LTPS - Page 6

According to a new report from China, BOE Display will build a Gen-6 LTPS AMOLED fab in Chengdu, China. The new fab will have a monthly capacity of 45,000 glass substrates and will produce small sized AMOLED panels for mobile devices.

BOE signed an investment agreement with Chengdu's municipal government for this new fab, which will require an investment of 22 billion RMB (almost $3.6 billion USD). Construction will begin in Q2 2015, and mass production will begin in H1 2017.

In April 2014 TCL announced that their CSOT subsidiary will invest 16 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) to build a 6-Gen display fab that will be used to produce small/medium AMOLED displays. Now digitimes reports that CSOT, with support from the government of Wuhan, China, already begun trial production of AMOLED panels, and the company expects to start mass production by 2016.

It doesn't seem likely that CSOT, went from an investment plan to trial production in less than 3 months, but honestly these reports from China are not very clear. I hear it's more likely that CSOT has a pilot 4.5-Gen AMOLED line, in which they started the trial production.

EverDisplay Optronics was established in October 2012 in Shanghai, China with plans to become China's first AMOLED producer. Everdisplay is constructing a Gen-4.5 AMOLED fab. Those AMOLEDs will be deposited on an LTPS backplane.

The company's marketing team were kind enough to answer a few questions I had. This is a very short interview (they do not seem like the talkative types) - but this is one company that anyone interested in OLEDs should keep an eye on in the near future. They also sent me the photo you see below, showing their latest HD (720p) AMOLED prototypes. From left to right: 5-inch (293 PPI), 5.5-inch (267 PPI), 6-inch (244 PPI).

IGNIS Innovation announced today that they are going to collaborate with Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) to develop a 5.5" HD AMOLED panel that will use Ignis's MaxLife Lite driving scheme.

The AMOLED panel will be produced by CSOT using an LTPS backplane. Ignis's MaxLife Lite will enable high yields, low cost, low-power consumption, and long life time. CSOT hopes that Ignis' technology will enable them to quickly ramp up production.

Towards the end of 2013 it was reported that TCL plans to invest 24.4 billion yuan (just over $4 billion) to build a new 8.5-Gen TV fab in Shenzhen, owned by CSOT. This fab (called Huaxing Power Two) will have two lines, one for a-Si LCDs and one for Oxide-TFT (55" OLED TV and LCD TV, it seems) panels. The Oxide-TFT capacity will be 30,000 monthly substrates.

Now TCL announced that the company, together with CSOT and the Hubei Science & Technology Investment group will invest 16 billion yuan ($2.56 billion) and build a 6-Gen display fab that will also be used to produce AMOLED displays. It's a bit confusing, but it seems that CSOT aims to use both LTPS and Oxide-TFT for this production. The fab will be used to produce small/medium displays.

A few weeks ago I posted about Plastic Logic's OTFT-based AMOLED demonstration. While the company's current demo is a simple display (monochrome white), it seems that Plastic Logic believes that OTFT technology is now reaching a performance level for adoption in AMOLED displays.

I discussed this with Mike Banach, Plastic Logic's Research Director. Mike (and the rest of the team at PL too, of course) says that organic semiconducting materials have reached a "tipping point" in electrical performance that makes them viable to drive flexible OLED displays. Couple this with the industrial and flexibility benefits of using solution-based organic materials makes it a compelling technology option for display makers looking to establish a position in the flexible display market.

In August 2013, DisplaySearch said that AMOLED technology is expected to take the revenue lead in the mobile phone display market. The company now released their new worldwide FPD shipment forecasts, and they say that actually LTPS LCD had the largest revenue share in 2013 (37%) followed closely by AMOLED (35%).

Interestingly, the company sees LTPS LCDs to grow in popularity as requirements for higher resolution and longer battery life will drive the growth. Those LTPS LCDs will grab 51% of the market by 2020. It's one of the first time I see a market research saying that AMOLED mobile phone displays wil stop growing in the future - and even decline in market share.

So CES 2014 is now over, and one thing is certain - at least in that event, LG is making a much stronger push into OLED TVs than their arch rival Samsung. While Samsung only showed new 55" bendable 4K OLED prototypes, LG showed many prototypes and two new products, including a 77" curved 4K OLED TV that they plan to launch soon for $29,999.

But it seems that it's not just about TVs on display at CES. A Samsung visual-display VP says that there are significant OLED manufacturing issues and they only expect cheap OLED TVs to enter the market in 3 or 4 years. LG on the other hand sees a "rapid shift into OLED TVs". The market will remain small in 2014 (30,000 to 50,000 units) but LG expects the market to ramp up quickly.

China's BOE Display has been discussing its 5.5-Gen LTPS fab in Ordos for a long time, and a couple of months ago it seems that construction finally began. In a new report from China, it seems that BOE aims to produce flexible OLED panels at that fab. BOE will produce plastic-based AMOLEDs using an LTPS backplane.

BOE Ordos 5.5-Gen AMOLED fab

Previously we reported that it is expected that BOE will only start mass producing AMOLEDs at Ordos by the end of 2014. BOE's AMOLED fab will reportedly use high-resolution FMM deposition and a WRGB architecture (which doesn't make a lot of sense since you do not need FMM patterning for WRGB OLEDs).

China's BOE Display has been discussing its 5.5-Gen LTPS fab in Ordos for a long time. Today BOE announced that it finally approves the AMOLED line in that fab, and will begin construction soon in a 22 billion yuan investment ($3.6 billion). The fab's capacity will be 54,000 glass substrates a month and will produce small and medium sized panels.

BOE Ordos 5.5-Gen AMOLED fab

According to earlier reports, the fab will begin producing LTPS LCDs soon (by the end of 2013). It's not clear whether the AMOLED line is a new line or whether BOE will convert one of the LCD lines to AMOLED. It is expected that BOE will only start mass producing AMOLEDs by the end of 2014. BOE's AMOLED fab will use high-resolution FMM deposition and a WRGB architecture. We know that BOE is also developing ink-jet printing technology but this will most likely take more time to commercialize.