Manufacturing equipment - Page 25

Yesterday we reported on the DOE's Recover Act Rewards, and today we have more details on two of the projects. UDC got $4 million (out of a $8.3 million project) to create a US phosphorescent OLED Lighting panel manufacturing Facility. UDC will design and setup two pilot lines, and will provide prototype lighting panels to U.S. luminaire manufacturers to incorporate into products, to facilitate testing of design, and to gauge customer acceptance.

Moser Baer Technologies will supply equipment for these lines. The first might become operational already in 2011 (the specific location isn't public yet). The second line is geared towards commercial volumes of panels. This could mean that UDC will become an OLED panel production company - and not just an IP one. This is an interesting move by UDC that is quite risky as they will compete with their licensees.

UDC will also work with PPG Industries on another project titled "Low-Cost Integrated Substrate for OLED Lighting". PPG plans to develop the OLED lighting integrated substrate using low-cost soda lime float glass plus transparent anode materials and light extraction layers.

AUO has signed a deal with Taiwan's Yu Precision for the supply of AMOLED manufacturing equipment. The equipment will cost 33 billion won ($29 million). AUO has re-opened their AMOLED program back in 2008, and have shown 14" AMOLED prototypes a couple of months ago, saying they are "ready for production".

 

It's not clear whether AUO wants to make large OLED TV panels, or smaller panels for mobile displays mentioned in earlier reports. 

In an interesting article by the Financial Times, both Idemitsu Kosan and Sumitomo executives estimate that "2012 will be the year when OLEDs hits the big times".

Idemitsu Kosan also says that they are working on a new way to 'spray' small-molecule OLED materials. The new method should be ready by 2015. Spraying OLEDs (instead of using vapor-deposition) will mean less material loss, and thus cheaper displays. It will also make it easier to fabricate large panels.

The Fraunhofer IPMS announced plans to set up roll-to-roll OLED equipment for 30cm-wide metal foil substrate in December. The new equipment will allow films to be formed continuously. The institute does not have any encapsulation equipment yet.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) is developing a new cost-efficient process for applying conductor paths to OLEDs. The new process also makes homogeneous luminosity for the OLED panels, thanks to micro-scale conductor paths.

When you make OLEDs, you apply metallic conductor paths to the anode layer (ITO - Indium Tin Oxide - or similar materials). The size of these conductor paths plays an important role here: if they are too wide the paths can affect the luminous homogeneity of the light source. Today the metallic conductor material has been applied to the OLED surface using a vacuum sputter process which is energy intensive, has up to 90% material loss and is expensive. It is also not environmental friendly as it uses metals that has to be disposed of after use. The conduct paths are wide, and so disrupt the homogeneous luminosity of the OLEDs.

The Fraunhofer ILT is now developing a laser technique to apply
micro-scale conductor paths for the industrial partner Philips. A mask
foil is placed on the surface of the conductor which represents the
negative to the conductor path geometry later required. This is then
covered by a donor foil whose material will constitute the conductor
path, for example aluminum or copper. The assembly is fixed in place
and hit with laser radiation traveling at a speed of up to 2.5 m/s
along the mask geometry. A mixture of melt drops and vapor forms, which
is transferred from the donor foil to the substrate. The solidified
mixture produces the conductor path, whose geometry is determined by
the mask. As the process takes place in the ambient atmosphere an
expensive process chamber is not required. There is no material loss
because the residual material of the donor foil can be re-used.

More information here

Samsung have recently added one 3.5G (730x460mm) AMOLED vapor-deposition machine to its 3rd production line in Cheon-an. The new monthly capability is now 24K panels (when all 3 lines are combined). They also plan to buy two new 3.5G machines (which will double the production rate).

In related news, Samsung Electronics say they will sell around 10 million phones this year with AMOLEDs (that's around 5% of the total phones they plan to ship in 2009). SMD says that other mobile-phone makers are also increasing their orders for AMOLED panels.

Several Korean firms (including Samsung and LG) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to join hands in developing equipment to manufacture large-size AMOLED displays (i.e. OLED TV panels) . Korea wants to get a top-position in OLED displays and lighting, and the firms committed to further investments in these fields.

Under the MOU, the companies (Samsung Mobile Displays, LG Display and other companies) will co-develop and mass-produce vapor deposition equipment for AMOLED panel production. Korea wants to not only use Korean-made equipment in their own OLED plants, but also to become an exporter or such equipment (currently most of this equipment comes from Japan).

Riber announced a "significant" contract to supply equipment for two new OLED production lines (730x920 mm panels) in Asia. The client will use this to produce "large size screens".

TCZ today announced that they recieved their first purchase order for the TCZ-900A, a production tool for flat panel display (FPD) fabrication. The TCZ-900A is designed to manufacture both advanced LCDs and OLEDs (small mobile panels, and larger OLED TV panels), and the shipment is scheduled for 3Q 2009.

TCZ says that the order came from a 'market leader in OLED manufacturing in Korea' - probably Samsung or LG, but can also be CMEL.

TCZ, using Cymer's industry-leading light source technology and the innovative optics expertise of Carl Zeiss SMT, has developed a patented laser crystallization technology which improves uniformity, while increasing throughput and reducing the cost of crystallization by up to 50 percent compared to current industry standards. The TCZ Crystallization System uses a 600W laser, twice the power of current systems, to form a very narrow line focus that is 730 mm long, allowing a gen 4 size glass plate (730mm x 920mm) to be processed in a single pass.