OLED ink jet printing: introduction and market status - Page 7

Japan Display says it is developing a new OLED production technology that will enable higher resolution and higher efficiency OLED displays, and the company is in talks with potential customers regarding a joint investment in producing next-generation OLEDs.

According to JDI's CEO, the company is using a new manufacturing technology that is different to the evaporation method currently used by OLED makers. It is not clear what is meant by that - it could be an inkjet-printing technology (but achieving high resolution for smartphone displays with inkjet printing is a challenge) or something like OVPD or OVJP - or a new technology developed in-house at JDI.

JOLED announced that TCL CSoT has invested 20 billion Yen (around $187 million USD) in the company, and has also signed an agreement to jointly develop OLED TV printing technologies.

This is a very interesting development. TCL has been a long time believer in inkjet printing for OLED displays, and the company has established Juhua Printing in 2016 (together with TianMa and other collaborators) as an "open-innovation platform" to develop ink-jet printing of OLED panels. JOLED was not involved as far as we know in this alliance - so has TCL given up on Juhua and is now aiming to rely on JOLED's technology?

DSCC updated its OLED material market estimates, saying that AMOLED stack material sales will grow from $951 million in 2019 to $2.69 billion in 2024 - a CAGR of 23%. These new estimates take into account DSCC's reduced input area forecast due to the slowdown in demand cased by the Covid-19 pandemic.

DSCC says that incremental improvements in material utilization and price reductions, material costs per square meters will decline in the future. The unyielded cost of producing a square meter of a WOLED TV panel will decline from $95.21 in 2019 to $56.11 in 2024.

In October 2019 EIZO announced the FORIS NOVA high-end monitor that features a 21.6" 4K AMOLED display (produced by JOLED in an inkjet printing process). The monitor is shipping in Japan, and now EIZO officially launched it in China as well. The price in Japan is 350,000 Yen (around $3,150 USD) and we do not know the price in China yet.

The display offers HDR support. EIZO calls this OLED monitor an entertainment monitor saying it is especially suitable for gaming and video watching. EIZO will only produce 500 units of this limited-edition monitor.

US-based OLED inkjet printing developer Kateeva announced a massive layoff plan - the company will slash its staff by 144 employees, including a number of executives - its president, CMO and COO.

This is sad news - and surprising as well as Kateeva seems to be on the forefront of OLED inkjet printing. Kateeve raised over $125 million (including $88 million in 2016) and is working with Samsung, BOE, LG, Johua Printing and other companies. The company is leading with ink-jet printing of OLED encapsulation materials and was set to supply Samsung with the QD printing equipment for SDC's upcoming QD-OLED TV line.

Update: It seems we were mistaken, this prototype is not a hybrid QD-OLED, but a 'regular' OLED. This is still an impressive development - a rollable inkjet-printed OLED display.

TCL and Juhua Printing demonstrated a 31" FHD inkjet-printed rollable hybrid QD-OLED TV prototype. The display uses an IGZO (Oxide-TFT) backplane and TCL says that it has an aperture ratio of over 50%, brightness of 200 nits and a 90% DCI-P3 color gamut.

TCL's hybrid display technology (which TCL calls H-QLED) uses a blue OLED emitter coupled with red and green QD emitters. All three emitter materials are combined and printed using ink-jet printing technology.

Japan-based glass developer Asahi Glass (AGC) is developing new ultra-thin (9 mm) glass signage display, called infoverre, that include OLED displays embedded within the glass which can be used in place where other display monitor installation was impossible - such as hanging ads in trains and buses and door pocket interior panels.

JOLED, which recently started sampling inkjet-printed OLED display panels in its 5.5-Gen production line, is providing the OLED panels to AGC. AGC uses JOLED's 21.6" 4K rigid OLEDs - two panels for each display as the signage is double sided.

DSCC updated their display industry forecasts, saying that as LCD prices continue to fall it revises the capacity forecast downward by 6% as Display makers are delaying and cancelling LCD investments. DSCC's OLED capacity forecast is also reduced by 4% - and is now growing at a CAGR of 19% from 2016 to 2025 (the main reason is the cancellation of Visionox V2 phase 2 and LGD's E6 Phase 3).

DSCC says that OLED TV roadmap is still not clear as Chinese makers are not ready to commit to OLED TV production. DSCC does see next-generation TV capacity coming online in the future - which could be inkjet-printed OLEDs, OVJP, MicroLEDs and other potential technologies. But the next-generation display market is certainly not clear yet and DSCC sees an extended forecast during which demand will outpace supply (especially as average TV size continues to grow).

Meyer Burger announced that it is selling its PixDro inkjet printing business to Germany-based Suss MicroTec SE. The agreed price is $5 million, and the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of February 2020. Meyer Burger reveals that PixDro currently has annual sales of around $8 million. This transaction continues Meyer burger's strategic focus on its solar (PV) business.

PixDro develops and manufactures inkjet printing equipment for for the electronics and semiconductor industries. PixDro started out as a startup in Isarel, and was later integrated into the Netherlands-based OTB-Group, which was later renamed Roth & Rau AG, which was then acquired by Meyer Burger. The company continues its journey and will now be part of Suss MicroTec.

Asus finally started shipping its ProArt PQ22UC monitor in the US, for $3,950 (at Amazon.com). The ProArt PQ22UC is based on a 21.6" 3840x2160 (204 PPI, produced by JOLED) printed OLED monitor.

The monitor weighs only 1 Kg and is marketed as a "portable" ultra-slim monitor. Features include HDR support, 0.1 ms response time, 10-bit color (99% DCI-P3), USB-C input and micro HDMI.