Inside the maskless OLED revolution: Applied Materials, Visionox, JDI, Samsung, and the race beyond FMM

In recent years, several OLED producers started developing maskless OLED processes. Such processes promise to produce OLEDs that are more efficient and bright. It is expected that within a few years, we will see the first maskless OLED panels hit the market, potentially disrupting the industry.

In this article we will discuss Applied Material’s MAX OLED maskless OLED production process and systems:

• Mask-based deposition (FMM) and its limitations
• Applied’s MAX OLED photolithography technology
• The advantages of MAX OLED vs FMM
• Visionox’s ViP and JDI’s eLEAP
• The use of maskless OLED production at Samsung, SEL, LG and others
• What the future holds for maskless OLEDs

Mask-based deposition (FMM) and its limitations

A crucial (perhaps the most crucial) step in AMOLED production is the deposition of the OLED frontplane materials – the organic stack that includes the OLED emitter materials. AMOLED displays utilize colored subpixels, and there is a need to pattern each individual subpixel – to deposit the right materials into the right “places” on the backplane.

All AMOLED patterning today is based on FMM technology. FMM stands for a Fine Metal Mask, and the basic process is based on the evaporation of the specific OLED material in a chamber that contains the substrate. On top of the substrate the FMM mask is placed, with holes in the right places. This ensures that the material is formed on the display panel in the right places.