future of lcd displays manufacturer

Since no backlight is used, the display requires very little energy in order to operate. This means: a lot of money can be saved over time. Think about the costs of a drive thru menu that stays running all year for sixteen whole hours a day. Those costs add up. Can you imagine spending $20k a year – just to power your display? That would cut your profits in a very noticeable way. So, I bet you’d be pretty pleased to find such a low-energy alternative.

Reflective displays really are a unique thing. You don’t have to hide them from the sun. You don’t have to shield your screen with your hand in order to eliminate glare. You don’t have to tilt it at funny angles that cause your neck to throb in pain, just so that you can read what’s on the screen. Funny, because those are our natural reactions whenever LCD and sunlight combine. Not with a reflective display though.

You could almost compare a reflective display to a piece of paper in the way that it becomes more visible when light is shining directly on it. It’s really bizarre to see, and you almost have to witness it in order to wrap your head around it, because it’s totally unlike what you’re used to.

I’ve been in the display industry for the past 17 years, and I never cease to be amazed by the ability of LCD to reinvent itself. Time and again, as alternative display technologies emerge, questions arise about LCD’s future, prompting new developments that defy expectations and demonstrate its versatility.

Over the last 20 years, LCD displays have become thinner and lighter, and have expanded to larger sizes, as well as offering huge increases in screen performance, including resolution, colour, contrast, brightness and refresh rate. The next evolution is set to bring these developments to more products than ever before – the future lies with flexible displays.

Our organic LCD (OLCD) technology makes use of carbon-based, rather than silicon, transistors, allowing us to sidestep the limitations of flat screens and embrace curved surfaces. This novel feature will bring many benefits to both existing and future products, and there are three key areas where our technology stands to make a significant positive impact. The most obvious application for flexible OLCD is as a replacement for glass LCD screens in products – such as tablets, laptops and TVs – that will benefit from thinner, lighter or unbreakable displays. There’s also the potential to make borderless screens without the bezel or border around their edge, which enlarges the usable screen space, as well as simply being more aesthetically pleasing.

Finally, there is the limitless possibility of adding displays to everyday objects or surfaces that can’t make effective use of glass displays. This will introduce new, previously unattainable, functionality into our homes, offices and cars. One particular application that is gaining traction is using OLCD displays on the inside of the A-pillar in your car. Combined with an external camera, you can make the pillar ‘invisible’, increasing visibility and improving safety.

OLCD is set to transform the world around us. Thanks to the existing, low-cost manufacturing supply chain for LCDs, it’s a small step for designers to begin developing the next generation of products that take advantage of the flexibility afforded by this innovative technology.

LCD display technology got the better of plasma display technology in the days of their strong rivalry for dominance. While LCD display remains a force to reckon with in display technology, the competition in the market is getting stiffer by the day with new and improved display technologies coming on board.

It is now the turn of LCD to remain afloat in the screen display market with strong competition from new and emerging display technologies that are promising.

It is no longer news that in 2017, OLED display is a better display technology in some respect when compared to the capabilities of LCD display. It has thinner and higher display quality and less energy consumption potential. The likes of major LCD screen manufacturers like Samsung, LG, and Sharp are applying innovations to stay on in the market with an LCD display improvement.

To ask how much longer it will take for the reign of LCD is to ask if there is still a future left of LCD display technology. Obviously, there is much to still expect from LCD development. It’s not going to the archives just yet.

For future iPhone’s use, Japan Display, a company comprising the likes of Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi, the major supplier of screens for Apple phones has unveiled plans to fight it out with OLED panel production. The approach is to stick with LCD display but with improvement on the existing one. The group plans to manufacture Flexible LCD panels with their technology.

With a move to begin the mass production in 2018, the company is working to adopt plastic layers and not the traditional layer of glass. The panel is hoped to be as flexible and bendable as OLED and good enough for smartphone screen manufacture like those on Samsung’s Galaxy Edge collections.

With the move on LCD Display technology, Apple is already looking in the direction of LCD panels with flexibility features.  According to the officials of Japan Display, smartphone manufacturers are set to adopt bendable LCD for their production for some years ahead. Japan Display is also hopeful of selling the product for use in car dashboards and computers.

With the Chinese government strongly backing the display technology growth in China, the economy of the Chinese is strongly closing up the gap that existed between them and the South Korean market in the manufacture of LCD screens. It is expected that the Chinese market will account for 27% of the global LCD screen production by 2020 from its current 16% production capacity.

Clearly, the future of LCD is still bright even with the emergence of new display technologies like OLED competing strongly. The strategy adopted by Japan display is the right approach to adopt to remain competitive in the LCD display market.

Long-time display manufacturer Samsung Display will likely stop the production of LCD displays this year. A recent report says several factors have influenced the South Korean firm’s decision.

Samsung has been a reputed LCD display manufacturer since 1991. It manufactures panels for its own devices and also works as a supplier for several other Big Tech firms, such as Apple. Its displays are used in virtually all products, ranging from foldable smartphones to televisions and tablets.

Despite the company’s successful business, a recent report from The Korea Times suggests Apple is exiting the LCD production business for good. One of the biggest reasons cited for the decision is the increased competition from Chinese and Taiwanese display manufacturers in the recent past.

Samsung wanted to shut its LCD production late in 2020 and its move was on the cards for a while now. Samsung probably kept its LCD manufacturing facilities operational during the pandemic due to the sudden and unprecedented spike in demand. However, LCD technology has been eclipsed by OLED and QD-OLED technologies on most mainstream devices in the last few years. This is another reason why Samsung will probably shutter the business later this year.

Moreover, research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) believes the average price index of LCD panels measured as 100 in January 2014 will drop down to just 36.6 in September 2022. The figure is indicative of the demand for LCD panels and it plummeted to a record low of 41.5 in April this year. The April figure is a whopping 58 percent lower than the record-high index value of 87 in June 2021 when the pandemic was raging. This reduction in demand and price could also be detrimental to the company’s plans to soldier on producing LCDs.

The report says that in the future, Samsung will remain focused on manufacturing OLED panels and more advanced quantum dot OLED displays. LCD division staffers will likely be transferred to the QD-OLED division. Meanwhile, Samsung Display did not respond to the Korea Times’ request for comment.

In recent years, China and other countries have invested heavily in the research and manufacturing capacity of display technology. Meanwhile, different display technology scenarios, ranging from traditional LCD (liquid crystal display) to rapidly expanding OLED (organic light-emitting diode) and emerging QLED (quantum-dot light-emitting diode), are competing for market dominance. Amidst the trivium strife, OLED, backed by technology leader Apple"s decision to use OLED for its iPhone X, seems to have a better position, yet QLED, despite still having technological obstacles to overcome, has displayed potential advantage in color quality, lower production costs and longer life.

Zhao: We all know display technologies are very important. Currently, there are OLED, QLED and traditional LCD technologies competing with each other. What are their differences and specific advantages? Shall we start from OLED?

Huang: OLED has developed very quickly in recent years. It is better to compare it with traditional LCD if we want to have a clear understanding of its characteristics. In terms of structure, LCD largely consists of three parts: backlight, TFT backplane and cell, or liquid section for display. Different from LCD, OLED lights directly with electricity. Thus, it does not need backlight, but it still needs the TFT backplane to control where to light. Because it is free from backlight, OLED has a thinner body, higher response time, higher color contrast and lower power consumption. Potentially, it may even have a cost advantage over LCD. The biggest breakthrough is its flexible display, which seems very hard to achieve for LCD.

Liao: Actually, there were/are many different types of display technologies, such as CRT (cathode ray tube), PDP (plasma display panel), LCD, LCOS (liquid crystals on silicon), laser display, LED (light-emitting diodes), SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display), FED (filed emission display), OLED, QLED and Micro LED. From display technology lifespan point of view, Micro LED and QLED may be considered as in the introduction phase, OLED is in the growth phase, LCD for both computer and TV is in the maturity phase, but LCD for cellphone is in the decline phase, PDP and CRT are in the elimination phase. Now, LCD products are still dominating the display market while OLED is penetrating the market. As just mentioned by Dr Huang, OLED indeed has some advantages over LCD.

Huang: Despite the apparent technological advantages of OLED over LCD, it is not straightforward for OLED to replace LCD. For example, although both OLED and LCD use the TFT backplane, the OLED’s TFT is much more difficult to be made than that of the voltage-driven LCD because OLED is current-driven. Generally speaking, problems for mass production of display technology can be divided into three categories, namely scientific problems, engineering problems and production problems. The ways and cycles to solve these three kinds of problems are different.

At present, LCD has been relatively mature, while OLED is still in the early stage of industrial explosion. For OLED, there are still many urgent problems to be solved, especially production problems that need to be solved step by step in the process of mass production line. In addition, the capital threshold for both LCD and OLED are very high. Compared with the early development of LCD many years ago, the advancing pace of OLED has been quicker.While in the short term, OLED can hardly compete with LCD in large size screen, how about that people may change their use habit to give up large screen?

Liao: I want to supplement some data. According to the consulting firm HIS Markit, in 2018, the global market value for OLED products will be US$38.5 billion. But in 2020, it will reach US$67 billion, with an average compound annual growth rate of 46%. Another prediction estimates that OLED accounts for 33% of the display market sales, with the remaining 67% by LCD in 2018. But OLED’s market share could reach to 54% in 2020.

Huang: While different sources may have different prediction, the advantage of OLED over LCD in small and medium-sized display screen is clear. In small-sized screen, such as smart watch and smart phone, the penetration rate of OLED is roughly 20% to 30%, which represents certain competitiveness. For large size screen, such as TV, the advancement of OLED [against LCD] may need more time.

Xu: LCD was first proposed in 1968. During its development process, the technology has gradually overcome its own shortcomings and defeated other technologies. What are its remaining flaws? It is widely recognized that LCD is very hard to be made flexible. In addition, LCD does not emit light, so a back light is needed. The trend for display technologies is of course towards lighter and thinner (screen).

But currently, LCD is very mature and economic. It far surpasses OLED, and its picture quality and display contrast do not lag behind. Currently, LCD technology"s main target is head-mounted display (HMD), which means we must work on display resolution. In addition, OLED currently is only appropriate for medium and small-sized screens, but large screen has to rely on LCD. This is why the industry remains investing in the 10.5th generation production line (of LCD).

Xu: While deeply impacted by OLED’s super thin and flexible display, we also need to analyse the insufficiency of OLED. With lighting material being organic, its display life might be shorter. LCD can easily be used for 100 000 hours. The other defense effort by LCD is to develop flexible screen to counterattack the flexible display of OLED. But it is true that big worries exist in LCD industry.

LCD industry can also try other (counterattacking) strategies. We are advantageous in large-sized screen, but how about six or seven years later? While in the short term, OLED can hardly compete with LCD in large size screen, how about that people may change their use habit to give up large screen? People may not watch TV and only takes portable screens.

Some experts working at a market survey institute CCID (China Center for Information Industry Development) predicted that in five to six years, OLED will be very influential in small and medium-sized screen. Similarly, a top executive of BOE Technology said that after five to six years, OLED will counterweigh or even surpass LCD in smaller sizes, but to catch up with LCD, it may need 10 to 15 years.

Xu: Besides LCD, Micro LED (Micro Light-Emitting Diode Display) has evolved for many years, though people"s real attention to the display option was not aroused until May 2014 when Apple acquired US-based Micro LED developer LuxVue Technology. It is expected that Micro LED will be used on wearable digital devices to improve battery"s life and screen brightness.

Micro LED, also called mLED or μLED, is a new display technology. Using a so-called mass transfer technology, Micro LED displays consist of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. It can offer better contrast, response times, very high resolution and energy efficiency. Compared with OLED, it has higher lightening efficiency and longer life span, but its flexible display is inferior to OLED. Compared with LCD, Micro LED has better contrast, response times and energy efficiency. It is widely considered appropriate for wearables, AR/VR, auto display and mini-projector.

However, Micro LED still has some technological bottlenecks in epitaxy, mass transfer, driving circuit, full colorization, and monitoring and repairing. It also has a very high manufacturing cost. In short term, it cannot compete traditional LCD. But as a new generation of display technology after LCD and OLED, Micro LED has received wide attentions and it should enjoy fast commercialization in the coming three to five years.

Peng: It comes to quantum dot. First, QLED TV on market today is a misleading concept. Quantum dots are a class of semiconductor nanocrystals, whose emission wavelength can be continuously tuned because of the so-called quantum confinement effect. Because they are inorganic crystals, quantum dots in display devices are very stable. Also, due to their single crystalline nature, emission color of quantum dots can be extremely pure, which dictates the color quality of display devices.

Interestingly, quantum dots as light-emitting materials are related to both OLED and LCD. The so-called QLED TVs on market are actually quantum-dot enhanced LCD TVs, which use quantum dots to replace the green and red phosphors in LCD’s backlight unit. By doing so, LCD displays greatly improve their color purity, picture quality and potentially energy consumption. The working mechanisms of quantum dots in these enhanced LCD displays is their photoluminescence.

For its relationship with OLED, quantum-dot light-emitting diode (QLED) can in certain sense be considered as electroluminescence devices by replacing the organic light-emitting materials in OLED. Though QLED and OLED have nearly identical structure, they also have noticeable differences. Similar to LCD with quantum-dot backlighting unit, color gamut of QLED is much wider than that of OLED and it is more stable than OLED.

Another big difference between OLED and QLED is their production technology. OLED relies on a high-precision technique called vacuum evaporation with high-resolution mask. QLED cannot be produced in this way because quantum dots as inorganic nanocrystals are very difficult to be vaporized. If QLED is commercially produced, it has to be printed and processed with solution-based technology. You can consider this as a weakness, since the printing electronics at present is far less precision than the vacuum-based technology. However, solution-based processing can also be considered as an advantage, because if the production problem is overcome, it costs much less than the vacuum-based technology applied for OLED. Without considering TFT, investment into an OLED production line often costs tens of billions of yuan but investment for QLED could be just 90–95% less.

Given the relatively low resolution of printing technology, QLED shall be difficult to reach a resolution greater than 300 PPI (pixels per inch) within a few years. Thus, QLED might not be applied for small-sized displays at present and its potential will be medium to large-sized displays.

Zhao: Quantum dots are inorganic nanocrystal, which means that they must be passivated with organic ligands for stability and function. How to solve this problem? Second, can commercial production of quantum dots reach an industrial scale?

Peng: Good questions. Ligand chemistry of quantum dots has developed quickly in the past two to three years. Colloidal stability of inorganic nanocrystals should be said of being solved. We reported in 2016 that one gram of quantum dots can be stably dispersed in one milliliter of organic solution, which is certainly sufficient for printing technology. For the second question, several companies have been able to mass produce quantum dots. At present, all these production volume is built for fabrication of the backlighting units for LCD. It is believed that all high-end TVs from Samsung in 2017 are all LCD TVs with quantum-dot backlighting units. In addition, Nanosys in the United States is also producing quantum dots for LCD TVs. NajingTech at Hangzhou, China demonstrate production capacity to support the Chinese TV makers. To my knowledge, NajingTech is establishing a production line for 10 million sets of color TVs with quantum-dot backlighting units annually.China"s current demands cannot be fully satisfied from the foreign companies. It is also necessary to fulfill the demands of domestic market. That is why China must develop its OLED production capability.

Huang: Based on my understanding of Samsung, the leading Korean player in OLED market, we cannot say it had foresight in the very beginning. Samsung began to invest in AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, a major type of OLED used in the display industry) in about 2003, and did not realize mass production until 2007. Its OLED production reached profitability in 2010. Since then, Samsung gradually secured a market monopoly status.

So, originally, OLED was only one of Samsung"s several alternative technology pathways. But step by step, it achieved an advantageous status in the market and so tended to maintain it by expanding its production capacity.

Also, Samsung has spent considerable time and efforts on the development of the product chain. Twenty or thirty years ago, Japan owned the most complete product chain for display products. But since Samsung entered the field in that time, it has spent huge energies to cultivate upstream and downstream Korean firms. Now the Republic of Korea (ROK) manufacturers began to occupy a large share in the market.

Liao: South Korean manufacturers including Samsung and LG Electronics have controlled 90% of global supplies of medium and small-sized OLED panels. Since Apple began to buy OLED panels from Samsung for its cellphone products, there were no more enough panels shipping to China. Therefore, China"s current demands cannot be fully satisfied from the foreign companies. On the other hand, because China has a huge market for cellphones, it would be necessary to fulfill the demands through domestic efforts. That is why China must develop its OLED production capability.

Huang: The importance of China"s LCD manufacturing is now globally high. Compared with the early stage of LCD development, China"s status in OLED has been dramatically improved. When developing LCD, China has adopted the pattern of introduction-absorption-renovation. Now for OLED, we have a much higher percentage of independent innovation.

Then it is the scale of human resources. One big factory will create several thousand jobs, and it will mobilize a whole production chain, involving thousands of workers. The requirement of supplying these engineers and skilled workers can be fulfilled in China.

Although we cannot say that our advantages triumph over ROK, where Samsung and LG have been dominating the field for many years, we have achieved many significant progresses in developing the material and parts of OLED. We also have high level of innovation in process technology and designs. We already have several major manufacturers, such as Visionox, BOE, EDO and Tianma, which have owned significant technological reserves.

Peng: As mentioned above, there are two ways to apply quantum dots for display, namely photoluminescence in backlightingFor QLED, the three stages of technological development [from science issue to engineering and finally to mass production] have been mingled together at the same time. If one wants to win the competition, it is necessary to invest on all three dimensions.

units for LCD and electroluminescence in QLED. For the photoluminescence applications, the key is quantum-dot materials. China has noticeable advantages in quantum-dot materials.

After I returned to China, NajingTech (co-founded by Peng) purchased all key patents invented by me in the United States under the permission of US government. These patents cover the basic synthesis and processing technologies of quantum dots. NajingTech has already established capability for large-scale production of quantum dots. Comparatively, Korea—represented by Samsung—is the current leading company in all aspects of display industry, which offers great advantages in commercialization of quantum-dot displays. In late 2016, Samsung acquired QD Vision (a leading quantum-dot technology developer based in the United States). In addition, Samsung has invested heavily in purchasing quantum-dot-related patents and in developing the technology.

China is internationally leading in electroluminescence at present. In fact, it was the 2014 Nature publication by a group of scientists from Zhejiang University that proved QLED can reach the stringent requirements for display applications. However, who will become the final winner of the international competition on electroluminescence remains unclear. China"s investment in quantum-dot technology lags far behind US and ROK. Basically, the quantum-dot research has been centered in US for most of its history, and South Korean players have invested heavily along this direction as well.

For electroluminescence, it is very likely to co-exist with OLED for a long period of time. This is so because, in small screen, QLED’s resolution is limited by printing technology.

Peng: If electroluminescence can be successfully achieved with printing, it will be much cheaper, with only about 1/10th cost of OLED. Manufacturers like NajingTech and BOE in China have demonstrated printing displays with quantum dots. At present, QLED does not compete with OLED directly, given its market in small-sized screen. A while ago, Dr. Huang mentioned three stages of technological development, from science issue to engineering and finally to mass production. For QLED, the three stages have been mingled together at the same time. If one wants to win the competition, it is necessary to invest on all three dimensions.

Huang: When OLED was compared with LCD in the past, lots of advantages of OLED were highlighted, such as high color gamut, high contrast and high response speed and so on. But above advantages would be difficult to be the overwhelming superiority to make the consumers to choose replacement.

It seems to be possible that the flexible display will eventually lead a killer advantage. I think QLED will also face similar situation. What is its real advantage if it is compared with OLED or LCD? For QLED, it seems to have been difficult to find the advantage in small screen. Dr. Peng has suggested its advantage lies in medium-sized screen, but what is its uniqueness?

Peng: The two types of key advantages of QLED are discussed above. One, QLED is based on solution-based printing technology, which is low cost and high yield. Two, quantum-dot emitters vender QLED with a large color gamut, high picture quality and superior device lifetime. Medium-sized screen is easiest for the coming QLED technologies but QLED for large screen is probably a reasonable extension afterwards.

Huang: But customers may not accept only better wider color range if they need to pay more money for this. I would suggest QLED consider the changes in color standards, such as the newly released BT2020 (defining high-definition 4 K TV), and new unique applications which cannot be satisfied by other technologies. The future of QLED seems also relying on the maturity of printing technology.

Peng: New standard (BT2020) certainly helps QLED, given BT2020 meaning a broad color gamut. Among the technologies discussed today, quantum-dot displays in either form are the only ones that can satisfy BT2020 without any optical compensation. In addition, studies found that the picture quality of display is highly associated with color gamut. It is correct that the maturity of printing technology plays an important role in the development of QLED. The current printing technology is ready for medium-sized screen and should be able to be extended to large-sized screen without much trouble.

Xu: For QLED to become a dominant technology, it is still difficult. In its development process, OLED precedes it and there are other rivaling technologies following. While we know owning the foundational patents and core technologies of QLED can make you a good position, holding core technologies alone cannot ensure you to become a mainstream technology. The government"s investment in such key technologies after all is small as compared with industry and cannot decide QLED to become mainstream technology.

Peng: Domestic industry sector has begun to invest in these future technologies. For example, NajingTech has invested about 400 million yuan ($65 million) in QLED, primarily in electroluminescence. There are some leading domestic players having invested into the field. Yes, this is far from enough. For example, there are few domestic companies investing R&D of printing technologies. Our printing equipment is primarily made by the US, European and Japan players. I think this is also a chance for China (to develop the printing technologies).

Xu: Our industry wants to collaborate with universities and research institutes to develop kernel innovative technologies. Currently they heavily rely on imported equipment. A stronger industry-academics collaboration should help solve some of the problems.

Liao: Due to their lack of kernel technologies, Chinese OLED panel manufacturers heavily rely on investments to improve their market competitiveness. But this may cause the overheated investment in the OLED industry. In recent years, China has already imported quite a few new OLED production lines with the total cost of about 450 billion yuan (US$71.5 billion).Lots of advantages of OLED over LCD were highlighted, such as high color gamut, high contrast and high response speed and so on …. It seems to be possible that the flexible display will eventually lead a killer advantage.

The short of talent human resources perhaps is another issue to influence the fast expansion of the industry domestically. For an example, BOE alone demands more than 1000 new engineers last year. However, the domestic universities certainly cannot fulfill this requirement for specially trained OLED working forces currently. A major problem is the training is not implemented in accordance with industry demands but surrounding academic papers.

Huang: The talent training in ROK is very different. In Korea, many doctoral students are doing almost the same thing in universities or research institutes as they do in large enterprises, which is very helpful for them to get started quickly after entering the company. On the other hand, many professors of universities or research institutes have working experience of large enterprises, which makes universities better understand the demand of industry.

Liao: However, Chinese researchers’ priority pursuit of papers is in disjunction from industry demand. Majority of people (at universities) who are working on organic optoelectronics are more interested in the fields of QLED, organic solar cells, perovskite solar cells and thin-film transistors because they are trendy fields and have more chances to publish research papers. On the other hand, many studies that are essential to solve industry"s problems, such as developing domestic versions of equipment, are not so essential for paper publication, so that faculty and students shed from them.

Xu: It is understandable. Students do not want to work on the applications too much because they need to publish papers to graduate. Universities also demand short-term research outcomes. A possible solution is to set up an industry-academics sharing platform for professionals and resources from the two sides to move to each other. Academics should develop truly original basic research. Industry wants to collaborate with professors owning such original innovative research.

Zhao: Today there are really good observations, discussions and suggestions. The industry-academics-research collaboration is crucial to the future of China"s display technologies. We all should work hard on this.

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As consumers expectations for televisions increase, panel makers are utilizing technology and process improvements to design brighter, higher resolution, and larger displays.

For example, panel makers are economically achieving 8K resolution with backplanes that seemed impossible only a few years ago, such as oxide TFTs. And to improve the color and light output of LCD TVs, panel makers are using increasingly advanced quantum dot films to augment traditional LCD designs, as seen in QLED sets.

In the past few years, the global center of LCD panel manufacturing has shifted from Korea to China. The shift was somewhat expedited because of COVID-19, but this dynamic did not happen overnight.

Korean panel manufacturers adjusted to industry and macroeconomic dynamics by sourcing LCD panels from other locations and turning their resources toward next-generation display technologies.

Ultimately, what drives end-market demand drives glass demand – which is what we at Corning are focused on. As we continue to expand glass capacity, with supply agreements for three out of four announced Gen 10.5 plants, Corning is well positioned to support our customers’ market growth.

In January 2010, Taiwanese AU Optronics Corporation (AUO) announced that it had acquired assets from Sony"s FET and FET Japan, including "patents, know-how, inventions, and relevant equipment related to FED technology and materials".Nikkei reported that AUO plans to start mass production of FED panels in the fourth quarter of 2011, however AUO commented that the technology is still in the research stage and there are no plans to begin mass production at this moment.

IMOD displays are now available in the commercial marketplace. QMT"s displays, using IMOD technology, are found in the Acoustic Research ARWH1 Stereo Bluetooth headset device, the Showcare Monitoring system (Korea), the Hisense C108,Freestyle Audio and Skullcandy. In the mobile phone marketplace, Taiwanese manufacturers Inventec and Cal-Comp have announced phones with Mirasol displays, and LG claims to be developing "one or more" handsets using Mirasol technology. These products all have only 2-color (black plus one other) "bi-chromic" displays. UniPixel"s TMOS and Pixtronix"s DMS display technologies utilize vertically and horizontally moving MEMS structures to modulate a backlight, respectively.

The technology is still in its nascent stages, and the project is unusual for Microsoft, which is not in the display business. There is a possibility that Microsoft will collaborate with a display manufacturer, but commercial production will not begin until at least 2013.

Although MicroLED displays have not been mass-produced for home use, after pioneering the technology in 2012,China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSoT) demonstrated a 3.3" transparent microLED display with around 45% transparency, also co-developed with PlayNitride.Plessey Semiconductors Ltd demonstrated a GaN-on-Silicon wafer to CMOS backplane wafer bonded native Blue monochrome 0.7" active-matrix microLED display with an 8-micron pixel pitch.Ostendo Technologies, Inc. demonstrated a vertically integrated LED that can emit light from red to blue, including white – from a monolithic InGaN-based LED device.

Many expect that quantum dot display technology can compete or even replace liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in near future, including the desktop and notebook computer spaces and televisions. These initial applications alone represent more than a $8-billion addressable market by 2023 for quantum dot-based components. Other than display applications, several companies are manufacturing QD-LED light bulbs; these promise greater energy efficiency and longer lifetime.

Here at Phoenix Display, we talk about LCD displays every day. With LCDs being such a big part of our daily lives, we thought it would be useful to explore the history of this important technology and where we see it going in the future.

In 1973, Sharp Corporation made use of LCD displays in calculators. Shortly after, the company followed BBC’s lead and mass produced TN LCD displays for watches in 1975.

1980s. After wristwatches came televisions (TVs), with the first color LCD TVs being developed as handheld TVs in Japan. In 1982, Seiko Epson released the first LCD TV, the Epson TV Watch, a wristwatch equipped with a small active-matrix LCD TV.

1990s. The 90s gave way to technology acceleration in the LCD space. Through multiple breakthroughs, researchers and inventors were able to improve contrast and viewing angles, as well as bring costs down.

2000s. After 30+ years of competition, LCD technology surpassed longstanding CRTs. Namely, in 2007, LCD TVs could claim better image quality than CRT-based TVs. Subsequently, in the fourth quarter of 2007,

Next, let’s take a brief look at how the technology works. Essentially, the LCD glass is just a light valve whose sole purpose is to either block light or allow light to go through it. We go into greater details in our post,

It accomplishes this simple task through the liquid crystal fluid, which is a fluid that’s rotated in a steady natural state between two pieces of glass. This rotation, when combined with front and rear polarizers, allows the light to be either transmitted through the glass or blocked. This light blocking state is changed when a voltage is applied to LC fluid which stops the light’s rotation.

Finally, let’s look at the LCD display landscape in the near future. There’s three big areas that are being explored with LCD displays: Flexible displays, 3D displays, and reel-to-reel manufacturing.

Flexible Displays. Even now, you’re probably hearing buzz about flexible displays, which are bendable displays that are virtually shatterproof and unbreakable.

Development has been moving forward with these displays in both military and industry. Funding by the military makes sense given that flexible displays won’t break like traditional displays, providing for numerous field applications that require a more durable display.

In addition, there are plenty of industrial applications that would benefit from flexible displays, such as products that could use displays that wrap around objects.

3D Displays. With 3D being such a popular technology, it’s no surprise there’s activity in this space. These displays are capable of conveying depth perception to viewers, which provides for a more realistic user experience.

Specifically, 3D displays with passive glasses (or no glasses) remove the requirement for syncing up with more expensive, active, shutter-based glasses. Naturally, this will lead to cost savings.

In contrast, reel-to-reel manufacturing enables the continuous building of glass panels. This will represent a dramatic reduction in costs, which can be passed along to the customer and allow for more competitive pricing.

With its latest round of funding, Azumo finally purchased its own equipment to produce optical films that are just one-twentieth of a millimeter thick. As applied to a huge variety of devices and surfaces, Azumo’s films are helping customers work in a variety of challenging lighting conditions—and saving them lots of energy and money in doing so.

But Casper and Azumo are walking their technology through one potential new type of customer after another with a twist: He doesn’t mind a lot of trial and error as Azumo introduces its technology and capabilities to customers.

“You can’t be afraid to just get your product out in front of customers even if it’s not fully baked,” Casper told Chief Executive.“So many companies get scared to have something out there for feedback because it’s about their job, or their reputation. But more often than not, people want to give feedback and test your product, and that’s been the best way for us to innovate. This approach is very common in software but not as much in hardware.

“It’s about not being afraid to pivot. The best-laid plans are good until you start the battle. But we’ve found success building our entire business model off of using sample products.”

Casper takes this approach because of his confidence in the fundamental appeal of Azumo technology. He figures customers will see it, too, and together his company and theirs just need to figure out the right ways to apply it.

“The way a typical LCD works is backlighting,” Casper explained.“When you turn your phone on and it starts glowing, you’re seeing light behind the LCD shining through it. But an LCD only allows 7 percent of the light through the pixels; the other 93 percent of that light is completely wasted as energy and heat. It’s the No. 1 reason why the battery dies in your phone.”

Plus, he noted, backlit LCDs fight the sun and lose. In direct sunlight, these displays are difficult to see and quickly drain the battery. Such displays work best in what Casper called “unrealistic pitch-black conditions,” not on devices that need to work in various lighting conditions, including outdoors and in bright-light environments.

Casper worked at 3M and as a consultant before enrolling to earn an MBA at Northwestern University. At the same time, he was developing and getting funding for his technology that uses front lighting in a “reflective” method by injecting light into ultra-thin material that sits on the front surface of a display.

First, Azumo partnered with Sharp for the Japanese electronics giant’s outdoor industrial applications. Then, two years ago, Azumo agreed with a large LCD manufacturer to produce tablets based on its front-lighting technology.

As a manufacturer, Azumo has benefited from the strong Midwestern legacy of optical film production and roll-to-roll printing. Future applications will include a deal that Azumo has with a major automotive company to provide front-lit displays via its thin films that can be applied to just about any surface in the car, moving the conveyance of information to driver and passengers away from just the dashboard to windows, the center console and elsewhere.

Over the years, many high-tech screen technologies have come and gone. From traditional tube televisions to projectors, plasma screens to LCD and now oLEDs, the consumer market has seen all manner of screen formats, definitions, and materials.

Usually, these factors are measured as single percentage point differences–until now. The advent of MicroLED technology promises to radically redefine how screens are made, what specs can be packed into screens of all different sizes, and the level of resolution LED screens are capable of.

MicroLED technology is, at least in name, relatively straightforward. Engineers have created dramatically smaller Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and crammed more of them onto the same surface area than previous generations of LED screens. Millions more.

So, microLEDs are a multifaceted improvement in the technology that links LEDs and images produced on a screen. MicroLEDs shrink the size of LEDs by a lot, which means more of them can fill the same space previously occupied by one diode.

This increases resolving power and ability to render detail, but comes at the expense of brightness. That has historically been the sticking point for shrinking LEDs in screen applications. Making microLEDs as bright as their traditional counterparts requires more power, greater diode efficiency, or both. Cranking more energy into more, smaller LEDs means more heat, greater battery drain, and more manufacturing complexity.

To-date, there’s been a limit to how small manufacturers could make LED boards, not only because of the size of diodes, but because of the ‘pitch’ size, which is the space between each LED and what that spacing means for the screen’s resolution.

Hardware technology and manufacturing processes are often limiting factors, because LEDs could only be made so small and mounted to circuitry of a certain size and efficiency. Instead of the few dozen yellow-blue traditional LEDs in today’s LED screens, microLED screens contain millions of LEDs, or one for each pixel.

This number is then tripled, because microLED screens utilize red, green, and blue LEDs. Each RGB trio delivers one ‘pixel,’ which you can imagine adds up quickly on a TV-sized 1080p screen. Thousands of pixels comprise individual modules, and multiple modules make up a given screen.

The first MicroLED TV to debut is Samsung’s ‘The Wall,’ a frameless, modular screen that offers industry-leading resolution and an industry-first modular capability that could allow end users to expand their TVs as applications change.

At CES 2018, Jonghee Han, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, said, “At Samsung, we are dedicated to providing consumers with a wide range of cutting-edge screen experiences. As the world’s first consumer modular MicroLED television, ‘The Wall’ represents another breakthrough. It can transform into any size, and delivers incredible brightness, color gamut, color volume and black levels. We’re excited about this next step along our roadmap to the future of screen technology, and the remarkable viewing experience it offers to consumers.”

These points highlight many of the promising breakthroughs and benefits of microLED technology, from the ability to deliver brightness and resolution and clearly defined black levels, all issues with generations of plasma and LED HD TVs.

Even most of today’s LED screens are actually hybrid LCD/LED screens that use one element (Liquid Crystal Diodes) to create the picture and another (the LEDs behind them) to backlight the screen.

In essence, this is an extremely high-tech take on old projector TV screens, and they come with their own set of problems, including image distortion or blackout from wide viewing angles, light bleed in dark sections of the screen, thick screens that require two different layers, and limitations on maximum brightness due to the pass-through nature of the screen element.

The Samsung Wall is a massive screen, making its debut in 120-inch format. It’s easy to think that this was simply a case of wanting to make a splash with a large-scale screen at a major trade show, but there is a more complicated backstory.

The manufacturer has not mastered microLED technology at smaller screen sizes. The complications surrounding scale of LEDs, power and heat generation, and cost and complexity mean that for now microLED is only being presented as a solution for massive, high-end screens. However, like many other technologies, what starts as a premium niche product may soon become the norm.

It has been widely reported that Apple is working on its own microLED display research, and on the opposite end of the spectrum. Apple believes that microLEDs could make future iPhones even thinner and brighter than the latest-generation organic LED (OLED) displays that recently replaced LCD screens. MicroLEDs are currently regarded as the sort of futuristic technology that OLEDs were considered three to five years ago.

It also means they are limited in maximum brightness as materials cannot be pushed further; similarly, extreme applications like always-on displays suffer from burn-in similar to early plasma screens.

The future of screen technology is almost certainly MicroLEDs. As with every cutting-edge technology, there is a learning curve for manufacturers as materials science and manufacturing processes struggle to catch up to the theoretical potential of this technology.

Once manufacturing potential catches up to the rendering benefits of microLEDs, the leap from OLED to microLED could be rapid, leaving OLEDs behind as a single-generation technology that served as an interesting bridge to a new standard for screens from smartphones to televisions.

As with all technological advances, if the first few products are successful, the floodgates will soon open. Combined with more efficient batteries, microLEDs will soon power all screen-dominated devices, bringing stunning resolution and brightness from the palm of your hand to filling an entire wall in your home.

In the first part of this feature on the future of displays, we outlined some of the emerging technologies set to have an impact. Here manufacturers make the case for the improvement of existing formats and remark on the increase in creativity of content, unusual shapes and multi-screen formations.

Thomas Issa, corporate and education solution marketing manager for Sony Professional Solutions Europe suggests that there is still a lot of life left in the current types of display. “While there are some superb solutions on the market already, both LED and LCD technologies still have a lot of room to grow before we need to start thinking about the next big innovations. There is scope for a number of advances: from improving resolution and picture quality, to creating new designs with reduced bezels, to increasing their overall reliability. So, while we will see some impressive innovations in the short time, the future still very much belongs to new and improved iterations of LED and LCD technologies.

“Even more important than how new and innovative the technology is, is whether it actually meets the needs of the end-users. There is a lot of demand for display integration with wider AV solutions at the moment, which is driving demand for versatility in display solutions these days, whether we’re talking about a corporate environment and meeting rooms, or an education setting like lecture theatres in universities.”

Applications and content are crucial to the success of every digital screen-based communication campaign or installation. “Content has also become a vital part of in-house displays, across all sectors,” says Nigel Roberts, IT solutions sales head for LG Electronics UK Business Solutions. “Applications have advanced accordingly, like our WebOS platform, which allows marketing teams to quickly generate responsive online campaigns that can now remotely sync almost immediately with the displays, keeping the brand on message and engaging up to the minute rather than the weekly rotation.”

The prevalence of screens throughout our lives and in almost every conceivable location has led us to ignore them to a great extent, something that manufacturers and owners are fighting against by installing screens in less traditional places. Roberts: “The 16:9 ratio will be the norm for corporate applications so that BYOD can be enabled rapidly and displays can quickly be used as a standard format for all content from every user. However with the increase in creativity of content, unusual shapes and multi-screen formations are growing in popularity and impact. There is strong uptake for our UltraStretch and Open Frame OLED technologies, both of which encourage creative application and placing of the displays, creating real impact for the end user.”

Large LED displays are increasingly found in public areas and can be moulded to suit the available space or structure – whether flat, curved or irregular – allowing even more creativity in application and gaining attention from viewers. LED pitch is reducing every year, enabling LED matrix displays to be used in a wider range of applications and locations. It is a business that has accelerated rapidly, registering sales last year of over $5.3 billion. “The introduction of MicroLED by Sony in 2016 caused a great stir of excitement in the industry, but it was thought to be a measure of what was possible, not what was viable in the near term,” comments Chris McIntyre-Brown, associate director at Futuresource Consulting. “However, this year has seen far more buzz around new chip-on-board (COB) solutions, MiniLED and glue-on-board. All offer different benefits, but it is really the potential of MiniLED, with a pixel pitch of 100 micrometers or less, that has the industry excited. Troublingly though, are the lack of standards around MiniLED, MicroLED and indeed the LED industry as a whole. This is creating confusion, and that certainly needs to be addressed.”

As LED screens take a more prominent place in the mainstream display market, large corporations are installing LED displays in areas which could previously only accommodate projection. This is resulting in new manufacturing techniques, such as COB, to cater for changing requirements, including increased resolution and the creation of more robust displays for high footfall locations.

“There is a clear trend is the move away from LCD and plasma technology, and towards LED becoming the technology at the heart of displays in the next decade,” believes Paul Brown, VP sales UK, at SiliconCore Technology. “LED will be ubiquitous across all verticals, and as the price point comes down and quality rises, the application horizon will widen. Command and control rooms are a major area of change at the moment with the removal of tiled displays and rear projection in favour of LED displays. We expect to see this pick up pace over the coming year. Indoor retail and public areas in which projection and seamed videowalls will most commonly be replaced by seamless LED displays.

“To meet this demand, we have developed technology over the last three years that addresses the durability issues found in LED displays. This year we launched LISA, LED in Silicon Array, which introduces a unique process in manufacturing, as the next step forward for fine pixel pitch displays. It will become standard across our range, and we believe, over time the industry standard. Common Cathode technology, which we patented over five years ago, is also taking off as it becomes more widely accepted as a method of creating more power-efficient LED technology.”

Further examples of COB technology that are already commercially available are the new Crystal LED range from Sony and the LED LiFT range from NEC. With each LED taking up just 0.003sqmm in a pixel of 1.4sqmm, it is possible to create very high resolution displays in small overall sizes, giving them greater scope for use in control rooms, retailing, product design studios and other applications that traditionally needed LCD displays or projectors. The large black area around each chip contributes greatly to a highly acceptable contrast level of 1,000,000:1. “Bringing new technologies to market is ultimately about offering customers choice. A retailer’s requirements for signage and display solutions differs from those of a design studio, post-production house or sports venue, for example,” explains Issa. “Based on individual, bezel-less display units, organisations can create a display tailored to their exact specifications.”

Futureproof pathsIt is notoriously difficult to predict the future in the AV world in the face of rapid technological evolution and the frequent introduction of newer, better, solutions to meet an ever-widening range of applications. Integrators need to be conversant with all types of display technologies and be able to guide and advise their customers in selecting the best system for them today, as well as ensuring there is a futureproof path to upgrade and develop as the technology improves even further.

This, Thomas Walter, section manager strategic product marketing, NEC Display Solutions Europe, believes, is why: “System integrators who offer a wide choice of technologies from projection, LCD-based displays to direct view LED will be the ones that can holistically serve their customers and will win in the long run with a consultative expert approach. To get to this point needs training and expertise and help by providing intense training to our partners in order to give them the necessary technical skill and knowledge to gain competitive advantage.”

Those integrators must also be conversant in associated IT technologies and networking if they are to meet the complexities and demands of a rapidly changing world. There is a trend toward integrated displays that no longer require external media players to function and as screens become more modular and adaptable new commercial opportunities will open up.

Purchasing models are also changing, as buyers move toward leased service provision rather than capital purchase wherever possible. Data storage, software and even remote processing are already offered on a product-as-a-service model and hardware is increasingly offered that way too. Integrators and manufacturers need to be able to respond to client requests to provide leased equipment accompanied by ongoing support, maintenance and upgrade contracts that ensure the end customer, and hence the viewer, is always supplied with the latest and greatest technology and solutions.

However, the biggest changes in the AV market will be driven by the changing work and leisure habits of today’s workers, driven by the expectations of today’s consumers for a certain quality of technology experience. With the consumer market moving so rapidly, the AV market needs to keep pushing the boundaries and innovating to stay relevant.

The integration of user interfaces, touch screens, combined with LCD displays is becoming increasingly popular. It is estimated that touch screen revenue will reach $16 billion in 2012, and nearly double in six years, reaching $31.9 billion by 2018.

Much of this demand is driven by the cell phone and tablet market, but is expanding into other areas such as laptop computers, HVAC, Automotive, Home automation and Security systems.

LCD Touch panel technology is not limited to older technologies such as resistive and capacitive; but has moved into new areas that integrate IR and acoustic waves.

But what does the future of LCD touch panels hold? One new touch panel technology makes use of a capacitive sensor system with the ability to differentiate between users.

A team of researchers working at Disney Research, yes Mickey Mouse, is funding research on Human-Computer Interactions. Developers are making use of a technique called swept frequency capacitive sensing. The basic idea is that the interface measures the impedance of each user, with respect to ground, through a range of AC frequencies. The system is then able to differentiate which user is making contact with the touch panel.

Although this technology is not yet in production, the uses of it could be integrated into such industries as access control, time and attendance, multi-player games and even automotive.

One idea would be to integrate the new technology into your company’s software. The program would contain logic able to identify the user through the touch screen. It would then allow each user specific access to specific menus and options. The warehouse person could access shipping and receiving menus only, while accounting would access aging reports, chart of accounts and checking balances. The controller or owner of the company would have full access to all menus. One advantage of this is the elimination of passwords.

The automotive industry could allow user preferences to be unique to each driver. When driver “A” touches the color monitor located on the dashboard; the automobile would automatically adjust radio station selections, dashboard brightness and blue tooth settings that are unique to driver “A”. The automobile’s configuration would change to meet the needs of driver B or C as soon as the touch screen identifies the new driver.

With the release of Windows 8 and its ability to interface with touch panel technology, home computers could be configured to allow limited access to specific programs and web pages for children and full unlimited access for adults.

Although this option is still in the future, there may be applications in your industry that would benefit from the ability to identify which user is accessing the touch panel.

Most modern computer monitors, and even televisions, have an edge-lit LCD display that’s fundamentally similar to the first such displays sold decades ago, but that’s not where the future is headed. The twin threats of Mini-LED and OLED want to conquer the world of PC displays for themselves.

Which will win, and where is the future headed? I spoke with Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, and David Wyatt, CTO of Pixel Display (and inventor of Nvidia G-Sync), for the inside scoop.

Modern OLED displays rarely exceed 1,000 nits of brightness, and when they do, are incapable of sustaining it. LG’s C9 OLED television, for example, can’t sustain a peak brightness above 160 nits (according to testing by Rtings). Mini-LED displays like Apple’s Liquid Retina XDR, Samsung’s Odyssey Neo G9, and Samsung’s QN90A television can hit peak brightness well above 1,000 nits and sustain at least 600 nits.

Wyatt points to this as a key advantage. The best HDR standards call for up to 10,000 nits of brightness. Current consumer Mini-LED displays don’t achieve this, but it’s possible future displays will.

And Micro-LED, which uses individual LEDs as per-pixel lighting elements, can reach even greater heights. Wyatt says his company’s VividColor NanoBright technology will be capable of reaching up to one million nits.

Such brightness is not necessary for computer monitors or home televisions and instead targets demanding niche components, such as avionics displays. Still, it hints that we’ve only seen a sliver of HDR’s real potential – and that Mini-LED and Micro-LED, not OLED, will lead the charge.

OLED’s greatest strength is the opposite of Mini-LED’s incredible brightness. The self-emissive nature of OLED means each pixel can be turned on or off individually, providing a deep, inky, perfect black level.

“Mini-LED has clear advantages in sources of supply and brightness,” Young said in an email, “but OLEDs have advantages in regards to contrast, particularly off-axis contrast, response times, and no halo effect.” The “halo effect,” also known as blooming, is the halo of luminance that often surrounds bright objects on a Mini-LED display.

The advantages of OLED add up to superior contrast and depth. You