AP Systems to supply Thin Film Encapsulation to Samsung Display QD-OLED line

DIGITimes China reports [LINK] that Samsung Display is building a large-scale quantum dot organic light-emitting diode (QD-OLED) panel pilot production line. The line is scheduled to be finished in December 2018 and will be activated after 6 months (mid 2019). According to the report the supply ration from Korean equipment manufacturers has increased significantly for this line.

As an example the the report claims that AP Systems beat Applied Materials to supply the Thin Film Encapsulation (TFE) equipment. AP Systems has previously supplied TFE equipment for the 8th generation RGB OLED TV panel production line (V1) of Samsung Display. In the past Samsung Display has used TFE equipment supplied by Applied Materials in the 6th generation flexible OLED production line, but has now switched and for its AP Systems in this 8th generation QD-OLED test production line.

Also according to the report, the PECVD equipment will be supplied by Wonik IPS from Korea whereas the blue OLED material evaporation equipment will be supplied by Canon Tokki (Japan) and the red and green QD material inkjet printing machine will come from Kateeva (USA).

The KORONA™ TFE System running PEALD with "Multi-linear Nozzle" technology and ICP antenna design technology (high density/low damage plasma).

For TFE AP Systems are using a Plasma enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PEALD) technology on their KORONA™ TFE System. The system is capable of depositing a film structure that acts as a sealant to prevent oxygen and moisture penetration into OLED device. Based on a 1000Å, SiNx/SiOx multi-layer structure the Water Vapor Permeability is less than 5e-5 g/m2/day.

According to AP Systems they can also apply the film as a flexible sealant to realize flexible, rollable, and foldable displays. 

No parts from Samsung and no chips from Qualcomm found in iPhone Xs and Xs Max models

Apple  latest iPhones that go on sale around the world on September 21, featuring components made by Intel Corp (baseband processor/modem, RF transceiver), Toshiba (3DNAND), Micron (DRAM) and multiple components from STMicroelectronics among others, according to the iFixit tear down of iPhone Xs and Xs Max models.

 

 

An iPhone XS sit in beer for almost 5 hours! (iFixit teardown)

 

The flash drive from Toshiba has 64 GB of storage and 256 and 512 GB optional configurations. Rather amazing is that the breakdown listed no parts from Samsung and no chips from Qualcomm Inc. During the tear down the iPhone XS Max was also tested for its beer-proofing capabilities and survived being submerged in beer for 5 hours (above).

 

 

Applied Materials see high growth for Display business >30% growth

Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) recently reported record revenue and operating profit in its first quarter ended January 28, 2018. Besides beeing the big giant for wafer equipment they are also in the lead for display, for TV as well as smartphone and especially for the lastets size 10.5 Gen.

According the the recent news covered by Seeking Alpha (LINK), Applied Materials is counting on revenue growth from 10.5G LCD plants and from its operations in LTPS backplanes and OLED encapsulation, primarily for the smartphone sector.

In the recent 1Q 2018 earnings call - Gary E. Dickerson - Applied Materials said: "In Display, there are two equally large market inflections driving capital investments: the introduction of Gen 10.5 substrates for TV manufacturing and organic LED displays. In mobile, the transition to OLED displays is compelling. This is because rigid OLED offers significant performance, power and cost advantages over LCD, and flexible OLED will enable new form factors, such as curved and eventually foldable screens. As a result, our positive outlook for 2018 and beyond remains unchanged. Display is a unique growth driver for Applied, and we expect to increase our revenue by more than 30% in 2018 on top of nearly 60% growth last year."

Dickerson further stated:

• year-over-yearoutlook for Display business is greater than 30% growth, and 2019 and beyond also look very strong.
• for mobile versus TV Applied Materials has an about 50/50 mix. In TV, they see increased adoption of larger screens and they are tracking 13 Gen 10.5 projects. As an example if you produce 65-inch TVs with Gen 10.5, you get eight 65-inch TVs per plane and only three with Gen 8.5 and driving the TV business.

Chart above from IHS (thru SeekingAlpha, LINK) shows planned equipment purchases for 10.5G quipment, install dates, and production ramp up.

Applied Materials AKT-PECVD covers the complete range of glass sizes used in the display industry from Gen 2 (0.2m²) all the way up to Gen 10 (9m²). The systems offer processes for both amorphous silicon (a-Si) and metal oxide (MOx) backplane technologies. Available films include both doped and undoped (a-Si), silicon oxide (SiOx), silicon oxynitride (SiON), silicon nitride (SiN), and in-situ multi-layer deposition. (appliedmaterials.com)

According to Seeking Alpha the maine cometitors for current technologies (<10.5 Gen) are :

For the TFT Backplane:

• PECVD companies - AMAT, Jusung Engineering (Korea), and Wonik IPS (Korea)
• PVD companies - AMAT, Avaco (Korea), Iruja (Korea), and Ulvac (Japan)
• Laser Anneal companies – Coherent, AP Systems (Korea), Japan Steel Works (Japan)

For the OLED Encapsulation:

• Jusung Engineering (Korea)
• Wonik IPS (Korea)
• TES (Korea)

These Korean companies all have ALD technologies and equipment for displays. The advantages with ALD are:

• thin films offer better water and oxygen protection
• a thinner film is needed to provide the same protection as thicker PECVD-coated films
• the slower coating process by ALD is compensated by a thinner film 

Memory chip boom - Samsung Q2 operating profit up 73 percent

Samsung Electronics said a memory chip boom that propelled it to record profit in the second quarter is likely to continue in the third, just as revenue is widely expected to benefit from sales of OLED screens to Apple.

The world’s biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs is set to smash its annual profit record after better-than-forecast performance in its mobile business lifted April-June profit slightly above its early-July guidance, analysts said.

“Looking ahead to the third quarter, the company expects favorable semiconductor conditions to continue,” Samsung said in a statement on Thursday. “Although overall earnings may slightly decline quarter-on-quarter as earnings weaken for the display panel and mobile businesses.”

Source: VentureBeat LINK

Samsung Display seeks final approval for its $7 billion A4 flexible OLED fab

Samsung Display seeks final approval for its $7 billion A4 flexible OLED fab, which will start making flexible OLEDs in 2019

Source: OLED-Info LINK

Digitimes Research: China makers aggressively expanding AMOLED capacity

Digitimes Research reports: "Seven China-based panel makers have been expanding existing or setting up new AMOLED production capacities, with total annual capacity estimated to increase from 272,000 square meters in 2016 to 1.584 million square meters in 2018, 4.464 million square meters in 2019, and 7.864 million square meters in 2020 at a 2016-2020 CAGR of 131.9%, according to Digitimes Research."

 

 
Royole’s Flexible Display : Since inception, we have dedicated ourselves to the development of innovative flexible display technologies and applications, covering novel materials, processes, circuits, manufacturing tools and others, which enabled us to demonstrate the world’s thinnest (0.01 mm) full-color flexible display with 1.00 mm bending radius. (www.royole.com)

Samsung Display and LG Display is still well in the lead now and will stay so also until 2020. However, a transition to flexible AMOLED by the South Korea based companies is ongoing (46.1% in 2016 to 72.6% in 2020).

 

2016 to 2020 AMOLED Production

South Korea: 4.945 to 15.130 million square meters

China: 272,000 to 7.864 million square meters

 

If ALD will make progress in this market the market will be very big and lead to big investments in ALD equipment and enhanced world consumption of ALD precursors like TMA.

 

Chinese display companies mentioned in the report: BOE Technology, Tianma Micro-electronics, Visionox, EverDisplay Optronics, China Star Optoelectronics Technology, Truly Opto-Electronics and Royole