This is a sponsored post by Notion Systems

Najing Technology Corporation Ltd., the leading Chinese manufacturer of quantum dot materials uses the Notion n.jet display systems for QD displays and light emitting diodes development and pilot production.

The n.jet display series prints functional layers in various steps of display production and for various display technologies. This includes rigid, flexible, OLED, QLED and LCD displays. In addition to its unparalleled precision, the platform complies with highest demands on process environment and process stability.

Ireland-based OLED IP company Solas OLED announced that it has prevailed in its patent infringement action in Germany against LG Display, LG Electronics and Sony. The Mannheim District Court in Germany held that the defendants had infringed Solas’ German patent DE 102 54 511 B4 concerning a control circuit for light emitting diodes.

This technology, owned by Solas, is used in OLED panels used in LG ans Sony's TVs. According to the court's decision, LG and Sony will have to stop marketing products in Germany that infringe upon Solas' patents and they will have to recall from commercial customers all infringing products. LG and Sony must also must render to Solas a detailed accounting necessary to establish damages owed by the defendants for sales of infringing products in Germany dating back to April, 2009.

LG Display announced that its OLED TV panels have received Eco-Product certification from Swiss-based SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance). LG's OLED TV panels have been recognized as eco-friendly products with low emissions of hazardous substances.

SGS evaluated the overall environmental aspects of OLED TV panels and found their environmental friendliness to be especially notable in three categories covering the lowering of indoor air pollutants, the reduction of hazardous substances, and high recyclability.

DSCC says that the high costs of microLED production will limit the adoption of microLED TVs, which are highly expensive, and the technology will remain in the niche of ultra large displays. The market is set to grow from around $25 million in 2020 to $228 million by 2026.

Just for comparison, six years after being commercialization, in 2019 OLED TV revenues were estimated at $2.5 billion.

Samsung Display said it is sending a hundred employees to India, to help install equipment at its new OLED module factory in Noida city Uttar Pradesh state. Samsung aims to start producing OLED modules at the new fab in the first half of 2021.

Samsung hopes that this Indian plant will help it react faster to local demand in India. In 2020 Samsung once again is the top smartphone vendor in India (after retaking Xiaomi).

Researchers from the University of Michigan, in collaboration with Universal Display are developing a low-cost roll-to-roll (R2R) process to produce flexible OLED lighting panels. The goal is to achieve a panel cost of less than $10 per klm - a tenfold reduction compared to current costs.

The roll-to-coll system can continuously produce encapsulation panels, at high speeds and reduce costs. The front plane (organic stack) deposition is done via OVPD. The researchers say the will demonstrate reliable, encapsulated 25 cm² flexible white OLED panels with an efficacy of 50 lm/W and a CRI >85 on barrier-coated plastic films or thin glass.

DSCC estimates that it has increased its OLED equipment spending estimate for 2020-2023 by 11% compared to its previous outlook. DSCC now sees total OLED equipment spending reaching $45 billion. The increase was due to increased demand for LGD's mobile OLEDs and plans to increase capacity and CSoT's new $6.8 billion IJP OLED fab plans.

Interestingly DSCC also increased its LCD equipment spending estimate by 37% following three recently announced smaller expansion plans. In total for both LCDs and OLEDs, display equipment spending for 2020-2023 was upgraded by 9% vs. DSCC's last estimate to $38B.

OLED microdisplay developer Seeya Information Technology started building a $300 million OLED microdisplay production line in 2017. Seeya's fab is now in operation, with a yearly capacity of around 20 million displays (monthly capacity of 9,000 12" wafers).

Seeya produces several OLED microdisplays, including a 0.49" FHD, 1.03" 2560x2560 and a large 1.4" 2560x2560 display.

In August LG announced that it has supplied transparent 55" OLED panels that are installed on subway train windows, in Beijing (Line 6) and Shenzhen (Line 10).

In this new video above you can see the transparent displays in action. The transparent OLEDs are used to show news, transit maps or other bits of information.

DSCC says that the utilization rates at flexible OLED production lines have risen sharply in Q3 2020 - from around 40% to around 65% - mostly due to production for Apple's iPhones. A rise in Q3 utilization has also happened in past years, for the same reason.

It is also interesting to note that OLED TV utilization rates are decreasing - part of the reason is that LG's OLED fabs had limited capacity until now and operated at almost 100% rates, but as capacity increases LG is no longer capacity constrained.