There is a surge of interest in the AR (augmented reality)/VR (virtual teality) market due to recent focus on the metaverse by industry leaders such as Meta and others. Apple’s introduction of Vision Pro started the new era of spatial computing. Some see AR/VR as the next generation 3D digital interactive IT platform. Up to now, the reality of the market has not matched the high expectations. As pointed out by IDC’s September press release, “Worldwide AR/VR headset shipments declined for the fourth quarter in a row as volumes fell 44.6% year over year during the second quarter of 2023.” Multiple challenges need to be resolved to drive demand and increase adoption rates. Innovations in display technologies are essential to develop AR/VR products and drive market growth.
Higher Growth ForecastAs per Guillaume Chansin’s (director of display research, DSCC) presentation at DSCC’s AR/VR Display Forum in September, the AR/VR headset market is expected to have a stronger growth rate in the next 5 years starting from 2024. The assumption is that 2024 will see significant growth thanks to new headsets powered by the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2. IDC also forecasts AR/VR headset shipments to rebound in 2024, growing 46.8% year over year due to new hardware from Meta and ByteDance, the introduction of Apple’s Vision Pro, and the growing presence of smaller companies. DSCC expects low volume units (300,000 units) for Vision Pro with a $3,499 price tag and extra costs for users who need eyesight correcting optical inserts (designed by Zeiss). Meta is expected to launch Quest 3 by the end of this year and Samsung could re-enter the market after a long absence.
AR/VR display shipments will be bigger than headsets with the trend of multiple display use in the products. Most devices will have two displays (one per eye). DSCC forecasts display shipments for AR/VR to reach 124 million units in 2028. As Guillaume pointed out at the forum, “AR/VR is not going to replace the phone but will instead be used as a second screen (like tablets today).” DSCC expects VR (including pass-through AR) will dominate the consumer space. See-through AR will be mostly for professionals.
Multiple Display Technologies BattleDisplay requirements are different for VR (and pass-through AR) and see-through AR.
VR (and pass-through AR):

• Mostly based on TFT LCD and AMOLED
• MicroOLED has been introduced
• Needs high pixel density to reduce screen door effect
• Requires high refresh rates and a short duty cycle to reduce motion sickness
• Need smaller lighter headsets

For see-through AR:

• All headsets: microdisplays (DLP, Micro-LCD, LCoS, MicroOLED) or laser beam scanner (LBS).
• MicroLED entering the market
• Need high resolution, very high brightness displays, glass-like design, small size (thinner and lighter) and power efficiency
• The basic configuration includes a display unit, magnifying optics, and a combiner

In AR/VR, system resolution can be measured as PPD (pixels per degree). If the PPD is not high enough then a screen door effect occurs. To overcome that, many companies are starting to use high resolution micro-displays. VR systems are starting to use MicroOLED to reduce form factors and reduce the screen door effect.
DSCC forecasts that OLED on Silicon will capture the largest share of shipments for the VR display market with LCD in second place in the next few years. AMOLED will lose shares due to limitations in pixel density. MicroLED with higher potential for brightness will have an advantage for see-through AR but is less important for VR.
​MicroOLED: Poised for Dominance for VR and See-Through AR DisplayOLED micro-displays (MicroOLED) are starting to be used in VR/MR (mixed reality) displays, especially now by Apple Vision Pro. It can be used both for VR and see-through AR. It can help reduce form factor and screen door effects. MicroOLED displays can generally be categorized into RGB OLED and white OLED (WOLED). However, high resolution RGB OLED micro displays still face challenges due to shadow effects during the deposition process of FMM (fine metal mask). White OLED uses a color filter to generate the image which can achieve high PPI (4000PPI). However, the color filter absorbs a very high percentage of the emitted light that limits maximum brightness for MicroOLED. Sony has been using microLens to increase peak brightness of OLED micro-displays. Kopin has developed a trio stack architecture to increase brightness. eMagin has achieved 10,000 nits brightness in WUXGA 4K OLED micro-display, made by direct patterning (eliminating color filter) of red, green, and blue (RGB) sub-pixel emitters on the backplane. Samsung Display has acquired eMagin.
For MicroOLED, its higher PPD, high luminance (to eliminate motion artifacts), high resolution (to eliminate screen door effects), high fill factor, higher efficiency and longer lifetime capabilities result in increased demand for VR. See-through AR also requires very high brightness, very high resolution and very high contrast. These requirements make OLED micro displays more applicable for both AR and VR.

• SiOLED (OLED oS) MicroOLED has higher efficiency, longer lifetime and gaining share
• Apple introduced Apple Vision Pro: 2 OLEDoS (SiOLED micro-display) from Sony + 1 AMOLED for $3,499, expected in early 2024
• Sony has 1.3” Micro OLED (using microLens), 4K MicroOLED display for VR, 4032PPI
• LGD has shown 0.42-inch OLEDoS (OLED on Silicon) display for AR, 3,500PPI
• BOE showcased 1.3-inch 4K4K Micro OLED VR display, >4000PPI
• Samsung Display has started pilot line for MicroOLED for mass production in 2024 and has acquired eMagin

Source: Sony Semiconductor SolutionsMicroLED: Emerging Presence with AR DisplayMicroLED’s very high brightness, high reliability (inorganic LED display) and ability to create ultra-compact form factors with low power consumption will have major advantages for the see-through AR market. For the development of high efficiency MicroLED with submicron chip size on a single substrate is needed. At the same time, MicroLED’s efficiency declines as the chip size shrinks. Research from Samsung Display has demonstrated that “the size-dependent external quantum efficiency (EQE) reduction problem can be alleviated by minimizing surface defects using an appropriate sidewall passivation structure and method” as pointed out by the insightful article “Advanced VR and AR displays” in the Information Display magazine (March/April 2023) by the Samsung Display team. According to the article, several research groups and companies are developing cross-sectional RGB and stacked vertical RGB to implement RGB on a single wafer, but the technology is not mature enough to be applied in mass production. In the first step, three RGB panels will be commercialized using an optical combiner and in the next step, AR products using a monolithic RGB panel are expected to be developed. Recent demos of full color microLED have been shown by Jade Bird Display (JBD), Porotech, PlayNitride and others.
According to the presentation by Nikhil Balaram, CEO of Mojo at DSCC’s AR/VR forum, there is a need for efficient submicron size RGB MicroLED on a single substrate. For manufacturing, it needs a mature ecosystem and cost-effective scalable process. Mojo has developed a color display using high performance quantum dots (HPQD) with efficient sub-micron Blue and Green microLED and high efficiency Red and Green QD ink. They are using a 300mm Gallium Nitride on Silicon manufacturing process.
Ilan Jen-La Plante, Senior Staff Scientist from Nanosys, said at the forum, “QDCC process simplifies microLED manufacturing and improves yield of standard mass transfer of R/G/B LED chips as only blue chips are required. Driving electronics will be simplified as only blue chips are used. Red QD-MicroLED is much more efficient than intrinsic red MicroLED especially as small pixel sizes”.
Jade Bird Display (JBD) has announced in October, “brightness of its 0.13-inch red MicroLED chip has exceeded 1 million nits. JBD’s red MicroLED pixel pitch is only 4um while emitter size is even <2um, facing high challenge on efficiency. Combined with excellent passivation with new materials and process, the finalized design further breaks through the size effect barrier and significantly boosts internal quantum efficiency. The red brightness milestone brings JBD’s Hummingbird X-cube polychrome projector to a new level. JBD will push out its mass produced Hummingbird Optical engines to boost consumer AR glass market”. The Hummingbird polychrome projector integrates three 0.13” microLED displays. MicroLEDs are moving towards commercialization:

• Applied Materials:
  • UV-A microLEDs and Cd-free RGB QDs, high-EQE, high-efficiency, simplified mass transfer, pixel repair scheme by 4th subpixel, improve manufacturing yield and reduce production cost
• PlayNitride:
  • For AR/MR, μ-PixeLED, a single device 0.49-inch FHD full-color MicroLED micro-display, ultra-high 4,536ppi, >150,000nits
• Porotech:
  • 0.26, 1280×720 MicroLED microdisplay single panel for full color for AR
• JBD:
  • 0.13” Monolithic MicroLED Microdisplay for AR, VGA, with polychrome projector (in production)
• NS Nanotech:
  • NanoLED micro-display for ARVR, submicron-scale, high-efficiency, multicolor light sources monolithically integrated on a single chip

LCD: Strong Presence in VR Display with MiniLEDLCD is leading the VR market with technology advancements such as high PPI. The companies are now using advanced LTPO (LTPS+Oxide backplane) to produce the display with higher aperture ratio which is essential for VR. The use of local dimming technology achieved higher contrast and lower power consumption. The integration of MiniLED backlight has helped increase LCD performance in terms of response time, contrast, brightness and lifespan. LCDs are also more cost competitive.
For the AR/VR market, each display technology has its own advantages and challenges. Innovations in display technology, especially for Micro OLED and MicroLED, are essential to drive AR/VR market growth.
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com

Shoei Chemical of Japan has acquired Nanosys the leading quantum dots material supplier on September 6th, 2023. Quantum dots (QD) are key enabling technology for next-generation displays including MiniLEDs, QD-OLEDs and electroluminescent NanoLEDs providing growth opportunity for Shoei Chemical. Nanosys has been the first company to focus on quantum dots with >1000 unique product design-ins, >800 patents and applications and >140K kilograms of QD shipments.  As of 2023, consumer electronics brands have shipped >70 million devices including tablets, monitors and TV based on Nanosys’ s proprietary quantum dot technology. Nanosys has been working with Shoei since 2019 and announced a partnership with the company in 2020 to expand QD manufacturing. Shoei will continue to operate the Nanosys brand and Silicon Valley-based R&D facility. Major benefits will be coming in future in terms of expanded capabilities and resources.  What will be the implications for the QD display industry?
QDEF Plus MiniLED: Potential for Higher Growth with More Efficient Supply ChainQD enhancement film (QDEF) enabled LCD TV to have a wider color gamut (WCG), better color purity, very high brightness, and more immersive HDR experience while maintaining power efficiency. The cost of QDEF film has reduced considerably in recent years enabling a combination of MiniLED and QD backlight LCD TV for the premium market. By the use of multi zone dimmable backlights, MiniLED with QDEF has enabled LCD to display performance close to OLED. There have been 100% attach rates for QD in MiniLED TV. QD technology is also evolving with new processors, new materials, and new product offerings. Nanosys has introduced xQDEF diffuser plate with precise light diffusion necessary for higher contrast levels in MiniLED and full-array-local-dimming (FALD) LCDs. The xQDEF diffuser plate can simplify the display assembly process, enabling lower costs. Most of the top TV manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL, Hisense, Vizio, and Skyworth have already adopted QD display technology in their TVs. It has enabled LCD technology to reinvent itself and has created growth opportunities in the TV market especially when combined with MiniLED backlights.
MiniLED QD TV is the best-performing LCD TV in the market but it still lags OLED TV in terms of shipments and revenue. It has the potential to offer even stronger growth in future years by offering larger, higher performance, thinner and more power efficient TV at a lower cost. Cost is still a big challenge. With significant cost improvement, it could trigger a faster replacement cycle for TV, enabling MiniLED QD TV to outperform OLED TV shipments in the future. A paper by BOE’s S.W. Yang at Display Week 2023 symposium proposed, “A small aspect ratio high voltage Mini LED solution that can realize low-cost glass-based MLED backlights”. According to his conclusion, “In general, this solution can greatly improve the cost- effectiveness of MLED backlight products, enabling COG MLED to have technical advantages while overcoming the disadvantage of higher cost than PCB. It plays an important role in promoting COG Mini LED backlight products to seize the first opportunity in the MLED industry, and can be widely used in a full range of Mini LED backlight products such as commercial display, TV, MNT, NB, automotive, and VR”.

According to Jeff Yurek, VP of Marketing for Nanosys, “We’re excited about what this acquisition means for the near-term growth of Quantum Dots. Shoei’s proven ability to produce Quantum Dots at scale, their proximity to our key customers – over 95% of whom are outside the U.S.– and their ability to accelerate the development of our next-generation technologies made them a natural fit to acquire Nanosys. As of this year, Shoei is already producing 100% of Nanosys quantum dot materials. So this should be a seamless transition for our customers.”  Shoei can provide scale and efficiency needed for lower cost and higher supply of QD materials. With technology developments and more efficient supply chain for QD material, MiniLED QD TV will have higher growth opportunity. 


QD-OLED: Better Development for Next Generation ProductsQD color conversion technology has been used by Samsung Display to introduce QD-OLED display at 2022 CES. The company now has 65”, 55” and 77” QD-OLED TVs and 34” and 49” monitor panels. Sony and Samsung Electronics are offering QD-OLED TV and Samsung Electronics and Dell Alienware are offering QD-OLED gaming monitors. QD-OLED technology of blue OLED display with printed quantum dot layer color conversion and sub-pixel level dimming, display can achieve expanded color gamut, higher color volume, and color luminosity. However, blue emitting materials still have efficiency and lifetime issues. UDC has announced that they expect to meet preliminary target specs with their phosphorescent blue. The use of phosphorescent blue can help to reduce multiple layers, increase efficiency and lifetime. It can also help to reduce costs and expand existing capacity by reducing the number of blue layers. QD-OLED products sales are increasing.
According to Chirag Shah’s presentation at Business conference of DW23, in 2023, QD-OLED with hyper efficient EL material, advanced optimization algorithm InteliSense AI, and advanced Cd Free quantum conversion material has been able to achieve 33% more color and brightness reaching >2000 nits. Samsung Display has developed a new metric called XCR (Experienced Color Range) which measures “The Real Feel of Color” showing increase in color saturation causes perceived increase in brightness.
 Perceived brightness(Q) = Achromatic Luminance (white) + Chromatic Luminance (color vividness).
 Nanosys’s paper by Jen-La Plante and others at DisplayWeek 2023 pointed out that, “As the technology of QDCC further matures, the size of the blue driving backlight pixel will continue to decrease in size due to two primary driving factors. First, as QDCC expands to small format displays like watches and mobile devices, the blue backlight pixel will shrink in size as a response to increasing demands for screen resolution. Second, for larger format displays like television and monitors, the high costs of epitaxial thin film growth on a per area basis may drive adoption of smaller backlights”. QD material developments enable these next gen products.  OLED technology is expected to go through major improvements in next few years with development of all phosphorescent RGB, improvement in material performance and higher production with multiple suppliers bringing in Gen 8.7 OLED fab capacity. Competition will be fierce with QD-LCD and OLED. As per Jeff Yurek,  “Shoei stands for dependability and trust. Nanosys is all about innovation. Shoei plus Nanosys brings together dependability with innovation in what I think is a powerful combination. Together we’ll be able to push quantum dots further and deliver those innovations at scale.”   
QD-MicroLED: Higher Potential for Manufacturing ImprovementsThe mass transfer process that requires bonding RGB (Red Green Blue) MicroLED to the display backplane accurately and efficiently is very challenging. Color conversion by Quantum Dots (QDs) (QDCC) or by phosphor provides another alternative. Using single-color (blue) MicroLED chips and color converting them with QD layers can help in the manufacturing process. Many companies have shown prototypes and developing this technology further. AUO has also developed its rollable MicroLED display using a color conversion layer to form the red sub-pixels. Through the color conversion material, the blue light is converted into red light. As per AUO’s paper by C.J. Liu at DisplayWeek 2023, “Blue MicroLEDs have better thermal stability than red MicroLEDs. Therefore, the reliability of displays will be improved even at high ambience temperature. The efficiency of red sub-pixels was also increased by using the color conversion technique with blue MicroLEDs”.
Nanosys’s presentation at DisplayWeek Business Conference this year showed, “QDCC on UV MicroLED enables high brightness, superior color quality, and high resolution with cost-effective manufacturing”. Applied Materials has introduced a novel and scalable approach to fabricate MicroLED displays using high efficiency UV MicroLEDs with 4-subpixel layout, and in-situ curing Cd-free R/G/B quantum dot formulation. The company has developed a prototype of a 1.37” smart watch display UV-A MicroLED with LTPS backplane. Applied Material’s UV-A MicroLEDs and Cd-free RGB QDs with high-EQE, high-efficiency, simplified mass transfer and pixel repair scheme by 4th subpixel can improve manufacturing yield and reduce production cost.  Nanosys and Shoei together can enable even higher manufacturing improvements for QD-MicroLED.


QD NanoLED:  Opportunity for Lower Cost Emissive Product  NanoLED, an emissive display, has the advantages of perfect black, better color, and wider viewing angle. It also provides true HDR luminance and higher reliability (inorganic materials). However, the biggest attraction for this next generation display is the potential for ultra-thin flexible displays at low cost with its solution process printed manufacturing. NanoLED display sometimes referred as QD-LED or QD-EL which is based on QD’s electroluminescence to directly produce 3 (RGB) primary colors in to each pixel. BOE has developed a 55-inch 8K active matrix QLED (QD-EL) using inkjet printing.  Inkjet process still has issues and still requires more research. According to BOE’s paper by Y. Zhang at DisplayWeek 2023, “The successful fabrication of 8K display verifies the possibility of mass production of AMQLED large-size high-resolution display technology, and provides a technical basis for the development of quantum dot display technology in the future”.
Samsung has demonstrated all ink-jet-printed 12.4” full color EL-QD panel with cd-free RGB QDs in the top emission structure by inkjet printing of all layers except electrodes. According to Samsung paper by J. Ha at DisplayWeek 2023, “Inkjet-printing of self-emissive displays based on organic light- emitting materials (OLEDs) or QDs (EL-QD) is a promising technology for saving manufacturing costs by drastic improvement of material consumption efficiency compared to the current thermal evaporation method of OLED panels. The use of expensive fine metal masks is negated in inkjet-printing. Further reduction in the initial capital investments can be made for all-inkjet-printing (AIP) process by eliminating relevant manufacturing process steps, reducing the total manufacturing cost by ~25% in comparison to white OLED. Especially, inkjet-printing is most suitable for producing EL-QD displays by formulating inks with RGB QDs and charge transport layers”. The solution-processing method, however, is complicated with difficulties in the formation of a well-defined multi-layer structure. 
Sharp has successfully developed an active matrix NanoLED display using RGB cadmium free QDs patterned by their photolithography process in the atmosphere. According to Sharp’s paper by S.Okamoto at DW2023, “Photolithography is a widely used technology in the manufacture of electronic devices and flat panel displays industry such as in the fabrication of backplanes. It can also be an effective technique for QDs patterning, considering that the manufacturing equipment is already installed in display factories”. The paper concluded, “We expect that NanoLED will evolve as a technology that will revolutionize the display industry, just as the previous generation of LCDs and OLEDs did”.
 Jeff Yurek of Nanosys said, “Electroluminescent Quantum Dots, or NanoLED as we call it, is the future display technology. NanoLED can deliver incredible performance from inorganic quantum dot emitter materials in terms of brightness, color and contrast. More importantly, it can be disruptively low cost since NanoLED displays can be made using solution processing. We can get rid of the costly evaporative steps and large vacuum chambers that are used in display making today. It’s incredibly exciting and it’s not too far off it is closer to commercialization than I think many people realize. Shoei is committed to the future of quantum dot technology and we’re excited to accelerate progress in NanoLEDs as a part of Shoei.“ 
With matured display applications market and slower market demand, technology innovations and cost reductions can help to drive replacement demand. If acquisition of Nanosys by Shoei can deliver technology innovation with lower costs, it will be good for the Quantum Dot display market.

​Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com

India has set up a program to develop semiconductor and display fab ecosystem. It is in line with the India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a technological hub of the world. India is new to electronic manufacturing and lacking the ecosystem for supply chain developments. It will take many years to set up manufacturing fabs. With geopolitical shifts in electronics supply chains and India government’s targeted policy for display fabs and major financial support, India has the potential to be the fifth manufacturing country for display.

India’s Vision: Position as a Global Hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM)
India’s ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) announced a scheme for setting up of Displays Fabs in India. In their announcement in December 2021, India specified the reasons for developing ESDM hub. Growth in manufacturing for India so far has been mostly “final assembly” using imported components and sub-assemblies/parts. This is due to lack of a robust semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem.  Display is a significant portion of the total bill of materials (BoM) of electronics products. India currently meets its display requirements exclusively through imports. The Indian government recognized that the electronics component manufacturing sector suffers varieties of issues:

• Lack of adequate infrastructure, domestic supply chain and logistics
• High cost of finance
• Inadequate availability of quality power
• Limited design capabilities

There is also need to focus on R& D and adequate skill development. The Indian government decided that given the state of the ecosystem and capital-intensive nature of display manufacturing, there is a need to incentivize the industry to set up display fab facilities in India. It will also strengthen the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in the country. Being the fifth largest economy now, India has the ambition to become a major semiconductor hub alongside US, Taiwan and South Korea. It has the vision to be the fifth country for display manufacturing along with China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.  

India’s Plan: A Modified Support Program for Display Fabs Set Up
​A modified program for semiconductors and display fab ecosystem was approved in September, 2022 by Government of India with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) and positioning India as the global hub for ESDM, with an outlay of over $9.2 billion. Fiscal support from Government of India includes:

• Demand Aggregation Support: Display Fab(s) set up in India will be supported through purchase preference in procurement of electronic products by the Government under the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India)
• Support for R&D, Skill Development and Training: Up to 2.5% of the outlay of the scheme shall be earmarked for meeting the R&D, skill development and training requirements for the development of display ecosystem in India.
• Tenure of the Scheme: Support under the scheme shall be provided for a period of six years. The tenure of the actual fiscal support outflow may be extended based on the approval of the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
• Capital Expenditure: Investment incurred in Building, Plant, Machinery, Clean rooms, Equipment and Associated Utilities. Investment incurred on R&D. Investment related to Transfer of Technology (ToT) Agreements. Investment incurred on Land

India has detail guidelines and notifications for this scheme: “The Modified Schemes for Setting up of Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs in India shall extend fiscal support of 50% of project cost on pari-passu basis to applicants who are found eligible and have the technology as well as capacity to execute such highly capital and resource intensive projects. Government of India will work closely with the State Governments to establish High-Tech Clusters with requisite infrastructure in terms of land, semiconductor grade water, high quality power, logistics and research ecosystem to approve applications for setting up at least two greenfield Semiconductor Fabs and two Display Fabs in the country”.

While central government in India is giving 50% in subsidy, some of the state governments are offering 40% to 50% of what central government is giving. Several state governments like Gujarat and Uttar Pradash have published their own semiconductor policies also. Depending on the state the applicants may get water and electricity at a highly subsidized rate and land, too. Adding it all together companies may be able to get 70% to 75% of their set up costs in subsidy from Government of India.

Vedanta’s Vision: Starting the First TFT LCD Manufacturing Fab in IndiaIn July, 2023, Vedanta Limited, India’s leading natural resources and technology conglomerate announced the addition of semiconductors and display glass manufacturing ventures to its diversified portfolio. Earlier, in Sep 2022, the two businesses had signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) to set up the semiconductor and display fabs in the western Indian state of Gujarat. At that time, it was announced that the project will be taken up by Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture. Foxconn has withdrawn from semi-conductor joint venture with Vedanta in July, 2023.  Vedanta is still optimistic about its vision of setting up semiconductor and display fabs and planning to start the set up after Indian government approval.  MeitY has also opened up application for the support program.
Vedanta group has Avanstrate Inc manufacturing Gen 4 to Gen 8 TFT display glass in Korea. The facility also serves as the company’s R&D center, working on developing wafer glass, ultra-thin glass, next gen cover glass and AR/VR glass applications. Y.J. Chen, CEO of Vedanta’s display business, said, “This is India’s time to become only the 5th country in the world to manufacture display glass. The impact on consumers in terms of affordability of devices will be huge.” Chen has 23 years of experience in display industry, and he worked previously with HKC Corp. He said in an interview that display venture will soon begin recruiting from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and other regions to set up LCD panel fab in India. Vedanta has signed MoUs with 20 South Korean firms to establish an electronics manufacturing hub.

Innolux: TFT LCD Technology Transfer Partner for Vedanta’s FabOn February 2023, Innolux, the display supplier from Taiwan made a public discloser that it has reached an agreement to transfer TFT LCD panel and module technology to Vedanta. Omdia’s blog in February, 2023 written by Charles Annis said, “The factory will be India’s first integrated flat panel display factory including both TFT, color filter, and cell frontplane processes as well as module assembly. The fab is likely to adopt Gen 8.6 or 2250 x 2600 mm substrates. A capacity of 60,000 substrates per month is currently assumed. Vedanta engineers are already involved in on-site training in Taiwan. Innolux presumably will receive a one-time technical transfer payment and then collect ongoing royalty payments per display when mass production begins”.

Source: OmdiaAs per July 12, 2023 DigiTimes article, “Innolux has said its plan to join hands with the Vedanta Group to establish the first TFT LCD production line in India with mass production capacity remains unchanged”.

Implication: For India and Display MarketSudharsan Kundu consultant to government of India MeitY, said in an interview, “For India it will benefit in terms of lowering the import of LCDs. It will generate tens of thousands of direct and indirect employments. Technological research quality will improve and innovation will improve”. With geopolitical shift of supply chains where many of the top brands diversifying and shifting away from China, India can provide huge advantage by being in the center of the globe, geographically. It can also help to import raw materials from Asian countries. In the global market LCD is losing shares to OLED. Top display suppliers such as Samsung and LG Display have shifted away from LCD with fab closures. Published news in India in June 2022, said that a 6th Gen AMOLED fab will be set up under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) in state of Telangana.  There has been no update on this project recently. An OLED fab in India will be possible with appropriate technology transfer partners.
A blog post from DSCC’s Ross Young in June, 2023 pointed out that as per frontplane technology:

• LCD capacity will remain significantly higher than OLED capacity throughout the forecast period despite significantly faster growth for OLED, 6.3% CAGR from 2021 to 2026 vs. LCD at a 1.6% CAGR.
• OLED capacity is projected to reach a 10.1% share in 2027, gaining share every year
• China is expected to dominate display capacity, growing from a 61% share in 2021 to a 70% from 2025-2027. 
• India is expected to invest from 2025 through Vedanta and reach a 1% share in 2027.

Source: DSCCDevelopment of display ecosystem will need capital, commitment, cooperation and partnership of many companies as well as strong support from central and state governments of India.  It will also take many years to make it successful. India can also consider new technology such as MicroLED to make it a hub for next gen display technology.

Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com

Emerging trends for next generation OLED displays were showcased and discussed at DisplayWeek 2023 through exhibitions, seminars, symposium and the Business Conference.  It was absolutely great to be back in person to meet, connect, discuss, listen and learn. With more than 5000 attendees it felt like a reunion after the Covid years.
What a difference a year make! The display industry has shifted from record growth and very high revenue in 2021 to a declined market in 2022. In times like these, innovations and developments in display materials, process, products and technology can help to recover and drive demand in future.
Display Market in DeclineAccording to DSCC Ross Young’s keynote presentation at the Business Conference,

• Display revenues peaked in 2021 on strong COVID demand and tight supply leading to a dramatic increase in panel prices. The 2021 display market grew 31% to a record $165B.
• 2022 revenue fell 22% to $128B with LCDs down 29% and OLEDs down 1% as prices collapsed and fell below cash costs.
• 2023 revenue is expected to fall 10% to $116B as demand remains soft and prices remain low, LCDs down 11%, OLEDs down 8%.

The display industry is in a tough place post COVID with demand down and supply up. Demand is proving to be inelastic, resulting in losses for both panel suppliers and TV brands. According to DSCC forecasts, market will recover starting from 2024.

• Slower supply growth and return of demand growth will enable the market to rebound to $148B in 2027, a 2.9% CAGR from ‘22 to ‘27.
• MicroLEDs and Micro OLEDs to grow at triple digit CAGRs with OLEDs growing at a 7% CAGR and LCDs falling at a 0.8% CAGR.

As Ross presented, OLED performance is getting better through tandem stacks, phosphorescent blue emitters, CoE, MLA, eLEAP/ViP, etc. OLED suppliers are targeting their G8.7 IGZO based RGB OLED fabs to address larger panel sizes and reduce costs.


Technology Development can Drive Display DemandLooking at the history of display market, we see that technology shift has helped to drive demand and gain higher adoption rates. Shift from CRTs to flat panel display LCD, shift from CCFL backlight of LCD to LED, shift to larger sizes and higher resolutions, all helped to generate consumer product replacement demand. Flexible AMOLEDs continue to gain significant shares in the smartphone market. Large size OLED has also achieved strong position on premium TV market.
Max McDaniel from Applied Materials said in his Business Conference keynote presentation, “Inflection waves drive display industry. New technologies are high cost at first, then cost reductions. Technology innovation drives cost down”. He stated, “New momentum in OLED IT with RGB OLED scale-up. Litho based solutions are emerging and may dramatically improve scalability and cost of large-area RGB OLED manufacturing”.  OLED display technology with new form factors (foldable, rollable, stretchable) combined with better materials, process and designs will create new usability of products in future, opening up new application opportunities.


Higher Brightness and Better Color to Drive OLED TV DemandBob O’Brien from DSCC said in his presentation, “In the premium TV market, we see a three-way battle between MiniLED LCD, White OLED and QD-OLED”. LCD dominates the mainstream TV market. According to DSCC data presented by Bob:

• TV dominates display area, with 70% of flat panel display area in 2022.
• 78% of display area growth will come from TV; area share will increase to 72% by 2027.

Chirag Shah from Samsung Display presented that, “QD-OLED display with blue self-emitting pixels, top emission and quantum dot color conversion can provide superior color performance as it doesn’t rely on color filters like white OLED or LCD”. For 2023 Samsung Display introduced QD OLED with hyper efficient EL material, advanced optimization algorithm InteliSense AI, graphite heat sink and advanced Cd Free quantum conversion material. HyperEfficient EL could achieve 33% more color and brightness reaching >2000 nits. Chirag said the real feel for color can be measured by Experienced Color Range (XCR). As per SDC measurement:

• Perceived brightness(Q)= Achromatic Luminance(white)+ Chromatic Luminance (color vividness)
• QD OLED looks brighter under same luminance or QD OLED needs less luminance for same visual brightness

Jeff Yurek from Nanosys presented that, “Quantum Dots deliver brighter, faster color for premium TV.”

• With pure color (narrow and tunable emission properties)
• Luminance for HDR (excellent operational stability at high luminance)
• Chromatic Response time (fast response time in nano sec means display without ghosting)

Jeff quoted OMDIA data to show QD technologies are growth drivers in premium TV segment with combined QD MiniLED and QDOLED:

• >50% share in 2023
• >70% by 2026

At the exhibition, Samsung Display showcased their 77-inch QDOLED TV. LG Display showcased their 77-inch 8K and 65-inch 4K WOLED TV based on their Meta Technology. META Technology comprises a ‘Micro Lens Array’ that maximizes light emission from the OLED panel and ‘META Booster,’ a brightness-enhancing algorithm. According to LGD based on META technology, their latest OLED displays can achieve 60% brighter images and 30% wider viewing angles than conventional OLED displays. Using Meta technology TV can have 2100nits peak brightness. MiniLED based on QD starting to challenge OLED in TV market. It grew rapidly in last few years but continued to be outsold by OLED. 
Gen 8.7 Fabs and IGZO Backplane to Drive OLED IT DemandSamsung Display, LG Display and BOE are bringing Gen 8.7 fabs (in 2025 and beyond) to address larger OLED panels for tablets and IT markets and are trying to reduce cost using FMM VTE tools.  As Ross presented, for ½ Gen 8.7 FMM VTE tools, glass area is 116% higher than (½ Gen 6) and has 2 times more transfer chambers per tool. Tandem tool capacity at 7.5K/m need two tools for 15K/m fab capacity which can be extremely high cost and with technical challenges it can create constraint for Gen 8.7 fabs. Samsung Display and LG Display are planning high mobility IGZO backplane with low mask count to improve cost.  Higher cost saving is also expected by shifting to rigid +TFE substrate that will have lower capex compared to flexible OLEDs. All three suppliers are planning to use Tandem structures with Gen 6 Fabs in 2024 for higher brightness, higher life time and also to reduce power consumption (20% to 30%) especially for IT market.
As per Ross’s presentation Visionox and JDI are considering an alternate approach eLEAP, eliminating FMM patterning step with lithography step. It can be a lower cost solution, and can also target all sizes on a single G8.7 line while boosting OLED brightness and lifetime with larger aperture targeting IT application. Mike Hack from Universal Display presented the update for Blue Phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) emitter which will enable all Phosphorescent RGB OLED increasing brightness plus lifetime while reducing power consumptions. Blue PHOLED is expected to be commercialized by 2025.
IT market is declining after strong growth during Covid due to WFH and LFH. As per DSCC’s David Naranjo presentation for IT market,

• 2023 – Double Digit Y/Y Growth Expected for OLEDs
• MiniLED notebook PCs are expected to decrease 10% Y/Y while OLED notebook PCs increase 20% Y/Y.
• MiniLED tablets are expected to decline 7% Y/Y while OLED tablets increase 18% Y/Y.

Apple is expected to shift from miniLED IGZO based LCD to OLED for iPad Pro model in 2024. The company is expected to introduce OLED Macbook Pro and OLED foldable notebook in 2026. Many suppliers were showing prototypes of OLED foldable notebooks at DisplayWeek 2023.

• LG17-inch foldable crease free display that can be used as tablet, laptops or portables
• Samsung Display Flex Note 17.3-inch foldable laptop, unfolded to larger screen monitor
• BOE showcased 17-inch bendable laptop display
• TCL CSOT 17-inch IGZO Ink Jet printed OLED foldable display

High Resolution MicroOLED (OLEDoS) to Drive AR/VR DemandApple introduced Apple Vision Pro its first AR/VR headset in June 5th at WWDC 2023. Apple calls it a spatial computer because of its ability to blend digital content with physical world. It will be available in early 2024 for $3499. According to DSCC’s Guillaume Chansin’s blog, Apple Vison Pro has 3 display panels. The two primary displays in the Apple headset are based on OLED-on-Silicon (MicroOLED). Apple is not the first company to adopt OLEDoS, but their displays are larger with higher resolutions. The third display is a flexible OLED panel on the front of the headset. Sony is supposed to be supplier for MicroOLED while LGD suppling flexible OLED.
For VR (and pass-through AR) most displays are based on TFT LCD and AMOLED. VR needs high pixel density to reduce or eliminate the screen door effect, as optical lenses magnify the image. It requires high refresh rates and a short duty cycle to reduce motion sickness.  There is a need for smaller lighter headsets. For see-through AR, all headsets are currently based on microdisplays (DLP, Micro-LCD, LCoS, Micro OLED) or laser beam scanner (LBS). They need very high brightness displays to match the ambient light; display needs to be small and power efficient to make headsets thinner and light-weight. According to DSCC Guillaume Chansin’s presentation at Business Conference

• VR is expected to dominate the AR/VR market and Micro OLED is expected to capture the largest $US share from 2024.
• VR (including passthrough AR) will dominate in the consumer space. See-through AR mostly for professionals.
• Increasing interest in Micro OLED as it offers high resolution in a compact size.

OLED display is continuously innovating and developing new materials, manufacturing process, and new form factors to drive future demand.
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected].

The MiniLED Quantum Dot (QD) TV market has experienced accelerated growth in 2022, with higher performance, a broader range of product availability, and lower prices. MiniLED QD TV demand surged even when TV display shipments declined and premium TV market growth slowed down. MiniLED QD TV is the best-performing LCD TV in the market but it still lags OLED TV in terms of shipments and revenue. It has the potential to offer even stronger growth in future years by offering larger, higher performance, thinner and more power efficient TV at a lower cost. Cost is still a big challenge. With significant cost improvement, it could trigger a faster replacement cycle for TV, enabling MiniLED QD TV to outperform OLED TV shipments in the future.
MiniLED QD TV Experiencing Accelerated GrowthMiniLED backlight technology has enabled LCD TV to achieve high brightness, very high contrast, better HDR (High Dynamic Range), thinner form factor and higher power efficiency to compete directly with OLED TVs. Adding QD enhancement film (QDEF) enabled LCD TV to have a wider color gamut (WCG), better color purity, very high brightness, and more immersive HDR experience while maintaining power efficiency. The cost of QDEF film has reduced considerably in recent years enabling a combination of MiniLED and QD backlight LCD TV for the premium market. QD technology is also evolving with new processors, new materials, and new product offerings. Nanosys has introduced xQDEF diffuser plate that brings together the color and brightness performance of QDEF with precise light diffusion necessary for perfect contrast levels in MiniLED and full-array-local-dimming (FALD) LCDs. The xQDEF diffuser plate can simplify the display assembly process, enabling lower costs. All MiniLED TVs in the market now have QD technology.
According to DSCC press release on March 9, 2023,

• “From less than 100K units in 2020, MiniLED TV shipments grew to more than 1.7 million units in 2021, and revenue grew from $73 million in 2020 to $3.5 billion in 2021.
• For the full year 2022, MiniLED TV shipments grew by 82% Y/Y to 3.15 million units and revenues increased by 42% to $4.9 billion”.
• Growth accelerated for MiniLED TV shipments in Q4’22 with 40% growth Y/Y to 990k units but revenues increased only 7% as ASPs fell by 24% Y/Y.
• Samsung continues to dominate the MiniLED TV category with 69%/71% unit/revenue share even as the number of competitors in the space continues to increase”.

TCL was the first brand to introduce MiniLED LCD TV in 2019. Top consumer brands Samsung and LG Electronics joined TCL in introducing MiniLED LCD TVs combined with QD at CES 2021. TCL won the CES innovation award for its QD zero MiniLED 8K TV in 2022 featuring an ultrathin profile of less than 3.4 mm. Sharp made a global debut of their AQUOS XLED TV with MiniLED and QD at CES 2023. Sony, Hisense, Changhong, and many others are already selling MiniLED QD TVs. Drastic panel price reductions for LCD TV due to oversupply has helped to reduce cost in 2022. Retail prices are coming down with price reductions in recent weeks including Samsung products. TCL’s 65-inch and 55-inch 4K MiniLED QD TVs are being offered at $699.99 and $599.99, respectively at Best Buy. Display performance is also improving. According to industry news, TCL is introducing a new MiniLED QD TV series TCL X11G with 5184 zones, 5000:1 contrast ratio, and 5000 nits peak brightness pushing the performance to a higher level. MiniLED QD TVs have increased shares and shipments with higher display performance, higher resolutions (4K and 8K), larger screen sizes up to 98 inches (higher production from 10.5 Gen fabs), and more product options in 2022. They are expected to increase shares and shipments in 2023 and beyond.

MiniLED TV shipments by screen size. (Source: DSCC Quarterly Advanced TV Shipment and Forecast Report, January 2023)White OLED & QD-OLED TV: Providing Fierce Competition in the Premium MarketMiniLED QD TV, White OLED TV, and QD-OLED TV are all competing fiercely for market shares in the premium TV market. According to DSCC press release on March 9, 2023,

• “Despite strong growth in Q4’22, MiniLED remained much smaller than OLED in both units and revenues. Total MiniLED TV shipments in Q4’22 was 990K compared to 2.35 million OLED TV shipments, while total MiniLED TV revenues in Q4’22 were $1.35 billion compared to $3.57 billion for OLED TV.
• For the second time in 2022 and the second time ever, OLED TV shipments decreased Y/Y in Q4’22, falling 1% to 2.3 million units.
• For the full year 2022, OLED TV shipments increased just 1% Y/Y to 6.9 million units.
• Within the OLED TV category, QD-OLED grew from nothing in 2021 to represent 12% of OLED TV units and 15% of OLED TV revenue in Q4’22.
• With the increased competition from QD-OLED, White OLED TV shipments declined by 13% Y/Y in Q4’22, and revenues declined by 21% Y/Y.
• With a limited QD-OLED product portfolio, Samsung gained 10% of the OLED TV market in Q4”.

LG Display is the sole supplier of White OLED TV panels. White OLED TVs are sold under several brands including LG Electronics, Sony, and others. W-OLED TV has experienced a strong growth path and gained dominance in the premium market. The technology is still evolving and capacity is expanding.  LG Display has introduced META Technology with ‘Micro Lens Array’ that can achieve 60% brighter images and 30% wider viewing angles than conventional OLED with improved energy efficiency. Using Meta technology, a TV can have 2100 nits peak brightness. LGD deuterium technology last year also enhanced brightness by up to 30% compared to previous gen products. LGD plans to apply Meta technology to its 55-, 65-, 77-inch 4K and 77-, 88-inch 8K OLED TV panels with the strategy of focusing on the ultra-premium TV market.
Samsung Display, the sole supplier of QD OLED introduced QD-Display 55- and 65-inch TV display, along with a 34-inch curved gaming monitor at CES 2022. The display integrated printed Quantum Dots with blue self-emitting pixels. QD OLED Display can provide superior color performance. The company has added 77-inch TV and 49-inch ultra-wide monitor at CES 2023. The 2023 products used advanced AI and new OLED materials improving RGB color brightness to reach >2000 nits. According to Samsung, QD OLED 2023 has reduced the power consumption of 2022 models by up to 25%. Further investment to increase QD OLED capacity is expected in 2023. Samsung Electronics and Sony are currently selling QD OLED TVs and more brands are expected to join in 2023.
OLED TV (W-OLED + QD OLED) technology is continuing to evolve and improve. The planned introduction of all phosphorescent RGB emitters by Universal Display in 2024 can further improve performance, reduce costs, and increase lifetime. OLED TV needs more new investment in capacity for stronger growth in shipments whereas MiniLED QD TV can use already available LCD capacity, especially from 10.5 Gen fabs.

Samsung’s Neo QLED MiniLED TV & QD OLED TV (Source: Samsung)MiniLED QD TV Can Outperform OLED TV ShipmentsAccording to Omdia’s press release on March 21, 2023, “size migration for TVs will help to increase area shipments in 2023. 65-inch and above TV display shipments decreased 5% YoY in 2022 owing to global recession and display makers’ low fab utilization for Gen 10.5 fabs due to historical low display prices. However, it is forecast 65-inch and above TV display shipments will increase by 17% YoY in 2023”. Omdia expects 2023 to be a recovery year with a focus on TV replacement demand for 50-inch and above sizes, driven by lower retail prices. If MiniLED QD TV can reduce costs to offer products also in mid-range and eventually in mainstream market with product offering at various price/performance ranges, it can drive stronger growth.
MiniLED QD TV: Road to Success:

• MiniLED QD TV can have substantial cost advantages by using 10.5 Gen LCD capacity from China for larger size displays (65-inch and above). Samsung Display and LG Display are shifting towards OLED reducing LCD capacity but BOE, Chine Star, and HKC from China have increased their market shares.
• Drastic panel price reduction for LCD in 2022 will contribute to cost reductions.
• Higher collaboration: among suppliers within the MiniLED supply chain including substrate, LED epitaxial wafer, packaging, driver ICs, display suppliers and even consumer electronic companies can help to reduce costs.
• Lower LED costs, higher dimming zones per driver ICs, higher transfer throughputs and transfer yield rates combined with integrated supply can reduce costs.
• TV industry went through major replacement cycle and growth in demand when LCD backlight shifted from CCFL to LED.  MiniLED backlight shift can drive higher replacement demand for TV.

Lower costs and products in mid-range and mainstream can enable MiniLED QD TV to outperform OLED TV shipments in the future.

LCD TV backlight evolution. (Source: Dash-Insights)Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com


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Suppliers showcased their NextGen display products at CES giving a glimpse of what to expect in 2023 and beyond. Technology innovations on display panel drive product innovations in the consumer TV market. This year, display suppliers such as LG Display, Samsung Display, TCL China Star and others showcased ranges of technology developments for TV display panel. Technology innovations are very important for the growth of TV market specially in a slow demand growth environment.
White OLED TV: Increasing Brightness with Micro Lens Array
OLED TV from LG Electronics with LG Display panels dazzled CES this year with hundreds of white OLED 55-inch TV display. LGE showed products with enhanced features, performance and sizes reaching 97-inch. LG Display unveiled their third generation OLED TV display technology based on “META Technology” at CES. META Technology comprises a ‘Micro Lens Array’ that maximizes light emission from the OLED panel and ‘META Booster,’ a brightness-enhancing algorithm. According to LGD based on META technology, their latest OLED displays can achieve 60% brighter images and 30% wider viewing angles than conventional OLED displays. It can also achieve improved energy efficiency. Using Meta technology TV can have 2100nits peak brightness. Last year LGD introduced its deuterium technology and personalized algorithms to enhance brightness by up to 30% compared to previous generation products.
META technology maximizes light emission from the OLED panel and enhances energy efficiency by 22 percent compared to that of the same brightness. META Booster, improves both screen brightness and color expression by analyzing and adjusting the brightness of each scene in real time. This also enhances HDR (High Dynamic Range). Meta also helps to deliver wide viewing angle of 160 degrees which can deliver pictures at any angle without image distortion. LGD plans to apply Meta technology to its 55”, 65”, 77” 4K and 77”, 88” 8K OLED TV panels with the strategy of focusing on ultra-premium TV market. LG display is the sole supplier of white OLED TV panels. White OLED TVs are sold under several brands including LG Electronics, Sony, and others. WOLED TV has experienced strong growth path and gained dominance in the premium market. The technology is still evolving and capacity is expanding helping it to gain higher market shares. 

Source: LG DisplayQD (Quantum Dot) OLED TV: Increasing Performance with New EL Material
QD OLED, display technology was introduced at CES last year by Samsung Display. It dazzled audiences with superior display performance and received great reviews. The company introduced QD-Display for the home entertainment market in two TV sizes, 55” and 65”, along with a 34” curved gaming monitor. The display integrated printed Quantum Dots with blue self-emitting pixels. QD Display can provide superior color performance as it does not rely on color filters like WOLED or LCD. This year Samsung Display unveiled QD OLED 2023 with addition of 77” TV and 49” ultra-wide monitor. The 2023 lineup products used advanced optimization algorithm InteliSense AI and new OLED HyperEfficient EL material improving color brightness of each RGB according to the company information.  As a result, maximum brightness of combined RGB color brightness achieved more than 2000 nits. Image quality and panel efficiency has been greatly increased with advanced AI technology.
According to the company QD OLED 2023 has reduced power consumption of 2022 models up to 25% by applying high efficiency organic materials and more advanced AI technology. Samsung Display is the only supplier for QD OLED display panel. Further investment in QD OLED technology to increase capacity is expected in 2023. Sony and Samsung Electronics are already selling 55” and 65” QD OLED TVs from last year. Samsung followed some aggressive pricing strategy towards the end of 2022, especially for black Friday that resulted in higher sales. More suppliers including TCL are planning to join in which will result in higher shares for QD OLED TV in 2023.

Source: SamsungIJP (Ink Jet Printing) OLED TV: Prototype was Unveiled at CES
TCL CSOT unveiled their 65-inch 8K IJP-OLED display, the world’s first 65” 8K printed OLED. It is jointly developed by TCL CSOT and JOLED. The new 8K product with up to 33 million ultra-high pixels has highest resolutions and refresh rates developed by an ink jet printing OLED technology. It boasts an improved refresh rate, higher brightness and a narrower border compared to previous model according to company information.  IJP for RGB OLED printing has been challenging due to material issues and manufacturing complexities as it needs OLED materials compatible with solution printing. New generations of products are leading to performance improvements. A technology showcase prototypes will take longer time before it can be commercialized.
MiniLED QD LCD TV: Increasing in Size and Performance
TCL won two innovation awards at CES 2023 for their MiniLED 4K TVs. The company has been a pioneer for MiniLED TV. According to the company its 75”4K TV combines miniLED and QLED technologies to deliver optics up to 1920 Full array Local dimming zones in 4K resolution, true to life colors and 144Hz variable refresh rates (VRR). Last year TCL also won CES award for its QD zero MiniLED 8K TV that had an ultrathin profile of less than 3.4 mm. The company also showed their 98” TV based miniLED and QD technology at CES this year. Samsung showcased its new Neo QLED TV in 4K and 8K resolutions based on Quantum Dot and MiniLED backlight technology. According to the company its Neo QLED picture quality is powered by Samsung’s advanced neural quantum processor which supports the quantum miniLED lit TV with 14bit processing power and AI upscaling. It also uses AI deep learning technology to analyze and apply real-time HDR to give more immersive experience. Sharp made global debut of their AQUOS XLED TV at CES this year that combines miniLED and QD technology.
More brands have adopted miniLED and QD TV technologies for their product offerings.  Cost is still a challenge for miniLED TV. LED costs are coming down. Suppliers are also increasing more dimming zones per driver ICs, improving transfer throughputs and transfer yield rates and integrating supply chain to reduce costs and improve performance. Drastic panel price reduction for LCD in the first 3 quarters of 2022 will contribute to reduce costs for MiniLED based products in 2023. MiniLED QD TVs have increased shares and shipments with higher display performance, higher resolutions (4K and 8K), larger screen sizes (higher production from 10.5 Gen fabs)) and more product options in 2022 and expected to increase shares and shipments in 2023. It is still lagging OLED TV shipments.
MicroLED TV: Expanding to Smaller Sizes
Samsung introduced 2023 MicroLED lineup with new models ranging from 50” to 140” at CES. As the company presented; due to its modular nature MicroLED is not bound by shape, ratio, and size. It can be customized to fit a consumer’s desired setup. It also comes without bezels. MicorlED TVs have superior picture quality but prices have been extremely high for the consumer market.
Quantum Dot TV: Introducing Eyesafe Blue Quantum Dots
Quantum Dot display technology is continuously evolving with new materials and new processes. Most of the top TV manufacturers such as Samsung, LGE, Sony, TCL, Hisense, Vizio, and Skyworth have already adopted QD (QDEF) display technology in their TVs. It has enabled LCD technology to reinvent itself and has created growth opportunities in the TV market especially when combined with miniLED backlights. It has also empowered OLED with the introduction of QD OLED displays.
At CES 2023, Nanosys and Eyesafe, the leading blue light mitigation technology company jointly introduced Eyesafe QD. Eyesafe QD is a new type of QDEF quantum dot technology for LCD screens based on an all-new heavy metal free quantum dot developed by Nanosys. Each Eyesafe QD component contains trillions of quantum dots that absorb blue light from a standard LED, converting it into a perfectly optimized red, green and blue spectrum designed for human health without compromising color or efficiency performance. Eyesafe QD guarantees advanced blue light protection, with a minimum rating of RPF50. It delivers full DCI-P3 color volume and +58% increased perceived improvement in blue luminance. Eyesafe QD will be certified by TÜV Rheinland. Nanosys and Eyesafe will begin sampling Eyesafe QD to display makers in early 2023 for inclusion in 2024 products.

Source: NanosysInnovation and technology developments in display materials and components will empower next generations TV. Universal Display, the leading OLED material company has announced recently that their development of commercial phosphorescent blue emissive system remains in schedule and they met their preliminary target specification in 2022. This should enable their introduction of all phosphorescent RGB stack into the commercial market in 2024. This can help next generation products for both white OLED and QD OLED TV as more efficient blue OLED will bring down cost and increase performance.
Next generation of TV displays are not only going to be better, bigger and brighter; they will also be safer for the eyes and the environment.
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com.

​It is time to evaluate display technology trends for 2023. The flat panel display market slowed down considerably in 2022 as demand declined after two years of outstanding growth in demand driven by Pandemic need.


In 2022, the market has been experiencing negative growth, in units, revenue and area shipments. All major application markets including TVs, monitors, notebooks, tablets and smartphones are undergoing decline in revenue and unit shipments. The global economic outlook is still uncertain. The rate of inflation increase is slowing down but a fear of recession is still there.
As I said this time last year, in such uncertain times, product differentiation, newer technologies, higher performance and lower prices will help to drive demand. In 2022, in spite of negative growth in units and revenue for all major applications, advanced products with higher display performance based on miniLED, quantum dots (QDs), and OLED experienced positive growth and increased market share. The flat panel market is expected to recover in 2023. Panel suppliers have cut utilization rates drastically and have delayed or cancelled new capacity plans. Inventories are starting to ease up, and retail prices have come down especially for large size TVs. This will help in demand recovery in 2023.
MiniLED Display: Strong GrowthMiniLED-based displays have been introduced by top consumer brands such as Samsung, LGE, TCL, Apple and others for TV, monitors, notebooks, tablets and auto applications. Cost is still a challenge. LED costs are coming down. Suppliers are also increasing the number of dimming zones per driver IC, improving transfer throughputs and transfer yield rates and integrating supply chains to reduce costs and improve performance. Drastic panel price reduction for LCD in the first three quarters of 2022 will contribute to reduced costs for MiniLED-based products in 2023.

• TVs: MiniLED QD TVs have increased share and shipments with higher display performance, higher resolutions (4K and 8K), larger screen sizes (higher production from 10.5 Gen fabs)) and more product options in 2022 and are expected to increase share and shipments again in 2023. However, the category is still lagging OLED TV shipments.
• Monitors: MiniLED QD monitors have been successful with gaming features (4K gaming at 120Hz): with low response time, auto low latency mode and variable refresh rates from many suppliers.
• Notebooks & Tablets: Apple’s iPad and Macbook Pro based on MiniLED are big contributors to this category expanding sales in 2022 and 2023. Apple is expected to shift to OLED for these IT products in 2024, impacting MiniLED growth in this category in future years.

Technology innovations for MiniLED based display will open up new opportunities for demand growth but cost will be very critical.  
Quantum Dot: Growth in Shipments and Shares
Quantum Dot display technology is continuously evolving with new materials and new processes. It is enhancing LCD, OLED and MicroLED and progressing towards next generation self-emissive display. 
Most of the top TV manufacturers such as Samsung, LGE, Sony, TCL, Hisense, Vizio, and Skyworth have already adopted QD (QDEF) display technology in their TVs. It has enabled LCD technology to reinvent itself and has created growth opportunities in the TV market with higher shipments and shares. Drastic panel price reduction for LCD can lower QDLED TV costs increasing shipments and share further in 2023..
QD-OLED: Increasing SalesSamsung Display has introduced 65-inch and 55-inch QD-OLED (QD) TVs and 34-inch monitor panels at CES in 2022. Sony and Samsung Electronics are offering QD-OLED TV and Samsung Electronics and Dell Alienware are offering gaming monitors. QD-OLED technology of blue OLED display with printed quantum dot layer color conversion and sub-pixel level dimming, display can achieve expanded color gamut, higher color volume, and color luminosity.
However, there are still many challenges. Blue emitting materials still have efficiency and lifetime issues. UDC has announced that they expect to meet preliminary target specs with their phosphorescent blue by year-end, which should enable the introduction of their all-phosphorescent RGB stack into the commercial market in 2024. The use of phosphorescent blue can help to reduce multiple layers, increase efficiency and lifetime. It can also help to reduce costs and expand existing capacity by reducing the number of blue layers. QD-OLED products sales are increasing. SDC is expected to add 77” TVs and 49” monitors in 2023 using MMG configuration.  Further new QD OLED investments are expected in 2023.
QD OLED architecture – Source: Samsungdisplay.com
Quantum Dot and MiniLED:  Coming to AR/VR/MRMeta has introduced the “Meta Quest Pro”, a high-end mixed reality device, in 2022. Meta Quest Pro uses dual LCDs (2.48”), with miniLED backlight and QD technology. This is the first time Meta has introduced a QD and MiniLED dual LCD-based device. LCD is the leading technology in the VR market. Advanced LTPS TFT LCD is generally used for VR for high resolution displays. It has already achieved more than 1200PPI. Companies are targeting 2000 to 2500PPI resolution in the next two to three years. Local dimming backlights with miniLED can lower power consumption and optimize the image for higher contrast. Fast response LC (liquid crystal) with high-speed backlight switching can offer a clearer image. There is a surge in interests and investments in AR/VR market due to the recent focus by industry leading companies such as Meta, Microsoft, Apple and others.
OLED: Growth in Shipments with Improved Price and PerformanceOLED is going through major technology developments in the face of fierce competition which will help increase share and improve price performance.
WOLED TV: Higher Performance & Higher SupplyLG Display (LGD), the leader for OLED TV panels has been continuously improving its WOLED technology, increasing size offerings, expanding capacity and increasing shipments especially in the premium/high-end TV market. LGD has introduced its most advanced OLED panel with EX technology: 30% higher brightness (by applying deuterium), 30% increase in reliability and 34% narrower bezel. Next generation OLED from LGD is expected to have micro lens array, high mobility oxide, high efficiency, real-time compensation and be bezel-less.
 OLED IT: Growth with New Product and CapacityOLED display competes with miniLED in the high-end notebook and tablet market. MiniLED has had a dominant share in 2022. RGB OLED capacity is expected to increase for IT applications in 2024-2025 as many suppliers including Samsung Display are planning to start 8.7 Gen AMOLED fabs for the notebook and tablet market. Suppliers are also bringing major improvements to OLED performance such as tandem RGB OLED stacks, phosphorescent blue OLED emitters, color filter on encapsulation (CoE), rigid plus TFE (Thin Film Encapsulation) substrate, LTPO/Variable refresh and many other technology enhancements.  At the same time new G8.7 substrates, IGZO backplanes and rigid plus TFE architecture will help to reduce costs. This will enable OLED to increase share in 2023 and future years for IT markets. Apple is also expected to adopt OLED for IT starting from 2024.
OLED Flexible: Increasing SharesThe global smartphone display market experienced a strong decline in 2022, due to macroeconomic factors, high inventories and a slowdown in the China market. Brands focused more on premium products to improve revenue. Higher sales of advanced smartphone products, especially Apple’s iPhone 14, helped the growth of flexible OLED with more advanced technologies such as LTPO (LTPS + Oxide TFT). Apple’s iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy products are already using LTPO which has big advantages in lower power consumption and variable refresh rates. LTPO display is expected to have strong growth in 2023 and future years. LCD has been losing share but it is still the dominant technology for global smartphone displays due to lower cost. The smartphone display market is expected to recover in 2023.
OLED Foldable:  GrowingAccording to industry data, foldable smartphone shipments increased in 2022, when the total global smartphone market declined.  New product introductions, innovative designs, increased reliability, better features, higher performances and competitive pricing are helping to drive foldable smartphone demands.
Samsung has introduced 4th Gen foldable smartphones, the Z Flip4 and Galaxy Z Fold4, in 2022. Most of the mainstream brands have joined the foldable smartphone market and have been expanding their product line ups. With more robust innovative form factors, better price performances and technology advancements, foldable phones are forecasted to follow a growth path in next five years, but they will occupy a small percentage share of the total global smartphone market.
OLED on Silicon (SiOLED): Poised for higher adoptionsOLED on Silicon (OLED microdisplays) generally have higher pixel density than AMOLED. SiOLED microdisplay can be used for both VR and see-through AR. MicroOLED displays can be generally categorized into RGB OLED and White OLED (WOLED). However high resolution RGB OLED microdisplays still face challenges due to a challenging FMM deposition process. White OLED uses color filters to generate the image which can achieve high PPI (4000PPI). However, color filters absorb a very high percentage of the emitted light that limits maximum brightness for microOLED. Sony has been using microLens technology to increase the peak brightness of OLED microdisplays.
According to industry data and expectations, Apple is expected to introduce new Reality Pro Product (2H 2023) which will have dual microOLED plus one AMOLED display with a pixel density of >3000 PPI. Apple’s adoptions of technology will help SiOLED to gain a higher share in future.
OLED microdisplay Source:Sony-semicon.com
MicroLED:  ProgressingMicroLED display technology is making steady progress towards commercialization. The technology still faces several complex manufacturing challenges, which will take time to resolve. The success of commercialization and mass production will depend on the ability to scale up for volume production with competitive price performance.
In the year 2023, the flat panel display market is expected to recover. Still. the market outlook is uncertain due to macro-economic factors. In such uncertain times, product differentiation, newer technology, higher performance and lower prices will help to drive demand. (SD)
Sweta Dash, President, Dash-Insights
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com
 
 

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OLED display technology is continuing to advance for next generation products. A glimpse of that was seen through various presentations at the OLEDs World Summit 2022 conference in October this year. Technology development, improvements in materials and manufacturing technologies combined with capacity expansion will help OLED displays to gain higher market share in the future.
 This year, Jason Hartlove, from Nanosys, in his keynote presentation for the combined session of Phosphorus and Quantum Dot Industry Forum and OLEDs World Summit posed a thought-provoking question for the industry:
“How can we use technologies to dramatically improve the way our products are interacting with us and with our environment with the big challenge facing us today?’

Can Technology Advances in the Display Industry Help to Solve Global Challenges?

Nanosys is the world's leading QD (Quantum Dot) material developer and manufacturer. According to Nanosys’s CEO, Jason Hartlove’s presentation, the most important challenges that need to be addressed are:

• The twin Threats of global warming and energy security
• Human health and wellbeing
• Stewardship of the environment

He said
“the twin threats of global warming and energy security’s impact are already coming into display industry. Recent changes in the energy standards in Europe, have basically made it all but impossible for 8K TV to be sold in Europe next year.  
Displays are 4.6% of US household electricity consumption. Displays also account for up to 40% of CE energy use”.
​
Data from his presentation showed that heavy metal free (HMF) QD displays deliver best in class power efficiency. His call for action for the display industry is to,
“create designs using OLED, HMF QDs and Phosphors which use less energy- potential impact – global 1% energy use reduction”.
For “human health and wellbeing” challenge he said
“motion to photon lag is the leading cause of cybersickness.”

His suggestion was,
“displays should strive for >90hz and <<13ms latency for good experiences”.
For the environmental challenges, he said
“non-heavy metal materials exist and are often superior in performance”.

His message for the industry was -
“Design for efficiency, human wellness and sustainability”.

Materials and Manufacturing Technology - Improving

Mike Hack from UDC said,
”there are continuing advances inventing and developing next-generation materials with increasing energy-efficiencies with proven lifetimes for reduced power consumption and enhanced sustainability”.

UDC has announced that they expect to meet preliminary target specs with their phosphorescent blue by year-end, enabling the introduction of all-phosphorescent RGB stacks into the commercial market in 2024.
He said that key benefits to completing the full color spectrum of high efficiency by phosphorescence (PHOLED) includes: reduced power consumption, extended battery life, higher brightness, lower panel temperature and increased sustainability. UDC also reported a research breakthrough in Plasmonic OLED that can dramatically increase the stability of all colors of PHOLED. It can also leverage plasmonics to enable faster decay of excitons and recover the energy using an outcoupling scheme.
He presented that,
“the plasmonic PHOLED, a new OLED architecture, will enable another leap in OLED efficiency and lifetime”.
UDC has also developed organic vapor jet printing (OVJP), a solventless, maskless, printing technology for patterning small molecule organic materials to manufacture large area side by side RGB TVs. Qiongying Hu, from Coherent presented that their Excimer Laser Annealing (ELA) is the foundation for advanced LTPO (LTPS+Oxide) enabling high frame rates of >100Hz. Laser processes are also integral part of flexible displays.

Next Gen Technology for TV - Evolving

LG Display, the leader for OLED TV panels, has been continuously improving WOLED technology, increasing the size offerings, expanding capacity and increasing shipments especially in the premium/high-end TV market. LGD has introduced its most advanced OLED panel with EX technology.
According to J.J. Yoo, from LG Display,
“EX technology has 30% higher brightness (by applying deuterium, creating more stable and robust structure), 30% increase in reliability (by personalized algorithm, sensing plus counting based on AI and Big data) and 34% narrower bezel (by applying highly integrated GIP tech design)”.

Yoo presented that OLED has accurate HDR performance (100% pixel dimming), 100% color fidelity, eye comfort and eye safe (low blue light and flicker free), and is eco-friendly (less harmful substance and high recyclability). He said that nextgen OLED will have microlens arrays, high mobility oxide backplanes, high efficiency OLED materials, real-time compensation and will be bezel-less. LGD has also developed transparent OLED which can open up opportunities in signage, architecture, mobility and home style market.

Samsung Display has introduced QDOLED (heavy metal-free printed QDs) this year in 34/55/65inch sizes that deliver increased display performance, higher brightness and better color gamut. Sony and Samsung Electronics are already selling 55 and 65-inch QDOLED TVs. Dell has launched 34-inch ODOLED monitor for the gaming market. According to Hartlove’s presentation with equal luminance between QDLCD and QD OLED, QDOLED is rated as brighter. QD OLED can deliver more perceived brightness with less power.

Jerry Kang from OMDIA presented that SDC is planning to pattern QDCC directly on OLED encapsulation for 2nd generation QD OLED, thereby it can shift from two glass substrate to one glass sheet. This will make it thinner and more efficient. Longjia Wu, from TCL Research presented on his company’s progress for inkjet printed IJP QLED (QD emissive) display. TCL expects mass production in the 2024–2025 time frame.

These technology developments for the TV application will help to meet power consumption challenges in future. Higher brightness and high resolutions (8K) requirements have increased the power requirements. Now the industry is facing challenges and has to focus more on power savings by improving materials and processes.

Next Gen Technology for IT - Expanding

In Omdia presentation, Jerry Kang said,
“Gen6 & larger generation, OLED Panel makers are developing a few new technologies to apply to Tablet PC & Notebook PC.

• Hybrid OLED Structure with glass substrates + TFE encapsulation
• Flexible OLED structures for foldable / rollable form factor
• RGB tandem stack OLED structures
• Gen 8.6 half cut evaporation with Fine Metal Masks (Horizontal)
• Gen 8.6 full cut evaporation with Fine Metal Masks (Vertical)
• LTPO TFT and Oxide TFT with high electron mobility
• Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) for thin-film encapsulation
• Atomic Layer Deposition for Oxide TFT with high electron mobility"

According to Omdia estimation, Apple is expected to have Hybrid OLED iPad by 2024 and MacBook by 2026. Gen8 production is required for better productivity of IT OLED.  As per  Omdia estimation, Gen8.6 pilot will start in 2024 and OLED panel shipments for notebook and Tablet expected to have strong growth in next 5 years.
Jerry Kang said,
“foldable OLEDs for IT devices require larger sizes, so Gen 8.6 full cut is being considered."
Suppliers are considering from above 10-inch sizes to above 20-inch sizes for for foldable IT products.  Kunjal Parikh from Intel mentioned that Intel Evo™ design has foldable display specs requirements.
He said,
“the Intel Visual Sensing Controller helps enable users to have a secure, responsive, immersive, and power-efficient PC without compromising on performance, quality, or battery life by using smart sensing solutions to intelligently manage power consumption and deliver great user experiences”.

Next Gen Technology for Smart Phones - Progressing

The Omdia presentation on smartphone shipments with ifs forecast, showed that the market is down again this year due to sluggish demand. However, OEMs are continuing to increase the adoption of high refresh rate displays. Apple has already adopted LTPO substrates for the iPhone 13 (Pro and Pro Max) and also for iPhone 14 (Pro and Pro Max). Samsung Galaxy products are already using LTPO technology which has big advantages in lower power consumption and variable refresh rates. 

According to Kang’s presentation -  OTI Lumionic’s CPM (Cathode Patterning Material) process will be useful for under panel camera structures. CPM works with standard OLED cathode materials, requiring no change in OLED stack implementation. Samsung Display has also introduced its new "Eco2OLED" technology, which dramatically reduces the power consumptions of panels. It removes the polarizer applied to the panel to increase light transmittance and optimizes the pixel structure to control external light reflection.

Samsung Display’s Eco2OLED operates at 86.8% power consumption level compared to conventional and Eco2OLED Plus operates at 74.3% level. The Omdia presentation showed that almost all mainstream brands (except Apple, of course - Editor) have joined the foldable smartphone competition and are accelerating the expansion of product line-ups. For foldable cover lenses, Samsung is using ultra-thin glass while some brands are trying thinning solutions. Foldable smartphones are forecast to grow in the next 7 years according to Omdia even though the 2022 outlook is below the original forecast.
​
The presentations from the OLED Summit gave a glimpse of next generation OLED technology and what to expect in future. They showed that suppliers are working towards improving performance while reducing power consumption and making it better for health and the environment but will take time to implement. The question still remains of whether the current progress in the display industry will be enough and can be implemented in a timely manner to meet today’s most important challenges? (SD)
​
Sweta Dash, President, Dash-Insights
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com

Display​ market outlook and issues were discussed at DSCC’s “The 2022 Global Display Supply Chain Dynamics & Technology Conference” on October 19th. It gave a glimpse of what is happening in the current market and what to expect in next few years.

Flat Panel display Market Slowed Down in 2022
According to Bob O’Brien’s ‘Display Market Outlook” presentation, after two years of great growth, driven by the pandemic, the flat panel market has slowed down. While 2021 was the best year in flat panel display history with the biggest price and revenue increases, 2022 will be a year with double digit revenue decline and no area growth. TVs, mobile phones, monitors, notebooks, and tablets, are all expected to decline in units and revenue in 2022. High inventory in the supply chain needs to be digested and panel suppliers are cutting utilization rates.
Recovery is expected in 2023. Still global recession, macro downturn and demand constraints can bring downside risk. Stronger growth in China stimulated by lower prices especially in the TV market can bring upside potential to the forecast. For the long-term forecast up to 2026, LCD units and revenue are expected to decline slowly and LCD area growth will slow to 3% CAGR with OLED gaining share. OLED is expected to have double digit percentage area growth, but revenue growth will be slower as prices decline.

LCD and OLED battling for Premium TV Market: MiniLED & QDOLED pushing the Technology
TV is the most important application for the flat panel display market as it commands 70% share in terms of display area. It will increase its share to 72% of display area by 2024 according to Bob O’Brien’s “TV Market Outlook” presentation. According to his presentation, pandemic demand drove the biggest increase ever for LCD TV panel prices.  After the pandemic demand dried up the industry saw the fastest price declines in history. TV panel prices are stabilizing at new all-time lows.
Panel price increases in 2021 also drove the first ever price increase in TV sets in the U.S market. TV inflation peaked in August 2021 at 13% but by August 2022 prices were down by 20%. Lower TV prices driven by lower demand and lower LCD panel prices are making TV set prices for the holiday season more competitive.
A Strong Technology Battle in TVThe technology battle is strong in premium TV market with a three-way battle between MiniLED LCD, white OLED and QDOLED.  DSCC's Advanced TV segment includes QDEF, WOLED, 8KLCD, MiniLED LCD and QDOLED. Except for QDEF, all are much higher costs than standard LCD. According to the DSCC cost model comparison, MiniLED LCD cost is on a par with WOLED with a range that is higher or lower depending on the number of LEDs and QDOLED has the highest cost.
According to the TV Market Outlook presentation, OLED TV has gained share with new screen sizes of 48” and 83”. In Q2 2022 OLED TV<=48” grew 50% Y/Y. Advanced LCD TV lost unit share in 2021 due to higher panel prices. In 2022 LCD is regaining unit share due to lower panel prices. MiniLED LCD TVs grew rapidly in 2021 but continue to be outsold by OLED TVs. According to Bob’s presentation:

• The worldwide TV market will continue to be dominated by LCD technologies, including MiniLED.
• Unit demand will be flat, but screen sizes will continue to increase, driving area growth at a 5% CAGR (‘19-’26) for total TV.
• OLED TV units/area will grow at a 23%/23% CAGR (‘19-’26).
• LCD TV units will decline at a 1% CAGR but area will grow at 4%.

  DSCC expects Advanced TVs for all technologies to grow by 20% CAGR from 2019-2026. LCD is expected to grow by 19% driven by MiniLED and 8K. OLED will grow by 22% with QDOLED and Inkjet Printed OLED adding to WOLED. MicroLED will remain a miniscule fraction of Advanced TV units.
TVs using Quantum Dot technology are forecast to grow through the forecasted period up to 2026. DSCC expects growth in TVs using quantum dot technology to have 16% CAGR from 2019-2026. QD will be the dominant configuration on MiniLED TVs.
According to Ross Young’s presentation on “Display Capex and Manufacturing Technology”, Samsung Display (SDC) is planning to add another 30K QDOLED capacity to its current mass production of 8.5 Gen Fab with 30K capacity. He presented that new QDOLED investment is expected to be decided in 1H23. New phosphorescent blue OLED emitters would significantly help to reduce costs and would expand existing capacity by reducing the number of blue layers. Ross’s presentation highlighted that currently in QDOLEDS, QDs are deposited on a separate color filter (CF) substrate. In future it is expected to shift to QD on encapsulation (QOE), in which a single substrate is used and the QDs are deposited over the TFE. By this process brightness can be increased by 20%.
MicroLED TVs have been available since 2020 but prices are higher than $100K. MicroLED is expected to show strong growth but it is forecast by DSCC to have only 0.1% of unit volume of Advanced TV in 2026.

OLED Technology and Capacity Enhancements: Increasing MiniLED and OLED competition in IT MarketRoss Young, in his “Display Capex and Manufacturing Technology” presentation, said that big improvements are coming in OLED performance. Tandem RGB OLED stacks, Phosphorescent blue OLED emitters, color filter on encapsulation (CoE), rigid plus TFE (Thin Film Encapsulation) substrate, LTPO/Variable refresh and many other technology enhancements will boost OLED performance in future. At the same time G8.7 substrates, IGZO backplanes and rigid plus TFE will help to reduce costs.
According to his presentation, from 2025 to the 2027 time frame, SDC, BOE, and LGD will have 8.7 Tandem RGB stack fabs with Rigid plus TFE (hybrid) substrate. While SDC and LGD are planning for IGZO backplanes, BOE will have LTPO backplanes. Tandem stacks are expected to provide higher efficiency, higher life time and reduced burn-in but there are challenges with higher Capex (8.7 tandem stack tools expected cost $1 billion for 15K substrates/month) and lower yields.
Rigid+ TFE substrate can also generate real cost savings by eliminating a number of process steps and equipment. Eliminating the top substrate can significantly reduce the weight and thickness vs rigid OLEDs. High mobility IGZO backplanes have many advantages, Ross explained, including low leakage, low temperature process, low off current, good uniformity, high transparency, low refresh drive, variable refresh rates, fewer masks (7 to 10), scalable to larger sizes and a single fab could address all display applications.
It also has many challenges including sensitivy to process and materials and bias stress stability which is highly sensitive to small variations in oxygen concentration. Advanced IGZO may have twice as many masks compared to traditional IGZO backplanes. According to DSCC data, LTPO at G8.7 is only 5% more cost than Advanced IGZO due to high mask counts and additional process steps in Advanced IGZO fabs. G6 has highest price per square meter. Traditional IGZO on G8.7 rigid+ TFE is 45% less per square meter. G8.7 Advanced IGZO is 11% less and G8.7 LTPO is 6% less.
The “Display Cost and Price Outlook” presentation from Yoshio Tamura gave a cost comparison of display products. In his presentation, he said
“SDC is now aggressively promoting rigid OLED for notebook PCs. In addition, Apple is said to be launching an OLED tablet in 2024 by using a hybrid RGB OLED display next to its current MiniLED product. Apple is striving for thinner, brighter and longer lifetime OLED displays with new advanced technologies such as tandem, rigid TFE and better mobility. Rigid and Hybrid OLED displays will have to compete with thinner/lighter LCDs, Oxide LCDs, LTPS LCDs and QHD/UHD LCDs especially in the high end of the notebook PC market to fill in their new G8.5 to 8.7G fabs from 2024”.
David Naranjo, in his “IT Display Market Outlook” said that 2020 and 2021 had seen a surge in units and revenue as a result of the pandemic. 2022 is estimated to see a decline of 13% Y/Y in units and 23% Y/Y decline in revenue as a result of these macroeconomic issues and weakened consumer and commercial demand. He also presented that Advanced IT displays continued to benefit from increased utilization of excess rigid capacity, more brand participation and marketing that has increased consumer awareness. According to him in 2022, although the market has slowed versus their previous estimate, DSCC expects:

• Advanced notebook PC units to increase 66% Y/Y
• Advanced monitor units will have increased 187% Y/Y
• Advanced tablet units will have increased 31% Y/Y

According to his presentation:

• For advanced Monitors: both OLEDs and MiniLEDs are expected to enjoy rapid growth, with OLEDs rising at a 91% CAGR from 2021-2026 and MiniLEDs rising at a 64% CAGR. MiniLEDs are expected to continue to lead with the majority share through the forecast period. An open cell LCD panel combined with MiniLED backlights is very cost effective versus OLED.
• For advanced notebook PCs: both OLEDs and MiniLEDs are expected to enjoy rapid growth with OLEDs rising at a 50% CAGR and MiniLEDs rising at 43% CAGR and the category rising at a 48% CAGR from 2021 – 2026. While MiniLEDs will maintain a rigid form factor, OLEDs are expected to be available in rigid, rigid + thin film encapsulation (TFE) and foldable form factors from 2023- 2024. TFE eliminates the top glass, reducing thickness and weight. From 2023, OLED is expected to have higher share.
• For Advanced Tablets: DSCC forecast OLED tablets to grow at a 46% CAGR from 2021-2026 to ~19 million units with MiniLED tablets declining at a 52% CAGR as a result of their expectation that Apple will enter the OLED tablet category with an 11” OLED tablet in 2024.

Despite the slower growth for IT applications versus their original expectations, DSCC still foresees Advanced IT displays as being poised to grow as brands offer more options with competitive price points and strong value propositions.
According to DSCC's forecasts and outlook, the flat panel display market is expected to decline in 2022 after 2 years of growth. Technology advances in OLED, Quantum Dot and MiniLED will help suppliers to differentiate products and drive growth in Advanced TV, monitor, notebook and tablet markets.  (SD)

​Sweta Dash, President, Dash-Insights
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com

Meta introduced its “Meta Quest Pro” high-end mixed reality device at the Meta Connect event this month. It is expected to be available for purchase in October 25th for $1499.99. According to Meta, they believe “VR devices will help usher in the next computing platform - becoming as ubiquitous as laptops and tablets are today- and that people will use them in their everyday lives to access the metaverse”.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, in his interview in Europe with Bright publications in October said,
“AR is a profound technology that will affect everything. …We are really going to look back and think about how we once lived without AR”.
As it can be seen there is a surge in interests and investments in AR/VR market due to the recent focus by industry leading companies such as Meta, Microsoft, Apple and others. To make it a reality, there is a real need for many technological developments and multiple challenges need to be resolved. Display technology developments are critical for AR/VR/MR devices.
The Meta Quest Pro uses pancake optics which reduces the depth of optical module by 40% while providing clear and sharp visuals, according to Meta. Two LCD displays with local dimming and quantum dot technology provide richer and more vivid color. With the use of miniLED backlights (500 individual LEDs) the display has 75% more contrast compared to the MetaQuest 2. The Meta Quest Pro also has 37% more pixels per inch (PPI) and 10% greater pixels per degree than Meta Quest 2, making everything from reading text to playing games look better.
The company also reported 25% improvements in full-field visual sharpness in the center view, 50% improvements in the peripheral region, and 1.3X larger color gamut than Meta Quest 2. Meta Quest Pro uses dual LCDs (2.48”), with miniLED backlight and Quantum dot technology, 1800 x 1920 resolution per eye and 1200 PPI pixel density. This is the first time Meta has introduced a QD and MiniLED dual LCD-based device.

Quantum Dot & MiniLED technology Empowers LCD
As it has been seen in applications such as TV, IT, Tablets and other products, by the use of muti-zone blinking backlights, miniLED with QD (Quantum Dots) has enabled LCD to have higher brightness, very high contrast, excellent HDR, thin form-factor, superior power efficiency and display performance close to OLED. MiniLED-based products with QDs with higher picture quality, more competitive prices, higher product availability and brands focus (for product differentiation) have resulted in higher shipment growth for large LCD products for TV, IT, gaming and other products in the last few years.
Can QD and MiniLED also empower LCD for AR/VR /MR devices? Meta being the leader in terms of shipments in VR market, more brands may follow Meta. The cost of the combination of miniLED and QD can be high, limiting its use only to high end enterprise devices especially in the near term. The benefit of having QD and miniLED to improve visual performance can still help to increase adoption rates.
QD technology can help to increase color gamut, give higher brightness, increase power efficiency and improve speed. Immersive AR/VR/MR displays can use QD to improve visual performance. Nanosys is the world’s leading pioneer in the commercial application of Quantum Dot technology. According to Jeff Yurek, VP of Marketing at Nanosys,
“Speed is an underappreciated advantage for quantum dots in displays of all types. It turns out the speed of the backlight really matters. For optimal image quality, you really want the backlight and the LCD to be in perfect sync. Quantum dots enable this with ultra-fast, nanosecond response times. But, with slower phosphors like KSF, you are faced with a choice: either turn the backlight on before you open the LCD shutter, which exacerbates haloing artifacts and increases lag time, or, turn the backlight on in sync with the LCD shutter and live with cyan instead of white while the red warms up. These artifacts are visible even at 24p but when you start talking about refresh rates over 90hz and pairing that with hundreds or thousands of miniLED zones, speed becomes critical”.

Display requirements are different for VR (and pass-through AR) and see-through AR. For VR (and pass-through AR) most displays are based on TFT LCD and AMOLED. In general, immersive display needs are as follows:

• High resolutions (high pixel density to reduce or eliminate the screen door effect).
• High brightness
• High contrast
• Wide color gamut
• High refresh rates (and short duty cycle to reduce motion sickness).
• High PPD (Pixel Per degree)
• Widest Field of View (FOV)
• Compact design

See-through AR needs very high brightness display to match the ambient light; the display needs to be small and power efficient to make the headset thinner and lightweight. Currently all headsets for see-through AR are based on microdisplay (DLP, Micro-LCD, LCoS, Micro OLED) or laser beam scanner (LBS).

LCD: Strong presence through high PPI and MiniLED
LCD is the leading technology in the VR market. Advanced LTPS TFT LCD is generally used for VR for high resolutions displays. It has already achieved more than 1200PPI. Companies such as JDI are targeting 2000 to 2500PPI resolutions in the next two to three years. Local dimming backlights with miniLED can lower power consumption and optimize the image for higher contrast. Fast response LC (liquid crystal) with high-speed backlight switching can offer a clearer image. According to JDI an impulse display, needed for better motion display, is realized by applying a global blinking backlight. The efficiency of backlight blinking results in shortening the display “on” time and minimizes “ghosting”, thereby providing a clearer image.  According to LCD suppliers:
LCD is the best technology for 2-3-inch size displays for VR-HMD as it provides a wide field of view (HFV), which is a critical factor for an immersive VR-HMD.
Companies are also starting to use miniLED backlights for LCD for higher contrast and lower power consumption. The Varjo Aero ($1900) has two miniLED LCDs and the Pimax Reality (12K QLED) ($2399) has two miniLED LCD panels (200Hz refresh rates and QD layer for high color gamut, 6K per eye resolution with 1200PPI) and are already in the market.


OLED on Silicon (SiOLED): Poised for dominance with very high resolution & high luminance
OLED on Silicon (OLED Micro Display) are viewed through an optical system and generally have higher pixel density than AMOLEDs. OLED on silicon (SiOLED) is a common technology used to implement MicroOLEDs. It can be used both for VR and see-through AR. MicroOLED displays can be generally categorized into RGB OLED and White OLED (WOLED) types. However high resolution RGB OLED microdisplays still face challenges due to a shadow effect during the deposition process using FMM (Fine Metal Mask).
White OLED uses a color filter to generate image which can achieve high PPI (4000PPI). However the color filter absorbs a very high percentage of the emitted light and that limits maximum brightness for microOLED. Sony has been using microLens technology to increase the peak brightness of its OLED microdisplays. 
Kopin has developed a trio stack architecture to increase brightness.
eMagin has developed a direct patterning RGB OLED micro display. It has achieved 10,000 nits of brightness in a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) OLED microdisplay, made by direct patterning (eliminating the color filter) of red, green, and blue(RGB) sub-pixel emitters on the backplane. The red and green emitters were made from phosphorescent materials and blue from fluorescent material.  This has enabled significant improvement in efficiency and lifetime. They have roadmap to develop 30,000 nits full color peak luminance.
According to  DSCC forecast, LCD will have the dominant shipment share in the AR/VR market up to 2025. By 2027, SiOLED will represent 48% of all AR/VR display shipments. DSCC expects Apple’s new Reality Pro Product (2H 2023) to have dual microOLED plus one AMOLED display with a pixel density of >3000 PPI. Apple’s adoption of SiOLED technology and technology progress will help SiOLED to gain higher market share in future. According to the company forecast, VR (including pass through AR) will be a much bigger market for display suppliers than see through AR.

QD and MiniLED LCD-based VR/MR devices by the use of muti zone blinking backlights, can enable LCD to have higher brightness, very high contrast, excellent HDR, compact form-factor, superior power efficiency and higher display performance. MiniLED-based products with QDs with higher picture quality, more competitive prices, higher product availability and brands focus (for product differentiation) can empower LCD to keep higher market share and also help to open up new opportunities for higher revenue. (SD)
 Sweta Dash, President, Dash-Insights
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.dash-insights.com