Manufacturing equipment - Page 19

Yesterday a Taiwanese web site reported that Applied Materials is planning to setup a flat-panel R&D center in Southern Taiwan Science Park. The new center will focus on 8.5-Gen LCD production and OLED technologies. Applied hopes to assist AU Optronics and Innolux with their OLED projects. The investment in the center is expected to exceed NT$5 billion (over $170 million USD).

A few hours later, Digitimes posted that sources from Applied Materials denied these rumors - saying that the company has no such plans. Applied does have a manufacturing center in Taiwan that will continue providing solutions largely for Taiwan-based customers.

In early 2012, Samsung said they aim to start mass production of plastic-based flexible OLEDs towards the end of 2012. But 2012 is almost over, and new reports suggest that Samsung delayed their plans to early 2013.

But is Samsung really that close to mass production? One of the major hurdles towards plastic based OLEDs is the encapsulation technology. Back in early 2012 Samsung said they will use Vitex' technology (which they bought in 2010) - but this technology is difficult to scale and is very slow. When Samsung delayed the launch to 2013, it was reported that the main issue indeed was the slow encapsulation (that, and low uniformity).

Display Central posted an interesting article (update: it is no longer available, sadly) discussing Samsung's Gen-8 AMOLED fab plans. They say that the company is still on track with their original plan - to start with LTPS production and later on switch to Oxide-TFT (IGZO). Samsung seems to think that IGZO is not ready yet for OLED mass production.

The article quotes Barry Young from the OLED Association saying that Samsung has managed to scale up LTPS for their Gen-8 pilot line and have now ordered high-volume Gen-8 production tool from APS.

Applied Materials announced two new film deposition systems, used to make high definition televisions and high-resolution mobile device displays - both OLEDs and LCDs. First up is the AKT-PX-PECVD system (shown below) that can be used to deposit LTPS films on large glass substrates (sized from 1.6 m² to 5.7 m²).

The second system, the AKT-PiVoT PVD system is used to deposit metal oxide-based TFTs (IGZO in particular). Applied says that this new system is capable of overcoming "mura effects" that reduce the quality of the display. It also offers "breakthrough" stability which makes is suitable for OLED displays and TVs.

Beneq announced that a leading Asian customer has ordered a large-area batch atomic layer deposition (ALD) coating system. This system will be used to develop flexible OLED products. Beneq's batch ALD systems offer a unique combination of excellent thin-film quality, high-throughput and large-area processing capabilities, enabling scale-up of demanding thin-film processes.

Asian OLED makers are getting ready to start producing flexible OLEDs. Last month we heard that Aixtron delivered a production-scale PRODOS Gen-3.5 Polymer Vapor Phase Deposition (PVPD) system to a "major prestigious Asian customer" (probably Samsung or LG) that plans to use it to produce novel flexible electronic devices. We know that Samsung plans to release their first plastic-based flexible OLED panels by the end of 2012 while LG plans to start mass production of flexible OLEDs in the second half of 2013.

Aixtron announced that it has delivered a production-scale PRODOS Gen-3.5 Polymer Vapor Phase Deposition (PVPD) system to a major prestigious Asian customer. This system will be used to produce novel flexible electronic devices through the deposition of organic polymer thin films. The system will be commissioned within the next couple of weeks.

Aixtron says that the new system has been designed to be a perfect match for the customer’s production environment for Gen-3.5 substrates (650x750mm²). Aixtron wouldn't say who's the customer or what will be produced on the equipment, but they do say that the customer will be able to develop new applications including "flexible flat panel displays with benefits such as lightweight, ruggedness, low power consumption, color brightness, and superior legibility".

Bruker announced a new photoconductive atomic-force Microscopy (pcAFM) module for the Dimension Icon platform. The new modules enables sample illumination while performing nanoscale electrical characterization. Bruker says that the new module (combined with their PeakForce TUNA technology) enables the highest resolution photoconductivity and nanomechanical mapping for OLED (or OPV) device samples.

The new modules provides uniform backside illumination and can be fiber coupled to industry-standard solar simulators for OPV testing. It is compatible with Bruker’s turnkey 1ppm glove box configuration.

Aixtron launched a new Polymer Vapor Phase Deposition (PVDP) R&D system for flexible organic thin film material deposition. The PRODOS-200 features high deposition rates, high contour conformity of the deposited layers and unrestricted scalability based on Aixtron's Close Coupled Showerhead technology. The substrate size is up to 200x200 mm².

Aixtron says that the new system can be used to develop new processes (or improve existing ones) in organic electronics that may enable the creation of new conductive and flexible layers, manipulation of surface properties and flexible barrier layers.The new system is compatible with Aixtron's OVPD R&D line equipment, and so can be used to create new compounds for OLEDs, OPVs and OTFTs.

The Korean government is funding a new program ("Future Flagship Program") that will develop transparent and flexible OLED technologies with an aim to produce ultra high-definition 60" flexible OLED displays by 2017. The project will be led by LG Display, and will also include equipment-maker Avaco.

Flexible OLED TV concept (Sony)

The Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy is spearheading the program, and they say that this technology may have a large impact on the Korean economy, creating 840,000 jobs and $56 billion in yearly exports. It will also help to widen the technological gap between Korea and China in the display sector. The Korean government chose several key technologies that will help to further develop the industry, and OLED is one of them.

COMEDD published an interesting article detailing their current R2R research line. The vacuum deposition and fabrication of small-molecule OLEDs is made in the RC 300-MB roll-to-roll vacuum coater (supplied by Von Ardenne Anlagentechnik). This machine is capable of processing metal and plastic substrates (300 mm width). The article also details the encapsulation, inspection and defect-detection processes.

COMEDD (Center for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices) is now an independent Fraunhofer institute (it was established as a department in at the Fraunhofer IPMS originally). COMEDD's aim is to carry out customer R&D and pilot fabrication of vacuum-processed organic materials applications.