A few days ago we reported that Kateeva says it has taken a "commanding lead" in the OLED thin film encapsulation (TFE) market with its ink-jet based systems. Kateeva's ink-jet printers are used to deposit organic materials, but the full TFE stack also contains in-organic materials.

Currently both LG and Samsung producers are using PECVD to deposit the in-organic materials, but according to a report from ETNEws, both Korean display makers are thinking about switching to ALD. Several companies, including Jusung Engineering, WONIK IPS, AP Systems and TES has ALD-based encapsulation deposition systems ready to be used in display production. Both LG and Samsung have finished with R&D work on ALD technology and are ready to introduce commercial systems into their production lines.

The Holst Centre, in collaboration with US-based ultra-thin ceramics supplier ENrG have managed to produce a flexible OLED lighting panel on a 20-40 um thick ceramic substrate. The researchers at the Holst Centre say that a ceramic substrate offers an excellent barrier, is easy to handle and can withstand the high temperatures used in display backplane manufacturing processes.

The Holst presented the 12 x 2.5 cm prototype OLED lighting panel that you see above. A ceramic substrate can withstand temperatures up to 1000 Celsius - and can be made partially transparent. This could prove to be an interesting alternative to plastic and metal substrates.

According to Digitimes, China-based AMOLED producer Everdisplay is planning to invest $4.1 billion USD to build a 6-Gen AMOLED factory. The upcoming factory will have a monthly capacity of 30,000 substrates and will start trial production in 2018.

Mass production in the new fab is expected by early 2019 - and will include panels from 1 to 13 inches. It is not mentioned in the report whether these are regular glass-based AMOLEDs or flexible ones.

LG's EG9600 are curved 4K (UHD) OLED TVs, introduced early in 2015. LG now offers the 65" model for only $2,499. The 55" model is shipping for $1,888.

LG EG9600 OLED TV

The EG9600 TVs offer HDR support, an anti-glare filter, WebOS 2.0 and quad-core CPUs. LG offers similar flat models, the EF9500 TVs.

Sony and Panasonic announced several new cameras that sport OLED viewfinders. The three new cameras all use XGA OLED microdisplays (probably the same microdisplay).

First up we have Sony's a99 Mark II, a high-end 42.9-mp A-mount SLT camera that features 4K video capture, 5-axis image stabilization, 79 AF points and a newly designed shutter. The a99 Mark II will ship in November 2016 for $3,200 (body only).

In April 2016 Corning and OLEDWorks launched an OLED lighting design contest , calling designers to integrate thin, lightweight and cool-to-the-touch OLEDWorks lighting panels into functional luminaires that are practical yet creative.

Corning and OLEDWorks now announced the winners of this content - Matthew Boyko, Mike Garner from MSG Lighting, and Sadyr Khabukhayev. The winners were awarded $10,000 each for their innovative lighting luminaires which ranged in design from horizontal lighting arrays, to the integration of OLEDs into triangular storage modules, as well as a creative way to install OLED panels.

OLED ink-jet developer Kateeva started to offer ink-jet based encapsulation systems in 2014, used to protect flexible OLED panels. Kateeva's encapsulation performance is excellent and it was already reported that these systems are used in flexible OLED mass production - and today Kateeva announced that it takes a "commanding lead" in the OLED thin-film encapsulation (TEF) market.

Kateeva further says that it secured the "vast majority" of available TFE orders, and its customers include the world's largest flat-panel display makers in three key Asia regions - which probably includes Korea and China - and the third region is either Taiwan or Japan.

Taiwan-based General Interface Solution (GIS) announced plans to setup a new display factory in Chengdu, China. The factory will produce force-touch based touch panels specifically for OLED displays. Total investment in the new factory is expected to reach $750 million.

GIS is owned by Foxconn, and reportedly the company is gearing up to become an Apple supplier for future OLED-based iPhones. GIS will compete with Nissha Printing, Shenzhen O-Film and TPK holdings for OLED touch sensors.

Nissan Chemical Industries announced that it acquired Solvay's OLED IP and expertise. These patents are related to the production of soluble HIL and HTL materials.

Solvay, an international chemical company based in Belgium, had several OLED activities, which it consolidated under Solvay OLED following the acquisition of Plextronics in 2014. Solvay decided to exit the OLED market as it sees further delays in soluble OLED introduction.

Blue TADF developer Cynora signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Guangdong Juhua Printing Display Technology to cooperate on OLED TV development.

Johua was established earlier this year by CSoT (66%) and TianMa (34%) with an aim to industrialize printed OLED technologies. Johua Printing is an "open innovation platform" guided by the Chinese government that collaborates with both industry and universities to drive the progress of China's display industry and the GUangdong Province specifically.