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LCD Panel Price Increase – Implications for the TV Market

4/12/2021

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Large LCD panel prices have been continuously increasing for last 10 months due to an increase in demand and tight supply. This has helped the LCD industry to recover from drastic panel price reductions, revenue and profit loss in 2019. It has also contributed to the growth of Quantum Dot and MiniLED LCD TV.
Strong LCD TV panel demand is expected to continue in 2021, but component shortages, supply constraints and very high panel price increase can still create uncertainties.

Low Panel Prices: Drive Demand/Adoption Rates
LCD TV panel capacity increased substantially in 2019 due to the expansion in the number of Gen 10.5 fabs. After growth in 2018, LCD TV demand weakened in 2019 caused by slower economic growth, trade war and tariff rate increases. Capacity expansion and higher production combined with weaker demand resulted in considerable oversupply of LCD TV panels in 2019 leading to drastic panel price reductions. Some panel prices went below cash cost, forcing suppliers to cut production and delay expansion plans to reduce losses.
​Panel over-supply also brought down panel prices to way lower level than what was possible through cost improvement. Massive 10.5 Gen capacity that can produce 8-up 65" and 6-up 75" panels from a single mother glass substrate helped to reduce larger size LCD TV panel costs. Also extremely low panel price in 2019 helped TV brands to offer larger size LCD TV (>60-inch size) with better specs and technology  (Quantum Dot & MiniLED) at more competitive prices, driving higher shipments and adoption rates in 2019 and 2020.
While WOLED TV had higher shipment share in 2018, Quantum Dot and MiniLED based LCD TV gained higher unit shares both in 2019 and 2020 according to Omdia published data. This trend is expected to continue in 2021 and in the next few years with more proliferation of Quantum Dot and MiniLED TVs.

Very Low Panel Prices:  Can Reduce Production & Investment
Panel suppliers’ financial results suffered in 2019 as they lost money. Suppliers from China, Korea and Taiwan all lowered their utilization rates in the second half of 2019 to reduce over-supply. Very low prices combined with lower utilization rates made the revenue and profitability situation for panel suppliers difficult in 2019. BOE and China Star cut the utilization rates of their Gen 10.5 fabs. Sharp delayed the start of production at its 10.5 Gen fab in China. LGD and Samsung display decided to shift away from LCD more towards OLED and QDOLED respectively. Both companies cut utilization rates in their 7, 7.5 and 8.5 Gen fabs. Taiwanese suppliers also cut their 8.5 Gen fab utilization rates.
Some suppliers also shifted capacity away from TV to other applications. In summary, drastic price reduction resulted in a cut in utilization rates, delays in fab construction and ramp-ups and the closing down of older fabs, or conversion to OLED or QDOLED fabs. This helped to reduce oversupply.

Higher Demand:  Can Cause Tight Supply & Panel Price Increase
An increase in demand for larger size TVs in the second half of 2020 combined with component shortages has pushed the market to supply constraint and caused continuous panel price increases from June 2020 to March 2021. Market demand for tablets, notebooks, monitors and TVs increased in 2020 especially in the second half of the year due to the impact of "stay at home" regulations, when work from home, education from home and more focus on home entertainment pushed the demand to higher level.
With stay at home continuing in the firts half of 2021 and expected UEFA Europe football tournaments and the Olympic in Japan (July 23), TV brands are expecting stronger demand in 2021. The panel price increase resulting in higher costs for TV brands. It has also made it difficult for lower priced brands (Tier2/3) to acquire enough panels to offer lower priced TVs. Further, panel suppliers are giving priority to top brands with larger orders during supply constraint. In recent quarters, the top five TV brands including Samsung, LG, and TCL have been gaining higher market share.
From June 2020 to January 2021, the 32" TV panel price has increased more than 100%, whereas 55" TV panel prices have increased more than 75% and the 65" TV panel price has increased more than 38% on average according to DSCC data.  Panel prices continued to increase through Q1 and the trend is expected to continue in Q2 2021 due to component shortages.

In last few months top glass suppliers Corning, NEG and AGC have all experienced production problems. A tank failure at Corning, a power outage at NEG and an accident at an AGC glass plant all resulted in glass supply constraints when demand and production has been increasing. In March this year Corning announced its plan to increase glass prices in Q2 2021. Corning has also increased supply by starting glass tank in Korea to supply China’s 10.5 Gen fabs that are ramping up.  Most of the growth in capacity is coming from Gen 8.6 and Gen 10.5 fabs in China.
Besides glass there have been other component shortages including driver ICs and polarizers. Component shortages are expected to continue in the first half of 2021.

Very High Panel Prices:  Can Cause Cost & Set-Price Increase
Major increases in panel prices from June 2020, have increased costs and reduced profits for TV brand manufacturers.  TV brands are starting to increase TV set prices slowly in certain segments. Notebook brands are also planning to raise prices for new products to reflect increasing costs. Monitor prices are starting to increase in some segments. Despite this, buyers are still unable to fullfill orders due to supply issues.
TV panel prices increased in Q4 2020 and are also expected to increase in the first half of 2021. This can create challenges for brand manufacturers as it reduces their ability to offer more attractive prices in coming months to drive demand. Still, set-price increases up to March have been very mild and only in certain segments. Some brands are still offering price incentives to consumers in spite of the cost increases. For example, in the US market retailers cut prices of big screen LCD and OLED TV to entice basketball fans in March.

Higher Panel Prices:  Can Increase Production & Investment
Higher LCD price and tight supply helped LCD suppliers to improve their financial performance in the second half of 2020. This caused a number of LCD suppliers especially in China to decide to expand production and increase their investment in 2021.
New opportunities for MiniLED based products that reduce the performance gap with OLED, enabling higher specs and higher prices are also driving higher investment in LCD production. Suppliers from China already have achieved a majority share of TFT-LCD capacity.
BOE has acquired Gen 8.5/8.6 fabs from CEC Panda. ChinaStar has acquired a Gen 8.5 fab in Suzhou from Samsung Display. Recent panel price increases have also resulted in Samsung and LGD delaying their plans to shut down LCD production. These developments can all help to improve supply in the second half of 2021. Fab utilization rates in Taiwan and China stayed high in the second half of 2020 and are expected to stay high in the first half of 2021.

Higher Set Prices – Can Impact Demand
Price increases for TV sets are still not widespread yet and increases do not reflect the full cost increase. However, if set prices continue to increase to even higher levels, there is the potential for an impact on demand.
QLED and MiniLED gained share in the premium TV market in 2019, impacting OLED shares and aided by low panel prices. With the LCD panel price increases in 2020 the cost gap between OLED TV and LCD has gone down in recent quarters.
OLED TV also gained higher market share in the premium TV market especially sets from LG and Sony in the last quarter of 2020, according to industry data. LG Display is implimenting major capacity expansion of its OLED TV panels with its Gen 8.5 fab in China.Strong sales in Q4 2020 and new product sizes such as 48-inch and 88-inch have helped LG Display’s OLED TV fabs to have higher utilization rates.
Samsung is also planning to start production of QDOLED in 2021. Higher production and cost reductions for OLED TV may help OLED to gain shares in the premium TV market if the price gap continues to reduce with LCD.
Lower tier brands are not able to offer aggressive prices due to the supply constraint and panel price increases. If these conditions continue for too long, TV demand could be impacted.

Implication: Uncertainties in 2H of 2021
Strong LCD TV demand especially for Quantum Dot and MiniLED TV is expected to continue in 2021. The economic recovery and sports events (UEFA Europe footbal and the Olympics in Japan) are expected to drive demand for TV, but component shortages, supply constraints and too big a price increase could create uncertainties. Panel suppliers have to navigate a delicate balance of capacity management and panel prices to capture the opportunity for higher TV 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 sweta@dash-insights.com or visit www.dash-insights.com


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MiniLED Quantum Dot TVs - New Opportunities

3/18/2021

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The biggest advantage of miniLED Quantum Dot TV is that it takes LCD performance to a new height not possible before. MiniLED display technology can enable LCD to achieve high brightness, very high contrast, better HDR (High Dynamic Range), thinner form factor and higher power efficiency to compete directly with OLED.

QD enhancement film (QDEF) enabled LCDs to have better color purity, wider color gamut (WCG), and offer a brighter and more immersive HDR experience while maintaining power efficiency. MiniLED Quantum Dot TV combined with higher capacity and more efficient production of larger size LCDs (65-inch and higher), higher resolutions (4K, 8K) and broader price points can drive replacement demand. With top brands like Samsung and LGE joining TCL this year by adopting miniLED QD TV, 2021 is expected to be "the year of MiniLED".

Higher Adoption - by Top TV Brands
Top consumer brands Samsung and LG Electronics joined TCL in introducing miniLED-based LCD TV products combined with Quantum Dots (QDs) at CES 2021. Samsung, Vizio, TCL, Hisense, Konka and Xiaomi were already offering QDEF-based LCD TVs. QD TV set prices have reached below $1,000 enabling higher adoption, larger market share and stronger growth rates in 2020 in spite of market slowdown. The growth in the use of miniLED backlights combined with QDs will lead to higher picture quality enabling further growth driving an expansion phase in 2021.
The biggest news at CES was LG Electronics (LGE) embracing both QD and miniLED technology this year by introducing what it calls 'QNED' miniLED TVs after years of being the biggest proponent of OLED TV. (not to be confused with what the industry calls QNED. LG had its trademark application for the term rejected - editor)
The company combines Quantum NanoCell color technology with miniLED backlighting. LGE’s 2021 Quantum Dot TV line-up will include miniLED backlights in both 4K and 8K resolutions spanning sizes from 65 to 86". Samsung the top TV supplier in the world and most successful supplier of QLED TV introduced “Neo QLED” miniLED backlight-based technology to its flagship 8K and 4K models in a variety of sizes (55 to 85"), with a range of features, performance and price ($1,600 to $9,000) range.
TCL launched its ultra-slim TV third generation miniLED TV “OD zero”. By reducing the optical distance between the miniLED backlight layer and the LCD display layer (diffuser plate) to 0 mm, it created an ultrathin backlight module. (TCL Offers Cool Display Innovations at CES 2021) TCL offers a broad range of miniLED QD TV products. Its lowest price model is below <$1000 for 65-inch. Hisense launched its first 8K TV with miniLED and QD technology. More brands are expected to introduce miniLED QD products in 2021.


Bigger Share - Premium TV Market 
According to industry data, more than 90% of the TVs sold in the world market are priced at <$1,000. Also the vast majority of the products on the market are sold at <$500. Massive LCD capacities, over-investment, fierce competition and lower panel prices (during over-supply) and low set prices have commoditized the TV market with low revenue and low profitability.
The premium TV market is generally considered to be at $1500 price. Even though it captures less than 10% of the market in terms of units it has significant share in revenue terms. Profitability is also higher. OLED has secured a strong presence in the premium TV market because of high picture quality, design differentiation, perfect black and an infinite contrast ratio.
LG Electronics is the most successful brand using LG Display’s OLED TV panels. Samsung has been gaining share with super-sized screens (65 to 98"), better features and better performance (higher luminance and color volume) with QD technology. The advanced TV technology of MiniLED with QD can provide higher display performance (very high contrast & WCG) with product differentiation (thinner form factors, no bezel) gaining higher shares in the premium market. It will also help panel suppliers and TV brands with higher revenue and profitability.


Drive - TV Replacement Demand
In recent years TV replacement cycles have been increasing to 7 to 10 years. MiniLED QD TV could drive more replacement demand with more advanced technology, differentiated product and visibly higher picture performance. In the past few years, resolution shift, curved form factors,WCG and HDR have not driven strong replacement demand. Historical data has shown that the TV market went through a major growth period when LCD backlight shifted from CCFL to LED offering thinner and better displays.
MiniLED backlight has the potential to offer stronger growth in future by offering thinner form factors and higher display performance in future years. Cost is still a major challenge. The technology is still evolving and the supply chain is still developing. If cost can significantly improve in future years it could trigger faster replacement cycles although low end miniLED QD TV has reached <$1000 price.


Enable - Higher Display Performance
By the use of multi zone blinking backlights (>10,000 zones), miniLED can enable LCD to have higher brightness (>1000nits), very high contrast (>10,000:1), excellent HDR, better color rendering, ultra thin form factor, superior power efficiency and display performance close to OLED. Due to miniLED’s small size, it can enable curved form factors and narrow bezels. MiniLED with multi zone blinking backlight can achieve better HDR with >100000:1 contrast ratio and higher peak brightness.
There are new requirements for Energy Star 8.0, which measures energy consumption in a dynamic display content mode, which can help to highlight the energy efficiency of miniLED backlights. MiniLED-based TV used less efficient passive matrix driving technology in 2019. With an increased number of zones, companies are shifting to active matrix driving technology in 2020, which is more efficient and cost effective. Panel suppliers such as AUO, Innolux, BOE and CSOT are all developing active matrix-based products, which will help adoption rates.
Smaller size miniLED chips, better die bonding and more efficient production, combined with lower open cell LCD TV panel prices could enable lower cost TV. Currently the TCL 75-inch 4K miniLED QLED TV price is lower than similar size OLED products. Many brands will pursue multiple TV technology strategies with LCD, OLED, QD and miniLED-based LCD TV together.  With the right price/performance strategy MiniLED can drive better growth.


Improved - Supply & Supply Chain
Suppliers are now starting to increase capacities and investments. Major LED chip companies are increasing capital expenditure to increase capacity and installing equipment for high-speed transfer, die testing and sorting to improve manufacturing yield. The development of tools to increase throughput efficiently and handle smaller dies (<100 micron) can reduce manufacturing costs.
As miniLED technology uses a large number of small size LEDs, the process of testing and repairing is very important to reduce repair costs and improve yield. Driver IC companies are focusing on miniLED products this year. Higher miniLED capacity is expected to come in 2021. There is more collaboration among suppliers within the miniLED supply chain: substrate, LED epitaxial wafer, packaging, driver ICs, display suppliers and even consumer electronic companies.
Panel suppliers are collaborating with their LED subsidiaries: MiniLED supply chain companies such as BOE, China Star, AUO, Innolux, Epistar, Sanan, Lextar, Macroblock, ASM Pacific Technology, Nationstar, Refond, Yenrich, and many others are all working to develop better solutions. Consumer electronics companies are also joining in the collaboration and development.


Lower Cost - Still a Challenge
Cost reduction can be realized through advanced chip production and higher throughput for the transfer and assembly process and PCB and driver IC enhancements. Chip production can be improved through a reduction in chip size, improvements in uniformity and boosting luminous efficiency. Upgrading transfer and assembly efficiency and accuracy can also improve manufacturing yield. Panel suppliers are switching backlight connection backplanes to use glass with active driving solutions to reduce costs. Panel suppliers and component suppliers are expected to focus more on cost reductions in 2021 to support brands’ product introduction of miniLED-based displays to drive growth and expansion plans.
At the same time TV panel price increases in Q4 2020 and also the expected increase in 1H of 2021 can create challenges for brand manufacturers, reducing their ability to offer more attractive prices. Strong TV demand combined with higher IT demand due to work from home trends has resulted in supply constraint. Also shortages of LCD components and raw materials, including polarizers, driver ICs and glass substrate are expected to continue in the 1H 2021, impacting supply and prices. Top TV manufacturers also have aggressive plans for 2021 in expectation of sales around the Olympics and further market recovery.
Recent panel price increases have resulted in increased Capex and expansion plans from LCD panel suppliers such as BOE, ChinaStar and others. Samsung and LGD have also delayed their plan to shift away from LCD production. These factors could all help to improve supply in 2H of 2021. Currently low end MiniLED QD TV set prices are lower than similar size OLED TVs and high end TV prices are higher than similar sized OLEDs.  
The addition of QDEF film to MiniLED backlight improves performance as well as costs. According to Nanosys,  “Quantum dot has been a low cost adder for TV companies. Cost is about $15/$16 for a square meter”. Adding QD to miniLED enables higher performance especially 100% color volume, expanded range of color, peak brightness and contrast capabilities, which are very important for the premium market. This is leading to very high rate of attachment of QD with MiniLED.
Summary – MiniLED QD Growth Opportunity
Recent developments can help drive miniLED QD LCD TV to higher success.
  • Adoption of miniLED QD technology by top TV brands at different size, features, performance and price levels.
  • Need for higher specs and differentiated product to drive TV replacement demand
  • Need for higher value products to avoid commoditization to increase revenue and profitability.
  • MiniLED QD technology enables LCD with significant higher performance.
  • Enables ultra thin form factor, superior power efficiency and display performance close to OLED.
  • Development of cost effective volume production process with high-speed transfer, higher yield, integrated with better testing and repair
  • Higher collaboration, higher investment & increased supply for MiniLED
  • Higher competition and production from many suppliers can lead to price and cost reductions, helping adoption rates.
  • MiniLED backlight shift can drive higher replacement demand like the shift from CCFL to LED
(SD)
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit www.dash-insights.com
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Flexible OLED Display Driving Next Generation Smartphones

2/23/2021

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The smartphone market has slowed down considerably in recent years. It was expected to recover in 2020 with 5G product introductions but the pandemic impacted both supply and demand side in the first half of the year. Smartphone shipments returned to positive growth in 4Q20 with the Apple iPhone 12(5G) introduction and its record performance.
Samsung has also introduced Galaxy 21 series with 5G capabilities and lower pricing than its previous series in January this year. The market is expected to recover with positive growth in 2021. Smartphones with 5G capabilities need slimmer, lighter, lower power consumption displays to accommodate 5G enabling components. Evolving flexible OLED display with new materials, breakthrough technology, higher integrations and lower power consumption can drive the next generation's smartphones with better features and functionality.
According to an IDC press release in January 2021, global smartphone shipments returned to positive growth in the fourth quarter driven by record performance by Apple.

“While the full year 2020 declined 5.9% compared to 2019, the progress toward market recovery has been impressive and IDC believes the momentum heading into 2021 will remain strong. There are a lot of elements at play that are fueling the smartphone market recovery-pent-up demand, continued supply push on 5G, aggressive promotions, and the popularity of low to mid-priced phones.”

IDC also noted that Apple returned to number 1 position in 4Q20 with 23.4% market share and Samsung moved to number 2 with 19.1% market share. All the products in Apple’s iPhone 12 series use flexible OLED displays. Samsung and Apple are driving flexible OLED demand and technology developments. Most brands are adopting flexible OLED for their high-end 5G flagship products. The need for affordable 5G products at less than $400 or even less than $300 is leading suppliers to use LTPS LCD at lower cost levels.

Gaining Share in 5G
DSCC published data in November 2020 that showed;
“5G accounted for 60% of Q3’20 AMOLED smartphone panels in Q3’20, up from 40% in Q2’20, and will rise in Q4’20 to over 70% on Apple's iPhone 12 launch”. 
Premium 5G products are supporting demand for flexible OLED displays especially with Apple’s iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy products. Other brands such as Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo are also offering flexible OLEDs for their premium 5G products. The introduction of 5G-based products needing slimmer displays to accommodate 5G enabling components will increase flexible OLED demand.

Gaining Share in Smartphone
Data published from Omdia in January 2021, said
“smartphone display shipment is expected to be 2 percent down YoY in 2020 but flexible OLED displays are up 8 percent.”
Flexible OLED will continue to gain share in smartphone market in 2021. Samsung Display dominates the flexible OLED market but LGD and BOE are increasing production. More capacity came from companies such as Tianma, Visionox, China Star (CSOT) and others in 2020. Chinese OLED makers’ production grew substantially in 2020 with improvement in flexible OLED yield rates and customers adoption.
Samsung Display continues to be dominant in terms of OLED capacity, shipments, price, performance and technology roadmap. China suppliers are starting to gain share with more capacity investments. By 2022, there will be nine Gen6 flexible OLED fabs in China. Higher competition can help to reduce costs and improve adoption rates in future. Suppliers are hoping to gain share in mid-range products in 2021.


Reducing Power Consumption
Display with lower power consumption capability can significantly reduce overall power consumption for smartphones enabling increased battery life. Samsung Display is focusing on LTPO (Low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) technology (combination of LTPS + Oxide TFT) that enables variable refresh rates and lower power consumption. Many other companies are also working on this technology for next generation displays. Apple is expected to use LTPO in its future products in 2021. (and we have a Display Daily planned on this topic - editor)
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is already using Samsung Display’s LTPO-based flexible OLED panel. Samsung Display recently announced that it has developed an organic material whose luminous efficiency has improved dramatically by having electrons flow faster and more easily across the display’s organic layers. The new low-power OLED display for smartphone can reduce power consumption by up to 16% compared to previous panels. Due to the new process, the OLED panel can create brighter light while consuming less powers. The new panel is being used for the first time in the Galaxy S21 Ultra.


Increasing Sunlight Visibility
Samsung Display also announced that its newest OLED display has been recognized by UL (the global independent safety science company) for its “Sunlight Visibility” performance. UL assessed the color gamut and luminance of the new display, both of which can impact outdoor visibility. Samsung’s new OLED panel achieved an “Ambient Color Gamut” rating of 73% of the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives)-P3 level and a peak brightness of more than 1500 nits. The organic material is helping to achieve significantly improved outdoor visibility.
Samsung display noted in its press release that its new sunlight-friendly display’s visibility benefits would be combined with its recently announced technology allowing for significant reductions in OLED power consumption. Samsung Display’s newest OLED panel is available for other smartphone manufacturers. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone includes a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with variable refresh rates ranging from 10Hz to 120Hz that adjusts to the content viewing giving it better image quality while staying power-efficient. Compared with the Galaxy S20, the S21 Ultra offers a 25% brighter picture (1500 vs 1200 nits peak brightness). 

Increasing Integration

Samsung Display has also developed on-cell touch Y-OCTA (Youm On-Cell Touch AMOLED) for flexible OLED technology. (So What is Y-OCTA?)  In this process, the touch sensor is deposited directly on the thin film encapsulation (TFE) layer enabling thinner flexible OLED displays. Optical features also improve as the touch layer is below the polarizer allowing the use of non-ITO materials for the transparent conductive film. This structure has fewer layers compared to add-on type. Samsung has used this process in its Galaxy products for some time. Now Apple has started using it in Apple iPhone 12. LG Display, BOE, Tianma, and Visionox are all developing their own processes for on cell touch integration to reduce the layers and increase performance.

Evolving Form Factors
Flexible OLED form factors are shifting from foldable to rollable and scrollable. As announced at CES 2021, TCL CSOT launched a 6.7-inch rollable AMOLED display that can be extended to 7.8-inch size, turning it from smartphone to tablet. LG Electronics also received industry attention by showing a rollable screen that can roll from a smartphone to tablet.
According to DSCC data published in December 2020,
“Foldable panel shipments are expected to rise 454% in 2020 to 3.1M units in 2020. Samsung is clearly the dominant brand in 2020 with over a 90% share in Q3’20 and Q4’20 on a panel procurement basis and 87% share for the year.”
The DSCC publication also said,
“120Hz refresh rates led for the first time in Q3’20 as did LTPO backplanes. Also 5G accounted for a majority of foldable devices for the first time in Q3’20”.
With both larger display sizes and 5G, power consumption increases, if all other things are equal. LTPO with its capability of variable refresh rates can be used to reduce power consumption. DSCC forecast that in smartphones, foldables are expected to grow at an 80% CAGR to 59M panels with rollables growing at a 121% CAGR to 24M panels.
The introduction of 5G-based products needing slimmer displays to accommodate 5G enabling components will increase flexible OLED demand. Integration of new technology such as fingerprint under display, touch display, power savings, variable refresh rates, and other features to reduce border & increased screen-to-body-ratio can make flexible OLED more critical for next generation products. (SD)
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit 
www.dash-insights.com
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OLED, MicroLED, MiniLED and QLED Displays showcased at CES 2021

1/25/2021

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Suppliers generally showcased their best and brightest next generation products at CES giving us a glimpse of what to expect in future. Some of these prototypes take years to show up in the consumer market and some never make it as commercially viable products. This year at virtual CES 2021 we got a glimpse of futuristic products as well as products that we can expect to see in 2021.
OLED Display: Evolving
OLED display technology is continuing to advance and evolve for next generation products.

Brighter OLED
:
LG Display unveiled a new 77" OLED display that uses new materials as well as addition of a layer to display to improve efficiency by around 20% enabling higher brightness. The company plans to bring its advanced next gen OLED technology to high-end TVs in 2021. LG Electronics will use the new brighter panel for its new premium TV products called OLED ”evo” this year that delivers higher brightness and better picture quality. It is also planning to introduce an 83-inch OLED TV in 2021.
Broader Applications:
LG Display is planning to add 83" and 42" OLED TV displays this year adding to existing 88", 77", 65", 55" and 48" sizes. It also plans to expand its mid-range TV display line up to include 20-30" sizes, enhancing TV, gaming, mobility, and personal display options. LG Display also showcased a series of transparent OLEDs (40% transparency), gaming TVs and foldable laptops showing the possible use of these products for different application markets.
  • LGD showcased:
    • 55" Transparent OLED for Smart Beds and subway trains,
    • 55" Transparent OLED & 23.1" in-Touch Stretch Display for restaurants,
    • 48" Bendable Cinematic Sound OLED (CSO) Gaming TV,
    • 55" Rail & Pivot OLED (not transparent),
    • 88" 8K Cinematic Sound OLED for home theater, and foldable OLED laptop
  • Panasonic introduced the JZ2000 OLED TV with low-latency and support for HDMI 2.1 variable refresh rates and high frame rates targeting gaming as well as movie watching. LG’s OLED TVs are optimized for gaming also.
  • Asus showed the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED, the company’s second gen dual display laptop with a 15.6" 4K OLED display and a secondary display with auto tilt mechanism for improved readability.
  • Mercedes-Benz announced that its electric vehicle would use a 56" large curved display called Hyperscreen. It uses three different OLED displays integrated into one 56" cover glass. According to some auto suppliers, recent design innovations have resulted in significant improvements in OLED performance against environmental requirements and durability. OLED cost structures are improving.
  • LG Electronics introduced a 31.5-inch 4K (1,000,000:1 contrast ratio) monitor LG UltraFine display OLED Pro, based on a JOLED inkjet-printed display. Inkjet Printing (IJP) offers several advantages including high material utilization, a simple OLED stack and excellent color without color filters in the panel.
Rollable & Scrollable:
TCL CSOT announced the launch of two new designs: a 6.7" AMOLED rollable display and a 17" printed OLED scrolling display. The 17-inch printed OLED scrolling display is 0.18mm thick and can scroll back like a painting. The company said this RGB OLED inkjet-printed display cost is 20% lower than traditional display technology (no need for the use of fine metal mask).
The 6.7" rollable AMOLED display can be extended to a 7.8" size turning it from a smartphone to a tablet. The smartphone is less than 10mm in thickness. The curling and sliding radius of the flexible screen can be as small as R3mm. The display is combined with a sliding mechanism design. The sliding life of the device is up to 100,000 times according to TCL CSOT. LG Electronics also received industry attention by showing a rollable screen that can roll from a smartphone to tablet.
Variable Refresh Rates:
Samsung announced the Galaxy S21 series during CES including the S21 Ultra 5G smartphone. The S21 Ultra smartphone includes a 6.8" Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with variable refresh rates ranging from 10Hz to 120Hz, that can adjust to the content viewing giving better image quality while optimising the power efficiency. Compared with the Galaxy S20, the S21 Ultra offers a 25% brighter picture at a1500 nits peak brightness. The display being based on LTPO (LTPS + Oxide TFT) technology enables the variable refresh rates and low power consumption.
Technology development, improvements in materials, advancements in inkjet printing combined with capacity expansion and higher competition will help OLED displays to gain higher market share in 2021.

MicroLED Display: Progressing
MicroLED display technology is making steady progress towards commercialization. Samsung showcased its 110" 4K prefabricated microLED TV at CES for the consumer market. It is expected to ship in Q1 2021. According to Samsung its self-illuminating pixels produce stunning life-like colors and brightness through 24 million individually controlled LEDs. More products such as a 99-inch and smaller sizes are expected by the end of the year. The expected high price (>$100K) of the product will keep it out of the reach of most consumers.
Vuzix showcased its next generation AR smart glasses (NGSG) at CES 2021. Vuzix has entered into a multi-year joint manufacturing and supply agreement with Jade Bird Display for MicroLED-based display engine and waveguide products. According to the company as the entire microLED engine (monochrome and RGB) consisting of a microLED panel, backplane, and coupling projectors for pairing with a waveguide, measures the same as the cubic size of a pencil eraser, it should allow NGSG to have a virtually indistinguishable look and feel from normal eyeglasses.
Display panel suppliers, many start-up companies and component suppliers as well as top brand manufacturers are exploring solutions for microLED products including Apple. It is still not in volume production for consumer products due to manufacturing, production, scaling and yield issues. Next generation microLED display technology is still developing.


MiniLED & QLED Display: Growing and Expanding
Top consumer brands Samsung and LG Electronics joined TCL in introducing miniLED-based LCD TV products combined with Quantum Dots (QDs) at CES 2021. By the use of multi zone blinking backlights (>10,000 zones), miniLED can enable LCD to have higher brightness (>1000nits), very high contrast (>10,000:1), excellent HDR, better color rendering, ultra thin form factors, superior power efficiency and display performance close to OLED.
The combination of QD and miniLED technology can take it to next level empowering LCD technology and providing more competition for OLED. Samsung, Vizio, TCL, Hisense, Konka and Xiaomi are already offering QDEF-based LCD TVs. QD TV set prices have reached below $1K enabling higher adoption, larger market share and stronger growth rates in 2020 in spite of market slowdown. The growth in the use of miniLED backlights combined with QDs will lead to higher picture quality enabling further growth driving an expansion phase in 2021.
TCL launched a high performance and ultra-slim TV based on its third gen miniLED backlight technology “OD zero”. The term 'OD Zero' represents the optical distance between the miniLED backlight layer and the LCD display layer (diffuser plate). The distance is reduced to 0 mm, to create an ultra-thin high-performance backlight module with higher uniformity. It also improves the contrast and minimizes the halo effect. The new OD zero-based products are expected this year.
Samsung the top TV supplier in the world introduced “Neo QLED” miniLED backlight-based technology to its flagship 8K and 4K models. The company designed the Quantum MiniLED to be 1/40 the height of a conventional LED. According to Samsung, instead of using lens to disperse light and a package to fix LED in place, the Quantum miniLED has thin micro-layers filled with more LEDs. This 'Quantum matrix' technology enables more precise control and prevents blooming and haloing. The company said Neo QLED also increases the luminance scale to 12 bit with 4096 steps making dark areas darker and bright areas brighter resulting in more precise and immersive HDR experience.
LGE embraced both Quantum Dot and miniLED technology this year by introducing QNED miniLED TVs at CES. According to the company this is a new LCD panel structure that combines Quantum NanoCell color technology with miniLED backlighting for enhanced brightness, deeper black and brilliant color. LGE’s 2021 Quantum Dot TV line-up will include miniLED backlights in both 4K and 8K resolutions spanning sizes from 65 to 86-inch. Hisense launched their first 8K TV with miniLED and QD technology as the U90G and U80G series.
TV companies including Samsung and LGE are also designing TVs with gaming features. Samsung NeoQLED and QLED TVs are capable of 4K gaming at 120Hz. With low ms response time, auto low latency mode, variable refresh rates and other gaming features these TVs are geared towards gaming applications. Samsung’s super ultra wide Gameview gives gamers options to play at 21:9 as well as 32:9 aspect ratio.
Asus and Acer have been shipping gaming monitors with miniLED and Quantum Dot display technology. Asus launched the world’s first HDMI2.1 gaming monitor at CES which has a 144Hz QD display. Samsung launched world’s first chromebook with a QD display also.
Samsung, LGE and others’ adoption of miniLED technology with TCL will have a very positive impact on the supply chain leading to higher growth. Success will depend on suppliers’ ability to reduce cost to drive demand.
New products with advanced display technology of OLED, MiniLED and QD have the potential for higher growth if they become available at more competitive prices. - SD

Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit www.dash-insights.com
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Top Display Technology Trends for 2021

12/14/2020

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It is the time of the year to look forward to industry trends in 2021. This time last year it was not known that global markets would be hit by COVID pandemic. It came when the display market had been already impacted by over-supply for many quarters, panel prices were at record low level and Korean suppliers were transitioning from LCD to OLED due to low profitability.
 The first quarter of 2020 was impacted by supply constraints due to China impact. In the second quarter demand had a negative impact due to global lockdowns. In the third quarter, demand experienced strong growth both in IT as well as TV, resulting in tight supply and panel price increases. Display panel demand is still strong in Q4 and is expected to continue in 2021. For 2020, display technology trends continued as expected with some delays in new product introductions (Display Technology – Top Trends for 2020).

MiniLED Display: Poised for growth
Top consumer brands such as Apple, Samsung and others are expected to introduce miniLED-based products in 2021 for multiple applications. MiniLED-based displays were first introduced in 2018, but trade issues in 2019, and global pandemic in 2020 have delayed suppliers’ expansion plans and product introductions. MiniLED-based LCD products are already being shipped for use in high-end monitors and TVs.
  • By the use of multi zone blinking backlights (>10,000 zones), miniLED can enable LCD to have higher brightness (>1000nits), very high contrast (>10,000:1), excellent HDR, better color rendering, ultra thin form factor, superior power efficiency and display performance close to OLED.
  • MiniLED with the combination of quantum dot display technology can deliver >90% of DCI-P3 color gamut.
  • Suppliers are now starting to increase capacities and investments. They are installing equipment for high-speed transfer, die testing and sorting to improve manufacturing yield.
  • The supply chain is evolving. There is more collaboration among suppliers within the miniLED supply chain: substrate, LED epitaxial wafer, packaging, driver ICs, display suppliers and even consumer electronic companies.
Apple is expected to introduce 12.9” miniLED-based iPad Pro product in 2021. The company is reportedly planning to release six miniLED products by the end of 2021. Samsung is planning to introduce miniLED backlight technology for its quantum dot QLED TVs in 2021. Apple’s and Samsung’s adoption of miniLED technology will have a very positive impact on the supply chain and growth potential. Success will depend on suppliers’ ability to reduce costs to drive demand.

MicroLED Display: Progressing towards commercialization
MicroLED display technology is making steady progress towards commercialization. However the technology faces several challenges, which will take more time to resolve. In the meantime, suppliers will test the market with higher priced, lower volume, value-based products.
Samsung announced a 110" 4K prefabricated microLED TV in December 2020. It is expected to ship in Q1 2021. At CES 2020 Samsung showed “The Wall” large format TV products in 292", 150", 110", 93", and 88" using larger size chips. It also showed a 75" (4K) microLED TV based on smaller size chips from PlayNitride.
Samsung also planned to commercialize a 75" microLED TV based on PlayNitride chips in 2021. Display panel suppliers, many start-up companies and component suppliers as well as top brand manufacturers are exploring solutions for microLED products including Apple. The technology is still not in volume production due to manufacturing, production, scaling and yield issues. Next generation microLED display technology is still evolving.
  • MicroLED displays have a strong potential to outperform TFTLCD and OLED as they offer high contrast, fast response time, wide viewing angles, wider color gamut, very high brightness, higher readability, long lifetime, environment stability, high resolution, ultra low power consumption and options of using a flexible backplane.
  • They also allow the integration of sensors and circuits, enabling thin displays with embedded sensing capabilities such as fingerprint identification and gesture control.
  • More partnerships and collaborations among panel makers, set makers and microLED chip makers are required for success.
Companies are initially targeting wearables, AR/VR headsets, digital signage, public display, and automotive (HUD) applications using microLED. High-speed transfer, assembly technologies, yields and defect management all need to improve before large volume commercialization in consumer products such as smartphones or TV.

Quantum Dot Display: Entering Expansion Phase
Quantum Dot (QD) has become a true enabler of display technologies by empowering LCD, OLED and MicroLED. It has increased its market share in 2020 with lower prices, higher product availability and improved performance enabling strong growth in shipments. This technology is expected to enter an expansion phase in 2021 through high capital investments (from Samsung) and technology developments that will enhance other technologies such as LCD, OLED and MicroLED especially through QD color conversion (QDCC).
Samsung, Vizio, TCL, Hisense, Konka and Xiaomi are already offering QDEF-based LCD TVs. Samsung is the dominant supplier of QDLED TVs. The company is now offering products ranging from 43-inch to 98-inch with resolutions up to 8K at various price points. QD TV set prices has reached below $1K enabling higher adoption, larger market shares and stronger growth rates in 2020 in spite of market slow down.

QDOLED: 
Samsung Display plans to invest close to $11 billion in next generation displays, which will include QDOLED and QNED. QDOLED-based products are expected in 2021. However there are still many challenges. Blue emitting materials still have efficiency and lifetime issues although multiple layers of blue OLED can be used to reduce the problem. (although as we have reported, Samsung's TV division is not believed to be committed to the technology - Editor) 

QNED: 
Recent industry information is showing Samsung to be working on QNED technology, a QD nanorod based on GaN technology. It  is expected to follow QDOLED development. (Are Quantum Nano Emitting Diodes (QNEDs) the Next Big Thing?)

QD MicroLED: 
With QDCC, display makers can start with a blue MicroLED array and then patterned quantum dots can convert blue light into both red and green at the sub-pixel level. It can be made compatible with the MicroLED manufacturing process and can reduce defect rates (from the pick and place process). This type of MicroLED display is expected to come in two or three years. It may still have challenges with full color conversion.

QD-Emissive Display
: Electro-emissive QD display will have similar properties to OLED (perfect black and viewing angle), but with higher color gamut and higher brightness. BOE showed a 55-inch 4K active matrix QD LED (AMQLED) based on electroluminescent quantum dot technology in November. According to the company, AMQLED displays present a variety of advantages such as self-emitting, a wide color gamut, and a long lifetime. The display feature 3840x 2160 resolution, 119% of the NTSC color gamut and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
QD technology will enter another expansion phase in 2021 with strong demand growth even though it faces many challenges and competition from other display technologies.

OLED: Evolving for next generation products

OLED display technology is continuing to advance and evolve for next generation products. Technology development, improvements in materials and advancements in inkjet printing combined with capacity expansion and higher competition will help OLED display to gain higher market share in 2021. OLED display with its superior performance and increasing share is still facing many challenges. Companies are developing technologies to resolve these issues.

Flexible OLED: 
The technology will continue to gain share in 2021. It has been most successful in the smartphone market, which did slow down substantially in 2020. However the market is expected to recover with positive growth in 2021. The introduction of 5G-based products needing slimmer displays to accommodate 5G enabling components will increase flexible OLED demand. Apple has shifted completely to flexible OLED for iPhone 12 products. Integration of new technology such as fingerprint under display, touch display, and other features to reduce border & increased screen to body ratio can open up new opportunities.
Samsung Display dominates the flexible OLED market but LGD and BOE are increasing production. More capacity came from companies such as Tianma, Visionox, China Star (CSOT) and others in 2020. Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone products are the leading users of flexible OLED displays. Both Samsung and Apple are focusing on LTPO technology (combination of LTPS + Oxide TFT) that enables variable refresh rates and lower power consumptions.

Foldable OLED:  
Foldable OLED received a boost in 2020 with the Samsung Z-flip, a clamshell design with ultra-thin glass (higher hardness, better scratch resistance) and a more aggressive price <$1200. The success of Samsung Z-flip and Z-fold2 has increased the growth outlook in 2021 and reduced reliability concerns. Development of colorless polyimide and ultrathin glass cover lenses, touch sensors on thin film encapsulation, LTPO and other technology will enable further success.

White OLED TV: 
Products increased market share with strong growth and introduction of a 48-inch size display. OLED TV has secured a strong presence in the premium TV market and will increase share in 2021. LG Electronics, Sony, Panasonic, Skyworth, TPV, Hisense, Konka and others have all joined in, using LG Display’s panels. LGD is converting LCD TV capacity to OLED and is also making additional investment in production. It has faced strong competition from Samsung QLED (QDEF-based LCD) TV with aggressive price reductions.

QD-OLED: 
Samsung is planning to convert its 8.5 gen a-Si LCD capacity to 100K/m QDOLED capacity. According to industry news Samsung Display is starting to ship QD-OLED TV prototypes to potential customers and expected to mass produce in Q3 2021. QDOLED could combine the best of OLED and quantum dot technology.

LCD: Reinventing itself for survival and growth
The covid pandemic in 2020 had the most impact on the LCD market. Covid started when LCD was already in extreme over-supply with slow demand and high capacity expansion. Prices were at record low levels, panel suppliers had been unprofitable for many quarters and Samsung and LG Display were transitioning form LCD to OLED due to low profitability.
The impact of Covid on Chinese fabs delayed expansion plans and reduced production. Work-from-home and education-from-home increased tablet, notebook and monitor demand to an unexpected new level helping supply/demand balance. TV demand recovered in the 2H of 2020. Positive growth in LCD demand in 2021 combined with a tighter supply side will lead to brighter outlook. History has shown that when “panel price increases lead to set price increases”, it impacts demand negatively.
Quantum dot and MiniLED technology are helping LCD to reinvent itself by improving performance and bringing it closer to OLED display. This will help LCD to survive longer and enable its continued domination in large size display for many more years. For smaller size display a-Si and LTPS are continuing to lose shares to OLED especially in smartphone market. LTPS suppliers are continuing to innovate and improve performance and starting to increase shares in the notebook and tablet market. MiniLED will empower LTPS further.
​
The display market outlook is expected to be brighter in 2021. (SD)

Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit 
www.dash-insights.com
​
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Vehicle Display Technologies - LCD, FALD, Dual-cell, OLED and MicroLED..

11/20/2020

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Vehicle displays are in transitional phase due to three major factors: higher connectivity, the growth in electric vehicle sales and a shift to semi-autonomous and autonomous driving. The industry is moving towards new functionality that is driving an increase in display sizes, performance and the number of displays per vehicle. 
TFT-LCD is the dominant technology in the current market but it has limitations. There are stringent specifications for displays which need to operate in extreme temperature ranges; lifetime requirements and a demand for lower costs make the adoption of other technologies difficult. At the SID virtual Vehicle Conference in October 2020, several papers discussed alternatives to current solutions including OLED, full-array local dimming (FALD) LCD, dual cell, Organic LCD dual cell and MicroLED display technology.


TFT-LCD: Current Technology of Choice
In his keynote speech John Schneider from Ford Motor Company said,
“For today and into the near future, LCD remains the technology of choice for automotive designs. Improvement in packaging, color, contrast, luminance and of course relentless design efficiency that continues to deliver highly attractive cost points keep LCD at the top of the list”.
Key automotive display attributes are size, resolution, luminance, contrast, color gamut, color depth, low reflectivity, free format, thin design, touch capable, robustness (environmental), flexible 2D/3D, transparent-capable, power consumption and cost. His presentation also pointed out that there is a major shift in automotive customer expectations.
"Compute is the new horsepower, data service the new currency, and experiences are the new product".
Automotive specifications, environmental concerns, long design cycle and lifetime requirements have caused the auto display market to lag behind the consumer electronics market.  Shifts in consumer expectations will impact attributes and performance expectation of automotive displays in the future. The current dominant technology of a-Si TFT LCD lags consumer displays in terms of contrast ratio, black levels, form factors and resolutions. Higher resolution display products based on LTPS or Oxide TFT and miniLED backlight solutions are already entering the market. Designers are considering OLED displays as possible solutions especially due to their higher contrast ratio, black levels and thinner flexible form factors.


OLED: Designers’ Choice
According to Texas Instrument’s presentation, auto display requires more than 1000 cd/m² brightness, a wide temperature range (operating between -40° C and +85° C), long lifetime, production support, mechanical reliability and electromagnetic compatibility. OLED solves many of the LCD design challenges such as no backlight, high contrast ratio (>100,000:1-1,000,000:1), incredibly thin form factors, a fraction of power usage and allows for curved displays. High temperature reliability and lifetime, low luminance, cost and ambient reflections are OLED’s disadvantages (the presentation noted). These issues create challenges for the mass adoption of OLED auto display.
LG Display demonstrated an automotive cockpit design using flexible OLED at DisplayWeek 2020 including a 12.3-inch cinematic sound display (2500x 900, 750 nits) and 27-inch center information display plus co-driver display (5500x 900, 750 nits). According to the Ford Motor keynote presentation at the Vehicle Display conference, recent design innovations have resulted in significant improvements in OLED performance against environmental requirements and durability. OLED cost structures are improving but a substantial gap remains. They can see a future where OLED is much more prevalent in auto interiors.


FALD (Full Array Locally Dimmed): Higher Contrast & Power Savings
Globally dimmed edge-lit LCDs, which are most common in auto display, lack the desired contrast ratio and black levels. The TI paper indicated that FALD (Full Array Local Dimming) backlight architecture shows the potential to improve the contrast ratio of LCDs to near OLED levels while also providing power savings over traditional backlight methods. As mentioned in the paper, a liquid crystal layer blocks or passes through the backlight per RGB subpixel to create each pixel but liquid crystal can’t block 100% of the light when showing a dark pixel. Dark/black pixels are still partially illuminated resulting in the display not having a deep true black.
The paper further conveyed that in FALD backlight, LEDs under the LCD panel are divided into many small zones. The brightness of each zone is adjusted according to different display content. Automotive HMIs (Human Machine Interfaces) have lots of black backgrounds. FALD backlight display has the potential to improve the contrast ratio, display darker blacks and brighter white colors as well as reducing power consumption. The paper noted that local dimming can sometimes cause a halo effect, which is mura-effect where black/dark pixels are non ideally illuminated due to light leakage or zone overlap. A higher numbers of zones helps to avoid mura. TI has developed a 12-inch local dimming backlight display reference design with 384 zones. In the FALD solution there is trade-off between local dimming, price (more zones means higher cost) and image quality improvement.


Dual-Cell: Very High Contrast
A presentation from Visteon noted that dual-cell TFT LCD solution could offer excellent black background performance and very high contrast. Dual-cell TFT technology has been under research for more than 10 years. Recently it has been getting some traction in the TV market.
In a dual-cell system a second monochrome TFT cell is used to increase the number of backlight zones. The paper said
“it is possible to drive more than 300K micro-zones on a monochrome TFT with gray shade control.  It doesn’t suffer from image burn in and high luminance is possible”.
Historically in dual-cell technology 2.x to 2.5X more backlight power is needed due to lower system transmission. Visteon has developed micro-Zone dual-cell technology where several modifications were done to increase system efficiency: there was a modification to the inter-cell diffuser and use of a proprietary light control method. (Vehicular Display Makers Explore Dual-Cell LCD) Visteon developed backlight efficiency improvements and improved the driving monochrome TFT gray scale capability to smooth edges. Also a monochrome TFT gray scale is used to provide optimized gamma function and eliminate the color cell leakage component. According to the presentation microZone eliminates black mura issues commonly associated with color TFTs and it looks very similar to OLED but with no image burn-in and higher maximum luminance. Visteon paper noted that most important dual cell development is reducing power consumption as with their microZone product, the power increase is only 1.3 times even with a color improvement to 96% NTSC.


 Organic LCD(OLCD) Dual-cell: High Contrast with Design Flexibility
OLCD is like a standard TFT LCD but with film used instead of glass. It is conformable as the display bend radius can be as low as 10mm. It is free-form and lightweight. According to the FlexEnable presentation at the conference, it is 10 times lighter than glass TFT-LCD and OLCD enables conformable, large area, long lifetime and high brightness display at low cost.
The company reported that by using TAC film (commonly used in polarizers) as a substrate material it can bring glass-like optical performance to Flex LCD. The presentation pointed out that dual-cell TAC films allow close coupling of the cells. OLCD dual cell leads to: true pixel level dimming, lower cost and higher transmission and better transmission from a simple stacks. It further added that trade-offs of the dual-cell approach using glass are thickness, weight, brightness at wide angles and mura.
These trade-offs are a direct result of the very large separation between the modulation cell and display cell caused by the glass thickness. Reducing the inter-cell separation is the key to higher performance and lower cost. Direct on polarizer OLCD dual-cell leads to: pixel level dimming (no Halo), lower cost and higher transmission from a simpler stack because of very low inter-cell spacing. Dual cell OLCD can offer very high contrast with conformability format. Novares has already integrated curved, glass-free OLCDs into its Nova concept car in 2019. (Novares are an investor in Flexenable - editor Flexenable Boosts Dual LCD for Automotive (and....)

MicroLED: The Future?
MicroLED provides the best features of LCD and OLED display and has the potential to outperform both technologies. However, it is not in volume production due to manufacturing, production, scaling and yield issues. Technology innovations are critical in enabling cost reductions and volume productions so that microLED can compete effectively with OLED and LCD in future.
VuReal presented the enabling features of their MicroLED for automotive applications. The presentation said that MicroLED is the only solution to address new automotive display demands of enhanced UX (user experience), improve safety and offer better connectivity. It can provide AR for HUD (Heads Up Display), curved displays for center stacks, 3D experience for instrument cluster, and better M2M (machine to machine) and M2H experience with MicroLED external display.
In the VueReal Micro-Solid printing technology process MicroLEDs are printed directly from a cartridge to a display substrate selectively. It has multi cartridge transfer (>100 cartridges at once) and multi color cartridge (high alignment accuracy). Its MicroVue inspection system can be used to identify defects, bin for performance, and protect microLEDs during printing, thus improving yields. This technology has allowed VuReal to demonstrate a printed 10μm LED with 166ppi and >60% transparency.
The company is planning to sell its inspection solution and Micro-Solid printing technology in the future. Some companies are already demonstrating MicroLED for auto display by using different processes. At the DisplayWeek 2020 virtual conference, AUO demonstrated a 12.1" (169 ppi) microLED display with a glass backplane and a 9.4" (228 ppi) flexible display with PI (Polyimide) co-developed with Playnitride. Also Tianma showcased a 7.56" (114 ppi), >600cd/m² flexible display and a 5.04" (114 PPI), 600cd/m² LTPS TFT microLED display for automotive applications.

Vehicle display will transition into a new era in future driven by customers’ expectations, higher connectivity, the growth in electric vehicles and a shift towards autonomous vehicles. With the move towards new functionality, increases in display size, performance and the number of displays, ithe ndustry will start to embrace new solutions such as FLAD, Dual-cell, miniLED and new display technology such as OLED and MicroLEDs. (SD)
​
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit 
www.dash-insights.com
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OLED Display for Next Generation Products

10/19/2020

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OLED display technology is continuing to advance for next generation products, a glimpse of which was seen through various presentations at the OLEDs World Summit 2020 conference from Sept 30th to Oct 2nd. Technology development, improvements in materials, advancements in inkjet printing combined with capacity expansion and higher competition will help OLED display to gain higher market share in the future.

OLED Display: Competition increasing
OLED is already leading in terms of display performance and steadily increasing market share. According to Omdia’s presentation at OLEDs Summit,
“Korean OLED makers lead the OLED capacity with 67% in 2020, but China is challenging Korea with 31% capacity in 2020 and continuous expansion. Chinese OLED makers grew substantially in 2020 with improvements in the flexible OLED yield rate and customers adoption”.
By 2022 China is expected to have nine Gen 6 flexible OLED fabs. The high cost of OLED displays has been a limitation for faster market share growth both in the smartphone and TV market. Technology advancements, capacity growth and higher competition can help to reduce costs and drive future growth.

Flexible Display: Gaining shares in the smartphone market
The smartphone market has slowed down substantially in 2020 and is expected to recover with positive growth in 2021 boosted by 5G adoption. The introduction of 5G-based products needing slimmer displays to accommodate 5G enabling components will increase flexible OLED demand. Integration of new technology such as fingerprint under display, touch display, and other features to reduce border & increased screen to body ratio can open up new opportunities.
Samsung Display dominates the flexible market but LGD and BOE are increasing production. More capacity is coming from companies such as Tianma, Visionox, China Star (CSOT) and others in 2020. According to DSSC presentation at OLEDs Summit
“OLED represented 23% of phone panels (including feature phones) in 2019 with 466 million units, increasing to 41% in 2024 with 889 million, limited primarily by price”.

LTPO: Enabling power savings
LTPO technology is a combination of LTPS + Oxide TFT technology that enables variable refresh rates and low power consumption. LTPS has high carrier mobility and high driving capability whereas Oxide TFT has low leakage. Many companies are working on this technology for next generation displays. According to an Omdia presentation

“Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone OLED are now leading the flexible OLED technology and product roadmap. Samsung Galaxy will eventually move to 4K/500+ PPI resolution and over 6.5” screen size. iPhone OLED will be moving to Touch on Thin Film Encapsulation, Driver IC COP and LTPO. Samsung called their LTPO  HOP (Hybrid oxide and polycrystalline silicon). Smartphone batteries are getting bigger and power consumption matters. Regardless of LTPO or HOP, both need more photomasks than LTPS to pattern the oxide semiconductor layer and other layers, which increases the cost by 15–20%”.
High costs will make it difficult for power saving LTPO technology to be used in lower priced 5G products.

Foldable Display: Evolving with form factors
Omdia presented that Foldable smartphone OLED is targeting at a certain market segment with over $2,000 price tag and 7”-8” sizes. The market is expected to grow to 50 million in 2024. Samsung Display is leading the technology roadmap and has revamped the new structure from panel to touch and cover lens. The keys to achieve the real and mature foldable OLED are -
  • Cover Lens with Colorless Polyimide or Ultra Thin Glass,
  • Touch Sensor on Thin Film Encapsulation,
  • Color filter on Thin Film Encapsulation, Under Panel Camera and
  • LTPO with lower power consumption”.
Royole, supplier of the first foldable displays also presented that as display sizes increase power consumption also increases and LTPO with its capability of variable refresh rates can be used to reduce power consumption. Omdia presented that for Rollable/Stretchable AMOLED in future, two critical paths are reliability and cost. Prototypes of rollable products have already been shown in the industry: including Sharp 32-inch 4K, LG 65-inch TV, Visionox 6.47-inch display and BOE 12.3-inch rollable.

OLED Microdisplay: Offering higher brightness

The VR/AR market is expected to grow in the next five years. Companies such as HTC and Oculus have developed more stand-alone, all-in-one devices for VR with lower prices. OLED displays have been gaining higher acceptance in the VR market due to its high refresh rates, higher resolutions, and higher contrast for either direct view or microdisplay architectures. AR adoption has been slow due to high prices and low consumer acceptance.
eMagin Corporation presented OLED microdisplays for AR/VR applications. The presentation identified four major challenges for AR/VR applications:
  • Displays.
  • Optics,
  • Content and
  • Price.
Displays need high resolution, high brightness, high contrast, low power and small form factor. Optics requires large field of view (FOV), no distortion, high efficiency, lightweight and small factors. Content needs games, movies, live events, etc. and graphic processing speed. Everything needs to come together for it to be a successful business.

Display brightness is critical for AR and VR devices because of ambient light, optics inefficiency and need to eliminate motion artifacts. eMagin has developed Direct Patterning (dPd) OLED microdisplay technology and high resolution backplane design. The company has demonstrated >7500 cd/m² full color OLED microdisplay and next goal is to achieve >10,000 cd/m² product and is targeting a brightness level of >28,000 cd/m² in future.

White OLED display: Facing strong competition
White OLED TV has secured a strong presence in the premium TV market. LG Electronics, Sony, Panasonic, Skyworth, TPV, Hisense, Konka and others have all joined in using LG Display’s panels. LGD is converting LCD TV capacity to OLED and is also making additional investments.
The company will use the MMG method, combining different sizes of finished panels on one mother glass to improve efficiency and production costs. It has faced strong competition from Samsung QLED (QDEF-based LCD) TV with aggressive price reductions. According to a DSCC presentation:
“OLED only ~1% of TV units in 2019 with 3.4 million, growing to ~4% by 2024 with 12.2 million, limited by capacity, product line and high prices. OLED represented 9% of TV panel revenue in 2019 with $2.5 billion, and DSCC forecasts it to increase to 19% in 2024 with $6.4 billion”. 
DSCC presented four major issues with OLED TV:
  • Cost (For a 65-inch white OLED panel cost is three times the cost of QD LCD panel)
  • Holdouts (no OLED TV) by Samsung and TCL (Top 2 global TV brands)
  • No immediate plan for white OLED by other panel markers
  • LCD price drop (2017 to 2019) opened up price gap to OLED
According to DSCC presentation
“Samsung will convert 120,000 substrates per month of a-Si LCD capacity to 30,000 substrates per month of QD OLED capacity for the first phase of Q-1. The large capacity reduction is the result of: increase in mask steps (12 masks with QDOLED), additional space for OLED frontplane, and secondary color filter for QDCC. SDC’s G8.5 LCD capacity will eventually be converted to QD OLED for 100k/month”.

QD OLED display: Ready for production
According to the Nanosys presentation at OLEDs Summit, Blue OLED+QDCC has potential advantages (over white OLED);
  • Better color
  • Better viewing angle (no cavity)
  • Higher luminous efficiency, so could be brighter, or have less burn-in
  • Single color EL provides design flexibility and no differential aging
QD OLED needs a blue light source (high efficiency, long lifetime), design and production of heavy metal-free QDs (high blue absorption and higher conversion efficiency). Nanosys is working on design, production of heavy metal-free QDs and process scalability to enable market adoption. Also inkjet printing can enable low cost fabrication of QDCC.

QNED display: Next in line for production

DSCC presentated that Samsung is reportedly working on QNED technology in which GaN-based blue Light Emitting Nanorod LEDs will replace OLED as the blue light source. The advantages of the QNED structure over OLED include higher efficiencies, improved brightness, longer lifetimes and elimination of burnin issues that have been associated with OLEDs.

Inkjet Printing: Hoping to empower the TV application
White OLED with color filter technology has been the only successful technology up to now for large OLED displays (use by LGD). EMD Performance Materials (Merck) presented that WOLED+CF has a complex stack with >15 layers. Inkjet Printing (IJP) OLED offers several advantages including high material utilization, a simple OLED stack and excellent color without color filters in the panel.

There are still some challenges such as lifetime improvement in soluble materials for top emission (TE) architecture and achieving the REC 2020 color gamut. A top emission stack enables a higher aperture ratio for OLED panels. Merck focuses on ink formulations for the flat films solution-based deposition process, which is crucial for high performance pure color top emission stacks.

According to the presentation, their ink formulation know how for TE and high-resolution display is suitable for 4K IT monitors and 8KOLED TVs. The UDC presentation also focused on their mask-less, solvent-less, OVJP product and formation of an OVJP company to commercialize the technology. According to the company, in their OVJP patented approach they can use the same stack in OLED for conventional and OJP, enabling RGB side by side low cost TV production.

OLED Materials: More efficient Blue

UDC also presented about progress made in phosphorescent OLED display. The industry is continuing to make progress towards more efficient blue emitter materials. Cynora is still focusing on being a leading supplier for TADF deep blue in the long term (in the near term it is focusing on florescent blue and in midterm focusing on TADF green). Kyulux is working on commercialization of Hyperfluorescence technology. Monochrome yellow is already being used for PMOLED. Red and green Hyperfluorescence is close to commercialization and blue performance is improving.

At the OLED world Summit, discussions about microLED display technology were included in several presentations. Lumileds, the company that is developing InGaN and AllnGap mass transfer capable micro iLED technology also presented. The company said that iLEDs are well suited for medium and high luminance application and steady progress is being made on key enablers. It also concluded that in next 10 years both technologies would win.

OLED display technology is advancing in terms of materials, equipment, performance, capacity, investments and competition that will lead to lower cost and higher adoption rates for varieties of applications market in future. (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 sweta@dash-insights.com or visit www.dash-insights.com
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MicroLED Display – Technology Innovations at DisplayWeek 2020

9/23/2020

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Next generation microLED display technology is still evolving. A glimpse of that was seen at DisplayWeek 2020. While some suppliers showcased microLED display prototypes virtually, others in the supply chain presented about materials, process and technology innovations that will help the commercialization of products.
MicroLED provides the best features of LCD and OLED display and has the potential to outperform both technologies. It is still not in volume production due to manufacturing, production, scaling and yield issues. Technology innovations are critical in enabling cost reductions and volume productions so that microLED can compete effectively with OLED and LCD in future.

MicroLED Display: Prototypes Shown Virtually
Many suppliers including AUO, Playnitride, Tianma, ITRI, Jade Bird Display and others showcased virtual prototypes of products focusing on a variety of applications.

AUO
AUO focused on auto applications and showed its LTPS TFT driven 12.1-inch (169 PPI) microLED display with glass backplane and its latest 9.4-inch (228 PPI) flexible display with PI (Polyimide) co-developed with Playnitride. The automotive application is considered to be ideal for mid-sized microLED display because of its higher brightness, reliability, and ability to operate in very wide temperature range.

Tianma
Tianma showcased a 7.56-inch (114 PPI), >600 nits flexible and a 5.04inch (114 PPI), 600nits LTPS TFT microLED display for automotive applications. It also had 5.84" MicroLED+E-Paper display for Ebook applications.

Playnitride
Playnitride demonstrated the advantages of microLED display for transparent and auto display. It showed its 7.56inch transparent display as well as other displays co-developed with AUO and Tianma. Its transparent display has 60% transparency. According to industry sources microLED has the potential to achieve 80% maximum transparency, which is higher than OLED.

ITRI
ITRI showed a flexible foldable and transparent microLED. Its curved design makes it suitable for various types of consumer applications 

Jade Bird Display
Jade Bird Display showed a 0.31-inch monochrome 720P (5000 DPI),  a 0.22-inch 1080P (10K DPI), and a 0.13-inch VGA (6000DPI), microLED for microdisplays with Si-IC backplanes focused on AR/VR.

MicroLED Display: Technology Innovations Presented
Self-emitting microLED displays are simple in structure compared to OLED and LCDs but have a complex manufacturing process. MicroLED displays integrations can use a pick and place process where chips are transferred from epiwafers or carriers to the display backplane (LTPS or oxide on a glass or flexible PI substrate). It can also use a monolithic integration process which involves microLED arrays and backplane hybridization. Display integration, production and manufacturing process are still evolving to improve throughput and reduce yield issues. Manufacturing and yield problems can become an issue in several parts of the process such as epitaxy, chip making, mass transfer, bonding, driving technology, backplane, inspection and repair. At DisplayWeek many companies presented papers focused on improving transfer, inspections and manufacturing technology for microLED. iBeam, VueReal, InZiv and Compound Photonics presented at the Business Conference.

iBeam: GaN on Flexible Metal Technology
Instead of producing GaN LEDs on rigid 6-inch sapphire wafer at a high cost, iBeam has devised a new solution of fabricating LEDs directly on polycrystalline flexible metal foil (without transfer). Large area metal foil can replace sapphire wafers as a substrate for LEDs.
This way GaN production can scale up to Roll-to-Roll (R2R) manufacturing. This process can enable large scales monolithic integration of LEDs. In this scalable process a single-crystal-like layer is artificially created on polycrystalline or amorphous substrate (can be used also with glass or ceramic).
Their next step is to achieve milestone for low cost manufacturing process. According to the company, yield and reliability can improve greatly in their process compared to mass transfer approaches. Quantum Dot down-conversion for red and green color can also exceed DCI-P3 color gamut. The presentation said that the cost of display scales with area, not with the number of pixels, unlike other microLED approaches. So a 4K or 8K resolution cost will be same as 1K-resolution display. Also the R2R factory manufacturing cost can be lower ($100M) compared to a wafer ($1B) or LCD fab ($2B).  The company said a process where low cost GaN deposition is combined with R2R production, can lead to substantial cost reduction (>20x reduction in Epi cost). This will enable microLED displays to be more cost competitive with OLED in future. Samsung Ventures has invested in the company. For more see iBeam Gets Help to Be Disruptive from a Tech Giant.

VueReal: Micro-Solid Printing
VueReal presented information about their Micro-Solid printing technology which is said to solve limitation to yield, throughput, cost and performance. In the VueReal process MicroLEDs are printed directly from a cartridge to a display substrate selectively. This can reduce repair cost by 10 times. It has multi cartridge transfer (>100 cartridges at once) and multi color cartridge (RGB cartridge) can be used. As only one transfer is needed to populate red, green and blue, it can improve throughput by more than 3 times. It is also compatible with <5um vertical LEDs, compatible for TV, smartphone, watch, auto and other applications, as well as compatible with existing tool and with lateral, vertical and flip chips. Fully inspected cartridge can be use to identify defects, bin for performance, and protect microLEDs during printing, thus improving yields.
According to VuReal, their MicroSolid printing has competitive advantages over pick and place processes, especially for smartphone, tablet, IT, auto and TV use. Using their patented continuous pixelation solution they have demonstrated a 30K PPI LED array. The company is planning to start sales in 2021 - their solution of integrating an inspection cartridge with existing transfer tools can reduce repair cost and increase throughput. Then in 2023 the company is planning to sell their MicroSolid printer for high volume application markets such as TV, smartphone, IT and others. Their printing solution can be used for original mother glasses for those applications offering high yield and throughput. It can also be used for <10 micron microLEDs which will be critical for cost competitiveness with LCD and OLED.

InZiv: High Resolution Inspection Tools
InZiv provides high-resolution inspection tools for microLED, OLED and QLED. It helps in nano-scale optical, spectral, and structural identification and characterization of sub-features and defects in display pixels. As display resolutions are getting higher pixels are getting smaller. InZiv said current inspection equipment lacks the resolution needed to identify and analyze defects on smaller pixels especially <5 micron. So an inconsequential defect in 50-micron size becomes a critical defect in 1-micron size microLED. InZiv’s equipment offers patented nano-optical inspection technology for light emitting pixel. According to the company, early detection of pixel defects results in substantial cost savings for display manufacturers improving quality and yield.  

Compound Photonics: Advance Microdisplay Technology
Compound Photonics introduced its IntelliPix™ all in one microdisplay drive technology platform that focuses to accelerate sub 5 micron pixel microLED development for AR/MR. It features multiple video pipeline and system integration and address power optimization, latency and bandwidth use. Combined with CP’s integration capabilities for microLED array bonding, device packaging, testing, and optical engine designs this opens new possibilities in display size reduction that is required for next generation AR display. The platform will be available for demo in early 2021.

NS Nanotech: Bringing NanoLEDs to market
NS Nanotech presented a paper on submicron full color LED pixels for microLEDs at the symposium. With breakthrough in material science and performance the company has been able to develop nanoLEDS. The company demonstrated a bottom-up approach to the construction of micro-LEDs as small as 150nm in lateral dimension. Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) was used to fabricate such nanostructured LEDs from InGaN, from the blue to red regions of the spectrum, providing a single material set useful for an entire RGB display. By using their research the company has developed catalyst-free nano-column growth, disc-in-nanocolumn architecture and pure photonic band gap LEDs using monolithic RGB integration in a single process step. The product can deliver next generation performance for LED with REC 2020 color gamut, color stability, best in class efficiency and nano-micron size LEDs. With innovation and collaboration through the supply chain, the submicron full color LED pixels for microLED can bring breakthrough in product development.
Technology innovations and supply chain collaborations are really critical for next generation microLED displays to transform them from prototypes to successful commercial products with volume production that can compete effectively with OLED and LCD in future.
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 sweta@dash-insights.com or visit 
www.dash-insights.com
​
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Virtual Display Week 2020 - A Glimpse of the Future

8/25/2020

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The Display Week 2020 conference was conducted virtually for the first time from August 3rd to August 7th and the online conference continues to be open until Dec 7th 2020.  With 180+ virtual exhibitors, seminars, symposiums, I-Zones and the SID/DSCC Business Conference, it gave a glimpse into the future of display in terms of market and technology.

Display Market Outlook:  Brighter for 2021
The Business Conference, organized in conjunction with DSCC, the provided display market outlook from analysts as well as executives from panel suppliers, brands, and equipment/material suppliers. According to DSCC's presentation, Covid 19 came when there was over-supply in large area and small/medium display market: panel prices were at a record low, panel suppliers had not made money for nine straight quarters and Korean suppliers are transitioning from LCD to OLED.
The impact of work-from-home and learn-from-home resulted in strong demand for tablets, notebooks and monitors. Even TV demand has recovered resulting in panel price increases. Mobile phones and auto displays are continuing to face negative demand growth rates. The global market is expected to be more display-centric after the Pandemic, leading to faster recovery. DSCC is forecasting a brighter outlook for display revenues in 2021. OLED will have higher equipment spending compared to LCD in 2020 and in future years. OLED displays will continue to gain market share from LCD. The Foldable OLED smartphone market is still developing. Demand is mostly focused on clamshell designs due to lower cost and less risk of damage. The Samsung Z flip is the most popular with robust design using ultrathin glass from Schott. High prices, ultrathin glass capacity constraints and still evolving form factors are limiting adoption rates for foldable smartphones.

OLED: Increasing Shares and Evolving Technology
OLED display with its superior performance and increasing share is still facing many challenges in terms of manufacturing complexities, yield, lifetime, efficiency of blue materials, power consumption and other issues. Display Week 2020 had many presentations from the global display industry, about technology development to resolve these issues. The smartphone market is expected to recover in 2021 boosted by 5G adoption. Flexible OLED displays are preferred for 5G products. Technology development is still needed to improve efficiency and lower power consumption.
  • Cathode Patterning Material
As the smartphone market is shifting towards larger screen sizes, foldable displays and 5G, there is a greater need for lower power consumption and smaller battery size. OTI Lumionics showed how a patterned cathode in the OLED stack can enable high transparency ( for under display cameras & AR), higher brightness (mobile & automotive), low power consumption (5G & foldable), and larger size panels (foldable & QD-OLED). Their materials for cathode patterning are produced by PPG and have been qualified by multiple panel makers up to 6G lines. AMOLED modules with their products are being qualified with Tier 1 device makers and are expected to ship in 2021. The company said that their technology is enabling multiple customer applications: under display camera and face unlock, transparent display for AR, longer battery life and higher brightness for mobile, and larger size panels for foldable and QDOLED. Panel suppliers are currently pursuing different options for under-display camera and lower power consumptions. (more about this topic shortly - editor)
  • Blue Material Development
High efficiency of blue OLED material is getting to be crucial to enable substantial power savings for mobile and IT products and enable high performance QD-OLED panel resulting in lower costs and higher resolution products. Companies such as UDC (Phosphorescence), Cynora (TADF), and Kyulux (Hyperfluorescence) are working towards developing the desired color, efficiency and lifetime. While there is progress it is not clear when it will be available. Current use of fluorescence material includes a deep blue color but with low efficiency. A paper from Samsung Display discussed how blue phosphorescent color purity and efficiency could be improved. 
  • LTPO Technology
There were several interesting papers about LTPO by companies including Sharp and Royole. This technology is a combination of LTPS + Oxide TFT technology that enables variable refresh rates and low power consumption. LTPS has high carrier mobility and high driving capability whereas Oxide TFT has low leakage. It will enable a broad range of display applications with low standby power and high refresh rates. Apple the was first to use it in the Apple watch. Many companies are working on this technology for next generation displays. Samsung has already announced a Galaxy smartphone with variable refresh rates for 5G products resulting in lower power consumption. Samsung's Z fold 2 product has the first LTPO foldable display.

Ink Jet Printing: Starting Production
Ink Jet Printing (IJP) for advanced displays such as OLEDs has been investigated for more than 15 to 20 years. Printing technology has the advantage in terms of scalability of mother glass, and high efficiency in material utilization. It is already being used successfully for OLED thin film encapsulation (TFE) enabling flexible and foldable display. IJP for RGB OLED printing has been challenging due to material issues and manufacturing complexities. JOLED is the only supplier up to now to use IJP (Sumitomo polymer materials & Panasonic IJ printer) to commercialize 21. 6-inch,4K RGB OLED mid-size displays (currently used by Asus and Eizo as monitors). JOLED is also planning to produce 27-inch and 32-inch 4K OLED LTPS panels. It has also shown prototype of a printed 12-inch FHD flexible OLED sheet.
Increasing the substrate size of IJP can contribute to reduction in production costs. It is difficult to use LTPS TFT for larger lower cost displays. Oxide TFTs can be used for 8.5 G to 11G fab for printed OLED. RGB printing plus oxide TFTs can potentially contribute to high productivity in OLED display manufacturing. A printing method is required for RGB OLED TV panels for a top emission structure, as the Fine Metal Mask (FMM) method can’t be used. There are several advantages to printing including process simplification, investment and material cost reduction, smaller clean room space and a more environmentally friendly process. It will be also very valuable for next gen displays such as QDOLED, QNED, EL-QD and RGB OLED TV. CSOT/TCL invested $187 million in JOLED to scale up IJP technology for large size RGB IJP TV. DSCC forecasts that CSOT's RGB IJP OLED 8.5 Gen fab’s mass production will start in 2024. IJP prototype printers have been shown scaled to Gen 8 sizes by various equipment makers including TEL, Kateeva and SEMES.

QLED, QDOLED, QNED: Entering The Expansion phase
Samsung Electronics has been focusing on QLED (QDEF LCD) TV.  According to Nanosys’s presentation, the QD TV model proliferation rate is nearly double that of OLED TV resulting in more choices for consumers. QD TV set prices have reached below $1K enabling higher adoption and stronger growth rates. According to the DSCC’s Inkjet Printing presentation, Samsung Display is converting an 8.5 Gen LCD fab to QDOLED.
Samsung Display plans to invest $11 billion in next generation displays, which will include QDOLED and QNED. Samsung will convert 120K substrates/month of a-Si LCD capacity to 30K substrates/m QDOLED capacity in the first phase. Eventually Samsung Display plans 8.5 gen capacity to be converted to 100K/m QDOLED capacity. QNED is currently in the R&D phase and will progress to pilot line in 2021 if successful. According to the presentation, it is possible thatthe  QDOLED process line planned for the future may be converted to QNED where blue OLED will be replaced by Nanorod LED. Both Nanorods and QDCC (QD Color Convertor) can be deposited by IJP. Although advances are being made in EL-QD, its commercialization is beyond several years. EL-QD has advantages over OLED including high brightness, low power consumption, wider color gamut and potentially lower costs. EL-QD material performance still can be a challenge, and others include the lifetime of Cd-free EL-QD, Blue EL-QD, ink formulations and yield.

MiniLED, MIcroLED: Bringing competition to OLED in future
Mature LCD technology still continues to improve with the help of dual cell LCDs, miniLED backlights and QD technology improving contrast ratio, color gamut, luminance and HDR performance. Companies such as BOE and CSOT/TCL are focusing on dual cell LCD for TV. MiniLED backlights offer thinner backlight structure, high-density dimming zones and low halo effect for better HDR. A large number of zones can reduce the halo effect. Market for miniLED backlights is increasing for TV, automotive, monitor and notebook applications. MiniLED backlights outperform OLED in terms of brightness, image sticking, lifetime and narrow borders.
MiniLED-based LCD products have the potential to offer competition to OLED especially if cost can be reduced.
At Display Week, many companies presented papers focused on improving transfer, inspection and manufacturing technology for MicroLED. Vureal presented their printing process where MicroLEDs are printed directly from a cartridge to a display substrate selectively, and scalable to high volume production. It has multi cartridge transfer and multi color cartridges compatible for TV.  V Technology presented prototype systems and processes of laser lift off (LLO), mass transfer, electric bonding and color conversion layer. MicroLED-based displays have emerged as leading display solution to bring AR/MR glasses to the market due to their power efficiency and simple optics. Rohinni (with a joint venture with BOE) presented how to achieve high volume manufacturing. MicroLED is considered to be the next generation technology and making steady progress towards commercialization.
Display Week conference has always been the place to get a glimpse of future technology. It continues to deliver that even in a virtual setting. (SD)

Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit 
www.dash-insights.com
 
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MiniLED – New Opportunities for the Display Application Market

7/28/2020

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MiniLED display technology can open up new opportunities for display application markets by offering higher specs and differentiated products. The global pandemic and slower economy have compounded the impact of slower display market demand. LCD has been facing over-investment, lower demand and low profitability. It has already pushed top suppliers such as Samsung Display and LG Display to move away from LCD production.
However, miniLED backlight technology (MiniLED-Based Displays Poised for Expanded Presence) can empower LCDs with very high contrast ratio, ultra high brightness, better HDR, thinner form factors and lower power consumption to compete directly with OLED in the high-end display application market.

​

MiniLED: For High-end TV

TV market demand has slowed down in recent years even though there has been a major shift towards larger screen sizes (55-inch and higher) and higher resolution (4K, 8K) displays. LCD TV (a-Si) has dominant share of the market but OLED TV has been gaining strong market shares in the high-end with thinner form factor, higher contrast, wider viewing angle, deeper black level, better color gamut and faster response time.  Still it faces burn-in, lifetime, image retention and limited supply issues.
LG Display is the only supplier for OLED TV panels. Samsung Display is planning to manufacture emissive QDOLED in future years. Samsung Electronics has been gaining market shares in the high-end with higher specs (8K) and more competitive priced Quantum Dot(QD)-based (LCD) TV. MiniLED with full array blinking backlight can improve LCD performance significantly. Performance can even improve further with QD technology. Suppliers are hoping that possible market recovery in 2021 and Olympic Games will require higher-specs products to revive the market.
TCL was first to introduce miniLED backlight-based Quantum Dot TVs in sizes of 65”(<$2000) and 75”(<$3000) in 2019. At CES 2020, the following products were shown.
  • TCL: 75-inch 8K TV with 25,000 miniLED, >10,000 dimming zones on a glass black plane.
  • LG: 8K miniLED-based LCD TV concept capable of reaching 4000 nits brightness.
  • Konka: 8K miniLED-based TV with 40K miniLEDs and 10K zones.
  • Vizio: 8K miniLED-based TV concept.
  • BOE: 8K TV miniLED-based panel with a glass backplane, planning to launch in 2020.
According to Taiwan-based news sources, Samsung is reported to be preparing launch of miniLED TV in 2021. Multiple TV brands are also expected to introduce miniLED-based TV products by next year. MiniLED component suppliers are starting to report strong demand for miniLED packages for TV in 2H 2020. The global pandemic situation may delay some product launches to 2021.
With a high number of miniLED and dimming zones, each zone can be turned on and off selectively empowering LCD TV with high contrast ratio, better HDR performance, higher luminance, deeper black level, better power consumption, thinner backlights and longer lifetime. There are new requirements for Energy Star 8.0, which measures energy consumption in a dynamic display content mode, which can help to highlight the energy efficiency of miniLED backlights.
MiniLED-based TV used less efficient passive matrix driving technology in 2019. With an increased number of zones, companies are shifting to active matrix driving technology in 2020, which is more efficient and cost effective. Panel suppliers such as AUO, Innolux, BOE and CSOT are all developing active matrix-based products, which will help adoption rates.
Smaller size chips, better die bonding and more efficient production, combined with lower open cell LCD TV panel are enabling lower cost TV. Currently the TCL 75-inch 4K miniLED-based TV price is lower than similar OLED products. Many brands will pursue multiple TV technology strategies with LCD, OLED, QD and miniLED-based LCD TV together.  With the right price/performance strategy MiniLED can have great opportunities in the TV market in the next few years.


MiniLED: For Gaming Monitors, Notebooks and High-end Tablets

At CES 2020, a series of gaming monitor based on Quantum Dot technology were introduced with miniLED backlights and a higher number of Full Array Local Dimming (FALD) zones. That enabled products with very high contrast, deeper black level, higher color accuracy, high efficiency, higher peak brightness, and greatly improved picture quality.
  • Acer and Asus: Both had a QD MiniLED 32-inch 4K G-Sync gaming monitor with 1152 dimming zones, 1400 cd/m² (nits) peak brightness, improved contrast and 90% of BT 2020 color gamut vastly improving picture quality.
  • Lenovo: 27-inch 4K professional monitor with miniLED backlight (1152 zones), 1000 nit peak brightness.
  • MSI: 17.3-inch mini LED based gaming notebook with 240 local dimming zones with >10K miniLED chips.
Acer, Asus, Lenovo and MSI are all expected to release their monitor and notebook products by the second half of 2020. With a miniLED backlight, an LCD can bring color contrast and display performance close to OLED. It outperforms OLED in terms of luminance and lifetime, important for gaming monitors. Generally OLED has an inverse relationship with luminance and lifetime. Companies are using pixel-shifting algorithms to reduce impact of burn-in in OLED monitor and OLED is gaining interest in high-end monitor segments with products from some suppliers.
The current price of miniLED-based gaming monitors are very high, > $3000 which can be a challenge for high adoption rates. According to published industry information, Apple is expected to introduce six products using miniLED backlight displays by the end of 2020 and 2021 including the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. This may create a new wave of demand for miniLED-based products over the next few years.

MiniLED:  For Auto Display

Growth in electric, connected and autonomous cars will drive auto display demand. LCD is still the dominant technology in this application but interest in OLED is growing due to the higher display performance and flexibility in design. MiniLED technology offers very high contrast and brightness (sunlight readability), long lifetime, ruggedness in wide temperature range and can be used for displays with curved surfaces, offering design flexibility. However, there are difficulties in achieving qualification of OLEDs for automotive use, which shouldn't be a problem for miniLED LCDs.
  • Innolux: 10.1" active matrix auto display with miniLED backlight, that can achieve 1000 cd/m² brightness, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and very high sunlight readability.
  • AUO: 12.3-inch LTPS curved cluster panel 750 R curved and 1000 nits brightness.
MinLED LCD auto displays can also be used for dashboards, in-vehicle infotainment and rear view mirrors.  Suppliers are already delivering samples for design wins.


MiniLED: For VR ApplicationsMiniLED backlights with local dimming and low MPRT  can work well for high PPI VR LCDs. Active matrix miniLED backlights with LTPS backplanes can provide higher resolution and slim design, and switchable mode which are preferred for VR LCD.
  • AUO: 2.9-inch LTPS display, 2304 dimming zones, pixel density 1688PPI, active matrix miniLED backlight based display for realistic VR experience with HDR
MiniLED: For SmartphonesDisplay panel suppliers have shown MiniLED backlight options with LTPS offering higher contrast, and faster response time to reduce the performance gap with OLED.
  • Tianma: LTPS miniLED HDR LCD smartphone display, with local dimming (with up to 4600 partitions), >1,00,000:1 contrast ratio, >1,000nit brightness, high color gamut, (DCI-P3) and wide viewing angles.
  • CSOT: 5.99inch LTPS display (1080x2160), 500nits, >1,00,000:1 contrast ratio with miniLED backlight.
However, miniLED backlight-based LTPS LCD cost is still high and the thickness can’t match flexible OLEDs. OLED has been gaining market share in the smartphone market. Capacity is increasing with flexible OLED smartphone panels coming from China, which will lead to lower prices in future. All these factors will make it very difficult for MiniLED to succeed in the smartphone market.


MiniLED – Road to SuccessDisplay suppliers such as AUO, BOE, Innolux, CSOT and Tianma have been showcasing prototypes of miniLED backlight-based LCD products in different sizes and applications since 2018. Costs, yield rates and production issues have been very challenging for higher adoption rates.
Recent developments can help drive miniLED based LCD to higher success.
  • Need for higher specs and differentiated product: low demand, lower prices and low profitability requiring innovations to drive demand growth
  • Top brands adopting miniLED technology: Apple adoption of miniLED could be substantial for the industry similar to how OLED in iPhone drove OLED investments, production and demand. Samsung launching a miniLED TV could drive demand higher.
  • New equipment for cost effective volume production: The K&S joint development with Rohinni “Pixalux”, enables high-speed transfer with high accuracy and yield, for cost effective volume production, integrated with testing and repair to replace defective die by laser technology.
  • Higher collaboration: among suppliers within the MiniLED supply chain including substrate, LED epitaxial wafer, packaging, driver ICs, display suppliers and even consumer electronic companies.
  • Higher investment and capacity: Display, LED, backlight and other suppliers from Taiwan/China increasing investment and capacity.
  • Higher competition and production from many suppliers: can lead to price and cost reductions, helping adoption rates.
MiniLED based LCD products can open up new opportunities for the display application market with higher specs and differentiated products in coming years. (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 sweta@dash-insights.com or visit 
www.dash-insights.com
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