Category Archives: FPDs and TFTs

In a season when their sales should be rising sharply, suppliers of large-sized liquid-crystal (LCD) panels instead are encountering weak demand growth in the third quarter, exacerbating the glut already plaguing the market.

Measured in terms of square meters, supply of large-sized LCDs is expected to exceed demand by 15.9 percent during the period from July through September, according to the latest report entitled “Oversupply to Continue Due to Weak Economy” from information and analytics provider IHS. This is up nearly 3 percentage points from the previous forecast of a 13.2 percent oversupply, as presented in the figure below.

While the glut will decline compared to the second quarter—as is normal during the pre-holiday season—the surplus remains at elevated levels.

“This is the time of the year when LCD panel makers usually are ramping up production to meet holiday demand for televisions, notebook PCs, tablets and other consumer-oriented electronics,” said Ricky Park, senior manager for large-area displays at IHS. “However, the display industry is confronting the prospect of weak sales growth and a lack of visibility into future demand trends. With a combination of flagging economic conditions and the end of a popular television incentive plan in China, large-sized LCD panel supply is expected to overshoot demand by a higher margin than previously predicted.”

IHS defines large-sized LCDs as panels that have a diagonal dimension of 7 inches or greater used in devices such as televisions, notebook PCs and monitors.

Demand dearth

Global large-sized LCD panel demand in terms of square meters is expected to rise by a tepid 6 percent in the third quarter compared to the second. In most years, growth is typically larger because of seasonal factors. Expansion in 2012, for instance, was in double-digit territory at more than 10 percent.

Meanwhile, production capacity utilization among large-sized LCD makers is on the rise, increasing to 84 percent in the third quarter, up from 79 percent in the second.

The combination of the weaker-than-normal increase in demand and the significant expansion in utilization will combine to inflate the excess supply to higher levels.

China’s challenge

For their part, Chinese television makers are experiencing swelling inventories because of weaker-than-expected sales. The companies are likely to reduce their sales targets for 2013 and are trimming panel orders for the second half of the year.

Although China continues to enjoy the strongest economic growth among the major world economies, signs of weakness abound as export growth has declined sharply, due to a stagnant global economic recovery, a stronger yuan, and the Chinese government’s efforts to stem currency speculation. Given the deterioration of its export industry and the sluggish global economy, China can no longer depend on exports to fuel its overall economic growth.

Furthermore, the Chinese government has terminated its subsidy program for energy-saving TVs that had been driving sales earlier this year. This will further reduce panel demand.

Making a stellar debut, high-resolution liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels featuring resolutions of 300 pixels per inch (ppi) or more are appearing in media tablets for the first time this year, with shipments set to approach 13 million units.

Up from virtually zero in 2012, at least 12.6 million LCD tablet panels with 300-ppi-or-higher resolutions will ship in 2013, according to insights from the Display Materials & Systems Service at information and analytics provider IHS. Shipments will then more than double next year and continue to climb to 55.0 million units by 2017.

“Tablet makers want to differentiate their products, increase their market presence, boost demand and improve their profitability by offering high-performance displays,” said Sweta Dash, senior director for display research at IHS. “Display suppliers are supporting this trend with increased production of higher-pixel-density LCD panels that employ the latest technologies to pack more pixels into every inch of screen space. This will create a whole new class of displays with 300 ppi and higher resolution that will represent the new high end for the tablet business.”

Pixel proliferation

The new 300-ppi class will join existing 200-ppi categories to form a freshly expanded line of high-resolution displays. And while shipments of such panels will keep growing and increasingly rule the tablet space, lower-resolution panels of 100-150 and 151-200 ppi will see their markets decline or remain flat over the years.

Prior to 300 ppi, the highest resolution for tablets was in the 251- to 300-ppi range, where Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad 4 and the 9.0-inch Barnes & Noble nook HD+ belong. Panel shipments for this resolution segment are forecast this year to reach 67.2 million units, up 47 percent from 45.7 million in 2012.

Below that segment are tablet panels in the 200- to 251-ppi range, home to the 7.0-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the 10.0-inch Google Nexus 10. Panel shipments here are projected this year at 22.8 million units, up 88 percent from 12.1 million.

SID and fancy displays

Examples of the new 300-ppi panel for tablets could be seen at the recent Society for Information Display (SID) conference in Vancouver, a prominent industry event where panel manufacturers discuss new technologies and advances in the field.

At the event in May, LG Display showed a 7-inch high-definition tablet panel of more than 300 ppi, while rival Samsung Electronics countered with a 10.1-inch 300-ppi tablet panel.

Taiwan’s Innolux also had its own offering—a 6-inch high-definition, low-temperature polysilicon panel at 368 ppi.

Some of the new high-resolution displays slated for release this year will make use of oxide thin film-transistor (TFT) technology, similar to what was glimpsed at SID. The technology is considered a next-generation solution for panels, due to the mechanism’s high transparency and low power consumption.

Notebook panels also to benefit

High-resolution displays will also be coming to LCD panels for notebook PCs, judging from the SID exhibits. Samsung unveiled a 13.3-inch notebook PC panel with 275 ppi—higher than the 227 ppi of the much lauded 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Meanwhile, LG Display presented a 14- inch notebook LCD panel featuring 221 ppi.

For the notebook business in particular, where sales have suffered as consumers defected to smartphones and tablets, high-resolution displays could be what mobile PC manufacturers need to entice consumers to replace their older laptops. The new displays can be deployed to make products stand out from the rest of the field, create new demand among consumers, and boost revenue and profitability, IHS believes.

In line with the theme of higher performance, glass companies were likewise at SID to demonstrate glass substrates, an important component of LCD panels, for enabling next-generation displays.

Both New York-based Corning and Japan’s Asahi Glass announced glass substrate products at the show, formulated for high-performance displays intended to improve quality and productivity.

Global inventory of liquid-crystal display television (LCD TV) panels is set to rise to its highest level in 19 months in August, with the elevated stockpiles expected to contribute to a decline in prices in the second half of the year.

Weeks of LCD TV panel inventory held by suppliers are set to increase to 5.0 in August, up from 4.9 in July and 4.8 in June, according to the IHS report entitled "LCD Industry Tracker – TV" from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS). The last time the inventory reached this level was January 2012.

“LCD TV panel inventory is entering into above-normal territory in July and August,” said Ricky Park, senior manager for large-area displays at IHS. “Stockpiles are on the rise because of a delay in economic recovery for many areas of the world, along with growing uncertainty regarding domestic demand in China. The combination of a glut in panels and weak demand will cause price reductions to accelerate in the third quarter compared to the second.”

Average LCD TV panel prices are forecast to decline in a range from 3 to 6 percent in the third quarter, compared to a 1 to 2 percent decrease in the second quarter.

TV demand remains weaker than expected—not only in the developed markets such as North America and Europe but also in emerging markets.

Sino subsidy suspension

Panel inventories in China are on the rise due to a mix of industry and government factors.

For one, Chinese TV brands overstocked panels in the first half. Moreover, the government in Beijing has terminated its subsidy program for energy-saving TVs, a development expected to dampen demand in the second half.

In light of the weak demand and rising inventory, Chinese TV manufacturers are cutting panel orders. These domestic TV brands account for more than 80 percent of shipments in China, the world’s largest TV market.

With the exception of February during the Lunar New Year holiday when they disposed of more panels than they actually purchased, China’s Top 6 television makers increased their LCD panel purchases significantly every month in 2013 compared to the same periods in 2012. However, they plan to purchase 24 percent fewer panels in July and 25 percent less in August than they did during the same months in 2012.

BOE Technology Group announced that it has placed significant orders for advanced Gen 8.5 and Gen 5.5 display production equipment from Applied Materials for use in multiple facilities. BOE selected these systems because of their ability to produce faster, smaller thin film transistors for the next era of high definition televisions and high pixel density displays for future mobile devices. Applied Materials is providing a full suite of advanced deposition equipment including the leading-edge Applied  PiVot PVD  and PECVD systems, which are capable of supporting critical new technologies such as metal oxide and LTPS.

"BOE continues to execute on its manufacturing capacity and technology initiatives and appreciates the strong cooperative relationship with Applied Materials in developing and creating value in support of the world’s largest TV and mobile display market," said Mr. Liu Xiaodong, executive vice president, chief operation officer of BOE. "Over the past year we have achieved key high-volume Gen 8.5 production and yield milestones, which demonstrate our leadership in growing this strategic industry in China. We are pleased to work with Applied Materials to implement the new technologies needed to continue meeting the high quality, high performance screens consumers have come to expect and demand."

"Applied Materials is delighted to play an important role in BOE’s growth strategy and is committed to providing the leading-edge technologies to enable its continued success," said Ali Salehpour, group vice president, general manager, Applied Materials Energy and Environmental Solutions and Display Business Group. "There is a major shift taking place in the display industry toward adopting new materials, and BOE selecting Applied Materials equipment validates the technology differentiation and productivity gains we provide to our customers. Together, BOE and Applied are enabling consumers to experience displays with world-class color, clarity and brightness."

The Applied PiVot PVD and PECVD systems selected by BOE provide a high-performance, cost-effective path to manufacturing stunning high resolution amorphous silicon, metal oxide and LTPS displays.  These systems can significantly increase production and achieve the same economies of scale that enabled the cost of LCD TVs to fall by more than 95 percent over the past decade and brought large-area LCD televisions within the reach of billions of consumers around the globe.

Applied Materials, Inc. provides equipment, services and software to enable the manufacture of advanced semiconductor, flat panel display and solar photovoltaic products. Our technologies help make innovations like smartphones, flat screen TVs and solar panels more affordable and accessible to consumers and businesses around the world.

The glass slimming market topped $600 million in value in 2012 and is forecast to continuously grow to surpass $1 billion in 2014, according to a new report released by Displaybank.

 

Slimness and lightness are key competitive factors of consumer IT devices that use flat panel displays such as TFT-LCD and OLED. Display makers are responding to market changes by slimming down the glass substrate used in consumer goods as part of an effort to reduce the weight and thickness of finished goods, while finding ways to select the less heavy hardware at the same time.

Reducing the thickness of a glass substrate to cut its weight has proven to be the most effective way to make a flat panel display thinner and lighter. However, if a glass substrate used in the TFT or cell manufacturing process starts off as a thin sheet, it runs into many difficulties because of the variables arising from the LCD module, or OLED manufacturing process. Thus, it is essential to slim the glass substrate through chemical and physical methods at the time when the cell production process is completed. This process is called glass slimming.

The glass slimming industry requires both chemical materials and process technologies. The glass slimming process can be divided into a chemical etching method, in which the glass substrate of laminated LCD panels is chemically etched after TFT process and color filter process are completed, and a physical polishing method. The general trend these days is moving towards chemical etching.

This report analyzes glass slimming technologies, which are processes used to reduce the glass thickness and weight after TFT LCD or OLED panels are made, and provides the industry outlook and forecasts.

ISORG and Plastic Logic have co-developed the first conformable organic image sensor on plastic, with the potential to revolutionize weight/power trade-offs and optical design parameters for any systems with a digital imaging element. First mechanical samples will be publicly unveiled at LOPE-C 2013 (ISORG / CEA booth B0-509) from June 12 to 13 in Munich, Germany.

The collaboration is based on the deposition of organic printed photodetectors (OPD), pioneered by ISORG, onto a plastic organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) backplane, developed by the technology leader, Plastic Logic, to create a flexible sensor with a 4×4 cm active area, 375um pitch (175um pixel size with 200um spacing) and 94 x 95 = 8 930 pixel resolution.

organic image sensor

The backplane design, production process and materials were optimized for the application by Plastic Logic to meet ISORG’s requirements. The result, a flexible, transmissive backplane, represents a significant breakthrough in the manufacture of new large area image sensors and demonstrates the potential use of Plastic Logic’s unique flexible transistor technology to also move beyond plastic displays. Combined with ISORG’s unique organic photodetector technology, it opens up the possibilities for a range of new applications, based around digital image sensing, including smart packaging and sensors for medical equipment and biomedical diagnostics, security and mobile commerce (user identification by fingerprint scanning), environmental, industrial, scanning surfaces and 3D interactive user interfaces for consumer electronics (printers, smartphones, tablets, etc.).

ISORG’s CEO, Jean-Yves Gomez stated: “We are extremely pleased to showcase our disruptive photodiode technology in a concrete application for imaging sensing. The ability to create conformal and large area image sensors, which are also thinner, lighter and more robust and portable than current equipment is of increasing importance, especially in the medical, industrial and security control sectors.”

Indro Mukerjee, CEO Plastic Logic said: “I am delighted that Plastic Logic can now demonstrate the far-reaching potential of the underlying technology. Our ability to create flexible, transmissive backplanes has led us not only to co-develop a flexible image sensor, but is also key to flexible OLED displays as well as unbreakable LCDs.”

Shipments in March of large-sized liquid crystal displays (LCD) exceeded total production when measured in terms of area, the result of a deliberate move by panel manufacturers to digest accumulated inventory, according to an LCD Fab and Inventory Management Tracker from information and analytics provider IHS.

Large-sized LCD displays in March reached a total shipment area of 11.3 million square meters, a metric showing the expanse of shipped panels during the period and distributed among the panels’ four major applications for TVs, notebooks, monitors and tablets. In comparison, production area measuring the spread and breadth of manufactured panels equated to 11.0 million square meters—approximately 340,000 square meters less than the total shipment area.

“March represented the first time in four months that shipments outpaced production for large-sized LCD panels,” said Ricky Park, senior manager for large-area displays at IHS. “The last time the same phenomenon took place—when shipment was higher than production—occurred in November 2012, an understandable occurrence as manufacturers raced to pump out more displays in time for the December holiday season and Lunar New Year holiday season in China. In March, panel suppliers applied the same tactic to chip away at creeping inventory, the upshot of shipments falling below production levels from December 2012 to February 2013.”

After March, however, the current dynamic took a different turn. Pending final figures, forecasts show that production would catch up to shipments starting in April as both indices reach 11.0 million square meters, with production then exceeding shipments beginning in May, as shown in the figure below. The new movement starts as the industry ramps up for the higher demand anticipated in the second half of this year.

shipments of large-sized LCD display panels

Calculated efforts pay off

For all the vicissitudes of the market, panel manufacturers need to continually negotiate a delicate balancing act—between making sure there is enough inventory, and preventing the inventory at hand from ballooning and crossing into dangerous oversupply. A potent weapon in their arsenal is to turn the screws on production, intentionally limiting manufacturing capacity in fabs, while continually shipping out panels taken from both current assembly and leftover inventory in their possession. Constant vigilance is required in an industry where oversupply is usually the norm, with panel manufacturers always striving to perfect their game.

Utilization rates are also adjusted to achieve targets. In March, utilization rose to 80 percent from 72 percent in February, but the pace of fabrication remained lower than was originally intended, estimated at 82 percent and consistent with the plan to keep production lower than shipments. Fab utilization rates were expected to remain unchanged in April and then jump to 83 percent in May—again in keeping with plans for production to start growing and overtake shipments.

Even so, panel manufacturers are not expected to exceed 85 percent utilization and risk producing more than the channel can swallow. Inventory has been particularly problematic because of slow demand, but manufacturers are also careful that pricing doesn’t drop further even with anemic demand plaguing the system.

Tablet panels continue to reign

Overall, shipments for large-area LCD displays during the first quarter this year compared to year-ago levels fell for monitors and notebooks, but rose for TVs and tablets. Monitor panel shipments were down 17 percent to 38.7 million units, while notebooks suffered an even larger 20 percent contraction to 43.2 million units. Shipments for TV panels, however, climbed 10 percent to 55.9 million units, while tablets posted an outsized 175 percent increase to 60.3 million units.

The reason for such disparate movements is not hard to guess. Monitors and notebooks have been under a cloud for some time, overshadowed among consumers by more appealing devices like smartphones and tablets. TVs, while a mature commodity in advanced markets like the United States, Europe and other highly industrialized countries, continue to enjoy increasing demand in the vast China market, compensating for any losses that may occur elsewhere.

Tablets are in even more fortunate circumstances. The devices continue to shine with blockbuster sales, their powerful status also demonstrated in unbeatable panel shipment numbers.

A new report from IHS Displaybank analyzes the scope of the flexible OLED patents issued. Of U.S patents published by July 2012, a patent containing flexible OLED structure-related technology was selected as the Issue Patent and through the prior art and citation analysis of the issue patent, key patents were extracted, and the flow of flexible OLED structure-related technology was analyzed.

Flexible OLED structure key patents analysis

patent analysis on flexible OLED structures

Flexible display is drawing attention because of its advantages that it is thin like a paper and can be bent and rolled without the damage through the substrate. As the display technology that can be integrated to the flexible display, OLED is being regarded as the one of the most likely candidates.

OLED is thin, bendable, cheap, self-luminance, and can implement clear picture quality. Thus, as OLED tries to widen the area up to large-area display market, the expectation for flexible OLED is growing.

The basic structure of flexible OLED consists of flexible substrate, which is needed to be the bendable or rollable form, TFT device that drives each pixel, light-emitting OLED, and thin-film encapsulation that blocks moisture and oxygen for the long lifetime of OLED.

Recently, the leading companies’ research on the core technology is accelerating and the patent barrier of the product structure (the basic concept) and the individual components of flexible OLED is strengthening, and it is not easy to find the source patent from many patents.

Thus, IHS Displaybank examined the source of flexible OLED structure patent through its report, “Flexible OLED Structure-related Key Patents Analysis.” 

Is the source patent of flexible OLED structure valid?

The report examined prior art that has been reviewed in the patent examination in details by selecting “issue patent,” and also traced the source of flexible OLED structure patents by encompassing 40 patents that have been cited in the “issue patent.”

In particular, main point analysis of flexible OLED structure-related key patents (16 patents), extracted from the citation analysis, and the presentation of yearly technology trend are configured to help setting the direction of R&D, patent application, and corresponding patent disputes.

“In the cloud computing era, AMOLED displays are most likely to have the greatest amount of influence on innovation in smart devices." Kinam Kim, CEO of Samsung Display, delivered this statement as part of a keynote speech on "Display and Innovation" to attendees at the Society for Information Display’s Display Week 2013 in the Vancouver Convention Centre today.

During the keynote speech, Kim said that the future of displays will change considerably, with special attention to be given for the virtually infinite number of imaging possibilities in AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) display technology.

Kim emphasized that three evolving “environments” are likely to make displays the central focus of the increasingly pervasive use of electronic devices.

The first environment is the spread of cloud computing. In the cloud environment, the capability of electronic networked devices for data processing and storage will be extended infinitely, allowing users everywhere to easily enjoy content that only highly advanced devices can fully process today, including ultra HD (3840 x 2160) images and 3D games. Higher levels of display technology will be required to support our increasing reliance on the cloud.

The second environment is the accelerating evolution of high-speed networks. By 2015, the velocity of 4G LTE will rise to 3 gigabits per second (Gbps), so the transmission time for a two-hour UHD-resolution movie will be under 35 seconds.

“As image quality of video content improves, larger and even more vibrant displays will emerge as a key differentiating point in mobile devices,” said Kim.

The third environment is the spread of connectivity among electronic devices. As the use of Wi-Fi networks explodes, the N-Screen era is on its way. A massive network environment will be established by connecting not only smartphones and tablet PCs but also automobiles, home appliances and wearable computing devices. Due to this explosion in “data flow,” there will be a huge surge of interest in touch-enabled displays.

Kim said that the innovative advantages of AMOLED technology will allow consumers to realize more possibilities in electronic convenience than we might have ever imagined.

AMOLED TV presented at CES 2013
AMOLED displays can embody true colors closest to natural colors with their color space 1.4 times broader than that of LCD displays.

The first innovative advantage of AMOLED, according to Kim, is the superiority of its color. AMOLED displays can embody true colors closest to natural colors with their color space 1.4 times broader than that of LCD displays. By offering the world’s broadest color gamut – supporting nearly 100 percent of the Adobe RGB color space, AMOLED will expand the range of displays well suited to printed media, where specialized color is frequently required.

The second innovative advantage of AMOLED is its flexibility and transparency. AMOLED displays can maximize portability by making devices foldable and rollable, and they can also lead innovation in product designs with advantages in curved forms, transparent panels, and lighter weight than other display technologies.

The third innovative advantage of AMOLED displays will be their responsiveness to touch and sensors for detecting all five human senses. Using Samsung’s new Diamond Pixel technology, which has been optimized for the human retina, AMOLED displays can now depict natural colors and images with super high resolution.

Kim went on to say that display applications, with advantages of AMOLED technology, will rapidly spread throughout other business sectors like the automotive, publishing, bio-genetic and building industries.

In the automotive business, AMOLED displays will replace conventional glass and mirrors that have been used for digital mirrors and head-up displays. Capitalizing on their advantages with flexibility, durability and high resistance to temperature changes, AMOLED display panels also will be used for watch displays and for products in the fashion and health care market sectors. Further, in publication and building, AMOLED displays will set the trend for the building market sector with AMOLED architectural displays in and outside buildings being used as highly desirable decorative and information-delivering products.

Kim expressed confidence that "the display market is unlimited in the amount of growth that it can achieve, as technical innovation continues to accelerate.”

TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader, today announced collaboration with TLi (Technology Leaders and Innovators), a fabless company that designs non-memory integrated circuits (ICs) focused on timing controllers and driver ICs on TFT-LCD panel modules. TLI says they have developed an acceleration sensor control IC and proximity illumination sensor IC based on TowerJazz’s 0.18um CMOS technology, which enables TLi to provide local offerings to mobile phone suppliers in Korea where the market leaders are located.

As of 2012, the worldwide mobile phone market was 1.7 billion dollar and 43 percent of this was attributed to smartphones with acceleration sensor control ICs and proximity and illumination sensor ICs. The portion of smartphones with these ICs is expected to grow steadily, and TLi is targeting this fast growing market with two of its products utilizing TowerJazz’s process. A mass production is expected to start in Q3, 2013.

The acceleration sensor market is mostly dominated by a few major foreign companies, however in January of this year, TLi succeeded in developing an acceleration sensor control IC and a proximity illumination sensor IC in Korea. These products are the first released from the very close collaboration between TowerJazz and TLi. By utilizing the advanced features of TowerJazz’s 0.18um CMOS process, TLi realized accurate modeling as well as flash memory without mask adder for its acceleration sensor control IC and succeeded in realizing the sensing block without expensive color filtering for its proximity illumination sensor IC.

"We have been very pleased with our collaboration on these exciting products which has enabled us to provide local offerings to Korean mobile phone suppliers that are expected to be the most cost effective solutions in this market. This is the result of our close discussions with TowerJazz to utilize the advanced features of their 0.18 CMOS process. Also, these products showed full functionality from first silicon," said Soonwon Hong, vice president of TLi.

"Korea is an important region for technical and manufacturing innovation and we are very excited to work with a leading-edge partner such as TLi to enable localization of their specialized sensor ICs," said Michael Song, VP of Sales and president of TowerJazz Korea. "TLi has trusted us to co-develop and bring to market their latest products and we are pleased with the progress we have made in this region which is home to many leading semiconductor companies."