LGD's current OLED TV panels use a bottom-emission architecture, but according to DSCC LGD is aiming to shift their production process to a top-emission design starting in 2019. LG currently has a pilot capacity of about 3,000 monthly top-emission substrates, and plans to start mass production (with over 10,000 monthly substrates) in 2019.

DSCC says that top-emission will be required for 65" 8K panels as a bottom-emission design will not be bright enough with such a high density. The shift to top-emission will increase the aperture ratio (=brightness) by around 10%.

LG Display currently produces all its OLED TV panels using an evaporation (VTE) process. Market research company DSCC says that ink-jet printing is more efficient than current VTE processes as it will result in simpler displays (no need for color filters, for example, as used by LG's current WRGB displays). Ink-Jet printing will also enjoy lower depreciation costs and lower indirect expenses such as water and electricity.

DSCC estimates that an ink-jet printed 55" OLED TV panel will cost 17% less to produce compared to a VTE produced panel. An ink-jet printed panel will theoretically be significantly brighter (as the color filters absorb a large portion of the light), however solution-based OLED materials have traditionally lagged behind evaporation ones (Merck though says that the latest soluble materials are on-par with evaporation ones).

Graphene is the world's most impermeable material, and as the material is also transparent, flexible and ultra-thin it makes sense to adopt graphene as an encapsulation layer for next-gen OLED displays. A UK project led by Cambridge University researchers have set out in 2015 to develop such a solution, and the researchers now report that they have demonstrated a viable graphene solution comparable to existing commercial OLED encapsulation technologies.

In its pure form, graphene is permeable to all gases, but real life materials are never entirely pure and defects and holes harm the material's permeability. The new research used ALD and CVD to create large-area high-quality single-layer graphene sheets which were stacked to create a multi-layer coating. The researchers say that a ~10 nm barrier layer that includes 3-4 layers of graphene (with AlOx in between) is an effective solution for OLED displays. The 10 nm layer maintains a high optical transparency (>90 %) and high flexibility.

Google started shipping its Pixel 2 XL smartphone a few weeks ago, and this is one of the first two phones to adopt LG Display's new 6" 1440x2880 (538 PPI) pOLEDs. While on paper these displays are superb, actual reviews were rather dismal - to the point that some reviewers say that these are simply "bad displays".

Both reviewers and customers complain about bad color reproduction, graininess and problematic viewing angles. In addition many users seem to report serious image retention issues. Google has now posted an update regarding the Pixel 2 XL display.

In September 2017 LG Display started shipping its new 6" 1440x2880 (538 PPI) pOLED displays, which are adopted so far by two smartphones - the LG V30 and Google's Pixel 2 XL. On paper these displays are superb, but actual reviews were rather dismal - to the point that some reviewers say that these are simply "bad displays".

The reviews mentioned bad color reproduction, graininess and problematic viewing angles - and many consumers also reported serious burn-in issues. Samsung has recently started a marketing campaign that says that LG OLED TVs also suffer from image retention problems. In this article we'll explain what is burn-in, the difference between burn-in and temporal image-retention and also try to shed some light on LG's latest OLED problems.

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LG display reported its financial results for Q3 2017 - revenues increased 4% over 2016 to reach $6.18 billion and operating profit increased 81% and reached $520 million.

LGD reported that it has increased its OLED TV panel shipments as it increased production capacity, and its wallpaper OLED TVs have received "excellent responses in the market". LGD says it will continue to focus on OLED products as part of its long-term preparation for the future.

IHS Markit says that global AMOLED production capacity is set to grow from 11.9 million square meters to 50.1 million sqm in 2022 - that's a 320% growth in 5 years. Samsung and LGD will remain the market leaders and Korea will have a market share of 71% in 2022 (down from 93% in 2017). China-based OLED makers will have a market share of 26% in 2022 (up from 5% in 2017).

IHS says that the majority of OLED capacity will still be used to produce RGB (direct-emission) OLEDs in 2022. RGB OLED production capacity will grow from 8.9 million sqm in 2017 to 31.9 million sqm in 2022. WOLED (WRGB) OLED TV panel capacity will grow from 3 million sqm in 2017 to 18.2 million sqm in 2022.

UK-based SmartKem is developing a new class of flexible high-mobility p-type semiconductor inks for flexible displays. The company recently made headlines as it started its commercialization phase and announces advances in its collaboration projects with OLED producers in Asia.

SmartKem's CEO and founder, Steve Kelly, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had on SmartKem's technology and business. Steve is an international business professional with more than 20 years’ experience specializing in technology ventures, particularly early stage. He has extensive experience in Intellectual Property exploitation, VC funding and launching new technology to market.

Q: Steve, thank you for your time and for this interview. Can you first give us an overview of SmartKem’s OTFT technology?

SmartKem’s organic thin film transistor (OTFT) backplanes are designed for both glass and flexible displays. They are compatible with electronic paper displays (EPD), liquid crystal displays (LCD) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technologies. Through our sophisticated modelling and simulation, they have sufficient driving capability for OLED and potentially, microOLED displays which offer increased contrast, response times and energy efficiency.

OrelTech is an Israeli-based early stage company that commercializes a unique printed electronics technology based on novel conductive ink and production process.

OrelTech's Head of R&D, Konstantin Livanov, was kind enough to explain the company's technology and business. Dr. Livanov received his PhD in chemistry from Weizmann Institute of Science, and his expertise is in surface chemistry, nanomaterials, composite materials and electron microscopy.

Q: Hello Dr. Livanov, thank you for your time. First, can you explain ORELTech's process and technology?

Sure. We are doing conducive ink for advanced applications in printed electronics. The advantages of printed electronics are obvious: drastically reduced manufacturing costs due to simpler equipment, fewer fabrication steps and shorter throughput time. However, most organic devices, including OLEDs, are not printed. We could however print them if we could print metal layers at low temperatures. Right now most of them are assembled or deposited in high vacuum.