OLED production

LG Display to increase OLED production capacity, in talks with Nokia for an OLED supply deal

oled — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:29:45 -0400

LG Displays are talking with Nokia to supply them with AMOLED displays. Currently Nokia has two main OLED suppliers - TPO and SMD. Nokia are using OLEDs in their N85 and N86 phones, and are looking to introduce OLEDs into more new phones.

Nokia N86

LG has invested 79M$ in AMOLED production lines, which will begin volume-production in 2H 2010. They have recently doubled their OLED research staff. Currently they have the capacity of 2.4M panels a year, which is not enough for Nokia.

Via KoreaTimes

GE to start printing OLED light panels next year

oled — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:29:14 -0400

EEtimes says that GE will start volume production of flexible OLED light panels in 2010. GE will print the OLEDs on polymer substrate, and use their ultra-high barrier coating. GE says that they managed to lower production cost by using roll-to-roll printing, and inexpensive substrates (the polymer ones).

GE are also thinking about possible new designs, and have released this video a month ago, which includes several flexible OLED light designs by art students, including wearable OLEDs for emergency safety gear, illuminated stairs, walls and signs in stores and a nice "wall peel" OLED lamp:

LG Display to buy OLED materials from Idemitsu Kosan

oled — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:48:02 -0400

LG Display says they have signed an agreement with Japan's Idemitsu Kosan for OLED materials. LG sees OLEDs growing rapidly, and they want a stable soruce for materials.

Idemitsu Kosan are also working with Sony and UDC on OLED display materials.

LG display plans to start making larger panels towards the end of 2009, and to sell OLED TVs in December 2009 or January 2010 in Korea. They expect the market to reach over 3B$ in 2010 (citing DisplaySearch numbers).

Seiko Epson sees 37" (and larger) inkjet-printed OLED TVs in 2012

oled — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:20:54 -0400

Last month Seiko Epson has unveiled a new inkjet-printing technology for OLEDs, suitable for large sized panels. We have talked to Satoru Miyashita, General Manager of Seiko Epson's Core Technology Development Center about this new technology and their plans for OLED production.

Q: You have shown a new ink-jet based OLED technology. You say it will enable 37" or larger HD-OLED TVs. Do you have any plans to actually make such TVs? When do you think products can be made with this new tech?
Epson is currently considering a variety of options regarding the commercialization of this technology, but at this point no specific announcements have been made about plans. We see 2012 as being the year that 37"+ OLED TVs will be launched by various makers, and 2015 as the year that sales will really take off for this market.

Espon 14-inch Inkjet processed OLED

Interview with LG Display's OLED sales and marketing VP

oled — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:46:47 -0400

LG Display is one of the leaders in OLEDs, but they have recently sent some mixed messages - great OLED TV prototypes, promises of new OLED TV products soon, no AMOLED phones plans... Mr Won Kim, Vice Presideont of OLED Sales and Marketing from LG Display has agreed to answer a few questions we had, and set things straight.

Mr Won Kim ha sas BA in business management from Korea University, and has been working for LG since 1984. Now he's VP of OLED sales and marketing (since 2005).

Q: What kind of OLED products are LG currently selling? What is your current capacity for OLED production?
Mobile phone only. Current capacity is 7k sheets(365 x 460) per month, which is equivalent to 200k pcs of 3" size.

Q: Can you name some products that use your OLED displays?
So far two mobile phones tailored to SKT in Korea.

Q: You have been showing a 15" OLED TV prototype since the beginning of 2009... and you said it can begin production by June 2009. Which is now.. will you start making these panels? Or are you still waiting for a customer?
During the period of Dec 2009-Jan 2010, our customer will launch 15" OLED TV in Korean market. Thereafter global roll-out follows.

Samsung shows new mobile OLED panels and a 12.1" transparent OLED

oled — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:40:34 -0400

In addition to the new OLED TV panels, Samsung Mobile Displays is showing new smaller mobile OLED displays. These range from 3.2" to 7". The 3.2" is the one with 310ppi, reported earlier. Actually on their site, they list panels ranging from 2.2" to 5".

Samsung are also showing 4.82" and 12.1" transparent displays, ID card OLEDs and other displays.

Samsung announced production-ready 14.1" OLEDs for Laptops and 31" OLED TVs

oled — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:40:33 -0400

Samsung Mobile Displays announced 14.1" and 31" OLED TV panels, using what they call Fine Metal Mask (FMM) technology. Those panels are 'ready for production'.

The 14.1" WXGA is aimed for laptop computers. It's got a 1366x768 resolution, 200cd brightness, color gamut of 107% NTSC and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The whole panel is just 2.7mm thick.

The 31" FHD (1920x1080) TV panel is using LTPS, and also has 200cd brightness, color gamut of 107% NTSC and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The panel is thicker at 8.9mm.

Samsung 31-inch HDTV

The last display is a 40" FHD OLED TV, with pretty much the same features as the 31" TV. This one is not 'ready for production', yet.

SMD has updated their web site, with lot's of details on the new panels, and also other AMOLED (smaller ones for mobile displays), as well as 'future OLEDs' - flexible and transparent ones.

Samsung will start shipping new AMOLED panels with 800x480 resolution

oled — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:00:34 -0400

Samsung Mobile Displays announced a new AMOLED panel, with WVGA (800x480) resolution at 300 PPI. SMD says that the new panel will be shipping in 2009.

SMD claims the new AMOLED has 4 times the clarity of their current displays and has a 40% increase in power efficiency (although it's not clear, they might mean 40% decrease in power consumption compared to an LCD panel...).

Here's the original news in Korean, and translated via Google.

Irico to spend 75M$ on new OLED production plant

oled — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:05:57 -0400

A couple of month ago we reported that Irico plans to open a new OLED fab. Now digitimes reports that they plan to invest 75M$ in the new plant, and have started the work already. The construction will take around a year and a half, with annual capacity if 12 million panels (2.2" each).

Samsung: OLED production likely to quadruple this year, considering next-gen production line

oled — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:14:31 -0400

Samsung thinks that the mobile phone market will recover in 2010, returning to the level it was in 2008. Samsung are betting on AMOLEDs and touchscreen displays.

OLED production at Samsung should quadruple this year, as demand for AMOLED phones start to rise. They are also considering a new next-gen production line for AMOLEDs. They 'do not have any lifetime problems' now, and rising volumes and lower material cost will mean lower price for the OLED displays.

Via reuters