Potentially good news for OLED fans. Korea IT News is reporting that, in May, Samsung will decide on a mass-production technology for OLED TV panels. After introducing one OLED TV series to the U.S. market in 2013 (the KN55S9C we reviewed), Samsung backed away from the technology, due to high production costs and low yield rates. The report below states that Samsung is "currently developing a technology that can mass-produce large OLED panels by using a method that uses organic CVD and inkjet printing method alternatively" and will use White OLED (WOLED) technology. The goal is to improve production rates while lowering production costs, which would allow Samsung to introduce lower-priced OLED TVs to the market.
From Korea IT News
Samsung Display is going to decide on mass-production technology for OLED panels for TVs in May. It is important to decide on a technology that can produce OLED TV panels with higher level of technology at a lower cost.
According to display industry on the 22nd, Samsung Display is currently testing a technology that combines CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) and inkjet printing device. It is going to decide on an exact technology by May after getting results from its tests.
Samsung Display is currently developing a technology that can mass-produce large OLED panels by using a method that uses organic CVD and inkjet printing method alternatively.
Because organic material is weak against heat, its performance can be lowered or its substance can be deformed while deposition and etching processes are repeated during patterning process. Due to this reason, Samsung Display is currently examining a method that forms patterns by spraying organic material with inkjet printing method after CVD process. Because material and organic material do not tough each other during etching process, problems such as deformation of quality and others do not occur and patterns can be formed in detail.
While Samsung Display had used 5 layers by repeating CVD and inkjet printing process earlier on, it reduced layer of organic material patterning to 3 layers of CVD, inkjet, and CVD. Samsung Display is currently testing this technology by using CVD device from Applied Materials and inkjet printing device from Kateeva.
A reason why Samsung Display is mixing inkjet method with deposition process is because it wants to reduce production cost while increasing performance. Samsung Display is currently preparing for mass-production of large OLED panels by using WOLED (White OLED) method. It believes that by using WOLED method, it can greatly reduce production cost compared to LG Display, which is currently mass-producing OLED panels for TVs, and secure competitive edge in markets.
Additional Resources
• LG Trying to Set Up OLED Alliance at HomeTheaterReview.com.
• LG 65EF9500 4K OLED TV Reviewed at HomeTheaterReview.com.
