Category Archives: Touch Technologies

With screen sizes increasing, smartphones continue to lead total area demand in the cover glass market; however, as the markets for smartphones and tablets mature, cover glass industry revenue growth is declining from 39 percent year over year in 2013 to 11 percent in 2015. While the overall cover glass market growth is falling, increasing popularity of the Apple Watch is leading to growth in smart watch cover glass shipments, according to IHS Inc., a global source of critical information and insight.

“Although the average display size for tablets is increasing, simpler industrial design and weak device demand are causing average selling prices for cover glass to fall quickly,” according to Terry Yu, senior analyst for small and medium displays for IHS. “Cover glass makers are now pinning hopes on smart watches, as a way to shore up flagging revenue growth caused by the maturation of the smartphone and tablet segments.”

Smartphones are forecast to comprise more than half (55 percent) of all cover glass area demand in 2015, followed by tablet PCs. More complicated requirements for smartphone cover glass — including higher aluminosilicate glass penetration, more drilling holes and more ink layers — are causing average selling prices (ASPs) to rise faster than area demand; smartphone cover glass is therefore expected to make up 63 percent of revenues in 2015. By way of comparison, tablet cover glass is expected to reach 29 percent share of total area demand in 2015, but will only comprise 25 percent of all cover glass revenue, according to the most recent Touch Panel Cover Glass Report from IHS.

cover_glass_data

Due largely to consumer demand for the Apple Watch, overall smart watch cover glass area demand is forecast to increase by five-fold in 2015, reaching 33,000 square meters. That is still only a tenth of a percent of total cover glass area shipments, as cover glasses for wearable devices are much smaller than those used in smartphones and tablet PCs. The slightly curved design known as 2.5D, along with higher sapphire glass penetration, will keep ASPs significantly higher, which will help smart watch cover glass revenue share rise to 3 percent of the total market in 2015.

Higher costs for aluminosilicate glass and sapphire glass can significantly affect total cover glass costs. In fact sapphire glass material costs in smart watches can be up to 12 times higher than the cost of aluminosilicate glass.

“Sapphire glass used in wearable devices commands a premium price, so growth in that area would help shore up industry revenues,” Yu said. “In addition, sapphire glass is already used in the traditional watch industry, which makes it easier to adopt by smart watch cover glass manufacturers.”

Note that this market analysis from IHS covers only front cover glass, and does not include glass used in rear covers, such as the Gorilla glass used on the back of the Galaxy S6.

Smartphones first accounted for more than 50 percent of total quarterly cellphone shipments in 1Q13. In 4Q15, smartphones are forecast to reach 435 million units or 80 percent of total cellphones shipped according to data in IC Insights’ newly released Update to its IC Market Drivers Report (Figure 1). On an annual basis, smartphones first surpassed the 50 percent penetration level in 2013 (54 percent) and are forecast to represent 93 percent of total cellphone shipments in 2018.

Figure 1

Figure 1

In contrast, non-smartphone cellphone shipments dropped by 18 percent in 2013 and 23 percent in 2014.  Moreover, IC Insights expects the 2015 non-smartphone cellphone unit shipment decline to be steeper than 2014’s drop with a decline of 27 percent. Total cellphone unit shipments grew by only 5 percent in 2014 and are forecast to grow by only 3 percent in 2015 (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Figure 2

Samsung and Apple dominated the smartphone market in both 2013 and 2014.  In total, these two companies shipped 457 million smartphones and held a combined 47 percent share of the total smartphone market in 2013.  These two companies shipped over 500 million smartphones in 2014 (503.9 million), but their combined smartphone unit marketshare dropped seven percentage points to 40 percent.  It appears that both Samsung and Apple are losing smartphone marketshare to the up-and-coming Chinese producers like Xiaomi, Yulong/Coolpad, and TCL.

In contrast to the weakening fortunes of Nokia, BlackBerry, and HTC, 2013-2014 smartphone sales from China-based Lenovo (which acquired Motorola’s smartphone business from Google in October of 2014), Huawei, Xiaomi, Yulong/Coolpad, and TCL surged.  Combined, the six top-10 China-based smartphone suppliers shipped 359 million smartphones in 2014, a 79 percent increase from the 201 million smartphones these six companies shipped in 2013.  As a result, the top six Chinese smartphone suppliers together held a 29 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market in 2014, up eight points from the 21 percent share these companies held in 2013.

In early 2015, there were numerous reports of slowing in the Chinese smartphone market.  Since most of the Chinese smartphone producer’s sales are to Chinese customers, this slowdown became evident in their 1Q15 smartphone sales figures.  In total, the top six China-based smartphone suppliers shipped 83.4 million smartphones and held a 25 percent share of the 1Q15 worldwide smartphone market, down four points from their 29 percent combined marketshare in 2014.

Chinese smartphone suppliers primarily serve the China and Asia-Pacific marketplaces.  Their smartphones, unlike those from Apple, Sony, and HTC are low-cost low-end handsets that typically sell for less than $200.  In some cases, smartphones sold by the Chinese companies have been known to sell for as little as $50.

With much of the growth in the smartphone market currently taking place in developing countries such as China and India, low-end smartphones are expected to be a driving force in the smartphone market over the next few years.  IC Insights defines low-end smartphones as those that sell for $200 or less and high-end smartphones as those that sell for greater than $200.

Flexing graphene may be the most basic way to control its electrical properties, according to calculations by theoretical physicists at Rice University and in Russia.

The Rice lab of Boris Yakobson in collaboration with researchers in Moscow found the effect is pronounced and predictable in nanocones and should apply equally to other forms of graphene.

The researchers discovered it may be possible to access what they call an electronic flexoelectric effect in which the electronic properties of a sheet of graphene can be manipulated simply by twisting it a certain way.

The work will be of interest to those considering graphene elements in flexible touchscreens or memories that store bits by controlling electric dipole moments of carbon atoms, the researchers said.

Perfect graphene – an atom-thick sheet of carbon – is a conductor, as its atoms’ electrical charges balance each other out across the plane. But curvature in graphene compresses the electron clouds of the bonds on the concave side and stretches them on the convex side, thus altering their electric dipole moments, the characteristic that controls how polarized atoms interact with external electric fields.

The researchers who published their results this month in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters discovered they could calculate the flexoelectric effect of graphene rolled into a cone of any size and length.

The researchers used density functional theory to compute dipole moments for individual atoms in a graphene lattice and then figure out their cumulative effect. They suggested their technique could be used to calculate the effect for graphene in other more complex shapes, like wrinkled sheets or distorted fullerenes, several of which they also analyzed.

“While the dipole moment is zero for flat graphene or cylindrical nanotubes, in between there is a family of cones, actually produced in laboratories, whose dipole moments are significant and scale linearly with cone length,” Yakobson said.

Carbon nanotubes, seamless cylinders of graphene, do not display a total dipole moment, he said. While not zero, the vector-induced moments cancel each other out.

That’s not so with a cone, in which the balance of positive and negative charges differ from one atom to the next, due to slightly different stresses on the bonds as the diameter changes. The researchers noted atoms along the edge also contribute electrically, but analyzing two cones docked edge-to-edge allowed them to cancel out, simplifying the calculations.

Yakobson sees potential uses for the newly found characteristic. “One possibly far-reaching characteristic is in the voltage drop across a curved sheet,” he said. “It can permit one to locally vary the work function and to engineer the band-structure stacking in bilayers or multiple layers by their bending. It may also allow the creation of partitions and cavities with varying electrochemical potential, more ‘acidic’ or ‘basic,’ depending on the curvature in the 3-D carbon architecture.”

They are thin, light-weight, flexible and can be produced cost- and energy-efficiently: printed microelectronic components made of synthetics. Flexible displays and touch screens, glowing films, RFID tags and solar cells represent a future market. In the context of an international cooperation project, physicists at the Technische Universität München (TUM) have now observed the creation of razor thin polymer electrodes during the printing process and successfully improved the electrical properties of the printed films.

Solar cells out of a printer? This seemed unthinkable only a few years ago. There were hardly any alternatives to classical silicon technology available. In the mean time touch screens, sensors and solar cells can be made of conducting polymers. Flexible monitors and glowing wall paper made of organic light emitting diodes, so-called OLEDs, are in rapid development. The “organic electronics” are hailed as a promising future market.

However, the technology also has its pitfalls: To manufacture the components on an industrial scale, semiconducting or insulating layers – each a thousand times thinner than a human hair – must be printed onto a carrier film in a predefined order. “This is a highly complex process, whose details need to be fully understood to allow custom-tailored applications,” explains Professor Peter Müller-Buschbaum of the Chair of Functional Materials at TU München.

A further challenge is the contacting between flexible, conducting layers. Hitherto electronic contacts made of crystalline indium tin oxide were frequently used. However, this construction has numerous drawbacks: The oxide is more brittle than the polymer layers over them, which limits the flexibility of the cells. Furthermore, the manufacturing process also consumes much energy. Finally, indium is a rare element that exists only in very limited quantities.

Polymers in X-ray light 

A few months ago, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California for the first time succeeded in observing the cross-linking of polymer molecules in the active layer of an organic solar cell during the printing process. In collaboration with their colleagues in California, Müller-Buschbaum’s team took advantage of this technology to improve the characteristics of the polymer electronic elements.

The researchers used X-ray radiation generated in the Berkley synchrotron for their investigations. The X-rays are directed to the freshly printed synthetic layer and scattered. The arrangement and orientation of the molecules during the curing process of the printed films can be determined from changes in the scattering pattern.

“Thanks to the very intensive X-ray radiation we can achieve a very high time resolution,” says Claudia M. Palumbiny. In Berkeley the physicist from the TUM investigated the “blocking layer” that sorts and selectively transports the charge carriers in the organic electronic components. The TUM research team is now, together with its US colleagues, publishing the results in the trade journal Advanced Materials.

Custom properties

“In our work, we showed for the first time ever that even small changes in the physico-chemical process conditions have a significant influence on the build-up and properties of the layer,” says Claudia M. Palumbiny. “Adding solvents with a high boiling point, for example, improves segregation in synthetics components. This improves the crystallization in conducting molecules. The distance between the molecules shrinks and the conductivity increases.

In this manner stability and conductivity can be improved to such an extent that the material can be deployed not only as a blocking layer, but even as a transparent, electrical contact. This can be used to replace the brittle indium tin oxide layers. “At the end of the day, this means that all layers could be produced using the same process,” explains Palumbiny. “That would be a great advantage for manufacturers.”

To make all of this possible one day, TUM researchers want to continue investigating and optimizing the electrode material further and make their know-how available to industry. “We have now formed the basis for pushing ahead materials development with future investigations so that these can be taken over by industrial enterprises,” explains Prof. Müller-Buschbaum.

The research was supported by the GreenTech Initiative “Interface Science for Photovoltaics” (ISPV) of the EuroTech Universities together with the International Graduate School of Science and Engineering (IGSSE) at TUM and by the Cluster of Excellence “Nanosystems Initiative Munich” (NIM). Further support came from the Elite Network of Bavaria’s International Doctorate Program “NanoBioTechnology” (IDK-NBT) and the Center for NanoScience (CeNS) and from “Polymer-Based Materials for Harvesting Solar Energy” (PHaSE), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Portions of the research were carried out at the Advanced Light Source which receives support by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Revenues for flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing equipment are expected to grow for the third consecutive year to reach $9.1 billion, according to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a global source of critical information and insight. This level of FPD equipment spending, the highest level since 2011, is being driven by new liquid crystal display (LCD) and active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) panel factories targeting both large-area television and smartphone applications.

In terms of technology, spending will be split nearly evenly between amorphous silicon (a-Si) TV and low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) smartphone plants, according to the latest IHS Quarterly FPD Supply/Demand and Capital Spending Report, LTPS investments in both 2015 and 2016 are expected to exceed all-time highs. 

“Over the past five years, spending on new LTPS LCD and AMOLED factories has been even more volatile than the overall FPD equipment market,” said Charles Annis, senior director at IHS. “LTPS-related equipment expenditures are now expected to peak in 2015 and 2016, before dropping off again in 2017, Recently announced projects are generating unprecedented levels of LTPS equipment expenditures, including new fab plans for JDI in Japan and Foxconn in Taiwan; expansions of current lines at both Samsung and LG Display in Korea; and new LTPS plants in China being built by AUO, BOE, Tianma and China Star.”

In addition to all the current LTPS fab activity, in 2015 makers continue to invest in a-Si Gen 8 factories targeted at TV applications, mainly in China. Much of this investment is the result of growing demand for large-area panels, which increased 14 percent last year – significantly outstripping capacity growth of 6 percent. This increased demand caused tight supply and firm prices last year, encouraging panel makers to extend capacity expansions. This year large-area demand and supply are forecast to grow at similar rates of 6 percent. Although factory utilization remains at relatively high levels, and there are concerns that growing set inventories will continue to push prices down in the third quarter (Q3) of this year, large-area supply and demand will be balanced for the year.

“Despite the maturing TV market, along with various concerns about the ability of all the new LTPS plants in China to ramp-up smoothly, FPD investment activity remains dynamic,” Annis said. “FPD equipment spending in 2016 is currently forecast to be flat or slightly down. BOE’s recent announcement to build a future Gen 8 factory in Fuzhou, and the world’s first Gen 10.5 fab in Hefei China, suggests that FPD makers still believe that building new factories will continue to lower costs and expand the range of applications.”

Discussion of these topics and more can be found in the IHS Quarterly FPD Supply/Demand and Capital Spending Report. The report covers the most important metrics used to evaluate supply, demand, and capital spending for all major FPD technologies and applications.

IC Insights will release its Update to the 2015 IC Market Drivers report in June. The Update includes revisions to IC market conditions and forecasts for the 2015 2018 automotive, smartphone, personal computer and tablet markets, as well as an update to the market for the Internet of Things. This bulletin reviews IC Insights’ 2015 unit shipment forecast for total personal computing unit shipments.

Five years ago, touchscreen tablets began pouring into the personal computing marketplace, stealing growth from standard personal computers and signaling the start of what has been widely described as the “post-PC” era. Led by Apple’s iPad systems, tablet shipments overtook notebook PCs in 2013, and it appeared as if they would surpass total personal computer units (counting both desktop and portable systems) by 2016. However, that scenario no longer seems possible after tablet growth lost significant momentum in 2014 and then nearly stalled out in the first half of 2015 due to the rise in popularity of large-screen smartphones and the lack of interest in new tablets that do not add enough features or capabilities to convince existing users to buy replacements. Consequently, IC Insights has downgraded its forecast for the overall personal computing market, including much lower growth in tablets and continued weakness in standard PCs (Figure 1).

The updated forecast shows total personal computing unit shipments (desktop PCs, notebook PCs, tablets, and Internet/cloud-computing “thin-client” systems) dropping 1 percent in 2015 to 545 million. In the original forecast of the 2015 IC Market Drivers report (MD15), total personal computing system shipments were projected to rise 8 percent in 2015 to 609 million units, followed by a 10 percent increase in 2016 to 670 million. The revised outlook cuts the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of personal computing unit shipments to 2.1 percent between 2013 and 2018. Total personal computing system shipments are now projected to reach 578 million in 2018.

Worldwide shipments of keyboard-equipped standard PCs (desktops and notebooks) peaked in 2012 at 345 million, but they are expected to decline by a CAGR of -0.5 percent in the 2013-2018 timeperiod. In the updated outlook, tablets are projected to account for 45 percent of total systems sold in 2018 (259 million units) versus the MD15’s original forecast of 57 percent (423 million) that year. Further into the future, tablets are now expected to account for about half of personal computing system shipments with the remaining units being divided between standard PCs and Internet/cloud-centric platforms.

IC Insights June Report

Figure 1

 

Additional details on the IC market for medical and wearable electronic is included in the 2015 edition of IC Insights’ IC Market Drivers—A Study of Emerging and Major End-Use Applications Fueling Demand for Integrated Circuits.  This report examines the largest, existing system opportunities for ICs and evaluates the potential for new applications that are expected to help fuel the market for ICs.

C3nano, Inc. announced today that it has acquired the major supplier of silver nanowire (AgNW) in Asia, Aiden Co. Ltd. of Korea. Recognized as the quality and manufacturing leader in AgNWs, Aiden’s breakthroughs in synthesizing uniform AgNWs at large scale is fueling important innovations in touch sensor applications. In addition to establishing a vertically integrated AgNW supply, the acquisition provides C3nano a gateway to the critical display market in Korea and greater Asia.

“This deal positions C3nano with a global footprint to provide the industry’s highest performing transparent conductive ink at manufacturing volumes. We are at scale today,” said Cliff Morris, C3nano’s CEO. “Our partnership means C3nano’s Silicon Valley operations can continue to focus on ink production and R&D for advanced formulations while Aiden focuses on what they do better than anyone else—produce at volume the best AgNWs in the world.”

“Our two companies coming together is a perfect fit because of the clear synergies between Aiden’s production capacity and C3nano’s formidable IP on ink formulations, thin films, processing and devices,” said Mr. Jinhaeng Lee, founder and CEO of Aiden Co. Ltd. “Both of our companies share a commitment to maintain the highest standard of product excellence with a united vision to deliver new and unique technologies to the consumer electronics industry and beyond.”

The Aiden acquisition solidifies C3nano’s position as a complete solution provider of premium TCFs for the flexible display, touch sensor, photovoltaic and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) industries.

Canatu, a manufacturer of next generation transparent conductive films and touch sensors, announces a new generation of high optical transmittance CNB (Carbon NanoBud) transparent conductive films at Printed Electronics Europe in Berlin on April 28th, 2015.

Canatu’s Generation 6 CNB Film boasts significantly improved light transmittance. With zero haze, zero reflectance and high transmittance, CNB films have unrivalled optical performance and provide for high contrast displays with great outdoor readability.

“High grade optics is an innate property of CNB Films. Gen 6 brings the optics to perfection, expanding the scope where our films can be applied. We see ourselves bridging technology and design as our films enable almost complete design freedom. No other product on the market has the combined properties of CNB Films: extreme flexibility, excellent conductivity and high quality optical performance”, explains Dr. Erkki Soininen, VP Marketing and Sales at Canatu.

Canatu’s Generation 6 CNB Films have 95 percent optical transmittance at a sheet resistivity of 100 ohms/square and 97 percent at 150 ohms/square. Earlier this year, Canatu introduced a super-thin, flexible 23um CNB Flex Film, with a world’s lowest 1 percent change in sheet resistivity after 150 000 bends at 2mm radius.

With improved light transmittance vs resistivity characteristics, CNB Films can now be used in a wide range of touch applications, including larger displays and single-layer touch devices with totally invisible patterns. Combining the award-winning optics with extreme flexibility and thinness, Canatu’s films are especially suited for wearable and flexible devices such as next-generation foldable smart phones and tablets.

Canatu’s transparent conductive film portfolio consists of CNB Hi-Contrast Film optimized for flat projected capacitive touch devices, CNB Flex Film optimized for wearable, flexible and foldable touch-enabled electronics devices and CNB In-Mold Film optimized for formable 3D capacitive touch surfaces.

Canatu made significant investments in its production during 2014. Canatu is now entering mass manufacturing with several design wins to be announced later this year for consumer electronics, wearables, household appliances, and automotive use.

Strong promotion of 4K display resolutions from TV makers, display manufacturers and distribution channels has successfully increased consumer awareness and boosted 4K LCD TV penetration in 2014, according to a new report from IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a global source of critical information and insight. While 4K is best known as a feature in high-end LCD TVs, starting this year 4K displays will emerge in all major display applications, including desktop monitors, notebook PCs, OLED TVs, digital signage, smartphones and tablet PCs.

The latest Quarterly Worldwide FPD Shipment and Forecast Report from IHS reveals that the 4K display market reached $9.2 billion last year.  4K LCD TV contributed $8.8 billion to overall revenue; however, in 2015, 4K displays are coming to all major applications and will boost 4K revenue 94 percent year over year, reaching $18 billion in 2015. With the evolution of new display process technologies, to enhance the 4K display yield rate and lower costs, IHS forecasts that the 4K display market will be reach $52 billion in 2020.

“Since its market introduction in 2013, TV brands have recognized that 4K is a great way to enhance value, so they have strongly promoted 4K models,” said David Hsieh, senior director of display research for IHS. “4K content and broadcasting availability is also on the rise, which is helping more TV buyers recognize the value of this feature. Meanwhile, LCD TV panel makers have continuously improved 4K panel yield, which has reduced costs and facilitated even more consumer adoption.”

In 2015, LCD panel makers are targeting 40 million 4K LCD TV panel shipments, which represent 17 percent of all LCD TV panel shipments. In addition to TVs, consumers are starting to enjoy the benefits of ultra-high-resolution content in their smartphones and other mobile devices. Meanwhile, the “TV everywhere” concept is increasing consumer desire for higher resolution screens in their mobile devices. The professional-monitor and public-display market are also increasingly adopting 4K displays.

Source: IHS

4K LCD TVs continue to be the largest segment of the 4K display market, but smartphones and OLED TVs will experience the strongest growth this year. In order to compete with LCD TV in the high-end segment, OLED TV makers are including 4K resolutions. As display technology is improving fine-pitch pixel designs and brightness transmittance, 4K displays will become more affordable for mobile devices. In fact, panel makers like Sharp and JDI have recently announced and exhibited 4K smartphone panels. 4K tablet-PC displays, using oxide (IGZO) and low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) processes, are also in panel makers’ plans.

On the other hand, sub-pixel rendering (SPR) technology will become an important way for panel makers to enhance 4K pixel design in their displays. For many years now, various versions of SPR have been used in the commercial production of AMOLED and LCD displays. Essentially they use two sub-pixels per white pixel, to offer a similar perceived resolution as conventional three-color red-green-blue (RGB) displays.

“The main benefits of SPR include fewer sub-pixels, higher transmission and lower power consumption,” Hsieh said. “SPR is an important element in the growth of the 4K display market.”

The IHS Quarterly Worldwide FPD Shipment and Forecast Report covers worldwide shipments and forecasts for all major flat panel display applications, including detail from over 140 flat-panel display (FPD) producers, covering more than 10 countries. The report analyzes historical shipments and forecast projections, which provide some of the most detailed information and insights available.

The explosion of touch-enabled screens used in smartphones, tablets and other consumer devices, along with improvements in touch technology, are increasing demand for touch-screen automotive displays used for navigation, entertainment and online services, climate control, energy efficiency tracking and other activities. According to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a source of critical information and insight, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for global automotive touch panel shipments — which includes shipments of factory-installed automotive touch panel systems, as well as aftermarket applications, dealer installations, and service replacements — will average 18 percent through 2018, with revenues forecast to reach $1.5 billion.

“Analog resistive touch has dominated automotive touch panels, because the auto industry tends to prefer mature and proven technologies,” said Shoko Oi, senior analyst of touch panel and user interface research for IHS. “Resistive touch is less influenced by noise and is capable of receiving input from gloved hands; however, the explosion in touch-enabled smartphones and other devices is rapidly changing the consumer mindset, which is helping spur demand for better automotive touch screens. Touch screens that require lighter touch pressure are rapidly becoming standard technology in many types of vehicles, which is affecting the technological transition from resistive panels to projective-capacitive panels.”

touch panel shipments

Based on information from the latest Automotive Touch Panel Technology and Market Forecast Report from IHS, while projective-capacitive touch (PCT) technology has been a topic of discussion since 2012, adoption is finally expected to begin in 2015 models, which is leading to the rise in touch-panel shipments.

Due to improvements in the consumer interface, most touch panels for 2017 car models will use PCT technology, which is expected to surpass the use of resistive technology in 2017. “Some manufacturers will still opt to use resistive touch screens in their bills of materials, not only to reduce costs, but also to avoid some continuing issues in the PCT display supply chain,” Oi said.

The role of automotive displays is changing.  What was once simply a way to view information from navigation system or car audio systems, has evolved into a human-to- machine interface for devices of inside and outside the vehicle. “This evolution, along with the increased volume and importance of displayed data, is leading to a growing need for touch-panel designs that incorporate irregular or curved shapes, larger sizes and higher resolutions,” Oi said.

The Automotive Touch Panel Technology and Market Forecast Report from IHS explores the technologies and trends of touch panel adoption in future automobile designs.