Japan Display announced a new strategic partnership with Taiwan-based Innolux and CarUX (Innolux's automotive display company) to bring eLEAP OLED displays to the automotive market.
The three companies did not disclose a lot of details, but it seems as in this partnership JDI will produce the eLEAP OLED displays while CarUX will market and sell these displays to its automotive customers. The first display that JDI will produce will be a 32" 1,000 nits 6460x880 (205 PPI) AMOLED display on an HMO (high-mobility oxide) backplane.
In 2022, Japan Display (JDI) announced that it has developed a "historic breakthrough in display technology" - a maskless OLED deposition process which they refer to as eLEAP, that is said to be cost effective and can be used to create freeform OLEDs that are brighter, more efficient, and longer lasting compared to OLEDs produced using mask evaporation (FMM). eLEAP uses Applied Material's MAX OLED deposition system.
JDI is building a small-scale 6-Gen eLEAP production line in Mobara, Japan. The company planned to start production by the end of 2024, but this is now delayed to March 2025.
JDI is also planning to establish a 8.7-Gen eLEAP fab in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China, and hoped to sign an agreement with Wuhu's Economic and Technical Development Zone (WEDZ) by October 2024. This agreement with the WEDZ hasn't been signed, and it's not clear what is the current status of JDI's Wuhu plans.The Wuhu Fab was supposed be a 8.7-Gen line, with a monthly capacity of 30,000 substrates, and it is expected to enter mass production in 2027.
Japan Display was established in 2011 by the merger of Sony's, Toshiba's and Hitachi's display businesses and funded by Japan's government fund Innovation Network Corporation (INCJ). The company was late to realize the importance of OLED production and has struggled financially for many years. It announced a strategic focus on OLED displays in 2017, but never managed to gain major mass production capabilities. The company started to produce OLED displays in 2019, but with low volume. It managed to gain Apple as a customer for Watch wearable displays. This new partnership with HKC could be great news for the company, finally gaining access to the vast amounts of money required to mass produce AMOLEDs.
eLEAP is based on a lithographic method, and does not require any masks. The main advantage seems to be that OLED displays produced by eLEAP technology can achieve an aperture ratio of 60%, compared with FMM OLEDs which achieve a ratio of about 28%. This means that the OLED displays can be driven at lower currents - which extends the lifetime, improves the efficiency and also enables higher-peak brightness when needed.
JDI claims that eLEAP displays offer a boost of 2X in emission efficiency and peak brightness - while lifetime is extended by of 3X (which also reduces burn-in problems). These numbers, if accurate, are highly impressive. JDI is using a 300PPI display for these calculations.
eLEAP stands for environment positive, Lithography with maskless deposition, Extreme long life, low power, and high luminance, and Any shape Patterning. JDI says that eLEAP can be combined with the company's HMO (High Mobility Oxide) backplane technology to dramatically improve OLED display performance. eLEAP production technology can be scaled up to 8-Gen (2200x2500 mm) substrates - or even larger, and is suitable for OLED display production from wearable-size displays to TV sizes.
Finally, JDI says that eLEAP reduces operating costs, reduces material waste and does not require cleaning fluids for the masks - which means that eLEAP significantly reduces material usage, waste and CO2 emissions.
Maskless OLED production technology could provide a dramatic increase in performance in addition to cost reductions - and is an important trend to watch in the industry, as the first maskless OLED displays are to enter the market in early 2025. The OLED Toolbox (updated earlier this month) provides more details and thoughts on maskless OLED production and is a must tool for OLED professionals aiming to stay updated and understand where the OLED industry is heading.
