Taiwan's panel makers aggressively attacked OLED lighting applications

In order to win the OLED lighting market opportunity, Taiwan's panel makers have not only overcome the technical hurdles but also actively combined the power of downstream system vendors to jointly expand the OLED lighting market. In the long run, if Taiwanese panel makers enter the field of OLED lighting, to avoid becoming the ultimate fate of OEMs, developing their own brands will be a key issue.

The domestic panel makers reported another victory in the organic light emitting diode (OLED) lighting market. After AUO, Huaying also expects to introduce OLED lighting trial production in the second quarter of 2012.

Optimistic about the development potential of OLED lighting, Taiwan's panel suppliers took advantage of the early card slot market opportunities. On the one hand, they continued to break through the technical bottlenecks of OLED lighting. On the other hand, they vigorously negotiated strategic alliances with downstream systems vendors in an attempt to highlight OLED lighting. Different from the competitive advantages of traditional and light-emitting diode (LED) light sources, it has rushed to attack niche-type applications to accelerate the popularity of OLED lighting.

Breakthrough of OLED lighting technology in Huaying Q2 trial production After gradually overcoming OLED lighting uniformity, high production costs, luminous efficiency, and longevity, Huaying has planned to start in the second quarter of 2012 and ship hundreds of products each month. The OLED lighting panel is used to test the market water temperature. If the market responds well, it will be shipped in large volumes in 2013.

Huang Yanyu, Director of Huaying Apex Technology Development Division, said that considering the immature OLED lighting market and huge budget for brand marketing, short-term Huaying will not develop its own OLED lighting brand planning.

Huang Yanyu, Director of Huaying Apex Technology Development Division (Fig. 1) stated that Huaying is fully developing OLED lighting through the fourth generation line, and will gradually improve OLED lighting by adding metal auxiliary lines and OLED materials. With poor uniformity, high prices, low luminous efficiency, and short life expectancy, it is expected to reach volume production in the second quarter of 2012.

In order to eliminate the defect of OLED lighting uniformity, the cost of the diffusion film is considered high, and the uniformity is inferior to the metal auxiliary line. Therefore, OLED lighting manufacturers including Huaying mainly increase the OLED lighting by adding metal auxiliary lines. Uniformity.

However, Huang Yanyu pointed out that with the metal auxiliary line will lead to decreased aperture ratio, so we must try to reduce the indium tin oxide (ITO) resistance value, and we must reduce the metal auxiliary line and ITO width, thickness, and try different metal auxiliary line patterns, such as Well-shaped, hexagonal, etc., to improve the aperture ratio of OLED lighting.

It is understood that Hua Ying has developed a metal auxiliary line and ITO with a width and thickness of only 3 μm; and first introduced the product design as a metal auxiliary line pattern in a relatively simple well shape.

It is also worth noting that in order to reduce the ITO thickness, it must be achieved by adjusting process parameters such as gas flow, temperature, and pressure. However, as the thickness of ITO becomes thinner and the penetration rate increases, the impedance value will rise. Therefore, how to achieve balance will be a key issue. Huang Yanyu mentioned that after continuous testing, Huaying has now mastered a balanced solution. Light uniformity of OLED lighting can be achieved.

In addition to light uniformity, the most criticized OLED lighting is the shortcomings of high cost, low luminous efficiency and short life span, which are closely related to OLED lighting materials.

In fact, the high price of OLED lighting is mainly due to the high cost of OLED lighting materials. In addition, the efficiency of the mainstream evaporation process cannot be improved. Therefore, the utilization rate of materials is not high, which in turn raises the production cost of OLED lighting. In addition, OLED lighting materials are also factors that affect the lifespan. In light of this, Huang Yanyu disclosed that Huaying has been in close contact with UDC, Chuk Kookon, Radon and other U.S., Japanese, and Taiwan material companies to grasp the latest trends in OLED lighting materials in order to accelerate the realization of OLED lighting mass production targets.

Compared with traditional light sources and LED lighting, OLED has many advantages. It not only has the function of adjusting different currents to achieve dimming and changing color, but also has the opportunity to realize soft OLED lighting and realize the plasticity of lighting source, especially for special niche. Market, so attract Samsung, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, Chi Mei, AUO and other major manufacturers are also eager for this market.

In addition, the planar light source characteristics of the OLED, in addition to a variety of types of lamp design, the thermal performance is also better, without additional cooling components to increase the cost of lighting. Moreover, OLED lamps do not need to be equipped with light guide plates to control the scattering angle of light sources. Therefore, their light utilization efficiency is also superior to that of LED lamps. They will be able to meet various advanced indoor lighting design solutions and allow the lighting design to be more creative and able to overcome the environment. limit.

Huang Yanyu believes that in the future LED and OLED lighting will have different market positioning, the latter will be locked in the high-end niche-type market, although the market size is not large but the profit is high; As for LED will occupy an important position in the mainstream lighting market.

It is reported that currently, Huaying is actively negotiating cooperation with downstream systems companies at home and abroad, including those in the lighting and non-lighting fields. Initially, it will supply OLED lighting panels to downstream system vendors to develop products; in the medium term, OLED lighting modules will be provided. For OLED professional lighting manufacturers OEM.

Since Huaying has no 3.5-generation line, it adopts the fourth-generation line that has already been set up to complete the production cost to produce mass-produced OLED lighting. Huang Yanyu disclosed that after OLED lighting technology is more mature, CINEC can't exclude the introduction of 4.5-generation line production. The ultimate goal is to use six generations of mass-produced OLED lighting panels, cutting the number of slices up to ten to reduce the cost of a single chip.

As for AUO, another panel manufacturer in China, it has produced mass-produced OLED lighting through its 3.5th generation line in 2011, and has closely developed OLED lighting fixtures with the lighting factory to take the lead in the OLED lighting market.

Activating the production capacity of 3.5 generation plants AUO storms OLED lighting Under the cost considerations, panel makers have successively moved towards the production lines of larger generations, resulting in a significant decline in the utilization rate of the existing 3.5 generation plants; however, most of them are based on OLED panels and lighting. The process is compatible. AUO has switched to OLED lighting through the 3.5-generation plant that has already been fully funded and has activated the production capacity of the old generation.

Li Zhongjun, manager of OLED technology at AUO's Forward-looking Display Technology Center, proposed that adding value to the luminaires to increase the profits of OLED lighting products will be an important issue for future market development.

Li Chongjun, OLED technical manager of AUO Preview Display Technology Center, stated that AUO entered the field of OLED lighting as early as 2008 and exhibited many results in FPD International in Japan in 2010. Currently, it uses 3.5. With regard to the remaining capacity of the plant, the OLED lighting patents and process technology have been over-allocated, and it has entered the trial production stage.

In order to deploy early-stage technologies with potential for development, AUO set up a forward-looking technical center in 2008. It hopes to build a prospective display technology base through the construction of an old plant that has been fully funded. This strategy can not only be To activate the production capacity of the 3.5 generation plant, we can continue to optimize the OLED process yield and cost without investing a large amount of R&D costs, thereby inserting the OLED lighting market in which the future business opportunities can be expected.

Li Chongjun analyzed that since OLED lighting is compatible with more than 80% of panel fabrication processes, deploying OLED lighting has become the best way for panelists to survive in the face of adversity; AUO, Huaying, and LG Chemical have all started OLED lighting one after another. In order to fill the revenue gap with lighting products in the face of weak demand for future panels.

Li Chongjun further pointed out that under the competitive investment of global light source manufacturers and panel makers, 2012 is expected to be the first year of the OLED lighting market. However, the current OLED production cost is high, and it is expected that it will need to further expand into mass production at or above the 5th generation plant before it is expected to drastically reduce the product price. Only then can it significantly increase market penetration.

In the short term, OLED materials and process costs are still high, and they cannot replace traditional lighting. Furthermore, due to the fact that the scale of the supply chain is not yet a climate, the price of terminal products is also difficult to compete with LED lighting.

In view of this, Li Chongjun disclosed that while AUO is committed to the development of OLED lighting, it has also actively researched and developed innovative and innovative planar, in-cell and flexible lighting fixtures, which in turn will increase the overall value of OLED lighting, such as indoor indirect lighting, museums and medical care. Such as the specific lighting application market, the period can further stimulate consumer purchasing intentions, and accelerate the OLED lighting market growth.

The global panel factory was dragged down by the sluggish demand for large-size TVs, and it was veiled in a cloud of depression. In order to take into account the capacity utilization rate must reach a certain level, but also can effectively develop revenue sources, panel makers have already invested in the OLED lighting market, in order to reduce the production of the panel, but also the proper use of production capacity, so that the card margin high and demand Look pretty OLED lighting blue sea.

However, if the domestic panel makers are to grasp the OLED lighting business opportunities, brand development will be an important factor that cannot be ignored.

Taiwan's rush to enter the OLED lighting brand strategy is the key Because OLED displays and lighting production materials and equipment are the same, Taiwanese panel makers have begun to leap into the development of OLED lighting products; However, in the long term, Taiwan panel makers develop OLED lighting if the lack of its own brand With access to the sea as a support, it will be difficult to match the traditional lighting brand makers.

According to Jiang Baifeng, senior industry analyst at the Institute of Industrial Economics and Trends Research (IEK) component research department of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, OLED lighting is different from LED and traditional lighting characteristics, and the domestic TFT LCD panel factory Lack of lighting brand and access advantages will lead to a more difficult situation in the development of OLED lighting, and eventually it will become a foundry of OLED lighting for international lighting manufacturers.

In fact, not only panel makers such as Chi Mei, AUO, and Hua Ying, but also foreign manufacturers of lighting brands such as Philips, OSRAM, and Panasonic are eager for the OLED lighting market, and have already established OLED lighting production lines.

It is worth noting that in the past, international lighting brands have established a strong brand awareness and access to lighting brands, which will pose a significant market threat to Taiwan's panel makers. According to Jiang Baifeng, OLED lighting will target niche applications such as high-priced jewellery and display lighting in the future. Therefore, lighting manufacturers with brand recognition are more likely to gain favor from end users, and domestic panel makers are less competitive with brands and access points. Therefore, it is in the market acceptance position.

In addition to the international lighting brands, Taiwan's OLED panel makers will also face the attack from Samsung panel makers such as Samsung and Lejin. The market's living space will be more difficult. Since the materials and equipment for the development of OLED displays can be used in common with OLED lighting, the biggest difference between the two is the manufacturing process. That is, the OLED lighting and the display are different from the substrates used in the sputtering of OLEDs. Therefore, it attracts Korean panel makers. However, unlike panel makers in Taiwan, Korean panel makers have already established exclusive brands and access roads. Developing OLED lighting is also competitive. In the future, there will be opportunities to compete with international lighting manufacturers in the OLED lighting market.

Jiang Baifeng believes that currently, the luminous efficiency of OLED lighting is only about 30 lumens per watt, highlighting that there is still considerable room for improvement in its luminescent materials. After the breakthrough of luminescent materials, Novak, UDC, Idemitsu Kosan, and other major manufacturers of materials in Japan will have greater breakthrough. It is expected that the luminous efficiency of OLED lighting can be further refined, which will help expand the popularity of the OLED lighting market. By then, the competition between Korean panel makers and lighting manufacturers in the OLED lighting market will become more intense.