Samsung Display, Visionox and Japan Display are already on board with the new "breakthrough" solution that could significantly improve OLED displays of all sizes.
While TCL is talking up inkjet printing for mass producing OLED, the company currently supplying most OLED display makers with deposition manufacturing solutions, Applied Materials, has announced its 'MAX OLED' maskless manufacturing solution.
- "Applied Materials, Inc. today introduced the MAX OLED solution, a patented OLED pixel architecture and revolutionary display manufacturing technology designed to bring the superior OLED displays found in high-end smartphones to tablets, PCs and eventually TVs," announced Applied Materials.
- "Applied’s MAX OLED solution makes it easier to scale OLED manufacturing from Gen 6* glass substrates to Gen 8* substrates, which are approximately two times larger, and beyond."
Brighter, longer-lasting OLED displays
Applied Materials claims that its technology can increase OLED brightness by up to 3x and increase resolution by up to 2.5x to around 2,000 PPI (pixels per inch).
The company further claims that power consumption can be reduced by more than 30% and that display lifetime can be increased by up to 5x.
MAX OLED. Photo: Applied Materials
The technology apparently lets display makers produce all types and sizes of OLED panels from a single factory for the first time.
To be used by Samsung Display, others
Before we get there, display makers will have to invest in the new manufacturing technology from Applied Materials. The company's current solutions typically cost $500 million and up, according to analyst firm DSCC.
The MAX OLED manufacturing solution. Photo: Applied Materials
Applied Materials confirmed that Samsung Display is one of its launch partners.
- "The consumer electronics industry has been waiting for a breakthrough that can bring OLED technology to the hundreds of millions of tablets, PCs and TVs sold each year," said Dr. Brian Shieh, Group VP and GM, Applied's Display and Flexible Technology. "We are proud to be partnering with Samsung Display to help bring this revolutionary technology to the global marketplace."
China-based display maker Visionox and Japan Display (JDI) are, however, expected to be the first partners. It appears that these two companies' 'ViP' and 'eLEAP' initiatives are at least partly based on the MAX OLED solution, according to DSCC.
- "While Visionox and JDI are expected to be the first companies to commercialize the MAX OLED technology, a partnership with market leader Samsung Display, who was the first company to enjoy commercial success with FMM technology and continues to enjoy the highest market share in RGB OLEDs, is very telling and important. SDC has the financial muscle to expand capacity faster than its competitors and achieve the full potential of MAX OLED technology, scaling it from 1” for AR/VR to any OLED TV size in a single fab if it chooses to do so," commented Ross Young, co-founder and CEO of DSCC.
- Source: Applied Materials, DSCC
