Quantum Dots - Page 9

Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) released a new free white paper (sponsored by Nanosys, a quantum-dot producer) in which it analyses the premium TV market and compares the future of OLED TV to that of QD-LCD TVs.

According to DSCC, the total TV market will grow from 261 million units in 2016 to 282 million in 2021 - a slow CAGR of 1.6". The OLED TV market will grow at a rapid rate of 50% - from 0.9 million panels in 2016 to 6.8 million in 2021. Even at this fast growth rate, OLEDs will represent only 2.4% of the total TV market in 2021. The main constraints towards faster OLED TV growth, according to DSCC, will be production capacity and not demand.

StoreDot was established in 2011, to commercialize bio-organic quantum dots based on a process developed at Tel Aviv University. The company's first product was to be a memory device - hence the name StoreDot. In 2013 I visited the company in its Ramat Gan office to report on its quantum dot advances for display applications.

Since 2013, a lot has happened at StoreDot. The company changed its direction and is now focused on a new organic-material synthesis method that enabled it to develop nanomaterials that exhibit quantum dot like performance but that are not actually quantum dots. The company is now targeting two applications - fast charging batteries and displays. StoreDot has moved to large offices in Herzelia, has now over 60 employees and raised over $60 million dollars (led by Samsung Ventures). The one thing that did not change is the name - even though the company is neither into memory devices nor quantum dots anymore...

Nanoco, a UK-based cadmium-free quantum-dot developer, announced that it acquired a group of QD patents from Kodak. These patents are connected to the use of quantum dots in Q-LED displays.

Q-LED displays are emissive displays, similar to OLEDs, but ones that use QDs as the emitting materials. These displays make use of the dots electroluminescent, as opposed to current QD-LCD displays that use the dots photoluminescent to enhance the color gamut and efficiency of LED-based LCDs.

According to our (unverified) source, Samsung is set to acquire quantum dots developer QDVision for $70 million. Samsung is accelerating its quantum dot technology development, and according to some reports aims to produce QLED TVs by 2019.

It seems a rather low price for QD Vision - our source says that the company is low on cash, although QDV did raise $22 million exactly a year ago. QDVision also announced a new joint-development agreement with BASF for a QD-enhanced backlight and color filter for LCD displays.

Samsung Display is still struggling with technical issues in its large-area OLED TV program, and SDC's TV focus switched to quantum dots enhanced LCDs a couple of years ago. These TVs use the photoluminescence of QDs to enhance the white-light produced by the LED backlights.

But quantum dots also feature electroluminescence - which means that these materials can be used to directly emit light, in a similar way to OLED materials. This technology has several challenges to overcome before it can be mass produced though, but Digitimes Research now reports that Samsung is aiming to produce so-called Q-LED TVs by 2019.

UBI Research says that WOLED technology will lead the premium TV market from 2020 onwards. LCD will not be able to match the performance of OLED TVs at the high-end of the TV market, and solution-based OLED TVs and QD TVs will find it hard to penetrate the market as WOLED technology is one step ahead in commercialization.

According to UBI, in 2016 OLED TVs will grab a 16.7% share of the global premium TV market. In 2020, OLED TVs will lead that market with a 68.1% share.

Samsung Electronics applied for a QLED TV trademark in the US - the trademark specifically is Samsung QLED. In the application document, Samsung said QLED technology will be applied not only to TVs - but also to mobile phone displays, monitors - and other devices.

Samsung is already shipping quantum-dots enhanced LCD TVs, but a QLED display means that the quantum-dots are used as emissive materials - there's no need for a backlight or filter layers. These kinds of displays will be very similar to OLEDs.

Samsung announced plans to launch 14 new SUHD (LCDs enhanced with Quantum-Dots) TV models in 2016. Samsung says they applied a "second-generation quantum dot technology" which will update the overall picture quality, and is also Cadmium-free.

Samsung acknowledges that their 2015 SUHD TV "may have fallen behind" OLED TVs in terms of picture quality - but the new models will have "drastically" improved brightness.

A Lux Research analyst posted an article on Printed Electronics Now with the company's latest emerging display market forecasts. Lux sees three display technologies as emerging ones in the next 5 years: OLEDs, Quantum Dots and reflective displays. The whole group will grow at a 24% CAGR to reach $21 billion in 2020 - most of the growth will come from OLEDs, with QDs growing faster but from a smaller market in 2015.

Specifically regarding OLEDs, Lux sees the market growing from $6.2 billion in 2015 to $15 billion in 2020 - a CAGR of 19%. In 2020 smartphones will still be the leading market as OLEDs will not be able to capture a large portion of the TV market (due to high cost and differential aging issues). The OLED TV market will only reach $480 million in 2020.

Quantum Dots developer QDVision announced a new $22 million investment round led by Tsing Capital and BASF Venture Capital. QDVision says the funds will be used for further development efforts and to support the company's accelerating growth as QD enhanced LCDs are entering the market.

QDVision also announced a new joint-development agreement with BASF for a QD-enhanced backlight and color filter for LCD displays. For more information on QDVision's technology, hop over to the company's presentation on the OLED Auditorium.