WRGB - Page 11

According to Japan Economic Newswire, Sharp decided to launch a three-year project to develop OLED mass production technologies. Sharp's mass production technology will be ready by 2016 and then the company will decide whether they will build their own OLED fab or outsource the production to other makers or even license or sell the technology. It's not clear whether Sharp aims to make OLEDs for mobile displays, flexible OLEDs or OLED TV panels.

According to JEN Sharp will release its 3-year business plan on May 14, and then we'll know whether the OLED project is indeed included in their plan. The report says that Sharp plans to use "unique materials" that will make "clearer OLED images". Perhaps they mean SEL's and Sharp's new crystal structure innovation, used in the company's latest OLED prototypes.

Japan Display developed a new 5.2" Full-HD (423 ppi) OLED panel, using an WRGB structure and an LTPS backplane. It seems that JDI is advancing quickly in their OLED program, this comes just four months after JDI announced a 4.5" 1280x720 (326 ppi) panel. Back then JDI said they plan to start producing AMOLEDs by 2014.

This is quite an achievement by JDI. Just to compare, Samsung's highest resolution OLED panel, the 4.99" FHD one used in the GS4 has a ppi of 441, but it uses a Pentile matrix.

We all know that LG Display managed to beat Samsung and be the first company to actually produce and ship OLED TV panels. Today the Korea Times claims that Samsung decided to adopt LG's own WRGB architecture and the company will start producing such OLED TV panels towards the end of 2013.

Samsung and LG have taken different paths towards large sized OLED panels. Samsung is using an LTPS backplane and a direct-emission (or side by side) architecture which means that there are three sub pixels for each pixel (red, green and blue). Samsung's design does not use any color filters. LG's OLED panels use an Oxide-TFT backplane and white sub pixels with color filters (this is called WRGB because there are four subpixels: red, green, blue and one white, non filtered. Is is also referred to sometimes as WOLED-CF).

Update: according to some people, Sony's (and Panasonic's) new OLED prototypes actually use white OLEDs with color filters (WOLED-CF) and not RGB sub pixels with color filters. Hopefully I'll get more information on this soon...

During CES 2013, both Sony and Panasonic unveiled 56" 4K OLED TV panel prototypes. Both panels use Sony's Super Top Emission structure. Those panels used color filters, which caused some confusion, so I thought I'd explain Sony's technology.

Super Top Emission utilizes RGB OLED subpixels, a microcavity structure and color filters. Sony says that this simultaneously enhances color purity, attains higher contrast and achieves lower power consumption.

LG has unveiled a new 55" curved OLED TV, called the EA9800. While I don't think LG is actually close to start producing such a TV with a flexible OLED panel (they didn't discuss the release date or price), it's a good sign that they gave a model number.

The EA9800 features an Oxide-TFT WRGB Full-HD OLED panel (like LG's 55EM9700 OLED TV). The TV features "infinite" contrast ratio, passive 3D, Smart Touch Controls and a "paper-slim" design. It is made from Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (CFRP). The curved screen "removes any hint of visual distraction to maximize the viewing experience".

LG announced that it is bringing its OLED TVs to CES 2013 (January 8-11)- and the company further enhanced its 55" WRGB OLED TV in technology and in design. The new model weighs just 3.5Kg (500 grams less than the older one shown at CES 2012) and is still 4mm thick. As LG says in its PR: "LG Display is truly laying the prologue for the new OLED TV era".

LG's OLED TV features FPR passive 3D, 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio and fast response time (1,000 times faster than LCD according to LG). The TV is based on LG Display's Oxide-TFT white-OLED with color filters (WRGB) OLED panel. The TV is expected to launch in 2013 for a price of around $10,000 at first. Earlier this month the TV (model 55EM9700-UA) passed through the FCC as it includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules and so needs to get approved by the FCC before it can be sold in the US.

eMagin reported their Q3 2012 financial results today. Revenues were $7.5 million (Q3 2011 revenues were $8.3, the decrease is because of lower R&D contract revenue). Net income was $340,000. eMagin has $16.6 million in cash and the company maintains their 2012 revenue guidance of $30-$34 million.

Regarding the camera electronic viewfinder project, eMagin says that they shipped some first prototypes, and are implementing further improvements - mainly a 67% increase in color gamut. This means that the current crop of digital cameras with OLED XGA viewfinders (the Fujifilm X-E1, the panasonic GH3 and Sony's A99, NEX-6 and the RX-1.) do not use eMagin's microdisplays (we actually assumed thus back when the cameras were announced). In fact eMagin says that they hope to ship the microdisplays during Q1 2013, and the product will probably ship in Q2. This is a high-end camera, but eMagin says these kinds of cameras can sell about 100,000 units a year.

Japan Display unveiled their first OLED prototype, a 4.5" 1280x720 (326 ppi) panel at the FPDI 2012 exhibition. JD is using an WRGB architecture (white OLEDs with color filters) and a top-emission device structure.

JD says that mass production of this panel will begin in fiscal 2014. Back in April 2012 they announced plans to start OLED mass production by March 2013. In any case, it's great to see their first OLED prototype.

eMagin reported their Q2 2012 results with record revenues of $8.6 million (a 15.3% increase over Q2 2011). Net income was $577,000. eMagin has about $13.3 million in cash. During Q2 the company bought back 125,000 shares (average price $2.95).

New deposition machine

Andrew Sculley (eMagin's CEO) says that eMagin have finally started to produce microdisplays on their new deposition machine. The machine isn't yet fully optimized, and they are also producing on their older Satella machine. eMagin says that once the new machine is fully optimized (they need to automate a certain process still), capacity will grow 10-fold, and the displays will have better uniformity - which will increase quality and yields.

DisplaySearch says that the AMOLED market is expected to grow almost tenfold from 2012 (2.3 million square meters) to 2016 (22 million square meters). DisplaySearch are basing their forecast on planned investments, and they say that most of the capacity increase will be driven by OLED TV production.

While Samsung has been successful in improving yields for small OLED production (to an almost-LCD level) and thus enabling an only 30% premium over LCDs, producing large OLED panels is still very expensive - mainly due to low yields and high material costs.