Direct emission - Page 4

ETNews posted an interesting article, claiming that Samsung Display is developing a new TV technology that combines OLED emitters with quantum-dot photo-luminescence materials. The basic idea is to use blue OLED emitters and then convert the blue light to white light using quantum-dots combined with color filters (QDCFs) to add red and green colors.

Samsung OLED TVs (2013)

This seems to be a rather complicated design, but it could be much easier to produce compared to a true RGB OLED TV, as there is no need for precise OLED patterning. This is similar to LG's WRGB OLED TVs which use a white OLED source (made from yellow and blue emitters) and color filters on top.

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).

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.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q2 2017. Revenues in the quarter were $5.3 million (down from $5.5 million in Q2 2016) and the net loss was $2.3 million (up slightly from $2.2 million in Q2 2016).

At the end of the quarter, eMagin had $4.9 million in cash and equivalents. eMagin is focused on expanding its presence in military programs, advancing discussions with major consumer electronics companies for VR/AR products and progressing with finding high-volume production partners.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q1 2017. Revenues in the quarter were $6.1 million (down from $7 million in Q1 2016). Product revenues totaled $4.4 million (down from $5.3 million in Q1 2016 but up from $3.7 million in Q4 2016). Net loss was $2 million (compared to a net income of $11,000 in Q1 2016).

At the end of the quarter eMagin had $3.8 million in cash and equivalents. The company's main objectives in the near future is to advance its technology and complete the direct-patterning development, achieve consumer design wins for VR and AR headset makers and sign a large-scale production agreement to support the large volumes required for consumer displays.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q4 2016. Revenues in the fourth quarter were $4.6 million, down 33% from Q4 2015 - mostly because of a decline in sales to maturing US military programs. Net loss for the quarter was $3.5 million (up from $2.1 million in Q4 2015). For the whole year of 2016 revenues were $21.4 million.

eMagin also announced that it signed a multi-million dollar agreement with "another" Tier-1 consumer electronics company - "an easily recognizable one". This is the third such agreement in the past 15 months. eMagin says that the commercial sector will become more important and will start generating revenues in Q1 2017. eMagin is in active discussions with partners to enable the high volume production capabilities required by the commercial market demand. eMagin started producing samples of its 2k x 2k displays and these should enter mass production in Q2 2017.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin announced that the company started to ship 2k x 2k OLED microdisplays "as part of an agreement with a Tier-One company". This could be the announced first licensee for eMagin's HMD design or this could be a different company. eMagin also announced today that it signed a second partner (or customer?) and expects to sign more such agreements in 2017.

It's not clear whether eMagin is shipping samples or actual volume microdisplays, and whether this Tier-One company is a partner or a customer. We know that AMD is working with eMagin (but I believe that AMD aims to become a foundry for eMagin if/when it needs higher volume). A potential customer is ODG, but ODG is not using eMagin's 2k x 2k OLEDs but rather lower-resolution ones.

eMagin reported the company's financial results for Q3 0216. Revenues were $4.3 million, down 20% from Q3 2015, operating loss was $3.8 million (up from $3.3 million in Q3 2015) - and net loss was $2.4 million (up from $2.2 million in Q3 2015). As of the end of September the company had about $6.9 million in cash and equivalents (down from $9.3 million in the end of 2015).

These are disappointing results, but eMagin says it is making considerable strategic business progress. On the technical side, eMagin is developing direct-patterning micro OLEDs, and expect to complete its development work under the Man Tech program in 2017. Military customers will be offered displays in the second half of 2017. The 2K x 2K full-color OLED microdisplay is also progressing is on schedule to produce engineering samples. Samples will be shipped to customers in the beginning of December.

After years of OLED R&D but no actual reports, Taiwan's Innolux is finally demonstrating its new OLED prototypes, signalling that the company is finally about to re-enter the OLED market. Innolux says that it has recently "achieved success with AMOLED technology" and now plans to continue development and ultimately mass produce AMOLED panels.

In a trade-show in Taiwan, Innolux is demonstrating several OLED prototypes. First up we have a 5.5" WQHD (2560x1440, 534 PPI) flexible AMOLED built on a plastic substrate and an LTPS backplane. The panel has a "proprietary pixel rendering methods" (perhaps PenTile like?) and uses thin-film encapsulation and is produced using an FMM mask (more on this below).

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reports its financial results for Q2 2016. This was a financially challenging quarter for eMagin, but the company says it is excited about its progress on opportunities in the commercial and consumer markets. Revenues were $5.5 million (down 21% compared to Q2 2015 - mostly due to lower volumes and manufacturing issues that has been resolved). Net loss was $2.2 million (up from $66,000 in Q2 2015).

eMagin XGA096 OLED-XL

At the end of the quarter, eMagin had $6.1 million in cash and equivalents (down from $9.3 million at the end of 2015). The company increased its R&D investments and began to build inventory as it expects to launch two consumer products later this year (more on these below). eMagin expanded its active customer count by 11% since the beginning of 2016 - and it currently has 108 active customers.