AU Optronics - Page 11

According to Digitimes, AUO managed to achieve 50% yield in its AMOLED fab, and is set to start mass production - on track with AUO's plans to start AMOLED mass production in Q3 2012 (but a delay from the original plan). AUO will make 4.3" qHD panels (257 ppi). AUO is co-developing in-cell touch AMOLED panels together with some handset makers (some suggest the main customer for AUO's OLEDs is HTC).

AUO's current capacity is about 7,000 monthly substrates in their Gen-3.5 fab. Later on the company plans to bring their Gen-4.5 fab in Singapore (at AFPD) online with a monthly capacity of 15,000 substrates.

AUO's president, Paul Peng, reiterated the company's plans to start AMOLED mass production in Q3 2012. AUO will make 4.3" panels featuring 257 ppi. Peng also reveals that the company is co-developing in-cell touch AMOLED panels together with some handset makers, and will have samples ready by H2 2013.

There are also reports that AUO plans to introduce large-size OLED panels by the end of 2012. The company is reportedly working in cooperation with Japan-based firms to develop those panels. The AMOLEDs will be produced in AUO's 6-Gen R&D line and be based on Oxide-TFT backplanes.

Back in November 2011 AUO unveiled a 4" flexible AMOLED prototype. Today the same panel won the "Outstanding Photonics product award" at the Display Taiwan 2012 conference. Here's a video showing the display. You can skip to 2:43 if you want to see a closeup footage of the AMOLED panel, showing how AUO setup a nice mechanism that keeps bending it:

AUO's 240x320 4" panel is made on an Oxide-TFT (IGZO) backplane, is a bottom-emitting device and it's only 0.3mm thick and can be bent with a curvature radius of 10mm.

AUO was supposed to start producing 4" to 5" AMOLED panels in Q2 2012, but new reports say that AUO's yields are still very low (less than 20%) and so they have delayed mass production to Q3 2012. The same reports suggest that AUO got orders for 4.3" qHD AMOLED panels from HTC and is likely to get orders from Nokia as well.

AUO first AMOLED plant is a Gen-3.5 fab that has a monthly capacity of about 8,000 substrates. The company is also planning to later start producing at their Singapore Gen-4.5 fab (at AFPD). According to the new reports, the company was considering a 5.5-Gen AMOLED fab as well, but isn't likely to go ahead with that plan due to the low yields from the 3.5-Gen fab. Earlier reports suggested that AUO was considering a 6-Gen fab for large size panels (for OLED TVs).

Reports say that AUO will start shipping 4.3" qHD AMOLED panels next month in June, and will supply panels to both Sony and HTC. HTC will use those panels in their One S smartphone. The One S currently uses a 4.3" qHD Super AMOLED display, which is a Samsung trade mark, so it's not clear how they will handle two suppliers.

SMD will still be the primary supplier of AMOLED panels to both companies, and currently the quality of the SMD panels is still superior to AUO's ones. Indeed the reports say that AUO suffers from very low yields (around 20%) in their first AMOLED 3.5-Gen line in Taiwan.

AU Optronics started to mass produce small (4.3") AMOLED panels at its 3.5G LTPS line in Taiwan, making about 8,000 substrates a month. The company says their 4.5-Gen AMOLED Line in Singapore (at AFPD) will start AMOLED mass production before year-end 2012, which is faster than original plans (2H 2013). The new fab's capacity will be 15,000 monthly substrates. 

AUO also said they have set up an "experimental" 6G production line with plans to produce large (over 32") samples before the end of 2012. AUO's president claims that their AMOLED R&D group is now staffed with hundreds of engineers. AUO already unveiled a 32" OLED prototype that has an Oxide-TFT (IGZO) backplane and was fabricated using vapor deposition using a metal mask. The panel featured Full-HD (1920x1080) resolution, 100,000:1 contrast ration, 0.01ms response time and brightness of 200cd/m².

The Korea Herald reports that Sony is in talks with Samsung to purchase OLED TV panels. Sony wants to launch their OLED TVs in 2013 and officials from both companies have met last week to work out the pricing and supply volume.

Samsung's Super OLED TV technology uses direct emission OLEDs (as opposed to LG Display's white subpixels with color filters architecture) and an LTPS backplane. The first Samsung Super OLED TV will be 55" in size and feature Smart TV and Smart-Interaction technologies. Samsung still wouldn't reveal the model number officially, but it seems that it will be called KN55ES9000, price or release date, although they do promise it will ship by Q2 or Q3 2012.

AUO's mobile solution BU manager Dr. T.K. Wu says that OLED penetration in the smartphone sector will reach over 10% in 2012, and he expects OLED panel prices to drop in the next two years - to the point where small to medium sized panel prices will be comparable to LCDs.

Dr. Wu also predicts that OLED panels will be adopted for smartphones and TV applications, but they may not be used in notebook and monitors "due to factors in the IT industry and price competition".

AUO will soon start producing 4" to 5" AMOLED panels (Q2 2012), aimed toward smartphone applications. Today Digitimes reveals some details about their first panels, the 4.3" qHD ones. The panels will consume 370mW at 300 nits, and this will drop to 300mW by 2014.

The price of these panels will be around $45-$55 - about 90% higher than an equivalent LTPS LCD. Reports suggest that AUO is collaborating with Sony while other reports say that HTC secured AUO's entire OLED capacity.

AUO's LED maker subsidiary Lextar announced it will show new portable OLED lighting panels. The panels will be powered from built-in Lithium-ion batteries and has a magnet on the pack so it can attach to metallic objects. The panels are 3.7 mm thick and include a 3-section dimmer.

AUO prototype OLED panels (2010)

Lextar will also show a concept "OLED Wall Brick" built from red, blue and yellow OLED modules that can change color depending on one’s mood and location.