Small OLED performance in the second quarter of 2021

According to the market track on small OLED market performance of less than 10 inches published by UBI Research, Revenue and shipments in the second quarter were about $9.5 billion and 161.7 million units, respectively. QoQ(Quarter over Quarter) revenue and shipments decreased by -14.0% and -5.8%, respectively. Compared to the year over year (YoY), Revenue and shipments increased by 70.1% and 56.3%, respectively.

In 3Q, Samsung Display’s 6G LTPO TFT line capacity is expected to be increased to 60K units. LG Display decided to invest $15,000 in the LTPO TFT line for P6 ph3. The expected equipment installation time is the second quarter of 2022. BOE’s B15, which reviewed the investment in the 6G flexible OLED line, was changed to the 8.5G line for IT manufacturing. Revenue and shipments are expected to increase in the second half of 2021 with the mass production of Apple’s iPhone 13.

Medium & Large OLED performance in the second quarter of 2021

UBI Research has published a market track on the market performance of 10-inch and larger OLEDs. Applications include TVs, monitors, laptops, and tablet PCs.

According to UBI Research’s Medium & Large OLED market track, the total revenue in the second quarter were about $1.5 billion, which is a 6.5% (QoQ) increase from the previous quarter and 129.6% in the same quarter of the previous year (YoY). In the second quarter, shipments totaled 5.1 million units, an increase of -3.6% (QoQ) and 40.4% (YoY). Samsung Display’s notebook OLED shipments in the second quarter were about 900K units. LG Display shipped 1.8 million TV panels in the second quarter of 2021.

Although there were concerns about a decrease in the utilization rate of the rigid OLED line due to the decrease in OLED for smartphones sold to Samsung Electronics, the A2 line is gradually being converted to production of OLED for laptops due to the increase in rigid OLED demand. In the first half of the year, two 12K lines were put into OLED production for notebooks, and in the second half, it is planned to increase to three or four lines.

Apple’s iPad, which will be mass-produced by Samsung Display from the end of the year, will use LTPO TFT and hybrid OLED (rigid substrate + TFE).

Samsung Display begins mass production of QD-OLED in the fourth quarter of 2021

Samsung Display begins mass production of QD-OLED in the fourth quarter of 2021, a new growth opportunity in the large OLED market

Samsung Display is planning to start mass production of QD-OLED in earnest from the fourth quarter of 2021. The mass production scale is 8.5G 30K/month, and it is expected to be mass-produced mainly for 65-inch 4K resolution panels. Since three 65-inch panels can be produced in the 8.5th generation, about 1 million panels are expected to be mass-produced annually.

At the closing seminar held in the second half of 2020, UBI Research predicted that Samsung Display’s QD-OLED will produce 200,000 units in 2021, 600,000 units in 2022, and 800,000 units in 2025. However, as Samsung Display announced in its second quarter conference call that it will also introduce a monitor product with a smaller QD display than a TV, production is expected to vary depending on the proportion of products..

If mass production begins in the fourth quarter, QD-OLED TV will be unveiled for the first time at the CES 2022 exhibition held in Las Vegas in 2022, and the product is expected to be officially released in the first half of the year.

Joo-seon Choi, president of Samsung Display, emphasized in a recently published sustainability report that “If QD displays are commercialized, new growth opportunities will be created in the large display industry, which has been stagnant for a long time.”

Attention is paid to how much influence Samsung Display’s QD-OLED mass production will have in the large OLED market led by LG Display.

<Expected structure of QD-OLED, Source: UBI Research>

QNED (quantum dot nano-rod LED) structure and core technology

Samsung Display research center is accelerating the development of QNED as the next-generation display following OLED.

The reason Samsung Display is developing QNED as part of its large-size display business is that it is the only display that can produce the image quality that Samsung Display’s biggest customer, Samsung Electronics, can satisfy.

Samsung Electronics’ TV business direction, which has the world’s No. 1 TV market share, is to use QD to make color gamut better than OLED, and to use a display that can maximize HDR performance with high luminance and excellent gradation characteristics on a bright screen.

The only display that can satisfy the needs of Samsung Electronics is QNED.

QNED is a self-luminous display and because it uses QD, it has the best color gamut, HDR, luminance, contrast ratio, and motion blur, etc., and is a product expected by Samsung Electronics.

It can be confirmed by the structure that QNED is the display with the best characteristics. QNED consists of a pixel layer with a nano-rod LED on the TFT structure of 3T1C used in large OLEDs, and a color conversion layer consisting of QD and CF (color filter) on top.

In OLED, electrodes (cathode and anode) and electrode line for transmitting a signal to a pixel are located above and below the light emitting material, whereas in QNED, both the signal transmitting electrode (pixel electrode) and electrode line are located on the same plane. In addition to the pixel electrode, the QNED additionally includes a reflective electrode to increase light output efficiency. The pixel electrode serves as an alignment electrode for aligning the nano-rod LED.

< QNED section structure >

< QNED pixel structure >

< QNED pixel planar structure >

Looking at the planar structure of a QNED pixel, a plurality of pixel electrodes are connected in series in one pixel, and a nano-rod LED is positioned between the pixel electrodes. The pixel electrode is on the pixel wall (PW) formed of an insulating material, and each pixel is surrounded by a bank (BNK) to separate regions.

 

The core technology of QNED is driving technology and sensing technology.

The driving technology includes a driving technique for aligning nano-rod LEDs and a driving technique for uniformly controlling pixels that may have a deviation in the number of nano-rod LEDs. The alignment circuit includes switching elements for each pixel, and the switching element applies an alignment signal to the pixel. The alignment state of the nano-rod LED is determined depending on which alignment signal is given to each pixel.

< Drive circuit for alignment >

< Sensing transistor for checking alignment >

The most important driving technology is a technology that supplies current to each pixel so that the luminance can be uniform across the entire screen even if the number of nano-rod LEDs per pixel is different. It is a method of controlling each pixel based on the data read from the sensing transistor.

[QNED Technology Completion Analysis Report] details the sensing transistor, sensing wiring, and sensing signals that can check the nano-rod LED alignment status on the panel.

 

As sensing technology, there are sensing technology (sensing transistor) designed inside QNED and sensing technology used in QNED manufacturing. The sensing technology used to manufacture QNEDs is inherent in inkjet systems. There are three sensing technologies in the inkjet system: the number of nano-rod LEDs in the ink and the viscosity analysis of the solvent, the analysis of the number of nano-rod LEDs sprayed on the panel, and the analysis of the nano-rod LED alignment state.

< Inkjet system configuration >

QNED has already proven that 4K 65 inches can be driven two years ago. Samsung Display is concentrating on finishing work to secure the screen uniformity of QNED.