Following strong demand for IT devices, and Samsung's success in the OLED laptop market, OLED makers have began to plan building new OLED production lines specifically for IT applications: laptops, tablets and monitors.
Several OLED makers, including Samsung, LG and BOE, are considering building 8.5-Gen production lines for this market. In fact DSCC estimated that there are 11 such lines under development right now. But it turns out that this is not so simple as designing the evaporation equipment for larger substrates is a challenge.
According to a new report from Korea, LG Display did not yet start ordering equipment for its new 8.5-Gen fab (which will be a conversion of its LCD P7 line). The company is talking to both Sunic System and Canon Tokki, and did not yet reach an agreement on the price of the evaporation systems, and the project is delayed.
Sunic is developing a horizontal vapor deposition system, and expects to be ready with a system in the first half of 2023. Canon Tokki is adopting a system which cuts the substrate in half before the deposition (so the deposition of OLED materials is done on half 8.5-Gen glasses, or 6-Gen glasses) Canon is also not ready completely to deploy the new 8.5-Gen systems.
Samsung, meanwhile, is in talks with ULVAC and is also negotiating the price of the deposition system for 8.5-Gen production. ULVAC is aiming to use a vertical deposition approach in its 8.5-Gen line systems.
