Musings from an OLED Advocate

Transcription

1 Musings from an OLED Advocate Musing Summary 2 Musing from the Summit 3 Special Report LTPO Backplanes Could Challenge LTPS for AMOLED Panels 5 Financials Royale Gets a US$240m Cash Infusion 10 BOE Gets US$15m to Support Operations in Chongqing 11 Musing on Displays Smartphones LG s V30 Still Has Mura Problems 12 Smartphone Contemplation Turns to Foldable Displays 13 iphone X Production Challenges Identified as 3D Sensors 14 Gionee s Upcoming Flagship Smartphone Includes OLED Display 15 Hisense Launches Dual Screen Smartphone w/oled and e-ink Display 16 Vivo Implements Under the Display Fingerprint Recognition 16 More OLED Displays for the iphone. 17 TVs 19 VR/AR Microsoft and Samsung Launching Mixed Reality Headsets 20 Wearables Apple Becomes World s Largest Watchmaker 21 Musing on Production Competitive Technology Micro LED Displays Could Have 90% Non-Active Area 23 Mikro Mesa Technology Developing 55 Micro LED TV 24 KIMM Develops Roll Transfer Process to Speed Up Micro LED Production 25 Fabs IMEC and Fuji Films Develop OLED Fine Patterning Process Using Lithography to Eliminate FMMs 26 CEC Panda Begins Equipment Installation for Chengdu Gen 8.6 LCD Fab 26 HKC Breaks Ground for 2 nd Gen 8.6 LCD Fab 27 BOE Ready to Make Flexible OLED Panels 27 Foxconn s Chairman Visits Wisconsin 29 About AUO s Circular OLEDs for Watches 30 Musing on Lighting LG Lighting Shows Off at London Design Junction Barton Creek Blvd, Ste 12, Austin, TX barry@oled-a.org

2 Musing Summary We began with a short write-up of two presentations from the OLED Summit, Dr. Takeshi Yamada of Sumitomo and Dr. Werner Thomas, AUDI AG. Both presentations are available on the OLED Association website for our members. Yamada provided the latest update on polymer material, which is now ready for prime time and Thomas discusses Audi s use of OLEDs in rear lighting and how the back of the Audi will look in the future. Apple has been pushing a hybrid backplane technology, called Low Temperature Polysilicon and Oxide (LTPO), which combines the best features of LTPS and amorphous oxides to make p-si switching TFTs and IGZO oxide TFTs. The benefits, which include interval driving, lower power consumption and even more perfect blacks are explained as are the major panel maker s experimenting with the technology. The Chinese demonstrated how the government supports their big companies, specifically BOE, by infusing US$15m into a fab, which is struggling with low revenues and Royale goes to the financial market in China to get US$240m to continue filling up their 6 th Gen fab with equipment. As reported previously by testers, LG s V30, which has been released in South Korea, still has mura problems. Apparently, they need to change out their TFE process and try something different. Samsung s Galaxy X, which is expected to have a foldable display was certified by the South Korean National Radio Research Agency, a government organization that certifies the safety of devices using radio wave propagation. Apple continues to experience production snags with its 3-D sensors for facial recognition. The components, known as Romeo and Juliet among Apple engineers and suppliers, work together to allow users of the latest iphone to unlock their devices by scanning their faces, the people said. We hope that the iphone X does not suffer the same tragedy as the Shakespeare s two star crossed lovers. Gionee and HiSense introduced high-end phones sporting OLED displays and Vivo is the first smartphone to satisfactorily implement the under-display finger print reader that has so far eluded both Samsung and Apple. Trendforce reported TV panel shipments grew 8.2% M/M in August, driven primarily by a 28.9% increase in TV shipments from Innolux, while total shipments declined 2.5% Y/Y. Innolux was followed by LG, BOE, Samsung and CSOT. This report is just a predecessor to a time when BOE and CSOT with the first Gen 10.5s will lead the industry in large area displays. Microsoft will launch a number of Windows Mixed Reality headsets next month, and it Samsung is planning its own in the near future. Apple has passed Rolex and the leading watch supplier and Apple continues to gain share vs. the Swiss company. Interesting that Apple is a low price supplier in this category compares the legacy watchmakers. Micro LED have another strength in that the LEDs would only use 10% of the active area, giving the display an opportunity to be quite transparent. Taiwan-based Mikro October 2,

3 Mesa Technology is developing 55-inch micro LED TV panels, while ITRI is developing micro LED ultra-fine pixel pitch indoor displays through cooperation with driver IC designer Macroblock. EOSRL said the mini LED panels are made from chips sized µm and will be used to make 60- to 100-inch indoor displays. Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) have developed a new technology to facilitate the mass transfer process of micro LED manufacturing. The new roll transfer technology can transfer 10,000 chips per second. Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (CPT) together with IMEC and Holst Centre exhibited a 1400x1400 pixels (1.96 megapixel) OLED microdisplay with orange and green subpixel pitches of 10µm (giving a 20µm pixel pitch) and providing a color pixel resolution of 1250 ppi. The used a lithographic patterning process using resist that could be implemented for both small/medium and large displays without the need for a FMM. CEC Panda took delivery of a Nikon Photolithography tool for its Gen 8.6 LCD fab. HKC held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 2 nd Gen 8.6 LCD fab in Chuzhou, China. BOE started to make flexible OLEDs and Foxconn s Terry Gou met with Wisconsin s governor Scott Walker to discuss the US$3b, the state has appropriated to support the Gen 10.5 fab. Finally, LG, which is about to turn on its gen 5 lighting fab showed its stuff at the London Design Function Musing from the Summit Dr. Takeshi Yamada of Sumitomo and Dr. Werner Thomas, AUDI AG gave two of the more interesting presentations at the OLED Summit. Both presentation scan be found on the OLED-A website. Dr. Yamada provided an update of the recent performance improvements that Sumitomo has made in their development of polymer material. Sumitomo and its predecessor Cambridge Display have been promising commercial ready material for more than 10-years, but now they appear to have delivered. They are providing material that meets or is close to specs put out by display makers as seen below. More proof is the use of this material by JOLED, to manufacture a 2.7 IJP display for Sony, which JOLED said would be delivered this year. October 2,

4 Figure 1: Polymer Material Specification by Color and Deposition Process Source: Company Dr. Thomas talked about Audi s use of OLEDs for rear lighting and educated the audience in the practical strengths and weaknesses of OLEDs as it relates to the automotive lighting industry. He explained under what conditions Audi chose OLEDs over LEDs and what needs to be done for OLEDs to further penetrate the industry. As the figure below indicates, developing the backlight is no simple process and takes a good deal on engineering on the part of the auto company and the panel maker but the results are stunning. October 2,

5 Figure 2: Audi s OLED Tail Lamp Composition Lamp Housing Source: Company Special Report LTPO Backplanes Could Challenge LTPS for AMOLED Panels Korea s Yuantta s Sangun Lee forecasted that IGZO backplanes could be used in Apple s smartphones and tablets. He specifically singled out VR/AR applications because of the need for very high pixel density. There are at least six companies that Apple has acquired since 2013, to support AR/VR. Apple revealed its AR application in their iphone X announcement. October 2,

6 In order to properly replicate the immersive experience, designers believe that at minimum of 2000 ppi would be required. Currently, the highest pixel density for LTPS based OLEDs is ~1,000 ppi. Lee believes an IGZO backplane is a better solution for the VR/AR requirements because of the high cost of LTPS, which is twice the cost of an a-si backplane, while amorphous oxide is only 40%-50% more than a- Si. Issues on LTPS AMOLED for AR/VR Contents Size of Pixel -- In LTPS, as the ppi increases, so does the TFT/sq. um embedded in each sub-pixel. For example, SDC s Galaxy S8 is 5.8-inch with 570ppi. However, is it possible to design a 5.8-inch panel with 1000ppi with LTPS? Thus, a physical pixel size should be resigned to fit to any panel size. In addition, not only as the number of TFTs increase but also the length of gate in LTPS TFT is too long to maximize the electrical flow of a device. Power Consumption -- Another issue with LTPS is that battery power consumption increases fast as the number of pixel increase. Realizing Perfect Black -- If the display is in the OFF state, current still flows in p-si TFTs, so that realizing perfect black under 100nits is difficult due to the high leakage current with LTPS. This issue has been resolved by connecting compensation TFTs driving TFTs to the OFF state. However, undetectable light still remains, which becomes detectable in case of an AR device. In order to improve the immerse experience in AR applications; the TFT must be capable of no leakage current in the OFF mode. Lee believes that a hybrid approach to the backplane would solve some or possibly all of these issues. The approach is to combine LTPS with an amorphous oxide process. Most OLED small/medium panel makers use LTPS for the backplane, while LG uses amorphous oxide (IGZO) for their OLED TVs. Sharp also uses IGZO for their LCD tablets, and tried to use the technology for smartphone displays but ran into undefined problems. Combining the two technologies give us Low Temperature polysilicon and oxides or LTPO. The pixel circuit would be patterned such that the switching TFT would be p-si and the drive TFT would be IGZO. Currently, Lee believes LTPO technology is used in the Apple Watch and for some ipad panels. LG Display and JDI supply LTPO displays while Sharp supplies some IGZO TFT LCD ipad panels to Apple. According to Lee, the use of LTPO results in the following benefits: Small TFT Size -- Oxide TFTs are smaller than a-silicon based TFT but larger than p-si TFTs for the same current. The IGZO Oxide TFT in the next figure is much smaller than a-si. As a result, when 1000 ppi is required, LTPO TFT could deliver small enough TFT designs for an AMOLED panel. The difference October 2,

7 between the size of the TFT using p-si and IGZO would be minimal. High Electron Mobility: Fast Response Time -- LTPO TFTs use the excellent characteristics of p-si and Oxides. In general, the active layer with switch TFT is based on LTPS; however, the active layer for the driving TFT is based on oxide. It is critical that switch TFTs can turn on/off fast so LTPS is a best solution for fast response time; however, when it comes to driving TFT active layer, it is important to prevent current leakage and stabilizing TFT control. Low Power Consumption -- When Oxide TFTs are used as the driving TFT it prevents current leakage, which makes it possible to use interval driving. Interval Driving can reduce power consumption from 10~20% versus p-si TFTs. When only p-si is used the switching and drive TFTs must be charged for each frame, regardless of whether the image changes or not. In other words, if the cycle time is 60-frame per second, each frame requires data input 60 times/sec. For an LTPO display, the driver TFT (IGZO) can maintain its voltage without being refreshed, if the image doesn t change. So once the gate TFT is triggered in the first 10 frames, the remaining frames (11 to 60) do not require additional signaling. p-si based panels can be driven by interval driving; but the technique causes flickering, which has not been resolved. Figure 3: TFT Size Comparisons Source: Sharp, OLED-A October 2,

8 Figure 4: Mobility Comparison on LTPS, IGZO Oxide, and a-si Source: Sharp October 2,

9 Figure 5: Low Power Consumption: Interval Driving Source: Sharp During IMID 2017, Samsung Display (SDC) demonstrated VR devices with one prototype 3.5-inch AMOLED with 460ppi and a 2 nd 3.2-inch with 806ppi. SDC October 2,

10 emphasized that as a number of ppi increases the immersive experience improves and the screen door effect is minimized, so the company is developing higher ppi OLED displays. If a new LTPO display was adapted, this investment would start in 2018, aiming to produce LTPO backplane AMOLEDs by Yuantta Securities claimed that companies like AUO, Foxconn, and Visionox are planning to produce LTPO TFT backplane AMOLED display at their 4.5G and 6G AMOLED fabs. Both AUO and Visionox plan to start their initial production from Table 1: Taiwan and Chinese AMOLED Developer Plans for Producing LTPO TFT Backplane Panel Maker Fab Location Fab Capacity SS/m Target Production AUO Singapore Gen Early 2019 Foxconn Guizhou Gen 6 15 End of 2019 Zheungzh Gen 6 15 End of 2019 Visionox Cheongdu Gen 6 15 End of 2018 Source: Companies Clearly one of the issues that was not addressed is cost. If LTPS is 2X a-si and IGZO is 1.5X a-si, then LTPO would be 2.5x a-si. There doesn t seem to be any equipment savings by combining the two technologies since both need to be applied to the entire substrate with separate masks. Financials Royale Gets a US$240m Cash Infusion While Royale Corporation has its HQ based in Silicon Valley, the panel producer also has offices in Hong Kong, and Shenzhen, and the financing that was just completed is to pay for a $1.7b 6 th Gen plant in China that is expected to produce flexible OLED displays, flexible sensors and R&D in keeping with the company s 12/2014 announcement of the development of the world s thinnest flexible OLED display, which is.01mm, or less that 1/5 the width of a human hair. But while October 2,

11 Royale is an OLED panel producer, the name does not turn up regularly in the CE press or on the display tech pages as do others., so we shine a bit of light on the company to acquaint investors with the inner workings of this relatively new panel producer. Royale, a Chinese panel maker that was started by a group of Stanford graduates led by Dr. Bill Liu who graduated Tsinghua University in 2006 with a BS and MS and joined the Bao Research Group at Stanford, led by University of Chicago graduate and Professor of Chemical Engineering, Zhenan Bao, a former Bell labs and Lucent technologies employee with over 400 published articles and over 60 patents. The group, a collection of Ph.D. and Postdoctoral scholars, particularly interested in nano and chemical engineering, was spun off in Royale Corp in The company is focused on developing flexible displays and sensors, but has received some notoriety for both its ultra-thin flexible OLED displays and its Moon VR headset, and the company s hiring of Akon, a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, and record producer with 17 platinum certified records, to help promote the VR product. The company s financing was started back in 2015 with a $172m Series C round with three funding groups, Shenzhen based VC, Green Pine, Beijing based IDG Ventures, and Shenzhen Capital, all legitimate Chinese VCs. Warmsun Holding Group, an unlisted company with only one investment, did the 2nd round, an $80m Series D with a $2.9B valuation. The 3 rd financing round, just completed, was split between a $240m (unknown valuation) series D and $560m in debt financing. The VD portion was financed by a number of funding organizations, most of whom are single investment entities with unlisted locations, other than the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and the debt side ($560m) was financed by 5 Chinese banks, including the State owned BOC and the Shenzhen based Ping An Bank. Royale is a Chinese company, despite its Silicon Valley nameplate, and the money raised will be primarily spent in China to develop the manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen. The mixed-use production facility being built by Royale will be based on LTPS backplane technology and a Gen 5.5 flexible OLED production line with a capacity of 45,000 sheets/month, and the production line will be built in at least two phases. Flexible sensor development and production will also take place at the new facility, and further development and production of the VR displays used in the Moon product will be built on the OLED line. The ultra-thin flexible OLED display that Royale has shown at recent exhibitions has been limited to small-scale production, but once the new facility is completed, the display could be produced for consumer applications, either as a built-in public/private display or in an existing application such as a smartphone. BOE Gets US$15m to Support Operations in Chongqing October 2,

12 The Chongqing Liangjiang New District Finance Bureau has given BOE a $15m government subsidy for its 2017 operating expenses, specifically for the company s B8 fab in Chongqing, which has been in operation since While not surprising in that the Chinese local and regional governments give subsidies to panel producers on a regular basis, it was not clear that such subsidies continued throughout the life of the fab (or at least 2 years in). Musing on Displays Smartphones LG s V30 Still Has Mura Problems We reported earlier about the mura problems on the LG V30 that were experienced in early releases of the product (e.g. beta tests). Now customers who have had the opportunity to purchase the LG V30 after its September 21 debut in South Korea have started raising complaints to the quality of the display. Pre-orders start October 5 th in the US on all four major carriers. Apparently, the issue lies in the P-OLED panel s inability to distribute colors and brightness evenly across the entire surface, resulting in an undesirable effect similar to the so-called light bleeding usually exhibited by backlit LCD panels. For OLEDs, this is called Mura. According to several user reports from LG V30 owners in South Korea, the smartphone s 6.0-inch P-OLED display appears to suffer from uneven brightness and color distribution. According to BusinessKorea citing an unnamed LG Electronics official, the company doesn t consider this to be a product defect, but rather a normal byproduct of how OLEDs work. Spec-wise, the LG V30 features a 6.0-inch P-OLED panel with a resolution of 2,880 x 1,440 and a pixel density of 537 ppi, as well as a protective sheet of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 that curves slightly around the edges. The current state of affairs is somewhat similar to complaints about screen imbalance issues on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, which Samsung debuted earlier this year, with that particular phenomenon also being described by the manufacturer as natural behavior of its panels and not a defect. We have done some investigating about the problem and the LG issue is different that the Samsung issue, which is not very evident. With LG, the problem seems to lie with the thin film encapsulation and LG has recently ordered a Kateeva printer to replace the PRI process. It will no doubt take some time to test and then integrate the new process, but LG is providing no timeframes. October 2,

13 Smartphone Contemplation Turns to Foldable Displays Now that the iphone X has been announced, the rumor mill has shifted its concentration on the oft- mentioned foldable display. Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display are working on a smartphone that can be folded inward with a curvature of 3mm. Samsung Electronics has been working on a foldable smartphone for many years. The company worked on a phone that can be folded outward until recently and is now going the opposite way. According to industry sources, this change in direction was a couple of years ago, but it is unclear why. Samsung Electronics President Ko Dong-jin recently said that the company is planning to introduce a foldable smartphone next year. We are currently dealing with some hurdles to do so and we will release our first foldable smartphone after overcoming the hurdles, he remarked at the Galaxy Note 8 launch event on September 12. We took this announcement as a way to deter the excitement about the iphone X. Figure 6: Foldable Displays Source: Business Korea The Galaxy X, as it s currently being called, has been going by the model number SM-G888, as it goes through various inspections before it s declared compliant with regulations. Of course, it will turn out to be another phone entirely, but the descriptions so far fit previous rumors surrounding the Galaxy X. The one piece of October 2,

14 real news is a recent certification of a device (SM-G888) at the South Korean National Radio Research Agency, a government organization that certifies the safety of devices using radio wave propagation, has stimulated further speculation about Samsung s foldable phone plans, especially after a device with a similar model number (SM-G888N0) was given Wi-Fi certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance less than two months ago. The device, recently dubbed the Galaxy X, has appeared before, as a similarly numbered device (SM-G880) showed up in an Indian import database almost a year ago. At the time, the device was named Haechi, the name of a Korean mythical beast with a righteous temperament distinguishing good and evil. iphone X Production Challenges Identified as 3D Sensors Apple continues to experience production snags with its 3-D sensors for facial recognition on the iphone X slated to be shipping in early November. Apple introduced facial recognition to unlock phones and for users to authenticate payments on their handsets for the first time with iphone X. The components, known as Romeo and Juliet among Apple engineers and suppliers, work together to allow users of the latest iphone to unlock their devices by scanning their faces, the people said. It has taken more time to assemble the Romeo modules than the Juliet modules, they said, creating an imbalance in supply. That has created a bottleneck for the iphone X s mass production, according to one person, which could crimp supplies beyond typical initial shortfalls when the phone is released Nov. 3. The production problems are the latest glitch as Apple and its suppliers rush to load the flashy new features into the flagship model that carries high stakes for Apple. Face recognition is not available on the lower-priced iphone 8 phones. Two executives working for iphone suppliers said that 3-D sensor part makers are still struggling to reach a satisfactory level of output, and to boost their yield rate. Both sources were unable to offer clarity on whether Apple could meet large orders after iphone X's launch. One of the sources said that iphone X was being churned out in small quantities, around some tens of thousands daily. Jeff Pu, an analyst at Taipei-based Yuanta Investment Consulting, also identified 3-D sensors as the only major issue left in the production of iphone X. He said that mass production of iphone X would begin the second week of October and that handsets would begin to leave China for global distribution a week later. The Foxconn Technology Group, at its factory in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, assembles the iphone X. According to Pu's estimate, Foxconn churned out 2 million iphone X units in September, and in October that number should rise to 10 million. He said that Foxconn will assemble a total of 40 million iphone X handsets by year-end, lower than his original estimate of 45 million earlier this year. With the iphone X still more than one month away from reaching consumers, initial appetite for iphone 8 and iphone 8 plus appears to be weak. Some recent reports suggest that the delayed shipment of the premium handset may have dampened demand as well. Apple has reportedly instructed October 2,

15 component suppliers to withhold part of the component shipments prepared for the production of iphone X devices, according to Digitimes. Suppliers are currently shipping parts and components that amount to only about 40% of the quantities originally planned for the initial production of iphone X. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities believes that preorder demand for Apple iphone X could top 50M units. The 3D sensing (TrueDepth camera) on iphone X is composed of a structured-light system, time-of-flight system and a front-facing camera, which represents a far more complex structure than those of rivals. It will therefore be harder to achieve mass production. The Romeo module is assembled by LG Innotek and Sharp Corp. Both companies declined to comment. Manufacturing troubles are par for the course when new models of iphones are being built, one of the people said. But problems will be resolved eventually, the person said. Besides the facial-recognition system, difficulties involving the OLED screen have also made the iphone X road to production bumpy. Apple initially hoped to equip the iphone X with the Touch ID function, which allows users to open the phone by scanning their fingerprint. But incorporating the scanner into the new OLED display proved problematic, and Apple eventually scrapped the scanner on the new phones. According to Taiwan-based upstream component supplier sources Apple has instructed component suppliers to withhold part of the component shipments needed for the production of the iphone X. These sources indicated that suppliers are shipping ~40% of the parts and components needed for the original initial iphone X production goals. According to the same sources, Apple is waiting to see how pre-orders for the new phone will come in, and how the iphone 8 and 8+ ratios look before increasing the order flow. Apple did something similar with the iphone 7 last year, pushing out about 40% of planned orders for 1 to 2 months as the pre-order book developed. Gionee s Upcoming Flagship Smartphone Includes OLED Display Gionee announced the Gionee M7 that sports an 18:9 OLED display (720x1440), which is of late turning into a pattern for new premium-level smartphones. The handset sports a fingerprint sensor at the back. The smartphone is measured at mm, and it weighs around 180g. Gionee M7 is powered with an Octa-core MediaTek Helio P30 16nm processor with a clocking speed of 2.3GHz coupled with 6GB of RAM and ARM Mali-G71 MP2 GPU. The smartphone supports expandable storage via microsd card (up to 256GB). Weighing in at just 187 grams in weight and only 8.6mm thick, we believe that this new Gionee device will support VoLTE and may run on the Android Nougat OS. The phone wears a 13-megapixel primary camera with LED streak, f/2.0 gap, and PDAF. Whereas up front, there is an October 2,

16 8MP selfie snapper. The device supports Hybrid Dual SIM slots while the second slot can be used for a nano SIM card or microsd card coming to the M7 Power, the major highlight of the device is the 5000mAh battery with fast charging. The resolution suggests that this display too has an 18:9 aspect ratio, which is re-affirmed by the bezel-less design seen in the image. Dimension wise it measures mm and weighs 187g. In addition, the smartphone features a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. On the hardware front, it is powered by an Octa-Core Snapdragon 435 processor clocked at 1.4GHz with Adreno 505 GPU. The chipset is teamed with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of default storage space, which can be further expanded up to 256GB via micro SD card slot. On the rear, there is a 16MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.8 aperture, a 6P lens that will be accompanied with an 8MP secondary camera. The smartphone comes with Hybrid Dual SIM capabilities and it s fuelled by 5000mAh battery that supports fast charging as well. The Gionee M7 includes 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS + GLONASS, NFC, and 3.5mm audio jack. The Gionee M7 is priced at 2799 Yuan (Rs. 27,485 approx.). The GioneeM7 will be accessible in various color options such as Maple Red, Star Blue, Sapphire Blue, Champagne Gold, and Black, although the Power can be accessible for purchase in Gold, Black, and Blue shades. The Gionee M7 Power is priced at 1999 yuan and will be available in China from September 30th. It comes in Blue, Black and Gold colors and will be first introduced in Thailand on September 28. Hisense Launches Dual Screen Smartphone w/oled and e- ink Display The dual display Hisense A2 Pro was launched 5.5 FHD AMOLED display e-ink display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, rear 12MP + front 16MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 3090mAh battery. Vivo Implements Under the Display Fingerprint Recognition Now that Apple is abandoning finger print recognition and Samsung has shifted it to the back of the phone, The Vivo X series could demonstrate leadership in under-glass fingerprint technology. Vivo and Qualcomm are applying an ultrasonic solution. Vivo emphasizes that Face Wake facial recognition technology that includes bi-directional 3D recognition is more advantageous than other solutions. The Vivo X 20 Plus has a 6.43 OLED panel with 2160x1080resolution. October 2,

17 Figure 7: Vivo s Fingerprint ID by Touch More OLED Displays for the iphone. The Korean press indicated that it expects Apple has given Samsung Display orders for three OLED variants for 2018, with 5.28, 5.85, and 6.46, but has already cancelled the development of the 5.28 model as it expects low marketability for the smaller version. Further, the Korean press says that Apple has contracted with Japan Display for a 6 + display, although not specifying whether an LCD or OLED, but it will be an LCD. Japan Display said last month that the advanced displays, October 2,

18 which it calls Full Active, would account for more than 70% of its business in panels for smartphones and other smart devices in the year ending March Japan Display in a regulatory filing said that Apple accounted for about 54% of its revenue in the year ended March Asked at a news conference about customers for the Full Active displays, Kazutaka Nagaoka, chief of Japan Display's mobile unit, said clients so far were mostly Chinese handset makers including Xiaomi Inc., which he said used the panel for its Mi Mix 2 phone. Japan Display has argued unsuccessfully that its improved LCD screens can match or exceed some of OLED's advantages at lower cost. In Full Active, the bezel or border space around each edge of the screen has been trimmed to 0.5 millimeters, the company says, compared with as much as several millimeters on older LCDs. OLED smartphone panels have a bezel of about one millimeter. Japan Display is working on a version of Full Active that it says would match the OLED technology in enabling phone makers to offer curved screens. Japan Display says it plans to start mass-producing OLED screens in the year beginning April Meanwhile, it is counting on Apple and other smartphone makers to buy its liquid-crystal displays. Table 2: Apple Smartphone Model Size Family Model Panel Size (inches) 3 GS S C 4 5 5S S S+ 5.5 SE SE X October 2,

19 Xiaomi sold 1 million smartphones in two days during big sales events at Flipkart, India's largest shopping mall and Amazon. The sales volume translates into selling about 300 units per minute. Xiaomi needed 18 days to sell one million units at the same events last year. The best-selling model was the Redmi Note 4 of Xiaomi. The Redmi Note launched in the second half of last year belongs to a mid- to low-priced smartphone group and rose to the top of the market standings as the best-selling model with a market share of 7.2% in the second quarter. The Samsung Galaxy J2 ranked third (4.3%), the Oppo A37 took fourth place (3.5%) and the Galaxy J7 came in fifth (3.3%). According to market researcher Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics accounted for 24.1% of the market in the second quarter. Xiaomi which recorded a market share of 6.6% last year recorded 14.2% in the first quarter and 15.5% in the second quarter. Shipments were less than 200 million units in India last year. The figure is not high compared to China, which has a similar population size and shipped more than 500 million smartphones. This year, smartphone sales are expected to reach 170 million units in India. TVs Trendforce reported TV panel shipments grew 8.2% M/M in August, driven primarily by a 28.9% increase in TV shipments from Innolux, while declining 2.5% Y/Y. The increase appears to be the effect of National Day/Golden Week holiday, which starts October 1. Shipments of Innolux's and 50-inch TV panel s regained momentum in August, pushing up the company's overall performance for the month, said Sigmaintell. Innolux announced earlier that it shipped a total of million units of large-size flat panels in August, up 16.6% on month. LG Display shipped over 3.8 million TV panels to take second place in August, while China-based BOE Technology ranked third with shipments approaching 3.8 million units, buoyed by strong demand for its 32- and 43-inch TV panels, Sigmaintell added. Global TV panel shipments reached million units in August, up 8.1% on month but down 4.8% on year, reflecting seasonal demand. Chinese TV brands make up more than 50% of LG s TV customer base, suffered as their Chinese buyers held back orders in anticipation of further price declines, indicating how vulnerable buyers are when approaching the holiday season. While all large panel sales are not TV related, from a dollar perspective, the large panel portion of the display panel space saw a 4.2% M/M and 7.6% Y/Y increase, as higher large panel prices still circulated through the supply chain, but the potential for slower dollar growth over the next month or so, is possible, as lower panel prices translate to lower TV prices. Mid-price range TVs are elastic enough to compensate with higher volume, or a shift to slightly larger screen sizes, offsetting that potential slowdown, as lower prices and harder comparisons October 2,

20 become the norm. In terms of sq. m TV panel shipments were 118 sq. m (m) growing 8.1% M/M but dropping 1.3% Y/Y. Table 3: TV Panel Shipments by Panel Maker August '17 July '17 Change Panel Maker Panels (000) Share Panels (000) Share M/M Innolux % % 28.9% LGD % % -3.6% BOE % % 1.9% Samsung % % 8.1% CSOT % % 7.9% AUO % % 4.3% Others % % 17.6% Total % % 8.2% VR/AR Microsoft and Samsung Launching Mixed Reality Headsets Microsoft is planning to launch a number of Windows Mixed Reality headsets next month, and it appears Samsung is planning its own in the near future. Twitter user WalkingCat has uncovered photos of Samsung s Windows Mixed Reality headset, and it appears to include six degree-of-freedom tracking like most of Microsoft s headsets. Little else is known about the Samsung headset, but the pictures do show off built-in headphones from AKG that look very similar to what s included on Oculus Rift VR headset. It appears Samsung will be shipping its Mixed Reality headset with Microsoft s motion controllers. Microsoft is planning to hold a special Mixed Reality event next week, and it s possible that the Samsung headset could be part of any announcements. Mixed Reality headsets will start launching next month alongside Microsoft s Windows 10 Fall Creators Update on October 17th. The first headsets October 2,

21 include pricing at $299 from Acer, HP pricing its own at $450 (with motion controllers) and Dell / Lenovo pricing theirs at $349. Asus won t be releasing its Windows Mixed Reality headset until Spring 2018, despite already showing off its unique polygon design. Samsung may choose to unveil its headset and also ship it later. Figure 8: Samsung s Mixed Reality Headset Wearables Source: Samsung Apple Becomes World s Largest Watchmaker Apple is now the biggest watchmaker in the world, overtaking Rolex during the last quarter. This achievement happened less than two and a half years after October 2,

22 Apple entered the watch market. Rolex, on the other hand, was founded in 1905, 112 years ago at a time when watches were the avant-garde of technology. While Apple competes at the high end for most of its categories, for watches Apple is very low end when compared to Rolex. Figure 9: Watch Units, Revenues and Share of Apple s Revenue Rolex produces about 1 million watches a year with sales of $4.7 billion in The average revenue per watch was therefore about $4,700. Apple sold about 15 million Watches in the last 12 months at an average price of about $330. This puts the Apple Watch revenue run rate at $4.9 billion, indeed above Rolex. also that within the last quarter Apple said sales for the Watch increased by 50%, which would put sales at about 33 million Apple Watch units since launch and they generated about $12 billion in sales. Coupled with a 95% customer satisfaction score, altogether, this has been a great success story. But only 2.5 years in, it s still act one. Looking at the long-term trajectory, it s important to qualify this product as part of another, larger story. The Watch, even with LTE, is still an accessory to the iphone. It cannot be activated without it. Even the coverage plan is an extension to an iphone plan. The company is careful to address it as a companion product. It used to be necessary to first attach an iphone to a computer to activate it. That used to be cited as a reason for the October 2,

23 iphone not being a proper computer, diverting attention from what it would inevitably become. The iphone and the ipad now stand alone of any PC or Mac. It is inevitable that the Watch will cut these familial links and stand-alone. The technology trajectories are easy enough to plot. Apple has invested enormously in the silicon that goes inside the Watch and has taken it to new levels of connectivity with LTE, 85% faster WiFi, and a 70% faster processor; all with 50% better power efficiency. These investments will enable independent voice entry, Siri everywhere, Find My Friends, Maps, music streaming. These breakthroughs are only possible with a new W2 processors, which is more powerful than the first iphone processors. This comparison is apt: the Watch is effectively stealing usage from the iphone. At first it took alerts, timekeeping, and basic messaging away. Now it s taking basic phone calls and music and maybe maps. Today, the new Watch is a small-screen ipod, an Internet Communicator and a Phone. So not only is the Series 3 Watch more powerful than the original iphone but it is also capable of the same tent pole jobs. But it s not just a miniature iphone. It has a new, completely orthogonal attack on nonconsumption and market creation: fitness and health. This is a key point. The iphone was born a phone but grew up to be something completely unprecedented, unforeseen by its creators and, frankly, indescribable in the language of The Watch was born a timepiece but it is traversing through the early iphone and pulling in a new direction all of its own. The fact that we are talking about Resting Rate, Arrhythmia and Atrial fibrillation at a timekeeping launch event indicates that new behaviors will follow and so will the language we ll use to describe this child-like product once it grows up. Musing on Production Competitive Technology Micro LED Displays Could Have 90% Non-Active Area Another advantage of Micro LEDs displays is that on average the LEDs occupy only 10% of the total panel area, meaning the remaining 90% is transparent. They can be adopted for transparent displays for retail stores. Alternatively, the empty space can accommodate sensors for measuring temperatures, air pollution particles, and October 2,

24 others, making micro LED panels a candidate for smart displays. In Sony's micro LED-based CLEDIS (crystal LED integrated structure) display, the area of a single RGB pixel is 80 x 38 micrometers with a pitch of 1,260 micrometers, which means about 99% of total panel area is vacant. An Apple patent shows that micrometer-size infrared (IR) micro LED chips are embedded in TFT-LCD panels for fingerprint recognition. Key components of conventional fingerprint-recognition modules are IR LED devices, CMOS image sensors and optical lenses. If IR LED devices and optical lenses are replaced with IR micro LEDs and micro optical lenses respectively, the dimensions can be reduced from 33 x 5 x 33mm to 3.5 x 2.5 x 3.5mm. Chunghwa Picture Tubes indicated at the Touch Taiwan exhibition, that they have overcome the obstacles to manufacturing and expect to have an electroluminescent QD product ready for mass production in two years. To be fair, thus far they have produced QLED light in their laboratory only, but through an ink-jet printing process, they say they can move the lab work into volume production. Quantum Dot proponents cite the fact that quantum dots are not made of materials that use heavy metals such as Iridium and Platinum, and are easy to manufacture, control color consistency, and generate high brightness. While CPT is optimistic about being able to solve phase 3 (electroluminescent) quantum dot issues, transferring them to mass production and building the infrastructure needed to support such a change is a significant task.. Mikro Mesa Technology Developing 55 Micro LED TV Taiwan-based Mikro Mesa Technology is developing 55-inch micro LED TV panels, while Electronic and Optoelectronic System Research Laboratories (EOSRL) under government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is developing micro LED ultra-fine pixel pitch indoor displays through cooperation with driver IC designer Macroblock. EOSRL said the mini LED panels it is developing are made from chips sized µm and will be used to make 60- to 100-inch indoor displays. With trial production scheduled for fourth-quarter 2017 and a factory to be completed at the end of the year, volume production of micro LED panels will begin in 2018, EOSRL indicated. Integrating LED and LCD technologies, micro LED panels stand a chance of being used in large-size displays as well as small-size ones, such as VR/AR devices, Mikro Mesa chairman Chen Li-yi said. Since OLEDs are increasingly used in small-size devices, micro LED's smallsize applications will face price competition from the former, Chen explained. Mini LED panel developers are under pressure to launch their products for niche markets as soon as possible, as OLED competitors Samsung Display, LG Display and others in China are expanding production capacities, with OLED lines to be added over the next few years, Chen said 55-inch micro LED panels are competitive in production cost. If yield rates exceed 80%, production cost for a October 2,

25 55-inch micro LED panel is only 70% of that for an LCD equivalent, said Chen, adding it is 90% in the UHD segment. Technological improvements have allowed Mikro Mesa to shorten the time taken in mass-transferring mini LED chips from 4- inch epitaxial wafers to substrates of 55-inch Mini LED panels from seven hours originally to 7.5 minutes, Chen said. Capacity of producing inch micro LED panels per minute - equivalent to an 8.5G LCD line - entails investment of NT$15.4 billion (US$510 million), much lower than that for existing LCD fab, Chen indicated. Micro LED panel production still faces technological problems, including mass transfer, residual fine particles, AOI (automated optical inspection) and electrical characterization, Chen said. Note that micro LEDs are generally classified to be 1 to 10 µm, so the Mikro Mesa version are typically called mini LEDs. At any rate, the size stretches the limit of TVs as the sub-pixel pitch for a 4K 55 is around 100 µm and at 8K it is 50 µm. KIMM Develops Roll Transfer Process to Speed Up Micro LED Production Researchers of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) have developed a new technology to facilitate the mass transfer process of micro LED manufacturing. The mass transfer process of micro LED is the most challenging method during the production of micro LED. Manufacturers are looking for a simpler efficient process to carry a large amount of micro LED chips and lay them all on a substrate. KIMM, under the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning, is the first institution in the world to find a roll transfer process that, it claims, would speed up the mass transfer process, and would make commercialization of micro LED easier, reports Business Korea. The micro LED displays produced by Nano Applied Mechanics Team at KIMM featured a luminous efficacy that is three times higher than that of conventional LED displays. When these displays are powered they needed only 50% of the energy required by a traditional LED display. This new technology will simplify the mass transfer process of micro LED and speed up the mass display production. Currently, equipment used for manufacturing micro LED can mount a very limited micro LEDs on a substrate per second. The new roll transfer technology would enable about 10,000 chips to be transferred per second. KIMM has been granted a patent for the roll-to-roll transfer process. They have discovered that instead of directly placing micro LEDs onto the substrate, first a thin film transistor (TFT) can be put on the substrate and then placed micro LEDs can be placed on the TFT element. An active matrix type of micro LED display can then be completed. October 2,

26 Fabs IMEC and Fuji Films Develop OLED Fine Patterning Process Using Lithography to Eliminate FMMs At the annual International Smart Display and Touch Panel Exhibition, Touch Taiwan, in Taipei, Taiwan, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (CPT) together with IMEC and Holst Centre exhibited a 1400x1400 pixels (1.96 megapixel) OLED microdisplay with orange and green sub-pixel pitches of 10µm (giving a 20µm pixel pitch) and providing a color pixel resolution of 1250 ppi. As part of their study, the researchers produced OLED arrays with a 3µm pixel pitch (2µm pixel / 1µm spacing), yielding a monochrome resolution of 8466ppi and showing that their technique could possibly cross the 10,000ppi barrier once optimized. Photolithography, the researchers explain, allows for very high aperture ratios by minimizing the unused area between emitting elements. Reversely, it could be used to create semi-transparent displays by selectively removing the OLED stack, hence limiting the area of the non-transparent OLED stack to the necessary minimum. The researchers envisaged the integration of organic photodetector sub pixels to enable the display with adaptive luminance calibration or gesture recognition. The joint venture by Fujifilm and nano-electronics research institute, imec, are exploring cost-effective methods of producing highresolution, large area OLED displays. This pairing produced photoresist technology for organic semiconductors in 2013 and they have recently demoed full color OLEDs using that photoresist tech. The research creates an OLED patterning setup that uses standard lithography tools to replace vacuum deposition with FMM. imec uses photoresist technology to produce OLED displays with far greater pixel density and resolution than the current tech. "Fujifilm's photoresists allow feature sizes in the submicron range (0.45 um lines/spaces demonstrated for photoresist)," Pawel Malinowski, researcher at imec, explained. "So in principle you can envision even 8K resolution in smartphones (15 um full pixel pitch needed for a 5.5 inch display)." The new lithographic process uses VTE to put down the organic material and then adds a polymer layer designed to protect the organics from the next layer of resist. CEC Panda Begins Equipment Installation for Chengdu Gen 8.6 LCD Fab Nanjing, China based CEC Panda is taking delivery of tools for its Gen 8.6 LCD fab including a Gen 8.6 Nikon Photolithography tool, which according to the company takes the longest time to install, has the most stringent environmental requirements, and the most complex processes, a major step toward meeting their 4/2018 timeline for the fab s startup. While Panda has a number of a-si LCD fabs in Nanjing, in mid they began to transition to oxide backplane (IGZO) development for their large October 2,

27 panel production, and this fab continues that process along with their Xianyang fab, which is expected to open next month. Their Chengdu Gen 8.6 project is a $4.2b US project that will support 60,000 sheet/mo. in two 30k phases, a color filter plant, and a number of associated infrastructure plants not all owned by Panda but placed to serve the plant. These include glass production facilities owned by Corning, Panda s own PCB manufacturing plant, polarizer film cutting companies, vacuum equipment cleaning & repair companies, power, water, and chemical suppliers, and of course, a local 7/11, spread over 80m m2, with a full capacity for 1,021 acres of infrastructure. While the fab building itself is constructed, the 4-story color filter/module plant that put the display together when produced will receive its roof next month. HKC Breaks Ground for 2 nd Gen 8.6 LCD Fab Hong Kong based HKC held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 2 nd Gen 8.6 LCD fab in Chuzhou, China. The $3.62b Fab while projected to have a final capacity of 120,000 sheets/mo. is based on a-si LCD technology, would start with a single 30,000-sheets/month phase, and is projected to begin production in the 1st quarter of In March, we noted that HKC had completed construction and lit its new Gen 8.6 LCD fab in Chongqing and had set a timeline for a production ramp that would reach a 90% utilization rate in July and 100% in October. Recent reports indication that the 1 st fab is facing low yields. The company now says that it has rolled out one million total units between March and July, and by extrapolating from 1,000,000 substrates, accumulated units (32 we assume) the math comes to 10,893 sheets/month or a 36.3% average on a 30,000 sheet line, significantly below what would be considered acceptable yield, despite the company s expectations that it will be able to supply 23.6, 32, 43, and 55 panels by the end of this year. HKC is optimistic with the groundbreaking for the 2 nd fab, as the 1 st fab won t be completely built out until 2H BOE Ready to Make Flexible OLED Panels Nikkei indicated that BOE is ready to produce flexible OLED panels. The article starts with the statement that BOE will begin commercial production of OLED panels at its Chengdu, China plant, designated B7, a Gen 6 flexible substrate line that is part of a 45,000-sheet/month three-phase facility. According to a quote from a BOE executive, We re expediting our final push for our first shipment in late October. The Chengdu fab, which at one time was to be a rigid substrate fab, completed construction and equipment delivery of its phase 1 (15,000 sheets) line in June, and has already received initial funding for equipment orders for phase 2 (another 15,000 sheets), some of which have been placed with AP Systems, and others tools have also been ordered. BOE also has an Ordos OLED plant, a Gen 5.5 rigid October 2,

28 substrate fab that opened its phase 1 line in October 2015 and is producing LTPS backplane panels for LCD displays, given the difficulties faced by BOE concerning OLED technology. BOE executives are speaking about the Chengdu fab being the first real mass-produced commercial OLED product line. The same BOE executive did mention that Our challenge has only just begun, assuming the reference to the battle with Samsung Display as they are building another Gen 6 flexible OLED fab in Mianyang, China, which is expected to open in July 2019, with a phase 1 capacity of 24,000 sheets, which they hope will be used to supply OLED smartphone panels to Apple, BOE aims to ship its first flexible OLED out of the Chengdu fab at the end of Oct BOE s new fab has a capacity of 45,000 substrates/month or around 90M smartphone sized AMOLEDs annually. In Oct 2016 BOE announced another 6-Gen OLED fab, in Mianyang, which will also have a similar capacity of 45,000 sheets per month and will enter production in Continued on next page October 2,

29 Figure 10: BOE Technology Fab Location Foxconn s Chairman Visits Wisconsin Foxconn s continues its planning efforts to build a factory in the US. Foxconn Chairman. Wisconsin s governor Scott Walker has put together a rather generous package of cash, tax abatements, and environmental exceptions to entice Foxconn to settle in his neighborhood. Foxconn executives are scheduled to meet with the Wisconsin Economic Development Board on the 28 th to review the agreement, with October 2,

30 the actual signing to take place in early October. The incentive package is a generous one, which will pay Foxconn between $200m and $250m each year, which according to the WEDC comes to $15,000 to $19,000 per job created, assuming 13,000 new jobs is the actual number. Further incentives include up to $1.5b in state tax credits for job creation, up to $1.35b in state tax credits for capital investment, and up to $150m for sales and use tax exemptions, but local economists indicate the actual cost per job to be $2,400/year or $36,000 per job over the 15- year life of the deal. While the Wisconsin legislature gave its OK to the deal terms, it remains up to the WEDC to negotiate the final contract with Foxconn, who has promised that the $10b project will create significant opportunities for Wisconsin, despite the projected 25+ years it will take for the state to break even on the plan. Of course, a deal with such lucrative incentives should be enough for any company to set toward an investment that they would be making regardless of the location, but Foxconn, as mentioned above has a checkered past when it comes to factory/job promises. Foxconn has a checkered past concerning promises made and promises kept, and most recently ( ) the closing of the one small iphone assembly factory in Sao Paulo, Brazil that was supposed to be part of the $500m Foxconn project that was to create 100,000 jobs back in That project was funded by a $12b investment guarantee made by the Brazilian government spread out over 6 years, but the large plant was never built and the iphones assembled at the Sao Paulo plant were the most expensive worldwide, costing almost twice what the same phone would cost in the US, even with the company s avoidance of the 15% industrial sales tax, the 9% VAT tax, and other import tariffs. Of the 100,000 jobs promised, roughly 3,000 were employed at the peak, and Brazilian workers were criticized by the company for their high wage expectations and their focus on soccer, which the company said makes them stop working. Foxconn has also made similar promises in 2014, with a MOU concerning a $1b investment in Indonesia and a $5b investment in India, expected to produce 50,000 jobs over 5 years. Nothing in Indonesia, and token investments in India so far. About AUO s Circular OLEDs for Watches AUO's true circle AMOLED smartwatch display is developed by creating slim salient corner for the watch surface to appear like true circle. The display's ultra slim border can lend more flexibility for watch brands to be more creative with their designs. AUO 1.2-inch and 1.4-inch true circle AMOLED displays both have resolution as high as 326 PPI, and consume 30% less power when compared with other products in the market. The displays are equipped with a brightness increase mode, so that information and color on the watches are still clearly visible when users are out under strong sunlight. The 1.3-inch AMOLED touch panel, possessing touch function October 2,

31 Musings. and power-saving strength, offers intuitive touch experience and is light to carry, making it especially suitable for children's smartwatch. AUO also exhibited at Taiwan Touch, two flexible AMOLED display technologies, applying plastic substrate and special structural layer design to make the panels foldable and rollable. The 5-inch foldable AMOLED panel integrates AUO's specially designed flexible touch sensor to realize impressive image quality even at 4mm folding radius. The 5-inch rollable AMOLED panel is only 0.1mm thick and 5g in weight, capable of achieving 4mm rolling radius and impressive wide color gamut performance. Figure 11: AUO s Foldable OLED Musing on Lighting LG Lighting Shows Off at London Design Junction The OLED lamps shown in the images in the gallery (from Feng) were captured at the London Design Junction. Many different sizes and shapes in LG s flexible OLED lamps were shown only some will find their way to finalized consumer products. October 2,

32 One example is an early test with Flexible and Rigid LG OLED light panels at a Baskin Robbins Brown Store. Figure 12: LG s Flexible OLED Light (1) Source: Company Figure 13: LG s Flexible OLED Light (2) October 2,

33 Source: Company This Baskin Robins Brown was opened for the first time on September 1st, This Seoul, Korea business took advantage of LG s latest in flexible and rigid OLED lamps, making a grid of overhead lights turn into a playful expression of the store s intent: spreading joy. This grid begins with a rigid set of lamps and ends with the same size squares twisting and turning as they appear to float away. Figure 14: 300 x 300mm flexible and rigid types of LG OLED light panels at Baskin Robins Brown. October 2,

34 Musings. Source: Company Also of note is the fact that these lamps work without giving off heat. Most lamps using traditional lighting techniques would otherwise present a problem to an ice cream-based business especially at this scale. LG s OLED light panels (rigid and flexible the same) work with heatless technology, allowing the ice cream to remain cold. Figure 15: OLED Ceiling Lights October 2,

35 Musings. Source: Company LG s currently hosted their annual LG OLED Design Competition having held the competition since the year This event began on September 11th and will last until November 30th, LG s OLED Design Competition is endorsed by Red Dot and can be found at LG OLED Light right this minute. October 2,