| | | LG Display starts investing in OLED for Apple iPad
kipost.net
LG Display is starting to invest in a production line for'iPad', the next-generation food in the small and medium-sized OLED (organic light-emitting diode) business. To this end, it plans to conduct a one-point greeting as early as next month.
The OLED for iPad is expected to introduce technologies that are differentiated from the existing ones in that it has a larger panel area and a longer lifespan compared to the OLED for smartphones.
LG Display plans to invest in small and medium-sized OLED production lines for IT panels such as iPads at the P10 plant in Paju, Gyeonggi-do. The investment scale is 2 lines: 1 line at the level of 15,000 sheets per month and 1 line at the level of 7500 sheets per month based on the input of 6 generation (1500 ? X 1850 ?) originals.
To this end, it is known that LG Display will appoint Kim Tae-seung, in charge of mobile panel technology, as the investment project site for the new P10 line as early as in April. Executive Vice President Kim Tae-seung has been regarded as an expert in small and medium-sized OLED deposition and encapsulation processes since the days of Samsung Display, and he also led the construction of an Apple exclusive line (Paju E6) that LG Display previously invested.
The timing of investment, such as bringing in equipment, is flexible, but taking into account the equipment production schedule, it is not expected that it will be easy to bring it in at the end of next year, even as early as possible. The manufacturing period of Canon Doki's evaporation equipment is usually one year, but considering the design review (DR) meeting period that determines the equipment specifications in advance, it takes a total of one year and six months. It is reported that LG Display has not yet started a DR meeting with Canon Doki.
The investment amount is about 3 trillion won (15,000 sheets 2 trillion won + 7500 sheets 1 trillion won) for OLED for smartphones. However, this time, as the'two-stack layer' technology is applied to the OLED for iPad, the scale of investment is expected to increase significantly.
Two-stack layer refers to a technology in which subpixel layers that emit red, green, and blue light in OLED are stacked in two layers. If two red, green, and blue layers are overlapped, bright light can be emitted without passing a large current to each layer. Rather than using one light at the maximum brightness, it is the same thing as if you use two lights at the proper brightness, you can use it longer. By reducing the load applied to each sub-pixel, the device life is increased.
According to what LG Display announced at the Information Display Society (IMID) in 2018, applying the two-stack layer technology increases the luminous efficiency by 1.5 to 2 times and the device life to more than 4 times. LG Display developed the two-stack layer OLED technology for OLEDs for automobiles that require a long life, but this time, it is expected to be introduced first in the production of OLEDs for iPads.
A representative of a display equipment company said, "LG Display is in a hurry to this investment time as much as possible," and said, "As the direction has been set, it will not take time to execute personnel and investments."
Reduction of production cost is key
As the original red, green, and blue subpixels, which are one layer, must be stacked in two layers, an increase in investment and production costs is inevitable. In particular, in the most important deposition process, the common layer and the light-emitting layer must be raised twice, so all materials and parts are doubled. Expensive organic materials, metal evaporation materials, and shadow masks and open masks are also required twice.
Two stack layer OLED panel. Two layers of RGB are stacked vertically. /Data=KIPOST
It is known that about 100 vacuum chambers are needed for the 6th generation OLED deposition equipment, and about 150 are needed for the double stack layer. This is why the investment is inevitably increased.
An expert in the display industry said, "LG Display had discussions with Apple regarding advance payments for this OLED investment for the P10 iPad, but it has not been achieved." |
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