to the similar levels as evaporation material. However, lifetime showed to be ≤approx. 30% of evaporation material in LT95. On the other hand, solution process blue is analyzed to be falling behind evaporation material in both lifetime and efficiency. As such, it is estimated that solution process OLED will be mass produced using the hybrid structure where red and green are formed through printing, and blue is formed through evaporation.

[IWFPE 2015] AUO’s Bendable AMOLED

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During the IWFPE 2015 (November 4-6) held in Jeonju, South Korea, AUO gave a presentation on bendable AMOLED’s concept and technology first revealed in August.

 

AUO’s R&D manager Terence Lai reported that the bendable AMOELD can actualize new user interface through applying display’s bending characteristics and this can be the innovation that could change the existing touch interface.

 

AUO’s bendable AMOLED is 5inch with 295 PPI using the LTPS TFT and hybrid encapsulation with top emission structure. It has 02.mm thickness and through bending sensor of file type, it can process diverse functions by detecting different bending directions.

 

Current flexible AMOLED trend is moving from curved to foldable, jumping past bendable. Key panel companies and research laboratories are focusing on developing foldable.

 

It is anticipated that the AUO’s bendable AMOLED panel will provide new direction for the flexible AMOLED development that is heading toward foldable. Development of applications suitable to bendable and functions that utilizes bending characteristics are expected to be key issues.

 

AUO's 5" Bendable AMOLED Prototype

AUO’s 5″ Bendable AMOLED Prototype

LG Display Reveals Confidence in OLED

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On October 22, LG Display emphasized their conviction in large area OLED and plastic OLED once again when announcing the performance results held in LG Twin Towers. LG Display revealed that their future business will be OLED and will lead the market through OLED.

 

LG Display’s CFO Sang-don Kim announced that OLED is the top priority in terms of portfolio, and regarding display’s future direction, explained that there is new momentum through automotive, IoT, and commercial display. He also added that the sales did not quite meet what was estimated earlier this year but it is on proper track.

 

LG Display is estimating 400-500 thousand units of OLED TV panel shipment for TV and aiming for 1 million units next year. Regarding the poor sales, he gave trial errors in new technology development, which was the main focus, as the reason. LG Display will plan optimized investment after market trend consideration.

 

In 2015, 55inch or larger panel for TV occupied 8% of the shipment, but the target is gradually increasing it to 20% or higher. LG Display highlighted TVs are becoming larger at a fast pace; 65inch and 77inch OLED TV, rather than what was expected to be the main product 55inch, showed higher than expected sales. Kim explained that to maximize production cost reduction of OLED panel, they are internally adjusting material cost and yield. He also forecast that the demand will increase through production increasing projects.

 

LG Display recorded 7,000 million USD* of revenue in 2015 Q3. This 7% increase compared to its previous quarter is due to the increase of shipment area through TV’s panel size increase and success of product mix. Business profit fell by 32% compared to previous quarter with 300 million USD*. LG Display revealed they will push for profit improvement through inventory level management and operation rate adjustment. They also reported they will strengthen competitiveness through synergy with OLED lighting business and showed anticipation for future.

 

* 1 USD = 1,100 KRW

 

LG디스플레이

LG Electronics Bets on OLED TV

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LG Electronics actively began aggressive marketing for OLED TV.

 

In IMID Exhibition (October 14-16), LG Electronics installed an OLED comparison experience zone to allow the visitors to see OLED TV and LCD TV at once. This direct comparison exhibition with OLED and LCD is the 2nd one after one in WIS 2015. In this exhibition in IMID Exhibition 2015, LG Electronics presented their new 2015 release 55inch UHD LCD TV and 55inch UHD OLED TV. This is considered a reflection of LG Electronics’ determination to target the market through OLED TV rather than LCD TV.

 

LCD TV is illuminated through BLU and therefore difficult to achieve perfect black. Through IMID Exhibition 2015’s comparison experience zone, LG Electronics emphasized OLED TV’s merits such as perfect black, perfect viewing angle, and ultra slim design.

 

Since the release of OLED TV, LG Electronics continued presentations that emphasized OLED TV’s advantages in diverse exhibitions. However, recently they are pursuing aggressive promotion focusing on OLED even exhibiting comparison against their own latest LCD TV. On the other hand, their rival Samsung Electronics is maintaining their 2-track strategy of using OLED and LCD in different applications each. The industry is focused on how these development will affect the large area TV market.

 

OLED Comparison Experience Zone, LG Display, IMID 2015

OLED Comparison Experience Zone, LG Display, IMID 2015

Samsung and LG’s Shared Vision for OLED

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On the first day of OLEDs World Summit (October 27-29) held in Berkeley, USA, Samsung Display and LG Display gave their talks back to back. Samsung Display’s Vice President Chang Hoon Lee and LG Display’s Joo Soo Lim discussed their thoughts on OLED under the titles of ‘The Future of OLEDs’ and ‘A Future Game Changer’ respectively.

Samsung Display’s Lee, who gave his presentation first, reiterated Samsung Display’s leadership position in the mobile market and how Samsung Electronics’ recent mobile display reflects this. Comparing RGB pixel structure and their own diamond pixel structure, Lee drew comparison between human eyes and diamond pixels; due to cell distribution in eyes, humans are more sensitive to green colors and that diamond pixels reflect this by having twice as many green subpixels as blue and red ones. The diamond pixels also maximize the sub-pixel packing and increases the PPI.

Regarding the advantages of OLED display, Lee gave 2 examples using Samsung Electronics’ latest smartphone models. Utilizing the fact that selective control of each pixel is possible in AMOLED displays, Samsung provided Vision Aid to help people with color blindness. OLED’s ability to achieve total black is used in Super Dimming function where screen brightness can be reduced to 2nits to be used in the dark environment.

LG Display’s Lim revealed that an adult in the US spends 9 hours 40 minutes a day on average looking at one form of display or another. Highlighting the need and importance of quality display, Lim also discussed advantages of OLED display over LCD such as total black, 3D effects, and color gamut.

As the future OLED display, Both Lee and Lim placed slightly more emphasis on flexible (plastic) OLED than transparent or mirror display. Samsung Display discussed requirements necessary for a successful flexible display in more depth touching on the need for suitable cover window, flexible touch (sensor), flexible encapsulation, and flexible backplane. On the other hand, LG Display discussed flexible display’s design freedom and its influences on the wearable, mobile, and automotive markets. Lim also placed much importance on how flexible OLED can be used in virtual reality display market. The 2 speakers ended their talks affirming the need for new display market and innovation through OLED technology and new applications.

The presentations given by the 2 apparent leaders in the OLED display industry were remarkably similar with both speakers underlining major points of OLED in broad strokes. The need for solutions for future OLED, whether it be flexible, transparent, or mirror display, through innovation and technological advances is an absolute truth if not maybe too obvious. There also may be some comfort to be had in the shared vision within the OLED community. However, it is also a fact that numerous attendees of the conference commented on the similarities of the 2 presentations and the lack of any surprises.

What is Solution Process OLED’s Key Issue?

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In the 2015 Display Printed Electronics Seminar held in The K Hotel in Seoul on October 7, Dankook University’s Professor Byung Doo Chin and Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology’s Dr. Jaemin Lee gave presentations. They discussed key issues of solution process OLED; Professor Chin examined technological issues of print OLED/PLED device while Dr. Lee discussed technology trend of solution process OLED device.

 

Professor Chin reported that of the materials being used in current solution process, red, and green progressed greatly in terms of efficiency and lifetime. However, he explained that as blue’s efficiency and lifetime are lower than the other 2 colors, unless these issues improve, white actualization, as well as blue actualization, is difficult and panel cannot properly perform.

 

Material research development can occur for evaporation OLED only through material synthesis and purification. However, for solution process OLED, turning the materials to ink has to be additionally considered. Dr. Lee announced that diverse collaboration are happening between material and ink related companies for these reasons.

 

In the seminar, Professor Chin and Dr. Lee agreed that the key to the solution process OLED development is material characteristics development. According to the solution process material traits presented by Sumitomo Chem. and DuPont, while red and green traits are fast catching up to ones used for evaporation OLED, this is not true for blue. Despite these disadvantages, solution process OLED is a key technology that can produce large area RGB OLED panel using Gen8, or higher, manufacturing equipment; continued research development of solution process technology is expected in future.

Samsung Display Expands AMOLED Panel Supply. A Green Light for AMOLED Business?

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On October 7, Samsung Electronics announced tentative Q3 performance results. The announced sales figure and operating profit are approximately US$ 46,000 million and US$ 7,000 million each. These figures are an increase of 5.07% from previous quarter’s sales (US$ 44 thousand million) and a 5.8% increase from previous quarter’s operating profit (US$ 6,000 million), much higher numbers than industry’s expectations.

 

Compared to the same period in 2014, operating profit increased by 79.80%, and since last year’s Q4, the rise is continuing for the 4th quarter. The display business department’s much higher figures than expected is considered to be the main reason for this performance increase.

 

The major cause for this positive effects is increase in demand for general class AMOLED panel through Samsung Display’s aggressive procurement of customer base; AMOLED panel is applied to Samsung Electronics’ mid to low priced smartphones and there is great increase in AMOLED panel applied products by set companies of other countries such as China.

 

Due to the increased demand, Samsung Display’s operation rate rose, and it is estimated that this will also greatly affect material companies’ performance improvement.

LG Chem.’s OLED Lighting Business Toward LGD. What is the Future Direction?

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It was announced that LG Display will take over LG Chem.’s OLED lighting business department. As the department that was leading the opening of OLED lighting panel market is being merged into LG Display, a significant change in OLED lighting industry is anticipated.

 

One of the merits of this merge is expected to be further improving OLED lighting panel’s mass production potential through LG Display’s existing OLED panel mass production line, labor, and technology. Additionally, when new investment of OLED lighting panel mass production line is being processed, time and cost can be reduced on the basis of LG Display’s manufacturing equipment/material supply chains.

 

On the other hand, as OLED lighting market is still in initial stages the size is not so large. As such, whether LG Display will newly invest is a key issue. Generally, for display panel companies that invest with market size of thousands of millions of dollars in mind, OLED lighting panel line’s new investment does not seem to have a great advantage for LG Display.

 

Therefore, if LG Display carries out OLED lighting panel business, the first step is estimated to be mass production in parts of Paju’s AP2 line rather than new investment for OLED lighting panel mass production line. If parts of AP2 line begin mass production first, mass production timing can be much sooner than new investment and can positively affect expansion of OLED lighting panel market.

 

The issue is marketing strategy. In 2009, Samsung Electronics successfully opened AMOLED smartphone market in Korea via push strategy using AMOLED themed music video that became viral. Much like this, in order to show profit in OLED lighting panel business, LG Display should open the market through push marketing strategy.

Samsung Display Shows OLED/LCD Confidence in IMID

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In IMID Display 2015 Business Forum (October 14 – 15), Samsung Display Vice President Hak Sun Kim gave a presentation titled ‘New Experience with Large Screen LCD/OLED’ and discussed Samsung Display’s technological points and strategy regarding OLED and LCD.

 

Kim emphasized that in the current large area display panel market LCD and OLED should be approached through different points of view and strategies; LCD requires additional value on top of existing technology and OLED should develop a new market that LCD cannot reach.

 

At present, LCD is catching up to OLED in large area panel through diverse technology development. Kim revealed that the key factors in large area LCD panel are immersion and realism. Immersion can catch up to OLED through curved technology, and realism can be matched through contrast increasing technology.

 

Regarding OLED, Kim mentioned transparent and mirror OLED display, developed by Samsung Display, as examples and stressed that future display’s worth when switched off will become important. Different from LCD, OLED’s transmittance and emitting areas can be separated and increase the transmittance value above that of LCD; when applied to transparent display, adequate transmittance can be achieved. Additionally, when used as mirror display, OLED’s transmittance and reflectance act independently which makes it more suitable in application compared to LCD where the two act in inverse proportion.

 

In this IMID Display exhibition, Samsung Display presented 55inch ultra-slim UHD curved TV, transparent, and mirror OLED display simultaneously. It is estimated that Samsung Display will continue their 2-track strategy where they reveal both OLED and LCD in different applications. On October 14, Dong-gun Park, CEO of Samsung Display, announced that they will strive to continue leading the market through unrivaled OLED and LCD technology prowess.

LG UHD OLED TV Price Falls Once More

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The price of OLED TV by LG Electronics is falling fast. The 55inch flat UHD OLED TV (55EF9500), released last month, fell to $3,999 in 3 weeks, a 27% decrease from the initial $5,499. This price decrease is much faster than that of LG Electronics’ curved model of 55inch UHD OLED TV released in April.

 

Samsung Electronics’ 55inch SUHD TV, UN55JS9000, showed approximately over $2,500 price difference in comparison with 55EF9500 between the 1st week and the 2nd week of September. However, in the 3rd week, UN55JS9000 and 55EF9500 each showed 4% and 15% of decrease rate to record $2,497 and $3,999 respectively, with approximately $1,500 difference. This is the highest reduction rate for LG Electronics’ OLED TV.

 

lg oled tv price fall

 

In addition to the price reduction, LG Electronics is marketing their products aggressively. They are in the process of installing OLED TV this month in 39 key airports in 23 countries including the US, Germany, and Russia, with plans to install approximately 200 units of OLED TV by the end of October.