Kateeva was established in 2008 at MIT with an aim to pioneer OLED ink-jet deposition processes.
The company developed innovative inkjet printing equipment, branded as YIELDJet printers. 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 some years ago Kateeva claimed that it takes a "commanding lead" in the OLED organic thin-film encapsulation (TEF) market.
In 2017 Kateeva formally introduced its inkjet equipment for large-area RGB OLED emitter deposition. Kateeva brands its new line as YIELDJet Explore and these systems are currently targeted for R&D lines and pilot lines.
Kateeva is also developing printers that can deposit quantum dot materials, and the company hoped that its equipment would be used by Samsung to deposit QDs for its QD-OLED TVs. Eventually that did not happen which caused financial problems at Kateeva, which it is now finally getting out of.
Contact information for Kateeva
Will OLED inkjet printing finally take off in 2025? We explore the past, present and future of OLED inkjet technology
Inkjet printing of OLED displays has been in development for many years, driven by the potential of this deposition technology to reduce the cost of OLED display manufacturing.
Currently, the vast majority of AMOLED, WOLED, and QD-OLED production relies on evaporation methods to deposit OLED layers. In these processes, OLED molecules are evaporated and then deposited onto the required substrates. For AMOLED displays, precise subpixel patterning is necessary, which requires the use of a fine metal mask (FMM). While subpixel patterning is less complex for WOLED and QD-OLED production, these technologies still depend on material evaporation.
Evaporation-based OLED deposition has enabled the large-scale production of high-quality, affordable OLED displays found in wearables, smartphones, tablets, laptops, monitors, and TVs. This approach forms the foundation of today’s OLED industry, which exceeds $40 billion in value.
This article will examine the alternative approach of OLED inkjet printing, review its history and current status, and consider its future prospects.
Table of contents for this article
- Introduction to OLED deposition processes
- Soluble OLED materials and processes
- OLED inkjet printing – history and technology progress
- Inkjet printing of OLED TFE and QD-OLEDs
- TCL CSoT – the last inkjet printing champion?
A Conversation with Kateeva CEO, Bin Liu
Reports suggest Kateeva's printers failed Samsung's QD printing tests, will not be used for QD-OLED production
According to reports, Kateeva's QD-OLED printing project saga is not over. Samsung Display tested the company's latest printers, but these failed the tests and Samsung Display will not but these printers. SDC planned to replace the currently-used Semes' printers, which also suffer from low performance.
Samsung Display is also not committed yet to expand its QD-OLED production lines, which means that in any case it does not need to buy new printers for production expansion. Earlier reports suggested that SDC wanted to upgrade it current capability for higher density (to reach 8K TV printing), so this may be the reason behind the testing of Kateeva's new printers.
Kateeva starts to ship 8K QD deposition systems to Samsung Display
Kateeva did not yet receive any QD-OLED inkjet printers orders from SDC, and may lose its patent portfolio to its latest investor
Will Samsung adopt Kateeva's inkjet printers in its next QD-OLED production line?
In 2020 Samsung decided to use inkjet printers made by Korea's Semes, in its QD-OLED production lines. This created a major problem for Kateeva which hoped to win that account, which resulted in massive layoffs including some of its executives. These inkjet printers are used to deposit the QD layer in Samsung's QD-OLED panels.
According to new reports from Korea, Samsung has decided to change course, and rely on Kateeva's inkjet printers in its 2nd QD-OLED production line (the SDC 98.5-Gen Q-2). The reports suggests that the Semes printers do not perform as well as Samsung hopes, and these also cost more than Kateeva's printers (but Semes is affiliated with Samsung, which helped it to get the orders).
Kateeva and Pixelligent join forces to optimize OLED light output efficiency
OLED inkjet printing developer Kateeva announced that it has established a strategic partnership with high-index material maker Pixelligent Technologies. The collaboration aims to optimize the light output efficiency by inkjet-printing of planarization layers over microlens arrays.
Collaboration Aims to Optimize Light Output Efficiency in Mobile Phones with Inkjet-Printed Planarization Layer over Microlens Arrays. To increase the efficiency, the companies suggest using a patterned structure followed by an inkjet-printed high-refractive index filling and planarization layer which enables more light from the OLED layer below to reach the top surface.
