Manufacturing equipment - Page 9

In January 2017 Novaled started constructing its new fab and office buildings in Dresden, that will comprise of a renovated old mill that will be turned into a prestigious office building and a new 110-meter long R&D plant with state-of-the-art research areas, laboratories and clean rooms. Novaled announced today that it has ordered OLED deposition systems from Sunic System for about $3 million.

The new deposition system will increase Novaled's OLED production capacity by 40% and will offer more precise repeatability in processing. This is of course an R&D machine that is used to test Novaled's organic materials.

Display Analysts from DSCC says that 2017 was a record year for the display equipment market, with revenues reaching a record $24.7 billion (up 30% from 2016). OLED spending reached a record $15.5 billion - a 143% increase over 2016. Samsung's share of the OLED equipment market was 48%, followed by BOE with $24% (following a 229% growth from 2016).

OLED equipment revenues represents 63% of the entire display equipment market, surpassing LCD - which saw revenues dropping 27% from 2016. In 2018 DSCC sees the equipment market falling 9%, although booking will increase as growth will resume in 2019. The main reason behind the decline in 2018 is due to Samsung which will reduce its equipment orders by 64% in 2018. 2018 is expected to be the first year where China leads in OLED spending with a 64% to 36% advantage over Korea.

Analysts from CLSA returned from a journey to Asia with some interesting notes on the OLED industry. According to CLSA, spending in the OLED industry has peaked and OLED producers are not expecting to place any new equipment orders in the near future. This coincides with IHS estimates of over supply in the flexible OLED market in 2018.

According to CLSA, Samsung has a current capacity in its A3 and A4 (which should be ready by Q2 2018) OLED fabs to produce about 330-385 million OLED displays per year (11 lines, each about 15,000 monthly substrates) which SDC expects to be enough to satisfy Apple's and Samsung Electronics' demand. SDC does not see a strong demand from China's smartphone makers, surprisingly, due to the high cost of OLED displays. Without demand for larger displays (tablets/laptops) or perhaps for foldable devices, SDC's seem to be content with its current OLED capacity.

SCREEN Finetech Solutions (a subsidiary of Screen Holdings) launched a new OLED deposition system specifically designed for 6-Gen (1500x1850 mm) substrates.

The SK-E1500G makes full use of mini-environment technologies to effectively control contamination created by suspended particles in gas and chemical elements and static electricity occurring during the production process. The system is based on SCREEN FT's Levicoater slit type coating unit. The SK-E1500H also incorporates advanced transport technologies that enable it to perform simultaneous processing of two 6-gen half-substrates.

Market research company DSCC has updated their OLED models, as the company sees more capital spending then before and a larger OLED market going forward.

The OLED market in general will grow 57% in 2017, according to DSCC, to reach $23.2 billion. Growth will continue to be strong with a 50% increase in 2018 (to $34.9 billion) and a CAGR of 27% from 2016 to 2022. In 2022 the market will surpass $60 billion.

Visionox announced that it has chosen Israel-based Orbotech to supply it with an end-to-end automated optical inspection (AOI) solutions for its upcoming 6-Gen flexible AMOLED fab in Hebei.

This deal includes a large number of Orbotech AOI systems for TFT Array and OLED-related layers for inspection and classification. Among the solutions provided is the Orbotech Quantum Flex series, which will resolve challenges that manufacturers typically face with OLED flexible display processes. The solution includes unique technologies to address the requirements of flexible OLED panel inspection.

According to ETNews, Sunic Systems is set to become a public company via an IPO in Korea towards the end of September. The OLED deposition equipment maker aims to raise between $61 to $73 million.

Sunic business dramatically grew when it started to ship its 6-Gen deposition systems to L G Display, which uses these machines in its E5 mass production line (which reportedly is still struggling with very low yields). Sunic's sales grew from $25.7 million in 2015 to $128 million in 2016.

At the iMID 2017 conference in Korea, AP Systems announced that it realized high density OLED evaporation using new FMM technologies. By adopting ultra-short pulse laser (USPL), AP Systems achieved a 1,000 PPI. Changing the pin-hole shapes, the company says this technology can even reach 1,170 PPI.

High PPI OLEDs are especially important for VR applications, which require much higher pixel densities as the display is used very close to the eye. In May 2016 Samsung demonstrated a 5.5" 3840x2160 - which reaches 806 PPI, and according to reports Samsung were able to produce a 1,200 PPI AMOLED in March 2017.

According to reports from Korea, Apple ordered a 2.5-Gen OLED evaporation (CVD) equipment from Sunic System in order to build an OLED pilot line in Taiwan. The report suggests that Apple wants to develop in-house OLED technologies which will allow it to reduce its reliance on Samsung Display.

6-Gen Sunic deposition system

It is interesting to hear how Apple is increasing its involvement with display technologies. We know that Apple is also interested and involved with Micro-LED displays, and earlier reports suggested that Apple actually aims to produce sample displays in a pilot R&D line later this year.

Researchers from Korea's National University developed a new process based on high-pressure gas sprays that can be used to rapidly transfer OLED layers very quickly - which could reduce the manufacturing time of OLED panels by 90%.

The new process uses a new air jet technology that sprays desquamating gas such as nitrogen, argon and air at high pressures. The gas is sprayed at a speed of 300 m/s between the OLED and a substrate - which reduces the binding power of the OLED from the substrate, and increases the binding energy of the organic layers being transferred. This can be used to quickly transfer thin films without damage them.