SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung and LG are spurring the development of the next display models. Both companies are expected to unveil its premium 75-inch (Samsung), and 77-inch (LG) OLED TVs at the IFA in Berlin this September. Its official launching date hasn’t yet been fixed but it seems that both companies will again vie for the ‘world’s first’ title in the beginning or middle of next year. The companies are also stepping up their efforts to develop a UHD OLED TV.
“The popularity of AMOLED TVs hasn’t live up to expectations yet. It has been a few months since LG unveiled its 55-inch OLED TV, but it seems to take some time for it to be put into mass production due to high prices and low yield rate. As for Samsung, the TV market is somewhat disappointing considering the company has led the OLED technology in handsets with 99% market share,” said Kim Hyun-Jae, professor of Yonsei University, and Program Vice-Chair of IMID 2013.
Nevertheless, continuing to pioneer the premium market is inevitable for both companies not only to keep market leadership but also to beat out rival companies, mainly from China, which were following at a stunning rate. “Technology gap between the countries is getting narrower. Chinese companies dominating LCD market have begun to heavily invest in OLED market,” he said.
Recently, Samsung Display and LG Display announced the plan to mass produce LCD for tablets based on Oxide TFT. Song Jun-ho at Samsung Display said on Tuesday that R&D on Oxide TFT is being done with a goal of mass production in the second half of next year. At first, Oxide TFT with electron mobility at 7~10cm2/Vs will be applied to LCD. He also added that Oxide TFT will be first applied to LCD panels for high-resolution tablets, and gradually applied to diverse mobile devices such as laptops.
Oxide enables thin displays with high penetration and low power by utilizing silicon TFT line. LG used polycrystalline silicon TFT for 15-inch and 31-inch OLED display in 2009 and 2010 respectively, and used Oxide TFT for 15-inch OLED panels in 2010. “We learned that Oxide has more advantages than polycrystalline silicon TFT in many aspects and decided to use it as our technology platform”, said Kang In-byung of LG Display.
Kang said that LG Display will also “apply Oxide TFT to tablet LCD in the second half of next year.” Current electron mobility for Oxide TFT (for OLED TV) is 10cm2/Vs but will be upgraded to 30cm2/Vs, and 50cm2/Vs, he added.
International Meeting on Information Display (IMID)
The latest display trends and technologies including OLED and Oxide TFT will be key words at the 13th International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) which will take place from August 26 to 29 in Daegu, Korea. Next generation displays such as flexible display and touch panels will also be mainly discussed.
“IMID has been growing at a fast speed since its inception in 2001. As the Korean companies have over 55% shares in the global display market, it is good opportunity for a number of parts and material companies who come to the conference every year,” Professor Kim said.
Han Sang-beom, CEO of LG Display, will have a keynote speech on “Display your dream: better life with dream display.” Another keynote speaker will be Wang Dongsheng, chairman of BOE Technology. He will present “Semiconductor Display – a new industry definition”. IMID has invited 77 speakers from 15 countries including Japan, Taiwan, China, and the U.S.
"The number of papers has increased by 80 to a total of 512, a similar level to the Society for Information Display (SID). This year, the figure of Chinese papers has tripled seemingly because of the invitation of the BOE chairman," Kim said.
Participants can learn from the world’s top specialists through tutorials and workshops which will run for three hours and 1 hour respectively. Speakers will provide basics as well as in-depth analysis of topics including OLED, Oxide-TFT, LC technology, and LED. In the tutorial sessions, S. T. Wu of University of Florida will talk about “Polymer-stabilized blue phase”, Lee Young-hee of Sungkyunkwan University, will discuss “Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene”, and Hideo Hosono of Tokyo Inst. of Tech, will focus on “Oxide TFTs”. Other speakers will be Geoff Walker of Intel Corporation and Reinder Coehoorn of Philips Research Laboratories.
In the workshop, Mike Hack of Universal Display Corporation will present “Status and opportunities for phosphorescent OLED lighting”, and Lee S.H of Chonbuk National University, “FFS for Mobile Phones and Tablet PCs”. Other speakers will be Mutsumi Kimura of Ryukoku University, Takashi Matsuoka of Tohoku University, and Elvira Fortunato of FCT-UNL.
This year, the Young Scientists Forum will be provided as part of a mentoring program for students. Renowned scientists included Kim Myung-gil of Stanford University, Kim Yong-hoon of Sungkyunkwan University, Thomas Anthopoulos of Imperial College London, and Taishi Takenobu of Waseda University.
IT Convergence EXPO Korea 2013 and International LED & Display EXPO will take place at the same venue from August 27 to 29. At the IT Convergence EXPO, over 100 companies from home and abroad will demonstrate mobile contents, software, smart work, digital media, and display. At the LED EXPO, visitors can see the latest trends in LED, touch panel, flexible display, and 3D display.
