PPI - Page 7

LG Display showcased several of its OLED technologies at SID DisplayWeek. The most impressive display was a 77" panel that is both flexible and transparent. The large panel features a 4K (3840x2160) resolution and 40% transmittance. The bending radius of the display is 80 mm. This seems to be the same display announced in June 2017.

LGD also demonstrated, for the first time, its VR OLED display, developed in collaboration with Google. This is a 4.3" 3840x4800 (1443 PPI) glass-based display on an LTPS backplane, that supports a refresh rate of 120Hz.

Visionox showcased it latest flexible OLEDs in a recent tradeshow, and Notebook Italia published this interesting video showing all of Visionox's displays.

Visionox is showing several interesting displays - a 5.99" 1080x2160 (403 PPI) AMOLED edge type flexible OLED, a full-screen 5.99" 2160×1440 flexible AMOLED and a 6.21" notch-type 2160×1440 AMOLED, with a touch sensor under the screen.

Taiwan's AU Optronics (AUO) developed a 13-inch 100 PPI transparent OLED display, specifically for AR applications. This is a highly-transparent display - with 68% transmittance.

AUO 6" transparent OLED prototype (2011)

To achieve such high transparency, AUO optimized the TFT array layer stack, the OLED cathode pattern and the encapsulation. This is the first transparent OLED AUO has developed since 2011. It will discuss this new display at SID Display 2018 - and will hopefully demonstrate it as well.

In May 2017, Google announced that it has partnered with "one of the leading OLED makers" to develop a high-end VR display. Google is now set to demonstrate this display at SID 2018 in May.

The new Google-designed display is a 4.3" 18Mp (1443 PPI, probably around 5500x3000 resolution) VR display featuring a refresh rate of 120 Hz. This will be the highest-density OLED display ever (not counting OLED-on-silicon microdisplays). Current VR AMOLEDs in production reach only about 600 PPI.

V-Technology announced that it is establishing a new organic electronics subsidiary that will develop a next-generation OLED deposition technology that V-Technology refers to as fine hybrid mask (FHM). Total investment in this new company is estimated at 5 billion Yen ($46 million USD) for the next 2-3 years. The facility is scheduled to be completed in August 2018 and V-Technology will start shipping mask samples in October 2018.

V-Technology's FHM is based on an electroforming method and the masks have a non-tension structure. V-Technology says that the total mask weight will be one tenth of current regular FMM masks, which will lower bending dramatically. V-Technology's already demonstrated an FHM that achieves 738 PPI.

A somewhat confusing article from Taiwan claims that Visionox developed a new VR AMOLED display that achieves a very high pixel density of 814 PPI.

The original article only actually refers to Black Cattle Food - which is a Chinese soy and grain beverage maker that teamed up with Visionox and provided financial support for Visionox' upcoming 6-Gen flexible AMOLED fab.

Many OLED producers believe that Ink-Jet printing of OLED emissive materials is the best way to achieve lower-cost OLED TV production, and to enable OLEDs to compete in the medium part of the TV market. Ink-Jet printing is an efficient process (less material waste compared to evaporation) and it can be very quick as well. The main drawbacks of inkjet are the limited resolution and the need for soluble emissive materials which are less efficient compared to evaporation ones.

A Kateeva OLED ink-jet printing system

These challenges are being overcome, and it seems that at least four groups (in Korea, Japan and China) are charging forward towards mass production of ink-jet printed OLEDs. Ink-jet printer makers and soluble material suppliers are also optimistic ink-jet printing commercialization will soon be here as the material performance gap is diminishing.

Samsung Display released a new VR AMOLED display, a 3.5" QHD (1440x1600) panel - with a very high density, 615 PPI. Click here for more information on this new panel.

Let us know if you are interested in obtaining SDC's latest VR AMOLED panel, or browse for other OLEDs at our extensive OLED catalog.

During an OLED display Seminar in Korea, UniJet's CEO Kim Seok-Soon said that new advances in Ink-Jet printing technologies could enable displays that are over 500 PPI - and so make printing a viable technology to produce small and medium-sized OLED panels.

Kim says that current ink-jet printing processes can reach to to 150 or 200 PPI, which is good enough for TV production (enough for a 8K 55" panel in fact) but not good enough for small sized displays. However current laser-droplet measurement processes could enable discharge control of less than 0.1 μm and a volume accuracy of less than 0.1% - enough to reach 550 PPI. Kim estimates that such technologies could be ready for mass production lines by 2020.

In January 2015 the EU launched a new project to develop next-generation large-area OLED microdisplays. The so-called LOMID (Large cost-effective OLED microdisplays and their applications) project's main goal is to produce 13x21 mm (~1-inch diagonal) 1200x1920 (2,300 PPI) 120Hz curved OLED microdisplay.

Dr. Uwe Fogel, the project's coordinator from the Fraunhofer FEP institute, updated today that the consortium managed to produce the first microdisplay samples at satisfactory yields, and it is now improving these yields. LOMID partners are already demonstrating the microdisplays in smart glasses for both VR and visually-impaired people.