LTPS - Page 13

LG Display are working on their new AMOLED (LTPS) fab. As we reported earlier, LG Display invested 79M$ on this new 3.5g plant (730x460mm glass substrates). It is scheduled to begin mass production in 1H 2010, and will reach a monthly capacity of 8,000 input sheets by the end of 2010. 

LG Display are hoping to sign a deal to supply OLED panels to Nokia. They are also working on larger panels with plans to release 15" OLED TVs in Korea by the end of 2009, and later on introducing 32" OLED TVs in 2012.

Samsung is showing a window made from OLED Panels (12.1", 840x504 with 200cd/m2 luminance). The panels are 30% transmittive - which means they are transparent. You can see in the image to the right how it looks. From the back the window is almost (70%) transparent. 

The OLED panel employs LTPS TFTs for the drive element. The device structure is a top emission type, and organic EL materials for RBG colors are separately applied by using a metal mask. Samsung declined to comment on the details of the technology that realized the high transmittance.

Samsung has shown their new 4" Flexible AMOLED (480x272, contrast 100,000:1, 200cd/m2 luminence). It is very thin - 0.05mm in fact - that it 'flaps' in the wind (Samsung placed it near a fan...).

Samsung calls it the 'flapping display'. They claim they can actually make it thinner, but it's a bit difficult.

To achieve this thickness, Samsung etched an OLED panel that uses a normal glass substrate. The drive circuit was formed by LTPS TFTs. Also, low-molecular organic EL materials were employed.

The panel was not sealed by a glass substrate but by membrane sealing technology using a sputtering method. That's why the 0.05mm thickness is almost the thickness of the drive circuit board.

Universal Display Corporation today announced the successful development and delivery of a novel OLED display prototype to the U.S. Army. The prototype demonstrates the world’s first flexible OLED display that incorporates both visible green emission for daytime operation and infrared (IR) emission for use in dark environments.

Developed through a two-phase Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program with the U.S. Army, this initial prototype was designed to demonstrate capabilities that would enable soldiers in the field to view one display in two modes. Using Universal Display's high-efficiency PHOLED technology, the OLED display prototype provides green-color emission for daytime operation, and can be switched to operate in an IR-emission mode, that can only be detected through specialized night-vision goggles, for covert operations. By integrating this onto a flexible substrate, the Company has achieved a design suitable for portable, rugged and conformable use both day and night in the field.

Chi Mei EL Corporation (CMEL) announced that it has successfully employed the latest low temperature poly-silicon thin film transistor (LTPS TFT) process technology from Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) together with its own organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) equipment and technology to develop a full-function, full-color 25" OLED TV panel.

This 25" OLED panel is currently the world's largest LTPS AMOLED panel. This successful application of new technologies from CMEL and CMO showcases CMEL's mature product development capabilities and advanced OLED process technology, as well as CMO's unique LTPS TFT process technology.

The new 25" AMOLED TV panel uses the latest LTPS TFT production technology developed by CMO to avoid non-uniform images that plague conventional LTPS TFT panels. Excessive critical voltage fluctuations often cause non-uniform images in conventional LTPS TFT panels; this typically results in a low production yield and difficulty in increasing panel size. CMO's LTPS TFT panel technology -- which ensures outstanding performance and consistency -- can be used in OLED TV panels offering extreme thinness, an ultra-wide viewing angle, ultra-high contrast, and ultra-fast response time. CMEL has also developed passive matrix OLED (PMOLED) products as well as 2.0" and 3.5" active matrix full-color OLED panels using CMO's unique LTPS TFT technology. CMEL will exhibit its new products from Oct.18 to Oct. 20 at the FPD International 2006 in Yokohama, Japan.

TMDisplay's advanced OLED display technology is represented at SID 2006 for mobile applications by a high-luminescence, extremely thin and lightweight 3.46-inch QVGA LTPS AMOLED, which has the vivid image quality desired for ultra-portable media players and other A/V applications.

A 2.2-inch QVGA LTPS display from the same family demonstrates the excellent image quality possible using an AMOLED as the main display in cell phone applications. A third 2.5-inch display (not exhibited) for digital still camera applications rounds out the current family of LTPS AM-OLEDs that TMD is starting to develop. LTPS AMOLEDs offer multiple advantages over today's conventional TFT LCD technologies, including self-emitting light (eliminating the CCFL inverter or LED driver circuitry); thinner, lighter weight displays (because no backlight is required); ultra-fast response time; ultra-wide viewing angles; and rich color chromaticity.

Universal Display Corporation will announce today it has been awarded a $1.275 million contract extension from the U.S. Army Communication Electronics Research and Development Engineering Center (CERDEC). The extension will leverage the Company's achievements under its prior Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract.

Under the extended program, Universal Display, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and L-3 Communications - Display Systems, will continue developing a flexible, active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display for a wrist-based communications device. The combined team plans to incorporate enhancements in performance and functionality into the next generation of display prototypes to be delivered to the U.S. Departments of the Army and the Air Force.

The full-color AMOLED display device is enabled by Universal Display's proprietary PHOLED, TOLED® top-emitting OLED and FOLED® flexible OLED technologies, as well as by PARC's LTPS TFT technology. The electronics and packaging for the wrist-based device are from L-3 Communications Display Systems.

In addition to its development of OLED displays, Epson has researched the characteristics of OLED as an electronic device. Specifically, Epson has succeeded in creating a print head that uses OLED as a light source (OLED print head), opening the way for utilization of OLED as a new printing technology for printers.

At present, electro-photographic printing technologies for copiers and printers use either laser or LED light sources. Epson merged the many years of expertise it had accumulated in printing and display technology, and partnered with Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. to jointly develop a super bright OLED that can be used in printing. Printing tests using a prototype of an OLED-based print head have produced printouts quality comparable to or better than those produced by conventional laser printers.

In the paper titled Full Color 100 dpi AMOLED Displays on Flexible Stainless Steel Substrates, Dr. Anna Chwang will highlight the performance characteristics of a novel flexible, full-color AMOLED display prototype that is based on the Company’s proprietary phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED™), top-emitting OLED (TOLED®) and flexible OLED (FOLED®) technologies. The full-color AMOLED prototype also uses LTPS TFT backplanes designed and fabricated by PARC, a subsidiary of Xerox Corporation, and was encapsulated by Vitex Systems.

The four-inch diagonal display can portray a variety of images, including full-motion video. This advance is significant in proving the fundamental feasibility of the Company’s approach and also clearly demonstrates several key performance advantages. The display (without external drive electronics and package) is approximately 0.1 mm thick and weighs a mere 6 grams. The comparable glass-based LCD would be approximately 1.0-1.5 mm thick and weigh 20-30 grams. Research and development activities are continuing in a number of areas including enhanced display flexibility, defect elimination and enhanced electronics capabilities

Toppoly has today announced its success in the development of 7-inch AMOLED display panel which is the largest sized AMOLED panel in Taiwan. The 7-inch AMOLED marks a breakthrough in Taiwan’s AMOLED industry as it is developed based on the advanced pixel compensation circuit, together with Toppoly’s proprietary high efficient white OLED and COA (Color Filter on Array) technologies.

The 7-inch AMOLED is an ideal display for high performance car TV and GPS system, supporting WVGA (800xRGBx480) with resolution up to 135ppi and 262K full color, and featured with Toppoly’s proprietary technologies of LTPS and OLED. The combination of in-house COA together with high efficient white OLED technology could be a better solution than traditional RGB side-by-side OLED in view of higher resolution and larger panel display. And most importantly, instead of using traditional 2T1C pixel design, Toppoly adopts its proprietary advanced pixel compensation circuit to solve the issue of luminance non-uniformity and thus the display quality is improved significantly. This prototype integrates scan and part of source driver ICs onto the panel, it adopts COG (Chip-On-Glass) module design that not only simplifies the designing of end products, but also increases the end product’s reliability with less power consumption.