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Swiss specialty chemicals group Clariant International AG acquired the nano-silver ink technology platform developed under the trademark Bayink from Bayer Group, Germany. The transaction comprises all patents, know-how and materials related to Bayer’s nano-silver ink technology. Clariant will continue to work closely with existing customers and cooperation partners to further develop nano-silver inks and its applications.

“The acquisition will strengthen our portfolio of new materials for the electronics and energy markets,” said Christian Kohlpaintner, member of the Executive Committee.

Nano silver inks are printable on various substrates like polymers, glas, or silicon. They are applicable in a wide variety of emerging applications for printed electronics, e.g., printed circuit boards, radio frequency identification devices (RFID) or photovoltaic panels. Nano-silver inks provide excellent conductivity by spending fewer amounts of precious metal using advanced printing technologies such as ink-jet or aerosol printing.

“Nano silver inks are an important step to develop a sustainable innovation platform for functional inks in addition to our product portfolio for printing inks which will provide unique solutions to our customers using our core competencies in surfactants and formulation technology”, said Frank Küber, Head of New Business Development at Clariant.

printed electronics
Nano-silver inks allow Clariant to enter the fast growing markets for printed electronics. (Photo: istockphoto)

Ditch the 3D glasses. Thanks to a simple plastic filter, mobile device users can now view unprecedented, distortion-free, brilliant 3D content with the naked eye. This latest innovation from TP and IMRE is the first ever glasses-free 3D accessory that can display content in both portrait and landscape mode, and measures less than 0.1 mm in thickness.

“The filter is essentially a piece of plastic film with about half a million perfectly shaped lenses engineered onto its surface using IMRE’s proprietary nanoimprinting technology,” said Dr. Jaslyn Law, the IMRE scientist who worked with TP on the nanoimprinting R&D since 2010 to enhance the film’s smoothness, clarity and transparency compared to other films in the market.

To complement the filter, the team developed applications for two software platforms, Apple iOS and Android, which allow users to play 3D content through its filter, in both landscape and portrait formats. The applications also allow 2D pictures taken using mobile devices to be converted into 3D. The team will be releasing a software development kit that enables game developers to convert their existing games into 3D versions.

The team is also exploring using the same technology for security access tokens to decode PIN numbers sent online as an inexpensive and portable alternative to rival bulkier and more expensive battery-operated security tokens, similar to those used by Singapore banks today.

“The team’s expertise in both hardware and software development in 3D technology has enabled high quality 3D to be readily available to consumers,” said Frank Chan, the TP scientist who led the overall NRF-funded project. “We have taken age old lenticular lens technology that has been around for the last hundred years, modernized it and patented it using nanotechnology.”

Lenticular lens technology creates a transparent film that retains the brilliance of 3D visuals and effects, which does away with the need for stronger back lighting and saves on battery consumption in mobile devices.

“The successful development of this product is indeed testimony that we have been able to bridge the gap between R&D and commercialisation in the area of 3D interactive digital media (IDM), aided by the NRF Translational R&D Grant and gap funding from A*STAR,” said Lay-Tan Siok Lie, Deputy Principal of TP.

The two-year project was initially funded under a National Research Foundation (NRF) Translational R&D Grant in Dec 2010 to look at optimizing the control of the nanostructures and integrating its effects with the complementary software applications. The team has since shifted its focus towards commercialization with support from Exploit Technologies  Pte  Ltd  (ETPL),  A*STAR’s  technology transfer  arm and a one-stop resource that brings together home-grown technology, funding, collaboration and networks to assist A*STAR spin-offs and start-ups.

“Our breakthrough is a game-changing piece of plastic that simply fits onto current smartphones or tablets to give users breathtaking 3D graphics on their smart devices. This removable plastic also opens up a multitude of opportunities for anyone wanting to create affordable premium 3D content and games for quick adoption to existing portable devices easily,” said Nanoveu Pte Ltd Founder and CEO, Alfred Chong.

The start-up is licensing the technology exclusively from ETPL and TP, and is currently securing the interest of local and overseas customers and investors.

“The success of this project is typical of what IMRE aims to do – innovate and turn science into an exciting business opportunity. I’m glad this has given us products that make life just a little bit more fun,” said Andy Hor, Executive Director of IMRE.

As testament to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s educational blueprint, Zachary Olmsted, a junior Nanoscale Engineering major at SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), has been chosen to receive the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the second consecutive year that a CNSE student has been honored with the nation’s premier undergraduate award designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.

“I am delighted to congratulate Zachary Olmsted from our world-class College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, whose notable recognition as a recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship identifies him as one of the nation’s top undergraduate scientific scholars,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. “I also commend Dr. Alain Kaloyeros and CNSE for their critical role in supporting the SUNY system’s ability to develop a new generation of high-tech talent that will be an invaluable asset for New York’s future.“

 “I am thrilled for Zach and proud of his many achievements, and want to congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition as a Goldwater Scholar,” said CNSE Associate Professor of Nanobioscience Dr. Janet Paluh, who is Olmsted’s academic advisor. “This award is a reflection of his demonstrated excellence in both the classroom and the laboratory, and a tribute to his passion for, and commitment to, next-generation scientific discovery and exploration at the interface of biology with man-made materials.”

A native of Oneida, New York, Olmsted is one of only 271 students to be recognized nationwide. He was selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,107 mathematics, science, and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities across the country. As part of the award, Olmsted will receive $15,000 in funding for his undergraduate studies over the next two years.

In his research, Olmsted is using the fundamental principles of materials science, biology, and device engineering to develop novel biomedical applications, with a focus of integrating biologic components with devices. Working at both the protein-level, using the model yeast system, and at the cell/organ-level, using pluripotent stem cells, these biosynthetic interfaces show promise to develop new cancer therapeutics and drug testing platforms that will alleviate sole reliance on animal studies. Olmsted, who received an honorable mention in last year’s competition, plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. in Nanomedicine, a joint program of CNSE and SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

“The selection of a CNSE student for the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for the second year in a row underscores the growing recognition of CNSE’s undergraduate program as a hallmark for academic and research excellence,” said Dr. Daniel White, CNSE Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Professional and Corporate Recruitment and Outreach. “We are pleased to see Zachary receive this honor, which reflects positively on CNSE’s innovative educational paradigm and further defines our student body as among the best in the nation.”

In 2012, Sheila Smith, a Pittstown, New York native who is currently a junior at CNSE majoring in Nanoscale Engineering, was honored with the Goldwater Scholarship.

Student receives nation's most prestigious award for science and engineering

Zachary Olmsted and Dr. Janet Paluh using a

Zeis fluorescence microscope to study a skin cell

In addition, Chase Brisbois, a junior majoring in Nanoscale Science at CNSE, received an honorable mention. Advised by Professor of Nanoscience Dr. Robert Brainard, his research targets the development of photo-imageable hydrogels that self-assemble into 3D scaffolds, which are designed to enable new capabilities and scientific advances in the field of tissue engineering. Brisbois is a native of South Lyon, Michigan.

Designed to alleviate a critical current and future shortage of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers in the United States, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship provides a continuing source of highly qualified individuals to those fields of academic study and research.

Goldwater Scholars have very impressive academic qualifications that have garnered the attention of prestigious post-graduate fellowship programs. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 80 Rhodes Scholarships, 118 Marshall Awards, 110 Churchill Scholarships and numerous other distinguished fellowships. Since its first award in 1989, the Foundation has bestowed over 6,550 scholarships worth approximately $40 million.

The high-value microelectromechanical system (MEMS) market experienced soft growth last year, mainly due to weakness in the mainstay medical electronics and industrial sectors, according to an IHS iSuppli MEMS High-Value MEMS Market Tracker Report from information and analytics provider IHS.

Revenue in 2012 for high-value MEMS, a market characterized by the lofty average selling prices compared to other MEMS devices, amounted to $1.63 billion, equivalent to growth of 6.5 percent from $1.53 billion in 2011. While revenue was up, growth was noticeably down from the 12.5 percent expansion of 2011.

This year will see a slightly improved 7.4 percent increase to $1.8 billion as the industry starts to recover during the second half. Growth then picks up by 2014 and rises to 10.3 percent, with 2015 and 2016 also forecast to experience solid upturns north of 9.0 percent, as shown in the figure below.

MEMS revenue slows

“The high-value MEMS market last year suffered a deceleration in growth because of continuing slow sales in medical electronics as well as a broad-based downturn in the industrial segment,” said Richard Dixon, Ph.D., principal analyst for MEMS & Sensors at IHS. “In medical electronics, the market performance has been sluggish for the last 18 months, echoing global economic uncertainties. The same macroeconomic headwinds also curtailed end-user demand in industrial electronics semiconductors, inflicting further pain. The high-value MEMS market was aided slightly by strong performance in the telecom, aerospace, and oil and gas sectors, which served to ameliorate the negative effects of the slow-moving sectors.”

Higher growth expected for high-value MEMS

Despite the diminished growth of 2012, the high-value MEMS market remains the second-fastest-expanding area in the broader MEMS space, coming in after the mobile and consumer market but leading the data processing and automotive segments. High-value MEMS accounted for 19 percent of the total MEMS industry last year, despite extreme fragmentation of the space with well over 100 suppliers. The average selling prices of sensors used in high-value MEMS are also much higher than the prices of sensors used in other MEMS segments, which gives the high-value MEMS industry its strength and importance.

Results sluggish in most high-value MEMS segments

Six sectors make up approximately 95 percent of the high-value MEMS market. The largest is medical electronics, accounting for more than 80 percent of total high-value MEMS shipments last year.

The majority of medical electronics sensors are used for diagnostics, patient monitoring and therapy.

For instance, tens of millions of pressure sensors are used and thrown away annually, with the sensors deployed to monitor the blood pressure of patients during and after major operations. Pressure and flow sensors are also used in devices like ventilators and respirators; implantable devices such as cardiac monitors; thermometers; and infusion pumps for introducing fluids, medication or nutrients into a patient’s circulatory system.

The depressed performance in medical electronics was also present in other high-value MEMS segments.

The test and measurement space, especially in semiconductor testing and wafer processing, was flat to down last year. Likewise, the industrial segment governing power tools and transportation exhibited anemic results.

Weak growth expected

Two high-value MEMS segments registered growth but were weak at best: building and home control on the one hand, with smart meters declining last year; and manufacturing and process automation on the other, because of low growth in areas like industrial motors.

In the energy generation and distribution segment, results were mixed. Spending on utilities was down and wind turbine deployments were slowing, but oil and gas showed strong demand in the third quarter based on shale discoveries.

The one segment of the high-value MEMS industry that was up strongly last year was military and civil aerospace. Despite a decelerating missiles and munitions market, the segment more than made up with the extremely robust commercial aircraft sales of the Airbus from Pan-European maker EADS, as well as of the Dreamliner planes made by U.S maker Boeing.

Six devices made up 83 percent of the high-value MEMS market last year. The biggest was microbolometers—tiny arrays of heat-detecting sensors sensitive to infrared radiation—used in firefighting, law enforcement and surveillance systems.

Other prominent high-value MEMS devices include pressure sensors, optical MEMS in telecommunications, wafer probes for semiconductor testing, inkjet printer heads, and accelerometers for gadgets like pacemakers.

Nanosys, enabling a new generation of high color fidelity, energy-efficient displays with its quantum-dot technology, today announced that it has expanded into a new, high-capacity production facility in Milpitas, California.

Nanosys’ new 60,000 square foot facility will produce over 1,000 kilograms of quantum dots per year- enough material to build more than five million 55" quantum dot televisions. As part of the expansion Nanosys expects to create more than 50 next-generation manufacturing jobs in the South Bay.

Nanosys’ latest product, Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF), is a drop-in optical component for LCDs that creates a richer, more lifelike color experience while consuming less power than alternatives. Nanosys is working closely with supply chain partner 3M to ramp deliveries as demand for QDEF from global display manufacturers increases.

"You’ve never seen anything like a quantum dot display," said Jason Hartlove, President and CEO of Nanosys. "We are working with display makers to create a new high color gamut display experience that is more cost effective, efficient and reliable than anything else currently on the market. The response from manufacturers so far has been great and demand for QDEF has grown to the point that we’ve had to significantly expand manufacturing to keep up."

The move was made official yesterday at a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by U.S. Congressman and long-time nanotechnology advocate Mike Honda of the 17th district and Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves.

"Advanced manufacturing is a driving force creating Silicon Valley jobs, and I welcome Nanosys Inc.’s expansion to their new 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Milpitas," said Silicon Valley Congressman Mike Honda.  "As my Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology made clear, nanotechnology offers Silicon Valley the opportunity to be at the forefront of technologically disruptive industries.  I applaud Nanosys for displaying the fortitude and ingenuity to grow from a startup to manufacturing commercial products, qualities that are so prevalent in Silicon Valley.  It is this kind of innovation that will keep the United States competitive in the global marketplace."

A year ago, the microtechnology, nanotechnology, and advanced materials industry looked out on the year 2012 with quite positive expectations. As it turned out, the unstable economic situation has left its mark on these industries, too. For 2013, at least, the companies expect a slight upwards trend.

At present, the mood of the industry is quite subdued, as the economic data survey of the IVAM Microtechnology Network confirms. In 2012, the business situation has been worse than expected in a third of companies. While orders and staff numbers have slightly risen and production has remained stable for a large proportion of companies, sales figures have dropped. The lack of funding for the strategic business development, expansion or investment in innovation is still an essential problem. Only 7 percent of companies had more funds available for corporate financing in 2012 than in the year before, only 16 percent have been able to invest more than in 2011.

Foreign trade has developed modestly in the last business year, thus continuing the trend of previous years. Throughout Europe, the export rates of the microtechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials industry have remained rather stable in 2012.

In order to be able to compete the companies will attempt to enter the markets also via subsidiaries or cooperation. Markets of particular interest are the BRIC countries as well as countries that have recently been reclassified from emerging markets to industrial nations. Brazil, Russia, India and China as well as Israel, Taiwan and South Korea are countries which the companies want to enter in the short and medium term, e.g. by cooperative ventures or setting up branches.

In the European microtechnology industry, the business situation in 2012 has been worse than expected in a third of companies.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced the accomplishment of a key milestone in its strategy to enable 3D stacking of chips for next-generation mobile and consumer applications. At its Fab 8 campus in Saratoga County, N.Y., the company has demonstrated its first functional 20nm silicon wafers with integrated Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs). Manufactured using GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ leading-edge 20nm-LPM process technology, the TSV capabilities will allow customers to stack multiple chips on top of each other, providing another avenue for delivering the demanding performance, power, and bandwidth requirements of today’s electronic devices.

TSVs are vertical vias etched in a silicon wafer that are filled with a conducting material, enabling communication between vertically stacked integrated circuits. The adoption of three-dimensional (3D) chip stacking is increasingly being viewed as an alternative to traditional technology node scaling at the transistor level. However, TSVs present a number of new challenges to semiconductor manufacturers.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES utilizes a “via-middle” approach to TSV integration, inserting the TSVs into the silicon after the wafers have completed the Front End of the Line (FEOL) flow and prior to starting the Back End of the Line (BEOL) process. This approach avoids the high temperatures of the FEOL manufacturing process, allowing the use of copper as the TSV fill material. To overcome the challenges associated with the migration of TSV technology from 28nm to 20nm, GLOBALFOUNDRIES engineers have developed a proprietary contact protection scheme. This scheme enabled the company to integrate the TSVs with minimal disruption to the 20nm-LPM platform technology, demonstrating SRAM functionality with critical device characteristics in line with those of standard 20nm-LPM silicon.

“Our industry has been talking about the promise of 3D chip stacking for years, but this development is another sign that the promise will soon be a reality,” said David McCann, vice president of packaging R&D at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. “Our next step is to leverage Fab 8’s advanced TSV capabilities in conjunction with our OSAT partners to assemble and qualify 3D test vehicles for our open supply chain model, providing customers with the flexibility to choose their preferred back-end supply chain.”

As the fabless-foundry business model evolves to address the realities of today’s dynamic market, foundries are taking on increasing responsibility for managing the supply chain to deliver end-to-end solutions that meet the requirements of the broad range of leading-edge designs. To help address these challenges, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is engaging early with partners to jointly develop solutions that will enable the next wave of innovation in the industry. This open and collaborative approach will give customers maximum choice and flexibility, while delivering cost savings, faster time-to-volume, and a reduction in the technical risk associated with developing new technologies.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $23.25 billion for the month of February 2013, an increase of 1.4 percent from February 2012 when sales were $22.93 billion. Global sales from February 2013 were 3.8 percent lower than the January 2013 total of $24.17 billion, reflecting seasonal trends, but year-to-date sales through February 2013 were 2 percent higher than at the same point last year. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average.   

“Despite persistent economic uncertainty, the global semiconductor industry is off to a promising start in 2013 – led by strength in memory sales – and is ahead of last year’s pace,” said Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “To help spur stronger growth, Congress and the Administration should invest in basic research to boost American innovation, reform the high-skilled immigration system to welcome the top scientific minds from around the world, and modify the tax system so businesses can expand, invest and hire new workers.”  

Regionally, year-over-year sales increased in Asia Pacific (6.7 percent) and the Americas (1.6 percent), but decreased in Europe (-1.5 percent) and Japan (-15.7 percent). Sales increased in Europe (1.4 percent) compared to the previous month, but decreased in Asia Pacific (-3.6 percent), Japan (-5 percent) and the Americas (-6.2 percent). 

Imagine if you could drink a glass of water just by inserting a solid wire into it and sucking on it as though it were a soda straw. It turns out that if you were tiny enough, that method would work just fine — and wouldn’t even require the suction to start.

New research carried out at MIT and elsewhere has demonstrated for the first time that when inserted into a pool of liquid, nanowires — wires that are only hundreds of nanometers across — naturally draw the liquid upward in a thin film that coats the surface of the wire. The finding could have applications in microfluidic devices, biomedical research and inkjet printers.

The phenomenon had been predicted by theorists, but never observed because the process is too small to be seen by optical microscopes; electron microscopes need to operate in a vacuum, which would cause most liquids to evaporate almost instantly. To overcome this, the MIT team used an ionic liquid called DMPI-TFSI, which remains stable even in a powerful vacuum. Though the observations used this specific liquid, the results are believed to apply to most liquids, including water.

The results are published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology by a team of researchers led by Ju Li, an MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering and materials science and engineering, along with researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, and Zhejiang University in China.

While Li says this research intended to explore the basic science of liquid-solid interactions, it could lead to applications in inkjet printing, or for making a lab on a chip. “We’re really looking at fluid flow at an unprecedented small length scale,” Li says — so unexpected new phenomena could emerge as the research continues.

At molecular scale, Li says, “the liquid tries to cover the solid surface, and it gets sucked up by capillary action.” At the smallest scales, when the liquid forms a film less than 10nm thick, it moves as a smooth layer (called a “precursor film”); as the film gets thicker, an instability (called a Rayleigh instability) sets in, causing droplets to form, but the droplets remain connected via the precursor film. In some cases, these droplets continue to move up the nanowire, while in other cases the droplets appear stationary even as the liquid within them flows upward.

The difference between the smooth precursor film and the beads, Li says, is that in the thinner film, each molecule of liquid is close enough to directly interact, through quantum-mechanical effects, with the molecules of the solid buried beneath it; this force suppresses the Rayleigh instability that would otherwise cause beading. But with or without beading, the upward flow of the liquid, defying the pull of gravity, is a continuous process that could be harnessed for small-scale liquid transport.

Although this upward pull is always present with wires at this tiny scale, the effect can be further enhanced in various ways: Adding an electric voltage on the wire increases the force, as does a slight change in the profile of the wire so that it tapers toward one end. The researchers used nanowires made of different materials — silicon, zinc oxide and tin oxide, as well as two-dimensional graphene — to demonstrate that this process applies to many different materials.

Nanowires are less than one-tenth the diameter of fluidic devices now used in biological and medical research, such as micropipettes, and one-thousandth the diameter of hypodermic needles. At these small scales, the researchers found, a solid nanowire is just as effective at holding and transferring liquids as a hollow tube. This smaller scale might pave the way for new kinds of microelectromechanical systems to carry out research on materials at a molecular level.

The methodology the researchers developed allows them to study the interactions between solids and liquid flow “at almost the smallest scale you could define a fluid volume, which is 5 to 10 nanometers across,” Li says. The team now plans to examine the behavior of different liquids, using a “sandwich” of transparent solid membranes to enclose a liquid, such as water, for examination in a transmission electron microscope. This will allow “more systematic studies of solid-liquid interactions,” Li says — interactions that are relevant to corrosion, electrodeposition and the operation of batteries.

The research was supported by Sandia National Laboratories, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.

LCD panel makers in Taiwan, Japan and Korea have been suffering. Despite the growing demand for LCDs the high number of panel makers and new competition from China has resulted in tough price competition for panel makers, to the point that many panel makers are no longer profitable. In 2012, Samsung Electronics moved their LCD business units into a separate entity. One report suggests that the Taiwanese have invested $60 billion in the LCD industry and seen a return of just $40 billion. Some Japanese makers, despite having superb technology, have seen recent losses in some cases equal cumulative profits of the preceeding five to ten years. Restructuring is, therefore, afoot. In the last few weeks, Samsung purchased a three percent stake in Sharp. Japan Display Inc (JDI), puts together small and mid-sized LCD panel manufacture units from Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba, focusing on automotive, cellphone and digital camera displays (not TV). Meanwhile, the Chinese are quickly moving into LCD panel production. For many years the top five in the LCD business, in order, were Samsung, LG Display, Innolux, AUO and Sharp. Now, as evidence of China’s progress, in late 2012 Chinese BOE is No. 5 for notebooks and monitors and China Star (CSOT) No. 5 for TVs.

 All this has driven panel makers to seek differentiation. 3D capability was one – albeit with mixed consumer interest. Now, the hot topics are OLED and high resolution LCDs (4K).

OLED TVs pose a tough manufacturing challenge, but then the winners will be the ones to address the tough options. The current approach being taken by some of the leading panel makers are as follows, but the situation is fluid.

  • Samsung = RGB and polysilicon TFT backplane – recently announced it is reviewing other options
  • LG = white OLED with colour filters and IGZO TFT backplane
  • Panasonic = Inkjet printed RGB with CDT/Sumitomo materials + AUO TFT substrate
  • Sony = RGB Top emission and gap filters + AUO TFT substrate

The different approaches mean little cross fertilization of know-how or equipment. Certainly the Koreans have appeared to be a long way ahead, at least for smaller sized OLED displays, but for TVs perhaps not as far as one thought. The question is whether Panasonic or Sony have the appetite to make the large investments needed. Investments from Samsung and LG are as follows:

  • Samsung invested $4.8 billion in 2011, $6 billion in 2012, and will invest $4 billion in 2013. It has sold more than 100 million OLED displays used in the Galaxy S series alone
  • LG invested $225 million in 2010, planned investment of approx. $2.8 billion in 2012, of that $1.9 billion in R&D related to OLED.
  • The first OLED TVs are available from LG now – albeit priced at ~ $10,000. Sales will be limited at this price point for the immediate years.

The technically easier differentiation is to move to higher resolution LCD TV – e.g. 4K. Film makers are adopting suitable resolution cameras and so content will be available. Critics say that most cannot see the difference, but in reality consumers like to future proof as they expect a TV to last for many years – many bought HD TVs but still do not watch HD content. The higher resolution will benefit PC monitors and console gaming experiences too. In the short term, therefore, IDTechEx Research expects that 4K LCD TV sales – which will be more readably available – will sell more units than OLED TV.

OLED TV is undoubtedly promising but, as OLEDs for smaller sized displays – it will take longer than originally thought for these to become dominant, given the technical challenges faced. Given that many LCD makers are losing money, how will they fund investment in new innovation? Indeed, Taiwanese companies are asking the government now for financial help to fund R&D on OLEDs.

Those hoping that OLED TVs would result in new factories and new equipment orders may find the opportunities are not quite as big as they had hoped – with companies expected to repurpose existing aSi TFT plants to IGZO TFT manufacture. This looks good on paper, but switching a factory involves taking an otherwise revenue producing plant offline, and setting up and achieving a satisfactory yield is not trivial, as Sharp has recently found. Panel makers, having typically spent 65 percent of the cost of LCDs on the materials alone, have ambitions to move up the supply chain, even making materials.

 Potential scenarios for OLED TV

One scenario is that a small number of panel makers may come to dominate OLEDs – which could likely be Samsung and LG, both enjoying strong profits. Another is that the LCD industry repeats itself again with OLEDs – with many panel makers and therefore the inevitable range of profitable and loss making panel makers that go with it. One could postulate that the Taiwanese may not be a major player in OLEDs (and indeed their LCD businesses will see a shakeout); Japan’s conglomerates have the potential to be major players but it depends now on their ability to fund it as needed; which leaves the mighty two in Korea. And the Chinese.