OLED displays are made from organic emitter materials - and are gaining in popularity as these next-generation displays offer excellent image quality and novel form factors. The OLED display market is estimated at over $25 billion in 2018 - and is set for fast growth.
Quantum Dots are tiny particles that have excellent photonic emission properties - and are used widely today in many LCD displays as the QD photoluminescence features enable the conversion of blue LED light to red and green light to create full-color displays that are better than white-backlit LCDs. QD particles can also be used to create emissive displays, in which the QDs themselves emit the light - this technology may prove to be the successor to OLEDs as QDs could prove to have higher efficiency and a larger color gamut (narrow spectrum emission).
QD-OLED - hybrid OLED and QD displays
Several companies are looking to develop hybrid displays that use both OLEDs and Quantum Dots. There are several possibilities - to create displays in which some of the emitters are OLEDs and the rest are QDs, or to use QDs to convert blue OLED emission to a full color displays.
Samsung QD-OLED
Samsung has been developing a hybrid QD-OLED TV technology, that adopts blue OLED emitters and quantum-dots that convert the blue light to red and green light.
Samsung hasn't committed yet to this technology, but it is expected that the South Korean display maker will start QD-OLED TV production by the end of 2019.
Samsung plans to convert its L8-1 8.5-Gen LCD fab to QD-OLED production. This will likely begin in the second half of 2019, but this will be a gradual conversion. The L8-1 has a current monthly capacity of 200,000 substrates, and following the conversion the capacity will be around 160,000-180,000 substrates. The mass production ramp-up will begin in 2020, and Samsung's total investment in QD-OLED technology and production in 2019-2021 will reach over 10 trillion Won (around $8.95 billion).
According to our information, Samsung is using a fluorescent blue emitter (will hopefully change to a higher efficiency one in later generations) and ink-jet printed QDs (in collaboration with Kateeva).
TCL H-QLED
In March 2019 it was unveiled that China-based display maker TCL is developing a new hybrid display technology that uses a blue OLED emitter coupled with red and green QD emitters. All three emitter materials will be combined and printed using ink-jet printing technology. TCL calls this technology H-QLED and this could prove to be the technology of choice for TCL's future high-end emissive TV displays.
The latest QD OLED news:
Samsung Electronics to launch its first QD OLED TVs in the first half of 2022
In 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. It was reported before that SDC is started to produce panel prototypes, and is on track to start mass production in Q3 2021.
In the past it was suggested that Samsung Electronics does not want to adopt QD-OLED in its TV line, but this SE finally made that decision to commit to QD-OLEDs. A new report in Korea now says that Samsung Electronics plans to release the first QD-OLED TVs in the first half of 2022.
DSCC: Inkjet printing of emitters and color conversion layers for OLED displays to reach 7.1 million sqm by 2025
DSCC says that inkjet printing technologies for OLED display production is finally starting to gain traction, and the company sees IJP OLED display capacity to increase in a 137% CAGR from 2020 to 2025, to reach 7.1 million sqm.
As you can see from the chart, most of the growth will come from the printing of the quantum-dots color conversion layers in Samsung's QD-OLED fabs. Actual RGB inkjet printing will be confined to JOLED's fab which will start mass producing in 2021. In 2024, China Star (CSoT) will begin printing OLED TV panels at its T8 line.
Samsung Electronics reports its Q1 2021 results
Samsung Electronics reported its financial results for Q1 2021. The company's revenues was 65.4 trillion Won (around $58.7 billion USD). Operating profit increased 4% from the past quarter to $8.4 billion, as Samsung enjoyed strong sales of phones and consumer electronics, which offset slower sales of displays and semiconductors.
The past quarter saw a fall in the revenues of Samsung's display business, due to weak seasonality of mobile products and a shortage of chips.Compared to Q1 2020, however, earnings improved due to increased adoption of OLED displays in smartphones.
Samsung Display to start producing QD OLED module samples by June 2021
In 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. It was reported before that SDC is started to produce panel prototypes, and is on track to start mass production in Q3 2021.
According to a new report from Korea, SDC is set to begin producing full module prototypes in June this year. In addition SDC had to increase the brightness of its panels as TV makers said it is not enough for premium TV adoption. SDC will produce both TV and monitor prototypes, which it will send to potential customers (such as Samsung Electronics, Sony, and Chinese TV makers). When customers approve the prototypes, SDC will be ready for commercial production.
QuantumDots-Info, a new knowledge hub to focus on quantum dots based displays
We are happy to announce a new Metalgrass knowledge hub, QuantumDots-Info.com. Our new site focuses on QuantumDots technologies for the display industry. QDs are already used in many displays, and it is likely that the future will bring us more types of QD Displays, including QDEL and QD-OLEDs.
QuantumDots-Info brings you daily news, commentary, resources and updates about QDs in the display industry. You can subscribe to our weekly QD display newsletter here - and if you have not done so already, be sure to also subscribe to the free monthly OLED newsletter!
Doosan Solus develops ETL materials for SDC's QD-OLED stack
In 2019, Doosan Corp spun-off its OLED materials unit, which is now called Doosan Solus (and is listed on the Korean stock market). The company's main OLED products are host materials and EIL and ETL layers.
According to The Elec in Korea, Doosan Solus currently produces so called "advanced" Electron Transporting Layer (aETL) for SDC's mobile AMOLED stack, and the company is now developing specialized aETL to be adopted by Samsung in its QD-OLED stack. Solus has been the exclusive supplier of ETL mateirals for SDC for the past eight years, and its materials are adopted in Samsung's latest M11 AMOLED stack.
Did Samsung Electronics finally commit to adopt SDC's QD-OLED TV panels next year?
In 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. The company is already starting to produce prototypes, and is on track to start mass production in Q3 2021. Reports in 2020 suggested that Samsung Electronics was hesitant about the adoption of QD-OLED panels.
This may have changed now, as we hear that Samsung Electronics has decided to cooperate with SDC and release its first QD-OLED TV next year (2022).
DSCC posts its latest outlook for the OLED materials market
DSCC posted an interesting post with its latest views and forecasts on the OLED material market. The company expects AMOLED stack material sales to grow at a 18% CAGR in the next five years, from $294 million in 2019 to $2.46 billion in 2024. Compared to its previous estimate, DSCC sees higher sales as demand for OLED TVs and OLEDs in the IT market (tablets and notebooks) is increasing.
DSCC also posted an analysis of LGD's new evo OLED material stack. Compared to LGD's "standard" WOLED stack, the evo adds an emitting green layer to improve the brightness by 20%. This of course adds an extra material cost to the panel price.
The Perovskite for the Display Industry Market Report
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Reading this report, you'll learn all about:
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- Perovskite QDs for color conversion
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The report also provides a list of perovskite display companies, datasheets and brochures of pQD film solutions, an introduction to perovskite materials and processes, an introduction to emerging display technologies and more.
SDC to start trial runs at its QD-OLED TV fab next month
Korea's The Elec says that Samsung Display aims to start trial runs at its QD-OLED 8.5-Gen production line next month (December 2020).
SDC will brand these displays as QD Displays. The first generation ones will adopt SDC's current hybrid QD-OLED architecture, but later ones may adopt QNED (quantum-rods) emitters. In any case, SDC's plan is to start mass production by the end of 2021, in the first line (15,000 monthly substrates). SDC is also planning a second line to follow the first, to arrive at a total of 30,000 monthly 8.5-Gen substrates.
