Category Archives: FPDs and TFTs

SUMMARY:

Colin Moorhouse, Coherent Inc., discusses ultrafast (picosecond) industrial lasers for high-precision manufacturing of smartphone displays and other leading-edge devices. These tools can help reduce the size, weight, and material cost of devices; the lasers’ unique operating regime (megawatts of peak power) enables clean cutting and patterning of sensitive materials and thin films used in a number of novel devices as well as micromachining of wide bandgap, "difficult" materials such as glass. In several instances, the picosecond laser is replacing multi-step photolithography with a single-step direct-write laser process; in other cases it supplants traditional cutting/drilling processes. With a choice of near-IR, green, or ultraviolet output, these lasers can micromachine almost any material bringing new technologies to market successfully.

FIGURE. Schematic of a basic OLED structure.

The article covers patterning organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), thin-film solar cells, and bioabsorbable stents as well as laser drilling of transparent materials. Read it at our sister publication, Industrial Laser Solutions, here: http://www.industrial-lasers.com/articles/2012/05/picosecond-laser-enables-new-high-tech-devices.html

July 4, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Pearson, Simon, Warshaw & Penny, LLP announced that a federal court jury found that Toshiba Corporation and its subsidiaries conspired with the world’s other leading manufacturers of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Displays (TFT-LCDs) to raise and fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels and certain products. The jury awarded damages of $87 million. Federal antitrust law requires the trebling of these damages, resulting in a $261 million award against Toshiba.

 

“There was strong evidence that Toshiba participated in the price-fixing conspiracy through communications with other TFT-LCD manufacturers, and that it received future pricing information from its competitors, shared its own future information, and was aware of its wrongdoing”

.Richard M. Heimann, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs, stated, “We are very pleased the jury found in favor of the plaintiffs and found that Toshiba violated the law, particularly in light of the government’s decision not to criminally prosecute Toshiba for its misconduct. The case demonstrates once again the critical role our civil justice system plays in holding corporations, no matter how powerful or where they are based in the world, accountable for violating U.S. antitrust laws.”

 

“There was strong evidence that Toshiba participated in the price-fixing conspiracy through communications with other TFT-LCD manufacturers, and that it received future pricing information from its competitors, shared its own future information, and was aware of its wrongdoing,” stated Bruce L. Simon, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs. “We are grateful for the jury’s service. The jury rejected Toshiba’s claim that it had done nothing wrong, and this is one of the few antitrust class actions ever tried to a successful verdict.”

 

About the LCDs Antitrust Litigation

TFT-LCDs are used in flat-panel televisions as well as computer monitors, laptop computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and other devices. Plaintiffs charge that defendants conspired to raise and fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels and certain products containing those panels for over a decade.

 

Previously in the class action litigation, entitled In re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1827 (N.D. Cal.), the Court certified two nationwide classes of persons and entities that directly purchased TFT-LCDs from January 1, 1999 through December 31, 2006, one class of panel purchasers, and one class of class of buyers of laptop computers, computer monitors, and televisions that contained TFT-LCDs.

 

The classes reached settlements with ten other defendant manufacturers for a combined value of $430 million. Toshiba was the only defendant to proceed to trial. Lieff Cabraser serves as court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel for direct purchasers in the litigation.

 

Contacts

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

Richard Heimann, 415-956-1000

or

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP

Eric Fastiff, 415-956-1000

or

Pearson, Simon, Warshaw & Penny, LLP

Bruce Simon, 415-433-9000

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July 2, 2012 — Seiko Epson Corporation (TSE:6724) reached the milestone of 80 million high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) thin film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for 3LCD projectors, enough for more than 26.5 million projector units.

Epson develops technologies to boost power and performance of these projectors. 3LCD projectors historically are used for enterprise computing — business presentations. Today, 3LCD projectors are used in various markets — home theaters, education, commercial segment, and more. The market for projectors is expected to grow nearly 10% every year.

Epson plans to enhance and expand its lineup of HTPS display panels for specific market needs, said Nobuyuki Shimotome, deputy chief operating officer of Epson’s Visual Products Operations Division.
Epson is a global imaging and innovation company making inkjet printers and 3LCD projectors, sensors, and other microdevices. Internet: http://global.epson.com/

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This article was published in the DisplaySearch Monitor, June 2012, and authored by David Hsieh.

July 2, 2012 — Liquid crystal display (LCD) panel makers have added new display features — high color gamut, 3D, LED backlight, slim type, ultra-slim bezel, 120 Hz/240 Hz/480 Hz frame rate driving, fast response time, high brightness — with varying success in driving TV demand.

Consumers will not pay a price premium for a new feature that cannot be proven valuable. For example, high color gamut was panned because broadcasting systems regulate the color gamut of content, and preferences for color saturation vary widely.

Instead of “spec up,” more and more end users are looking to “spec down” for budgetary reasons. Lower but acceptable panel brightness now prevails, as it helps to reduce backlight cost. Meanwhile, as analyzed in the May 09, 2012 DisplaySearch Monitor article “Direct LED TV Selling Better than Edge LED TV,” the cost effective direct type LED-backlight LCD TV is doing well in sell-through results. While its form factor is not slim, some end users care more about how an ultra-slim bezel looks from the front.

For all these reasons, LCD TV panel and set makers are wondering what new features will add value for end users and motivate another replacement cycle.

 

Higher resolution: The next added value?

Many people believe that ultra-high 3840 × 2160 definition (UHD or UD), also known as 4K×2K, will be a meaningful value-added feature on next-generation TV displays. 4K×2K has 4x as many pixels as full high definition (FHD, 1920 × 1080), which is the current prevailing resolution for LCD TV panels.

Smart phones and tablet PCs prove that the higher the resolution, the better for end users. These very high definition devices set consumer expectations for televisions. Because LCD TVs are still mainly used for watching rather than interaction or content creation, consumers will perceive very high resolution as a direct benefit to viewing, unlike other new features (such as smart, connected, or 3D TV and LED backlights).

The best quality video is recognized as vivid with no difference between reality and screen, and the higher the resolution, the more vivid the content. 3D technology halves resolution on LCD TVs. On 4K×2K LCD TVs, the impact of the downgrade in resolution when watching 3D content is not as severe. With 4K×2K, even after the 3D downgrade, the resolution is full HD, falling from 3840 × 2160 to 1920 × 1080.

For ultra-large LCD TVs, such as 60-80”, pixels are so big that they are visible in FHD. Therefore 4K×2K is recognized as necessary on very large TVs.

 

4K × 2K manufacturing options

Most panel makers have been working on 55”+ panels for 4K×2K. This is because panel makers target high-end and very large screen markets.

Most panel makers are implementing oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) manufacturing for 4K×2K resolution. Because of the higher electron mobility of oxide, it’s easier to design with a smaller pixel; therefore more pixels can be implanted onto the glass substrate. However, the oxide TFT process requires a 6-8 photomask process, compared to the 4-5 photomask process for amorphous silicon (a-Si) TFT. This will affect fab capacity. Chimei Innolux is planning to use a-Si TFT, rather than oxide TFT. In theory, this is workable and Chimei Innolux can save lots of surplus cost for new photomasks and maintain a better yield rate.

4K×2K LCD TV panels are a big challenge for TFT LCD process yield rate and stability. In the current TFT LCD process, the yield rate and reliability of HD and FHD do differ much. However, when the pixel count quadruples, the yield rate will fall significantly. Meanwhile, the higher resolution means panel transmittance will be reduced because there are more pixels on the substrate. As analyzed in the TFT LCD Process Roadmap Report, there are many new technologies needed for this kind of ultra-high definition:

  • High resolution photo lithography (high resolution patterning)
  • SHA (super high aperture) ratio
  • High mobility backplanes (such as oxide TFT or microcrystalline silicon)
  • Copper (Cu) metallization
  • BM (black matrix) width reduction
  • The EE (electronics engineering) panel design: data/scan driving, input format compatibility, and value-added features including 4K up-conversion, 3D, and local dimming backlight.

 

Panel makers developing 4K×2K

The market outlook for 4K×2K is still unclear due to TV broadcasting bandwidth limitations. Despite this, LCD TV panel makers have developed many 4K×2K panels.

Table. 4K×2K Ultra High Definition LCD TV Panel Development. Source: DisplaySearch China Smart TV & Smart Display Conference.

Maker

Size

Native
Resolution

Panel
Technology

3D

3D Technology

MP (Estimate)

AUO

65”

3840×2160

Oxide TFT

Yes

Lenticular lens

Q2’12
(LGD, Vizio)

55”

3840×2160

A-Si TFT

Yes

Lenticular lens (naked eye)

Now
(Toshiba)

LG Display

84”

3840×2160

Oxide TFT

Yes

FPR (film pattern retarder)

Q1’12-
Q2’12

Samsung

70”

3840×2160

Oxide TFT

 

 

Q2’12

70”

3840×2160

Oxide TFT

Yes

240 Hz, Shutter glass

Q2’12

82”

3840×2160

 

 

 

 

Sharp

64”

4096×2160

 

 

 

EOL

60”

3840×2160

Oxide TFT,
Photo alignment

 

 

2012

Chimei
Innolux

56”

3840×2160

 

No

 

Now
(Medical)

50”

3840×2160

A-Si TFT

120 Hz

 

Q4’12

65”

3840×2160

A-Si TFT

120 Hz

 

Q4’12

AUO is currently the only panel maker that has commercialized a 4K×2K product. The product is a 55” 4K×2K LCD TV with glasses-free 3D and a powerful video driving engine (Toshiba’s REGZA), shown below.

Figure 1. Toshiba’s 55” 4K×2K LCD TV with AUO’s Panel. Source: Toshiba.

There’s also a face tracking feature, which should assist users who choose to video chat in high resolution. It’s said that LGE and Vizio are also interested in launching a 4K×2K LCD TV in the North America market later this year.

Sharp is focusing on 4K×2K and calling it Super Hi-Vision, as analyzed in the May 10, 2012 DisplaySearch Monitor article “Sharp’s Leading TV Panel Technologies.”

4K×2K Ecosystem

The biggest concern for 4K×2K remains the ecosystem. Currently the TV ecosystem relies on the bandwidth of broadcasting and transmission. For content providers, it will be harder to achieve UD as the cost of production, post-production, storage, and data transmission will be very high.

Content is also an issue for 4K×2K TVs. At the DisplaySearch China Smart TV & Smart Display Conference, Chimei Innolux used a slide to illustrate the current 4K×2K ecosystem status (shown below).

Figure 2. 4K×2K Ecosystem status. Source: Chimei Innolux.
  • Camera: Commercial cameras are available, and some are already reaching 8K×4K. These professional cameras are very expensive, but some camera companies such as Sony or JVC plan to introduce a 4K×2K camera for general consumers.
  • Content: For content providers, the high cost of post-production is a concern. A 4K×2K program is estimated to cost 5-6 times more than HD.
  • Broadcasting: NHK and BBC plan to use 4K×2K or even 8K×4K broadcasting for the 2012 Olympics in London. This experiment will explore the challenges to the growth of 4K×2K broadcasting.
  • Coding/De-Coding Standard: H264 seems to be sufficient for 4K×2K. The new generation H265 will be ready by 2013. At the same time, enhancing compression will further reduce the bottleneck of 4K×2K signal transmission. Also, there are some up-scaling solutions to convert HD and FHD signals to 4K, such as QDEO.
  • BD Capacity: With the enormous amount of data for 4K×2K, storage and transmission are big challenges. For storage, dual-layer Blu-ray DVDs can provide 50 GB capacity, and some can even be 200 GB with current compression technology. DVD makers are studying how to increase compression ratio.
  • BD Player: Blu-ray disc players also need to support 4K×2K.
  • HDMI: The HDMI 1.4a standard supports 4K×2K, but HEVC (High Efficient Video Coding) will be better.
  • Bandwidth: ADSL and fiber have achieved 100 Mbps per second. However, it’s still time consuming to transmit 4K×2K data. For example, a 3-hour 4K×2K movie equals 3 terabytes of data, which requires 200 Blu-ray discs.

With all of these opportunities and challenges, the DisplaySearch Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report is forecasting that 4K×2K TV will account for 22% of all 50”+ FPD TVs in 2017.

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July 2, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Samsung Mobile Display (SMD), a global leader in the display industry, will purchase dopant materials used in the transport layers of its active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display modules from Novaled, OLED technologies provider. Novaled will also provide its proprietary PIN OLED technology to SMD for use in the production of SMD’s AMOLED display modules. The licensing and purchase agreement covers several years.

Since 2005, Samsung has cooperated with Novaled in the field of technologies and materials for advanced OLED products. Novaled’s latest agreement with SMD extends the use of Novaled’s high-performance OLED materials and proprietary PIN OLED technology to SMD’s next generation of mobile AMOLED devices.

Novaled has developed several doping and transport materials that can be used in OLEDs to further enhance the advantages of Novaled’s PIN OLED technology. As a result, these OLEDs have very low driving voltage and high substrate compatibility, while maintaining high power efficiency and long lifetime. The company recently debuted a class of n-doped electron transport layer (ETL) materials for OLED TV and mobile displays that could double lifetimes.

“Novaled materials are designed to deliver customer benefits, especially for mass-produced devices,” said Gildas Sorin, CEO of Novaled, adding that building “successful and long-lasting business relationships with leading OLED display and lighting manufacturers” is part of his company’s strategy. Sorin is to the left in the above photo.

“We are focused on developing innovative and state-of-the-art OLED technology, and so we have maintained a close cooperation with Novaled,” said S.I. Cho, president and CEO of Samsung Mobile Display (to the right in the above photo, shaking hands with Sorin).

Novaled AG performs research, development and commercialization of technologies and materials that enhance the performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and other organic electronics. Commercially active since 2003, Novaled was founded in 2001 as a spin-off of the Technical University and the Fraunhofer Institute of Dresden. For more information, please visit www.novaled.com.

Samsung Mobile Display Co., Ltd. (SMD) was established in January 2009 as a core Samsung company that provides cutting-edge display solutions based on technologies like active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) and liquid crystal display (LCD). For more information about Samsung Mobile Display, visit www.samsungsmd.com.

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June 29, 2012 — OLED thin film encapsulation technology is the one of technologies emerging as the core technology of flexible OLED, and technology development and patent securing competition between world’s leading OLED companies such as VITEX, 3M, GE, UDC, Samsung, LG, Philips, and DuPont will increase accordingly, shows Displaybank’s report, “OLED Thin Film Encapsulation Technology Key Patent Analysis.”

Figure. OLED Thin Film Encapsulation Patent Application Trends. SOURCE: Displaybank.

Encapsulation protects organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) from the external environment. Methods include CAN, glass, thin film, and hybrid encapsulation technology. Of these, thin film encapsulation is expected to be the enabling factor for lightweight and thin large-area OLED as well as flexible OLED. These architectures will support next-generation displays and OLED lighting.

OLED thin-film encapsulation patents are growing in line with increasing interest in flexible OLED and OLED lighting technology and the acceleration of technology development competition.

The report examines worldwide patent application trends, particularly from Korea, Japan, the US, and Europe. In addition, in-depth analysis such as key patent status of major companies, technology development, citation relation analysis, key patent point analysis, and key patent example analysis were performed by extracting 135 key patents around U.S. patents. Access the report at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=875&cate=1

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June 29, 2012 – Marketwire — Cambridge NanoTech, maker of atomic layer deposition (ALD) technologies, entered a licensing agreement with Ghent University in Belgium to commercialize an ALD particle coating technology. 

Cambridge NanoTech ALD systems are used in the production of semiconductors, flat panel displays, and solid state lighting. The new system, Cyprus, will perform ALD coatings of particles, powders, and small 3D objects with and without plasma. Its rotary reactor architecture optimizes conformal coating without the complexity of traditional fluidized approaches.

"The Cyprus Particle Coating system expands the ability to deposit thin films on powders by utilizing thermal and plasma ALD in a single platform. This in turn and can allow users to take advantage of the full spectrum of additional benefits such as improved nucleation rates, decreased processing temperature, and improved film quality offered by plasma-assisted ALD processes," explains Ganesh Sundaram, VP of technology at Cambridge NanoTech.

Ghent University has been developing its particle and powder coating technologies focusing on surface functionalization uses. "There have been an increasing number of possible applications for nanocoatings on particles and powders emerging over the past decade that require atomic level control of layer thickness and uniformity," said Christophe Detavernier, Professor at Ghent University. "ALD has proven to be a very reliable method for depositing ultrathin, conformal coatings on powders."

Located in Flanders, Belgium, Ghent University is an active partner in national and international educational, scientific and industrial cooperation. Ghent University hosts 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members.

Cambridge NanoTech delivers Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems capable of depositing ultra-thin films that are used in a wide variety of research and industrial applications. To learn more about Cambridge NanoTech, please visit www.cambridgenanotech.com.

June 26, 2012 — Vacuum product and abatement system maker Edwards (NASDAQ:EVAC) debuted the iXL250Q and iXL750Q dry pumps, joining the iXL500Q pump in flat panel display (FPD) and solar manufacturing applications. The pumps are used for the smaller loadlocks at Generation 4 (Gen-4) through the largest at Gen-8 and Gen-10 fabs.

Also read: Edwards tailors vacuum pump for LED, compound semiconductor manufacturing

The iXL250Q is targeted for smaller chambers used for earlier generation FPDs (e.g. Generation 4), while the iXL500Q and iXL750Q are more suited to larger chamber volumes encountered in Generation 8 and 10.

These pumps are designed to maximize substrate throughput, while minimizing power, footprint and weight. In addition, no maintenance is required between overhauls.

All pumps are “Green Mode” enabled, allowing them to run at lower power during idle periods.

Time to pump down a particular volume chamber is largely determined by how much pumping speed is available close to atmospheric pressure. As the product names suggest, the iXL250Q, iXL500Q and iXL750Q provide approximately 250 m3/h, 500 m3/h, and 750 m3/h pumping speed around atmospheric pressure.

Visit Edwards at North Hall, Booth 5351 during InterSolar and SEMICON West, taking place July 10-12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. More SEMICON West products here.

Edwards is a leading manufacturer of sophisticated vacuum products and abatement systems and a leading provider of related value-added services for the manufacture of semiconductors, flat panel displays, LEDs and solar cells, as well as other industries. Edwards’ American Depositary Shares trade on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol EVAC. Further information about Edwards can be found at www.edwardsvacuum.com.

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June 26, 2012 — JP Sercel Associates Inc. released the IX-6168-PS picosecond-laser-based micromachining platform, using lasers with 5-500 picosecond pulse lengths.

The lasers machine glass, ceramics, metals and alloys, and other hard-to-process materials. With ultrafast laser processing, the pulse duration is shorter than the thermal diffusion timescale of the material, resulting in a direct solid to vapor transition that greatly reduces debris formation, and minimizes thermal impact on the surrounding area.

The JPSA picosecond laser platform is designed to accept multiple types of ultrafast lasers. Laser choices include infrared (IR), green or UV wavelengths, and a range of power and pulse rate options. The laser is accommodated in a slide-out service trolley within the workstation, and is fully integrated with the system control software. 

JPSA provides a dual-beam delivery configuration; a fixed-beam configuration can be used to produce a finely focused beam, with a precision air-bearing stage for precise feature positioning; for high-speed processing of complex shapes, a high-accuracy galvanometer configuration incorporates a step-and-scan function. The IX-6168-PS is delivered with both fixed beam and galvanometer scanning capability, and can be easily reconfigured on-site to suit individual needs.

The IX-6168-PS can be supplied as a manual-load system, or combined with JPSA’s Integrated Automation Platform for fully automated operation in semiconductor wafer applications. Configuration options include laser wavelength, power and repetition rate, and a choice of galvanometer scanner and lens systems to optimize large deflection field applications.

JPSA products and services include UV excimer, DPSS and ultra-fast laser micromachining systems, UV and VUV laser beam delivery systems, laser materials processing development, optical damage testing, and excimer laser refurbishment services. JPSA operates a high-performance laser job shop as well as a systems engineering and manufacturing business. For more information, visit http://www.jpsalaser.com.

June 25, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Panasonic Corporation (NYSE:PC, TOKYO:6752) and Sony Corporation will combine their core and printing technology to jointly develop next-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel and module manufacturing technology.

Sony and Panasonic will develop printing-method-manufacturable next-generation OLED technology, targeting low-cost mass production of large, high-resolution OLED panels and modules for TVs and large-sized displays.

Sony and Panasonic plan to establish a mass-production methodology in 2013.

Sony makes 11” and 25” OLED displays, using deposition technologies for manufacturing. Sony has actively promoted the research and development of next-generation OLED technologies such as hybrid OLED element devices and processing technologies that combine deposition and printing methods, thin film transistor (TFT) drivers such as oxide TFTs, and flexible organic TFTs.

Panasonic uses an all-printing method, as well as other printing techniques, to make its large-sized screen, high-resolution OLED panels. Panasonic owns the unique production and equipment technologies to produce OLED panels via this method. Panasonic is also pursuing the future possibility of OLED panels, and is carrying out research and development of advancements in flexible OLED panels and aiming to develop large-sized, high-quality sheet-type displays.

In parallel with the joint development of the next-generation technologies of the OLED panels and modules, Sony and Panasonic plan to continue to study collaboration in the mass production of OLED panels and modules. Also, each company plans to utilize its own strengths to develop and commercialize its own competitive, high-performance, next-generation OLED televisions and large-sized displays.

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