Panasonic - Page 7

Sony and Panasonic recently cancelled their OLED TV joint-development project, so we weren't expecting any OLED TVs from Panasonic at CES (even though they did say they will continue to develop OLED technology alone). So it's a nice surprise to see Panasonic show six 55" curved OLED TV prototypes at CES. Interesting, three of those panels are convex and they all combine to create a long and cool S-shape display:

These are just prototype of course, but apparently the TVs are spectacular. Panasonic's earlier flat 56" 4K Prototypes (unveiled at CES 2013) used AUO produced Oxide-TFT backplanes and Sumitomo's P-OLED materials (deposited in a printing process) and a direct-emission architecture. It's highly likely that these new prototypes are made using the same materials and printing process.

In June 2012, Sony and Panasonic announced that two companies will jointly develop technologies for OLED TV panels mass production. Now the two Japanese companies announced that they canceled the joint development. The two companies will continue to develop OLED technologies independently, but will focus on UHD LCDs. Sony and Panasonic explains tha OLED TVs did "not deliver the growth originally envisioned, and are unlikely to be commercially viable in the near future.

Sony 56-inch 4K OLED TV prototype

In January 2013 (during last year's CES event), the two companies unveiled 56" 4K OLED TV prototypes. The Oxide-TFT substrate was produced by AUO. We know that Panasonic used an ink-jet printing process, Sumitomo's PLED materials and a direct-emission architecture. Sony used their own Super Top Emission OLED technology and evaporable OLED materials.

In December 2012 reports suggested that Panasonic may stop plasma R&D by March 2013. Now the company officially announced that it will cease Plasma panel (PDP) production by the end of 2013. They will put all their resources and development into UHD (4K) and OLED TV technologies. This move probably means the end of Plasma TV technology, but is good news for OLED TVs!

In January 2013 Panasonic unveiled a 56" 4K2K OLED TV panel prototype that was produced using an all-printing method. Panasonic is using Sumitomo's PLED materials and is collaborating with Sony on production technology. Panasonic aims to release the first OLED TVs in 2015, but according to some reports they are progressing fast and may be ready with a product by the end of 2013.

According to the OLED Association, Panasonic said that they are progressing fast enough to launch the 55" (probably 56") UHD OLED TV in Q4 2013. Panasonic will start mass production in its Himeji Pilot Gen-5.5 line (which means initial production will be very limited). If this report is true it means a real acceleration as Panasonic previously said they will only be ready in 2015 (although you may say that the current Himeji line will not be real mass production in any case).

Panasonic OLED TV prototype, IFA 2013

Panasonic's OLED TV panel, unveiled in January 2013, is produced using ink-jet printing and uses an RGB subpixel matrix (direct-emission). Panasonic is using Sumitomo's PLED materials, and AUO's oxide-TFT Substrates. The company is collaborating with Sony on OLED technologies.

So the IFA 2013 event is now over - and there has been a lot of interesting OLED TVs on display, so I thought I'd post a short summary post. The most impressive OLED TV was probably LG's 77" curved UHD (4K) WRGB one. I don't think this huge OLED panel will enter production soon, but it was still an impressive feat and it's the world's largest OLED panel ever. LG also showed their new flat-panel Gallery OLED TV.

LG 77-inch curved OLED TV prototype

Samsung also unveiled 4K OLEDs - one curved and one flat. These were smaller at 55", and Samsung says this is just a "proof of concept". Samsung had curved LCDs on display as well, 55" and 65" in size and both offering 4K resolution. Sony also unveiled a curved LCD: the S990A curved LED-backlit LCD. Sony's panel is 65" in size and only offers Full-HD, but it is closer to market (they are accepting pre-orders now for $4,000) and it features the color-enhancing Triluminos display technology (QDVision's Quantum-Dot films).

As promised, Panasonic showed 56" 4K (3840x2160) OLED TV panel at the IFA 2013 exhibition. The company had several prototypes on display, and I believe these are the same panels as the ones Panasonic unveiled at CES 2013 in January 2013.

Panasonic panels are made using an "all-printing" method, and Sumitomo Chemical revealed that these prototypes use the company's PLED materials. Panasonic's panel uses a substrate (probably Oxide-TFT) provided by Sony (which are actually made by AU Optronics) - as part of the two companies collaboration. According to the latest reports, they only plan to start OLED production at around 2015.

Some web sites are reporting that Panasonic is set to unveil a 20" 4K OLED tablet at the IFA 2013 event next week. Those sites are relying on auto-translated Japanese text. But in fact the company will not show such a tablet. In an English PR, Panasonic says they will show a 4K 20" tablet and a 4K OLED panel prototype - those are two different devices.

I'm guessing Panasonic's 4K OLED panel will be the same 56" 4K (3840x2160) OLED TV panel shown at CES 2013. This panel was made using an "all-printing" method. Sumitomo Chemical revealed that this TV prototype used the company's PLED materials. Panasonic's panel uses a substrate (probably Oxide-TFT) provided by Sony (which are actually made by AU Optronics) - as part of the two companies collaboration.

Panasonic's CTO, Yoshiyuki Miyabe, says that the company aims to launch their first OLED TV in fiscal-year 2015, which means by March 2016. This concurs with reports we heard earlier this year. Miyabe wouldn't reveal more information, and he said that the company is currently at "the technological development stage".

Panasonic is collaborating with Sony on OLED TV production technologies, and some reports suggest that the two companies will setup a production joint-venture as well. In January 2013 Panasonic unveiled a unveiled a 56" 4K (3840x2160) OLED TV panel prototype that was produced using an all-printing method using Sumitomo's P-OLED materials.

Several companies announced new flexible OLED panels at SID 2013. None of the panels were demonstrated (except for Toshiba which showed the OLED but it was not powered). First up is Toshiba, which showed a 10.2" 1920x1200 (223 PPI) panel. Toshiba's OLED has an Oxide TFT backplane and uses the WRGB (white OLED with color filters) architecture.

Toshiba flexible OLED prototype

Panasonic developed a 4" flexible OLED with 224x224 resolution (only 80 PPI, direct emission). Panasonic used PEN as a substrate and the panel can be bent up to a curvature radius of 10 mm. This is also an Oxide-TFT panel. To produce it, Panasonic attached the PEN sheet to a glass substrate, deposited the OLED materials and then de-laminated the glass.

Panasonic Corporation developed a white OLED lighting panel that is the world's highest luminous efficiency - 114 lm/W for a light-emitting area of 1 cm². Panasonic also developed a larger panel (25 cm²) with 110 lm/W. The panels also feature long lifetime - over 100,000 hours (LT50) and a brightness of of 1,000 cd/m². The panel thickness was less than 2 mm.

Panasonic 114 lm/W OLED panel

To achieve this high efficiency, Panasonic focused on an all-phosphorescent design (with an optimal stacked layer design) and new light extraction technology. Panasonic used a Built-up Light Extraction Substrate (BLES) by optimizing the arrangement of the film, glass and air to suppress light confinement in the OLED. This enable them to achieve about 2.5 times improvement in the light extraction efficiency, which is about 50% in the new panels. Panasonic says that in older technology the light extraction efficiency stayed below 40%. Panasonic says they hold 30 patents in Japan and 17 overseas - all related for this new development.