IDTechEx estimates that the barrier (encapsulation) layers for flexible electronics market will reach over $200 million by 2024. This will be driven mostly by flexible OLED displays for phones, tablets and wearables. Following is details regarding the different technologies adopted by Samsung, LG and others.

Samsung is using Vitex's multilayer thin-film encapsulation (TFE) using three layers (this is a new achievement, up until now they had to use at least 6 layers). While Samsung will still use this technology for its current and next-gen displays, Samsung is also considering other encapsulation deposition technologies, including Veeco's FAST-ALD and Universal Display's UniversalBarrier.

Update: the first video was removed from YouTube and is no longer available

Winstar, a leading PMOLED producer from Taiwan, hosted a seminar in June 2014, and they gave two OLED lectures - describing their OLED products in the present and the future development expected from Winstar.

There's some interesting details in there. First of all, while Winstar is currently producing glass-based PMOLEDs, the company is also developing flexible PMOLED panels. One of the major challenges is encapsulation and Winstar is using ALD technology for this at the moment, developed in collaboration with ITRI.

According to a new report by Korea's ETNews, both Samsung Display and LG Display managed to achieve major breakthrough in their OLED production processes. These new achievements will raise the production yields of OLED TV and flexible OLEDs.

So first up is LG Display, who applied a co-planar TFT with a top-gate structure that enabled the Oxide-TFT layer to become less vulnerable to the etching process. This results in better yields. This design has not yet been applied to the mass production lines. But in the upcoming M2 production line, LGD will use ALD technology instead of the current 2-partition deposition technology. This will reduce costs and improve process time.

In September 2013, Veeco acquired Synos Technology for $185 million for the company's FAST-ALD flexible OLED encapsulation technology. Veeco later received a purchase order from SDC for a first-generation FAST-ALD prototype system. Veeco expected a manufacturing ramp to begin in 2014 - hoping to book more than $75 in ALD production systems by the end of the year.

Yesterday Veeco reported their financial results for Q1 2014. While the company had a good quarter (revenues of $91 million, up 24% sequentially) the new OLED business did not perform as good as they expected. In fact, they didn't get the orders they thought they'd get in Q1 2014, which meant that Veeco will pay less for Synos - $25 million less, actually.

In October 2013, Encapsulix announced that a "leading OLED lighting supplier in Europe" placed an order for the M500 ALD deposition system. The deposition system shipped in February 2014 and today Encapsulix updated us that the system was installed successfully - and that the customer is Blackbody (Astron Fiamm Safety).

Blackbody will use the new system to deposit OLED encapsulation for panels used in the residential, commercial, automotive and avionics markets. Encapulix's system can process substrates up to 400x500 mm in size and is well suited for Blackbody's Gen-2 production line. Blackbody will also use this system to develop other coating (not just encapsulation layers).

MBraun and Beneq announced that the two companies joined forces to provide complete turn-key systems for OLED R&D. The two companies will tailor R&D systems for customers that need research equipment int he areas of thin-film encapsulation and inert-gas glove box technologies.

OLED encapsulation is a hot topic, with several companies including Veeco, Beneq and Encapsulix developing and supplying ALD-based solutions. In October 2013 we published an interview with Beneq's technical sales Director.

In October 2013, Encapsulix announced that a "leading OLED lighting supplier in Europe" placed an order for the M500 ALD deposition system. Today Encapsulix announced that the Gen-2.5 deposition system was shipped.

Encapsulix's system will be used to deposit the encapsulation layer for OLED lighting devices, in applications such as residential, commercial, automotive, and avionics markets. Encapsulix says that their system will feature better barrier properties, device lifetime and cost of ownership than the technology currently in use.

In September 2013, Veeco acquired Synos Technology for $185 million. Synos' FAST-ALD encapsulation technology is aimed towards flexible OLED displays. Back then Veeco said that the company's first FAST-ALD pilot production system has already been installed, and they expect a manufacturing ramp to begin in 2014.

Yesterday Veeco reported their financial results for Q4 2013 (which was a challenging year for Veeco). The company said that they "received a purchase order from the world leader in mobile OLED displays for a first-generation FAST-ALD prototype system". The world's leader in mobile OLEDs is certainly Samsung Display (as they currently hold a market share of over 95%).

Encapsulix announced today that a "leading OLED lighting supplier in Europe" placed an order for the M500 ALD deposition system. This system will be delivered by the end of 2013, and will be used to encapsulate OLED panels for the residential, commercial, automotive and avionics markets.

Encapsulix's "infinity ALD" M500 equipment can deposit encapsulation coating on the order of 10-100 nm in thickness and can be scaled up to any substrate size. This particular system will support up to Gen-2 (400x500 mm) substrates and will be limited to rigid glass-based panels. But the company's systems can be used to deposit on flexible substrates and even be adopted for roll-to-toll production (up to one meter width).

OLED Encapsulation is a very hot topic, especially for flexible OLEDs. Samsung and LG are already producing flexible OLEDs, but the search for better encapsulation technologies is still on. ALD, or Atomic Layer Deposition is one candidate for future deposition of OLED encapsulation. ALD is based on Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) that uses two vapors (gaseous) precursors which react on the substrate which creates a solid thin film. ALD works in relatively low temperatures which means it is suitable for all substrates including plastics.

One of the leaders in ALD is Finland's Beneq. Beneq developed an inorganic barrier film called nClear which is deposited using ALD. Beneq says that nClear provides "world class" barrier performance and can be deposited at temperatures well below 100 degrees Celsius. Beneq offers the TFS-600 (Gen-2.5, 500x400 mm) which is used for industrial-scale OLED encapsulation. Beneq's director of Technical sales, Mikko Soderlund, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had on the company's technology and business. Mikko is leading the application development and commercialization of ALD-based thin-film encapsulation technology for OLEDs. He has a PhD in Photonics from Helsinki University of Technology (2009).