Substrate - Page 6

LUX Research released a new OLED lighting report (Finding the End of the Tunnel for OLED Lighting) in which they say that OLED lighting will remain a small niche player in the future - in fact in 2020 worldwide revenues will only amount to $58 million.

LUX Research says that while OLEDs will drop from $18 per lumen today to $0.71 per lumen in 2020, this will not be enough as the technology will still lag behind other display technologies, and this will limit adoption. LUX Research also forecasts that flexible OLEDs on plastic substrate will be cheaper than glass - and will cost $0.18 per lumens in 2020. They say that 63% of the OLED market in 2020 will be flexible OLEDs.

ETNews posted a couple of articles claiming that Samsung Mobile Display plans to start mass producing flexible AMOLEDs in 2012. This is actually consistent with what we hear from other experts - although Samsung officially said in December 2010 that the plan is to start mass production in 2013-2014. ETNews says that the recent joint-venture with Ube Kosan on Polyimide production means that the development process of the new technology is complete and Samsung now focuses on production technologies.

Samsung's flexible AMOLEDs will be fabricated on a plastic (Polyimide) substrate and will be able to withstand high temperature (up to 350-400 degrees). The displays can be bendable - and rolled down to a two centimeter radius. ETNews says that Samsung will use the new displays in mobile phones, tablets and also watches and glasses. Here's a nice video showing the flexible displays:

Samsung Mobile Display announced a new Joint Venture (50:50) with Japan's Ube Kosan to develop and produce polyimide resin - to be used as substrates for flexible displays (and other applications, too). The initial investment is 19.4 billion won ($18 million USD). The new polyimide material will be heat resistant even at high temperatures. The production facilities will be built in Samsung's industrial complex in Tangjeong, Korea.

Samsung have already demonstrated flexible OLED prototypes built on a polyimide substrate, back in November 2010. According to our information, Samsung plans to start producing flexible OLEDs in 2012 or 2013, and this is one of the first steps they announce towards that goal.

Update: We have some info and a new photo of Toshiba's flexible OLED prototype. See below.

Toshiba is showing an ultra thin (0.1mm) 3" flexible OLED panel prototype (160x120) that weights just one gram. The OLED is built using an oxide semiconductor TFT (IGZO) unto a plastic substrate. Toshiba says that they will be able to start producing displays based on this production method by 2014 or 2015.

Toshiba's OLED uses white OLED material with color filters. The architecture is bottom-emission. Toshiba says that the managed to lower the process temperature to 200°C, and so were able to use the plastic substrate.

SemiQuartz Wafer announces new glass substrates that are suited for OLED production. The company says that these new substrate are better than what's currently on the market: total thickness variation is less than 2 micrometers and the roughness is less than .3 nanometers. The new substrates are now available.

A low thickness variation is important as any variations can lead to color shifts, non-uniform brightness and even short-circuit of an individual pixel which could hard the OLED lifetime. Studies conducted by SemiQuarz Wafer revealed OLED malfunctions when the substrate’s permeation rate exceeded 1 x 10-6 g/m² per day 25 degrees Celsius. In addition, the substrate must also meet specific requirements in terms of chemical resistance, temperature stability and moisture sensitivity.

Researchers from Samsung Electronics developed the world's first Quantum-Dots emissive full-color display (called QLED). Samsung produced a 4" 320x240 Active-Matrix QD-Emissive display made on both glass and flexible plastic.

QLED display promise to be more efficient than LCDs and OLEDs, and be cheaper to make (Samsung estimates that they will cost less than half of what it costs to make LCDs or OLED panels) - but as of today, QLEDs are less efficient than OLEDs, and also offer about 10,000 lifetime hours at best. It is estimated that it will take at least 3 years to commercialize QLEDs - and obviously by then OLEDs will improve a lot, too.

Victrex and the Holst Centre presented progress in flexible substrate development based on Victrex's APTIV PEEK polymer film. The results are promising and Victrex decided to step into a full partnership with the Holst Centre. Victrex's material can withstand high processing temperatures in comparison with other thermoplastic materials, and can be used as a substrate for flexible and printed electronics such as OLED.

Specifically, enhancements were applied during the manufacturing process of APTIV PEEK film in order to fulfill the dimensional stability requirements of flexible substrates used in plastic electronics applications. In the study, the performance of the APTIV flexible electronics grade was compared to that of the standard extruded APTIV film along with other competing candidate films. Critical performance parameters were measured, such as the coefficient of thermal expansion, thermo mechanical properties and dimensional stability, mostly at up to 230ºC.

Plastic Logic announced a major investment from Russia's RUSNANO. The $700 million (!) investment will be used to build a mass-production factory for thin, light and flexible plastic-based e-paper displays. Those displays will be used in Plastic Logic’s first commercial consumer electronics product, a next-generation electronic reader for business that is currently under development.

The new factory will be built in Zelenograd, Russia, and is scheduled to begin production in 2013/2014 - and will be able to produce hundreds of thousands displays monthly. This will be Plastic Logic's second factory (the first one was opened in 2008 in Dresden, Germany). Russia hopes that this move will establish a commercial plastic electronics industry.

The Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University and AU-Optronics will co-develop mixed oxide thin film transistors (TFTs) for flexible AMOLED displays. AUO and the FDC will work in active partnership with dedicated engineering teams to advance mixed oxide transistor technology and the handling capabilities of conventional flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing processes to accommodate the thin, plastic substrates used for AMOLED flexible displays. Mixed oxide TFTs offer a better ability to drive currents and improve the lifetime and stability of transistors used for OLED displays.

Flexible AMOLED by ITRI

AUO is also working towards flexible displays together with Taiwan's ITRI. AUO plans to start mass producing AMOLED displays in Q2 2011 (but these will not be flexible...).

A few days ago we reported about Samsung's new 4.5" WVGA (800x480) flexible AMOLED prototype, and today we have a couple of new photos and some more information.

The panel is made from LTPS TFTs, on a polyimide substrate. The OLED is top-emission, and is made by vapor deposition. The brightness is 250cd/m², and the contrast ratio is 100,000:1.