Category Archives: OLEDs

Quantum dots will cascade into the marketplace. They offer lower cost, longer life, and brighter lighting, according to WinterGreen Research’s  new study Quantum Dot and Quantum Dot Display (QLED) Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2013 to 2019.  

“The commercialization of quantum dots using kilogram quantity mass production is a game-changer,” said Susan Eustis, WinterGreen analyst. “High quality, high quantity and lowest price quantum dots increase product quality in every industry. The rate of change means speeded products cycles are evolving.”

Once manufacturers learn to integrate higher efficiency luminescent quantum dots into their products, each vendor will need to follow or dramatically lose market share, reports WinterGreen. This level of change brought by quantum dot and quantum dot displays (QLED) represents a new paradigm that will create new industries, products and jobs in science and industry. The list of possible quantum dot applications is ever expanding. New applications are waiting for the availability of more evolved quantum dots.

Quantum Dot LED (QLED) commercial focus has remained on key optical applications: Optical component lasers are emerging as a significant market. LED backlighting for LCD displays, LED general lighting, and solar power quantum dots are beginning to reach the market. Vendors continue to evaluate other applications.

Quantum dots QDs are minute particles or nano-particles in the range of 2nm to 10nm diameter. Quantum dots are tiny bits of semiconductor crystals with optical properties that are determined by their material composition. Their size is small to the nanoparticle level. They are made through a synthesis process. QD Vision synthesizes these materials in solution, and formulates them into inks and films. Quantum Dot LEDs (QLED) enable performance and cost benefits.

The quantum dot cannot be seen with the naked eye, because it is an extremely tiny semiconductor nanocrystal. The nanocrystal is a particle having a particle size of less than 10nm. QDs have great potential as light-emitting materials for next-generation displays with highly saturated colors because of high quantum efficiency, sharp spectral resolution, and easy wavelength tenability. Because QDs convert light to current, QDs have uses in other applications, including solar cells, photo detectors, and image sensors.

QLED displays are anticipated to be more efficient than LCDs and OLEDs. They are cheaper to make. Samsung estimates that they cost less than half of what it costs to make LCDs or OLED panels. QLED quantum dot display is better than OLED. It is brighter, cheaper, and saves more energy. Energy-savings is a strong feature. Its power consumption is 1/5 to 1/10 of the LCD’s Samsung offers now. Manufacturing costs of a display are less than half of OLED or LCD. It has a significantly longer life than the OLED.

QLED quantum dot display uses active matrix to control the opening and closing of the pixels of each color. Quantum dots have to use a thin film transistor. Emission from quantum dots is due to light or electrical stimulation. The quantum dots are able to produce different colors depending on the quantum shape and size used in the production of materials.

Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and Nanoco Group plc (AIM: NANO) have a global licensing agreement for Nanoco’s cadmium-free quantum dot technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Dow Electronic Materials will have exclusive worldwide rights for the sale, marketing and manufacture of Nanoco’s cadmium-free quantum dots for use in electronic displays.

Pixelligent Technologies, a manufacturer of nanocrystal additives for the electronics and semiconductor markets, last week announced the launch of its PixClear Zirconia nanocrystals. When incorporated into existing products, the nanoadditives can dramatically increase light output and readability of modern touch screens and displays. PixClear, Pixelligent officials say, also increases the light output of products for lighting applications such as HB-LEDs and OLEDs.

Prior to Pixelligent, nanocrystal dispersions suffered from aggregation and were cloudy, difficult to process, and unstable, which prevented their commercial adoption. But Pixelligent officials claim their PixClear dispersions are something new: they’re perfectly clear. These clear dispersions allow Pixelligent to deliver precise control over the target applications’ optical, chemical and mechanical properties.

“Pixelligent is at the forefront of developing nanotechnology innovations that will revolutionize light management in display and lighting applications,” said Craig Bandes, President and CEO of Pixelligent.  “The launch of PixClear is a great example of our ability to identify a need in the industry and then create a high-quality and scalable solution that will dramatically impact the performance of numerous end-products.”

Pixelligent’s PixClear nanocrystal dispersions have been tailored to be compatible with a wide variety of monomers and polymers. PixClear’s synthesis and surface modification technology produces high-quality dispersions that can be incorporated into many of the most widely used polymer systems. This enables highly transparent formulations with nanocrystal loadings in excess of 80 percent weight, while reaching a refractive index as high as 1.85, levels that are unmatched in the industry to date. Additionally, it provides great flexibility for index matching dissimilar materials and when using modern high-speed polymer film forming techniques.  

In their official release, Pixelligent claims the advantages of PixClear nanoadditives include a high refractive index, high transparency at visible wavelengths, low haze coating, improve scratch resistance, and an easy integration into existing manufacturing processes.

The global LED lighting market will be worth $25.4 billion in 2013, representing 54% growth on the 2012 figure of $16.5, while the LED lighting penetration rate will also rise to 18.6%, according to a new DIGITIMES Research Special Report titled "Global high-brightness LED market forecast."

The report describes how the luminous efficacy of LEDs continues to rise, with manufacturers likely to be well ahead of the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) development targets of 129 lm/W for warm white light LEDs and 164 lm/W for cold white light LEDs.

LED lighting product prices are likely to drop by 20-25% in 2013, as LED component performance/price ratios rise from 2012’s 500 lm/US$ to 1,000 lm/US$ in 2013.

Looking further ahead to 2015, the US DoE targets are for LED component costs to drop 37% from 2013 levels, while 60W-equivalent LED bulb costs are to drop by 38% from 2013 levels by 2015. LED lighting prices would then be at a price point even more acceptable to general consumers.

Lighting policy in many countries is also critical to the development of LED lighting, and this effect has been most marked in the Asia region. For example, Japan now has the highest LED lighting market penetration rate of any region, with the rate set to rise to 73.8% by 2015; South Korea’s Korea Association for Photonics Industry Development (KAPID) projects that the country’s LED lighting industry will have an output value of US$7.8 billion by 2015, 5.6 times the figure for 2012; while China’s LED lighting market is growing by 30% per year, which will give the country nearly one third of total global output value for LED lighting in 2015.

All of these factors will drive major growth in the LED lighting market, which will beat even the significant gains forecast over the last one to two years. "In addition to the rise of LED TV applications, LED lighting will begin to replace conventional lighting technology in the market. LED lighting will take 38.6% of the global lighting market by 2015," predicts Jessie Lin, author of the report. DIGITIMES Research in fact projects that the global LED lighting market will be worth US$44.2 billion by 2015.

global lighting market

PPG Industries has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for “significant achievements” in advancing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting technology. Dennis O’Shaughnessy, Ph.D., PPG associate director for flat glass research and development, accepted the award on behalf of the PPG team during the 2013 Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D (Research and Development) Workshop in Long Beach, Calif.

PPG’s advances are the result of a two-year project initiated with the DOE in 2010 to promote the commercialization and mass production of OLED lighting. The PPG team led by Abhinav Bhandari, Ph.D., project engineer, has demonstrated a float glass-based integrated substrate with scalable light-extraction technologies and transparent conductive films for OLED lighting applications.

The results indicate significant cost and performance advantages over conventional indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated display-grade glass substrates. PPG’s light-extraction technologies are compatible with the conventional float glass manufacturing process and result in significant enhancement of device efficiencies, according to O’Shaughnessy.

Dick Beuke, PPG vice president, flat glass, said the new glass substrate is one of several major initiatives PPG is advancing to reduce energy use in the U.S.

“At PPG, we are proud to be developing glass technologies to make OLED lighting more viable for mass use,” he said. “This research enhances and complements the work our scientists are doing in architectural glass and coatings to make homes and buildings more energy efficient, and in solar technology to help that industry achieve grid parity.”

Mehran Arbab, Ph.D., PPG director, glass science and technology, said, “OLED lights have the potential to emit four times as much light per watt as incandescent bulbs. Widespread commercial use of this technology could significantly reduce energy use in homes, buildings and workplaces.”

PPG was the only company honored in the OLED lighting area at the three-day workshop, which brought together nearly 300 researchers, manufacturers and industry insiders who are promoting and monitoring the latest developments in SSL technology. The DOE supports SSL R&D efforts to accelerate market introduction of high-efficiency, high-performance SSL products. Its mission for the SSL R&D portfolio is to “create a new, U.S.-led market for high efficiency, general illumination products through the advancement of semiconductor technologies, to save energy, reduce costs and enhance the quality of the lighted environment.”

Yole Développement announced today its new report “UV LEDs: Technology & Application Trends” which presents UV LED new applications and associated market metrics for the period 2012-2020, and a deep analysis of UV LED technology and UV LED lighting industry.

Thanks to UV curing, UV LEDs should become a $270M business by 2017, and could hit $300M if new applications boom

Thanks to its compactness, low cost of ownership and environmentally-friendly composition, UV LED continues to replace incumbent technologies like mercury. Hence, the UV LED business is expected to grow from $45M in 2012 to nearly $270M by 2017, at a CAGR of 43% — whereas the traditional UV lamps market will grow at a CAGR of 10% during the same time period.

In 2012, UVA/UVB applications represented 89% of the overall UV LED market. Amongst these applications, UV curing is the most dynamic and most important market, due to significant advantages offered over traditional technologies (lower cost of ownership, system miniaturization, etc.). This trend is reinforced by the whole supply chain, which is pushing for the technology’s adoption: from UV LED module and system manufacturers to ink formulators and (of course) the associations created to promote the technology. And with Heraeus Noblelight’s recent acquisition of Fusion UV (Jan. 2013), all major UV curing system manufacturers are now involved in the UV LED technology transition.

Concerning UVC applications, they are still in their infancy and their sales are mainly for R&D purposes and analytic instruments like spectrophotometers. But given some newly published results (increase of EQE over 10%, etc.) and the recent commercialization of the world’s first UVC LED-based disinfection system (2012), the market should kick into gear within the next two years.

In addition to traditional applications (UV lamps replacement), and due to their unique properties (compactness, higher lifetime, robustness, etc.), UV LEDs are also creating new applications that aren’t accessible to traditional UV lamps, i.e. apps that are miniaturized and portable.

“In 2012, several new UV LED based products were launched, including cell phone disinfection systems, nail gel curing systems and miniaturized counterfeit money detectors – and this is likely to continue!” explains announced Pars Mukish, Technology & Market Analyst, LED, at Yole Développement. “We estimate that if new UV LED applications continue emerging, the associated business could represent nearly $30M by 2017, which would increase the overall UV LED market size to nearly $300M,” he adds.

This market and technology analysis is a comprehensive review of every UV application (including a deep analysis of UV curing and UV disinfection purification), highlighting: UV working principle, market structure, UV LED market drivers and the challenges/characteristics associated, time-to-market, penetration rate & Total Accessible Market (TAM) for UV LEDs, and much more. Additionally, Yole Développement details the market metrics for traditional UV lamps and UV LEDs over the period 2012 – 2017, with splits by application for each technology (volume & market size, etc.).

The report also presents an analysis of emerging UV LED applications, detailing: short-term applications that have already begun emerging, UV LED Concept Knowledge theory, and more.

Once UVC LED performance is sufficient, the supply chain battle will intensify

The booming UVA/UVB market (mostly UV curing) has attracted several new players from different backgrounds over the past few years: traditional UV lamp suppliers, traditional UV system suppliers, pure UV LED system suppliers, and others. Each player employs a different strategy for capturing the maximum value created by this disruptive technology: horizontal integration (from UV lamp to UV LED), vertical integration (from UV LED device to UV LED system and vice-versa) or both (from UV lamp to UV LED system). We should point out that traditional UV lamp manufacturers are under the most pressure since they have to compensate for the waning lamp replacement market by diversifying their activities in higher supply chain levels.

In the end, every UV LED device/system manufacturer faces the same technical issues when it comes to integrating UV LEDs into a system (thermal management, optics, etc.), but experience is gained with each passing year. Once UVC LEDs achieve sufficient performance, there’s no way a manufacturer will allow the opportunity to pass them by. When that moment comes, the whole supply chain will become a mess due to an increasingly competitive environment, and consolidation will be necessary. Yole Développement analysis covers the UV LED industry, detailing: main players & associated strategies/business models, 2012 industrial value & supply chains, key players’ revenue and market share, and much more.

Bulk AlN vs. AlN on sapphire template: no current winner

AlN on sapphire templates are definitely the substrate of choice for UVA applications, as they provide the right mix between cost and performance. However, for UVC applications (and some UVB applications) the competition with bulk AlN substrate is strong, since such material could allow for improvement at the device level in terms of lifetime, efficiency (IQE and EQE) and power output.

Right now, the debate is still on. And even if bulk AlN’s superior performance has been demonstrated by companies such as Crystal-IS and HexaTech, the associated cost (2.5x to 4x more compared to AlN on Sapphire template) still remains an obstacle to developing UVC LEDs at a reasonable price.

Indeed, such a situation has already occurred with GaN substrate for visible LEDs. Bulk GaN was the ideal technical candidate, but cost was too high and sapphire was widely adopted instead. Will UV LEDs meet the same fate?

In addition to substrate issues for UVC LED development, epitaxy represents another challenge for increasing device performance. Such barriers will have to be surpassed before we see commercialized UV LED-based disinfection/purification systems.

researcher Ma Ming developes brighter, smarter, more efficient LEDsRensselaer Polytechnic Institute student Ming Ma has developed a new method to manufacture light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are brighter, more energy efficient, and have superior technical properties than those on the market today. His patent-pending invention holds the promise of hastening the global adoption of LEDs and reducing the overall cost and environmental impact of illuminating our homes and businesses.

For this innovation, Ma, a doctoral student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been named the winner of the prestigious 2013 $30,000 Lemelson-Rensselaer Student Prize. He is among the three 2013 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Collegiate Student Prize winners announced today.

“For more than 175 years, Rensselaer has produced some of the world’s most successful engineers and scientists, explorers and scholars, innovators and entrepreneurs. Doctoral student Ming Ma, with his groundbreaking invention of GRIN LEDs, honors and continues this tradition of excellence,” said David Rosowsky, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. “Rensselaer and the School of Engineering offer a hearty congratulations to Ming for his achievement. We also applaud all of the winners, finalists, and entrants of the Lemelson-MIT Collegiate Student Prize for using their talent and passion to engineer a better world and a better tomorrow.”

Ma is the seventh recipient of the Lemelson-Rensselaer Student Prize. First given in 2007, the prize is awarded annually to a Rensselaer senior or graduate student who has created or improved a product or process, applied a technology in a new way, redesigned a system, or demonstrated remarkable inventiveness in other ways.

“Invention is critical to the U.S. economy. It is imperative we instill a passion for invention in today’s youth, while rewarding those who are inspiring role models,” said Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program. “This year’s Lemelson-MIT Collegiate Student Prize winners and finalists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign prove that inventions and inventive ideas have the power to impact countless individuals and entire industries for the better.”

Seeking Brighter, Smarter LEDs

Conventional incandescent and fluorescent light sources are increasingly being replaced by more energy-efficient, longer-lived, and environmentally friendlier LEDs, but LEDs still suffer from challenges related to brightness, efficiency, and performance  With his project, “Graded-refractive-index (GRIN) Structures for Brighter and Smarter Light-Emitting Diodes,” Ma faced these problems head-on and tackled a fundamental, well-known technical shortcoming of LED materials.

LEDs are hampered by low light-extraction efficiency—or the percentage of produced light that actually escapes from the LED chip. Currently, most unprocessed LEDs have a light-extraction efficiency of only 25 percent, which means 75 percent of light produced gets trapped within the device itself.

One solution that has emerged is to roughen the surface of LEDs, in order to create nanoscale gaps and valleys that enable more light to escape. While surface roughening leads to brighter and more efficient light emission, the roughening process creates random features on the LED’s surface that do not allow for a complete control over other critical device properties such as surface structure and refractive index.

Freeing Trapped Light with GRIN LEDs

Ma’s solution to this problem was to create an LED with well-structured features on the surface to minimize the amount of light that gets reflected back into the device, and thus boost the amount of light emitted. He invented a process for creating LEDs with many tiny star-shaped pillars on the surface. Each pillar is made up of five nanolayers specifically engineered to help “carry” the light out of the LED material and into the surrounding air.

new brighter smart more efficient LEDMa’s patent-pending technology, called GRIN (graded-refractive-index) LEDs, has demonstrated a light-extraction efficiency of 70 percent, meaning 70 percent of light escaped and only 30 percent was left trapped inside the device—a huge improvement over the 25 percent light-extraction efficiency of most of today’s unprocessed LEDs. In addition, GRIN LEDs also have controllable emission patterns, and enable a more uniform illumination than today’s LEDs.

Overall, Ma’s innovation could lead to entirely new methods for manufacturing LEDs with increased light output, greater efficiency, and more controllable properties than both surface-roughened LEDs and the LEDs currently available in the marketplace.

               

Recently, as the importance of environmental protection grows, the method of saving energy of products and using eco-friendly materials is on the rise. Of these, since lighting accounts for about 20% of the overall power consumption, the efforts to replace with high-efficiency and eco-friendly products are being made actively. Accordingly, in terms of replacing conventional lightings such as low-efficiency incandescent lamps or fluorescent lamps using an environmentally hazardous substance like mercury with high-efficiency and eco-friendly products such as OLED or LED, the effect is expected to be very large.

In particular, OLED lighting is a surface style and can be manufactured in a transparent or flexible appearance, and has characteristics that realize excellent color rendering and a variety of colors. OLED lighting is drawing attention as a next-generation lighting to bring a new paradigm to the lighting industry since it can change even people’s way of living innovatively in the future through a variety of designs.

Global lighting manufacturers such as Osram or Philips have been prepared for the commercialization of OLED lighting, and began the sales of OLED lighting panels five years ago. After Osram released the world’s first OLED panel in 2008, the sales of the products with improved performance and reduced costs are increasing in recent years.

Based on such trend, IHS Displaybank is to assist in examining the status and the potential for development of the OLED lighting market by publishing a report of Lighting OLED Module Industry Analysis and Market Forecast 2012, which analyzes the general lighting OLED module industry and the market. In addition, the report also helps viewers predict the position of OLED industry in the lighting industry by including the overall light source market forecast for general lighting.

IHS Display forecasted that OLED will penetrate the lighting market gradually by its several optical excellence and the advantage of being transparent and flexible shape, despite the high selling price and limited application market formed in the initial period of the mass production. In particular, the competitiveness of OLED products is analyzed to be strengthened further in the lighting industry from year 2016-2018 when the improvement of efficiency, and the reduction of the cost ratio are significantly achieved.

Recently, considering the speed of the recent OLED lighting development, the efficiency of a 100x100mm2-sized OLED module is expected to exceed 200lm/W, and the net material costs are predicted to be reduced to less than $3.

LEDs are projected to grow more than six-fold to nearly $100 billion and power conversion electronics to $15 billion over the next decade as the desire for energy efficiency drives adoption, says Lux Research. While the market opportunity is clear, the winning positions are still very much up for grabs, so making wise partnership and investment choices is critical.  

“A slew of developers are working on innovative materials and system architectures, targeting the primary challenges of cost reduction and manufacturability,” said Pallavi Madakasira, Lux Research Analyst and the lead author of the report titled, Winning the Jump Ball: Sorting Winners from Losers in LEDs and Power Electronics. “Many leading lights of the electronics industry are strong in these markets, but start-ups with novel technologies are looking to grab a share for themselves.  

Lux Research positioned the key developers of LEDs and power electronics materials, devices, and systems on the Lux Innovation Grid based on their technical Vvalue and business execution – companies that are strong on both axes reach the “dominant” quadrant. They also assessed each company’s maturity, and provided an overall Lux Take. Among their findings:

  • SiC players are dominant in power electronics. The “dominant” power electronics players wager mostly on SiC. Cree is a fully vertically integrated SiC device manufacturer, while other top leaders are experienced players from silicon power electronics like Infineon, Rohm Semiconductor and ST Microelectronics.
  • Cree, II-VI Wide Bandgap lead materials space. Cree is also “dominant” in materials, based on its development of SiC substrates. The only other company with a “dominant” rank is II-VI Wide Bandgap Group, an SiC wafer supplier with established relationships with power electronics and RF device manufacturers.
  • Six vie for dominance in LED. Cree is the leader in LEDs as well, the only firm that has successfully commercialized SiC-substrate-based LEDs at scale. Among other “dominant” firms, Nichia holds the most IP, while Samsung, Philips, and Osram Opto Semiconductors have all demonstrated GaN-on-silicon LEDs. GE Lighting does not have its own chip technology but its integration further down the value chain and its recent acquisition of fixture manufacturer Albeo make it a force to reckon with.

The report, titled Winning the Jump Ball: Sorting Winners from Losers in LEDs and Power Electronics, is part of the Lux Research Energy Electronics Intelligence service.

AMOLED screens unveiled at CESAlthough active-matrix organic light-emitting-diode (AMOLED) televisions headlined last month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), shipments of these high-end panels will remain limited in the coming years, according to the Displaybank at information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS).

Shipments of AMOLED TV panels are expected to climb to 1.7 million units in 2015, up from 1,600 in 2013. While the jump in shipments is large, the total number of AMOLED panels by that time remains negligible compared to the vast number of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels being shipped.

Worldwide Forecast of AMOLED TV Panel Shipment (Millions of Units)

CES featured AMOLED TVs from leading manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Panasonic and Sony, generating major excitement at the event, according to Displaybank.

“But despite ongoing efforts among these companies to achieve mass production and lower cost via various technology options, it is unlikely that most of the AMOLED TV prototypes announced at CES will be available in the market this year. The limited availability and high pricing of AMOLED TVs will restrict their shipments during the next few years.”

The only AMOLED TV likely to ship this year will be LG’s 55-inch flat Full HD model, the 55EM9700.

AMOLED bonanza at CES

Staking competing claims to be the first and largest in the world, 56-inch 4K AMOLED TV prototypes were each shown by Panasonic and Sony at the Las Vegas event. The sets boasted four times—hence, 4K—the resolution of current 1080p televisions. For the 4K OLED samples, both manufacturers used oxide thin-film-transistor (TFT) backplanes, which present lower manufacturing costs than low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) backplanes.

Panasonic used the printing method on its 4K AMOLED TV, a simpler printing technology, making OLED production adaptable for a wider range of display sizes. In contrast, Sony used evaporation technology to deposit organic material in its top-emitting White OLED structure with a color filter. The panel was provided by AUO of Taiwan, which at the show also introduced its own 32-inch oxide TFT backplane with White OLED structure TV. Sony’s emission technology optimizes the OLED structure, which helps achieve better light management, enhances color purity and achieves higher contrast at lower power consumption levels.

Using different technological approaches, Sony and Panasonic were both able to make ultra-high-definition (UHD) 56-inch displays that reached 79 pixels per inch—twice the density of 55-inch full high-definition (FHD) displays used in the OLED TVs from LG and Samsung. For their part, Samsung and LG showed off 55-inch 3-D, FHD sets with AMOLED technology, coinciding with news that LG’s FHD TV will be available on the market by the first quarter this year. LG’s AMOLED TV utilized oxide TFT backplanes and the White OLED evaporation method, as it did in a prototype presented last year, eliminating the need for fine metal mask technology in OLED production.

White OLED provides an easier way to mass-produce OLED panels

Samsung, in contrast, used the LTPS TFT backplane and the RGB OLED evaporation method in its AMOLED TV prototype, similar likewise to what it did last year. Mainly applied in small- and medium-sized displays, sets with LTPS TFT backplanes and RGB OLED evaporation exhibit improved OLED performance, it is generally agreed. But with low yields and high costs, Samsung may find it difficult to launch AMOLED TVs in 2013 using these technologies.

Both Samsung and LG also unveiled their own curved 55-inch AMOLED TV prototypes at CES, with the sets boasting a 4-meter radius of curvature and Full HD resolution. Meanwhile, the success of Samsung and LG in implementing a large-sized curved OLED was thought to be a meaningful achievement in the display industry. However, both still face challenges with mass production, and market availability of curved OLED TVs is not a near-term possibility.

Yield improvement and cost reduction remain barriers

Also at CES, LG announced that its 55-inch Full-HD AMOLED TV will be available in the international market within a couple of months at a price of $12,000. LG has already started receiving preorders in its native South Korea, and the company claims it will start mass-producing the world’s first 55-inch OLED TV soon. While OLED TV makers all hope to become the acknowledged industry and technology leaders in their space, more improvements in technology, material and manufacturing appear to be needed in order to bring AMOLED TVs to the market.

In addition to technical and large-volume manufacturing challenges, OLED TVs also already face an uphill task of competing on prices with lower-priced, higher-resolution 4K LCD and even Full-HD LCD TVs. By the time AMOLED TV production achieves efficiencies in large-scale production, LCD TVs would have had an opportunity to become even more competitive in price and performance.

With still many challenges to be addressed despite many prototypes at CES, consumers are likely to wait a few more years before they buy their AMOLED TVs, Displaybank believes.

Worldwide LED component market grows 9%

Strategies Unlimited has issued new figures since the first edition of this article. Solid State Technology now brings you updated figures and additional information on the worldwide LED market.

LED component revenue for lighting applications reached $3.11 billion in 2012, narrowly dethroning the large area display backlight segment at $3.06 billion, according to Strategies Unlimited, a market research firm covering the LED industry.  The worldwide market for LED components was $13.7 billion and is expected to grow to $15 billion in 2017, for a CAGR of 1.8%.

The total illumination market for 2012 is estimated at $14.52 billion. LED lighting includes LED replacement lamps and luminaires is estimated at $11.72 billion—an increase of 26% between 2011 and 2012—and it is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 12% over 2012-2017.

The 2012 estimate for revenues for the illumination market, not addressed by the LED replacement lamps and luminaires is $2.75 billion revenue.  These other applications include: decorative/festive/Christmas light strings; tube lights that go into many untraceable applications including signs; flexible tape and strips of LEDs sold in applications ranging from step lighting to lighting stairs to DIY cove lighting; and all other miscellaneous.

Commercial applications are the largest segment and grew the fastest—72%—in the LED lighting market followed by replacement lamps. Japanese market was the primary driver for the 22% growth in replacement lamp revenues from 2011 to 2012. The slower growing segments such as emergency and industrial lighting depend on the overall economic activity; entertainment lighting was a victim of slow down in European financial crisis, after the frenzy for the Olympics.

LEDs used in large display (TV and monitors) backlights also reached a new record at $3.06 billion in 2012. This is chiefly due to the success in penetrating the CCFL stronghold of the 32-inch TV. Low cost direct technology, also known as “chubby TV” technology because the TVs are thicker than edge-lit ones and narrows the price gap between CCFL and LED backlit TV to an insignificant level.  Both Samsung and LG have announced they will stop making CCFL TVs.

Chubby TVs will spread from 32 inches in both directions in size. It is expected to reach TVs 42 to 50 inches size in 2013-2014.  With drastic reduction in number of LEDs used and rapid price erosion, the large display market for LEDs is expected to decline to $1.7 billion in 2017.

The total market for LEDs in the automotive segment was $1.4 billion in 2012 and is projected to grow to $2.1 billion in 2017. The number of cars with LED headlights nearly doubled in 2012. Revenue for 2012 was $97 million and the five-year CAGR is projected to be 36%.

The number of cars with LED headlights nearly doubled in 2012. Revenue for 2012 was $97 million and the five-year CAGR is projected to be 36%.  Revenue derived from daytime running lights (DRL) grew 31% to $200 million in 2012.  DRL growth is expected to slow down as the penetration rate is forecast to reach 45% in 2017.  The total market for LEDs in the automotive segment was $1.4 billion in 2012, and is projected to grow to $2.1 billion in 2017.

While LED revenue from tablets grew 54% to $578 million, the overall mobile segment dropped 3%.  The drop in notebook backlight demand, the OLED success in smart phone display, and the general demand decline for other small and medium display will take the segment down to $958 million in 2017, for a 5 year CAGR of -7%.

Use of LEDs in signage and channel letters grew 7% to $1.7 billion in 2012.  Full-color signs contributed more than 80% of the revenue. The most popular pixel densities for indoor displays are expected to be 3mm and 4mm in 2013, meaning more LEDs will be needed.  The signage segment is expected to grow to $2.4 billion in 2017, for a CAGR of 7%. 

Breakdown of worldwide LED market by countryOn the supply side, 11 companies accounted for more than 72% of the LED market. Strategies Unlimited arrived at these figures after analyzing market demand as well as the supply-side activity of more than 54 LED component suppliers. The rank order of the top 11 suppliers in the LED market for 2012, by revenue of packaged LED components, is:

1. Nichia     

2. Samsung LED         

3. Osram Opto Semiconductors        

4. LG Innotek       

5. Seoul Semiconductor*       

6. Philips Lumileds*        

7. Cree         

8. TG      

9. Sharp       

10. Everlight*     

11. Lumens*

(*Companies have the same ranking when the difference in revenue is within the margin of error. Revenue includes sales of packaged LEDs of 30 lm/W or more.)

Samsung LED was absorbed into Samsung Electronics in 2012. By going vertical and successfully attacking the low cost direct TV market, LED sales soared at Samsung and at its chief supplier, Lumens. TG’s success in the tablet backlight market and the Japanese lighting market brought high growth to the company. Cree and Philips Lumileds rode the rise of LED lighting and achieved record revenues.

Chinese packaging companies grew from 6% of worldwide sales to 8%. Major consolidation is expected in China as the pricing war is forcing out many players. Taiwanese market share dropped from 19% to 15% as there is an increase of OEM packaging activities.  Only final sale is counted in this study.

The LED packaging industry is expected to grow modestly at a CAGR of 1.8% in the next five years. 2013 should see less severe price drops as excess capacity is slowly absorbed by the rise of lighting applications.  Consolidation—both vertical and horizontal—can help improve margins. 

Breakdown of worldwide LED market by technology