PPI - Page 3

In 2021 The Korean government launched a new project that aims to develop technologies for the production of OLED microdisplays for AR applications. The project is led by AP Systems (APS Holdings), and aims to produce a direct emission OLED microdisplay with a resolution of 4,000 PPI by 2024. Earlier this year APS developed FMM masks that reached 1,000 PPI.

APS now announced that it has produced a 3,000 PPI direct-emission OLED microdisplay, based on its FMM technology. This is very impressive progress.

LG Display has demonstrated a 12" 100 PPI full-color stretchable MicroLED display. The display can stretch up to 20% (to create a 14" display).

The display is said to be "close to commercialization" - as it is highly flexible, durable, and reliable. LGD says that it is the world's first full-color high-resolution stretchable display that was ever produced. But we do know that companies have demonstrated stretchable OLED displays in the past, for example Samsung with its 13" stretchable display shown in 2021.

Yang Joon-Young, a VP at LG Display, says that recent improvement in OLED technologies will cause an industry shift from LCoS devices to OLED microdisplays in AR systems. LCoS will find a market in low-cost AR headsets, but most AR solutions will be based on OLEDs.

Next-generation VR systems, which will require higher pixel densities, will also switch from LCD and mobile AMOLED displays to OLED microdisplays that will offer pixel densities of over 3000 PPI.

In 2021 The Korean government launched a new project that aims to develop technologies for the production of OLED microdisplays for AR applications. The project is led by AP Systems (APS Holdings), and aims to produce a direct emission OLED microdisplay with a resolution of 4,000 PPI by 2024.

According to reports from Korea, APS Materials has managed to develop a 1,000 PPI FMM mask, and is now building a new R&D line that will be used to produce direct emission OLED microdisplays using FMM technology. The new APS production line will include OLED deposition and encapsulation.

Notion Systems GmbH, a leading manufacturer of inkjet printing systems for functional materials, has received several orders for its newly developed n.jet EHD platform. The EHD (Electrohydrodynamic) technology is a promising technology to reduce structure sizes to less than one micron and enables the use of higher viscosity inks. It supports printing of small structures in microelectronics, semiconductor and next generation display manufacturing. Notion will ship the first four n.jet EHD systems to undisclosed customers in Europe in the third quarter of 2022.

The overall benefits of inkjet printing in the display industry are:

• Printing of smaller features sizes compared with conventional inkjet printing
• Elimination and replacement of various process steps
• Material savings, as printing is done digitally and without masks
• Replacement of expensive process steps

Several presentations and discussions with industry representatives during Display Week 2022 in San Jose USA revealed that inkjet printing technology for OLED/QLED displays will play an important role in future production. Since standard inkjet printing has a limitation at 400 dpi, EHD technology is the way to go. This was one of the main reasons why Notion entered into a cooperation with EHD printhead manufacturer Scrona in Switzerland last year, says Antonio Schmidt - SVP Sales & Marketing of Notions Systems

Japan Display (JDI) announced that it has developed a new OLED deposition technology, which they refer to as eLEAP, that is cost effective and can be used to create OLEDs that are brighter, more efficient, and longer lasting compared to OLEDs produced using mask evaporation (FMM). eLEAP also enables OLED freeform deposition. JDI regards its new technology as a " historic breakthrough in display technology".

eLEAP is based on a lithographic method, and does not require any masks. The main advantage seems to be that OLED displays produced by eLEAP technology can achieve an aperture ratio of 60%, compared with FMM OLEDs which achieve a ratio of about 28%. This means that the OLED displays can be driven at lower currents - which extends the lifetime, improves the efficiency and also enables higher-peak brightness when needed.

BOE is showing a new flexible and transparent display prototype at SID Displayweek, this is something we did not see for several years.

The display on show is a 12.5" panel that offers a transmittance of up to 45%. The brightness is 700 nits, and the pixel density is 80 PPI. BOE says it developed a unique pixel scheme to enable the transparency of this display.

In recent years we have seen AMOLED displays fall out of favor in the VR market, as most devices have opted for high-end LCDs, due to the better image definition, mostly. According to DSCC, this is set to change next year (in 2023).

Sony has already adopted high density (>800PPI) AMOLED displays in the Playstation VR2, DSCC says that this trend will continue. DSCC also sees OLED microdisplays finally entering the VR market in 2023, with around 15 million such displays shipped in this market by 2024.

OLEDON says that it has developed a new curved plane-source evaporation shadow mask process that can be used for OLED microdisplay fabrication, with a potential density of 10,000 PPI (minimum shadow distance of 0.18um). Using this technology it will be possible to create direct-emission microdisplays.

In the video above, you can see the lecture OLEDON's CEO gave last month at iMID 2021, that explains the new technology.

Notion Systems is a leading supplier of industrial ink jet printing systems. The n.jet inkjet platform from Notion Systems is used to produce printed circuit boards, OLED & QLED displays, sensors and high-quality 3D parts.

We present the following interview with the Company's CEO and founder, Dr. Michael Doran.

Q: Hello Michael. Can you detail notion systems' offering for the OLED industry? We understand you offer R&D and production systems, for both RBG printing and TFE printing.

Notion Systems offers a system platform called n.jet display series that prints functional layers at various steps of display production and for a range of display technologies. These include rigid, flexible, OLED, QLED and micro displays. The platform meets the most stringent requirements for process environment and process stability.