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FPD MANUFACTURING TRENDS
=========================
by Abbie Gregg
We recently visited the Korean FPD Technical Conference from October 21
through 24 and had the opportunity to make some plant tours of LCD and CRT
manufacturing plants while in Korea. The trip was very interesting and we
were able to make the following observations as we toured.
Korea, like Japan, is still building ballroom style, class 10 clean rooms,
with few minienvironments being used for FPD. Partitions hanging from the
ceiling separate the clean tool areas (class 10) from aisles where people
and AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) traffic occurs. Currently, the Koreans
are selecting one material handling vendor, MECS, for all tool automation,
interbay automation and cassettes. MECS has received several of these
"turnkey" contracts and has done a reasonably good job of interfacing with
the tools and CIM systems. Rorze is another company producing some tool
automation products. The Japanese equipment giant, TEL, has also produced
some robotic tool automation while Shinko has sold AGV's to Korea with
Japanese designs, both in floor track and infrared guidance versions.
The recipe download from the MES (Manufacturing Execution System) to the
tool is not yet integrated in most newer FPD Fabs. This still tends to be a
manual operation in most areas. Poseidon, the IBM CIM (Computer Integrated
Manufacturing) system for flat panels, has been sold into the phase 1 lines
at Hyundai and LG. These systems are not cheap, having been sold for about
$12 million as a turnkey system including hardware, software and consulting
services. Now, with various consulting add-ons, each company has paid about
$20M to date for the installations. Consilium (Nasdaq: CSIM) will try to
compete with a $5 to $10 million solution which runs on NT platforms, and is
designed for both 300mm wafer and flat panel CIM capability. This was
presented to the Korean market at a seminar attended by 50 Korean decision
makers. IBM is in this business because they get to develop all their CIM
software for the flat panel business at their IBM / Toshiba joint venture,
Display Technology, Inc. (DTI for short).
Glass size and I300I type standards for automation and tool interfaces were,
as usual, the hot topics of discussion. Seminars on the "Cost of Ownership"
and "Production Cost Savings" were well attended by about 60 to 100
participants. AGI presented the theory of Cost of Ownership and then the
panel manufacturers LG, Hyundai and Samsung each presented cost of ownership
studies on various tools and process steps. The technical sessions were
attended by well over 200 participants and this was obviously more than the
organizers at SEMI Korea had expected. Applied Komatsu Technologies and TEL
each presented papers on various aspects of the equipment and process.
Papers on topics including market research and device technology trends were
presented by US and Korean companies. Candescent Technologies
(www.candescent.com), a private US flat panel company based in San Jose,
gave an excellent paper on FED manufacturing.
SI Diamond Technology (Nasdaq: SIDT) is trying to make a Backlight and FED
deal with Orion (a division of Daewoo). US and Korean government funding is
available to support this, but the protocol for a product deal is not clear.
Other deals have been made to develop the flat panel equipment and
materials infrastructure. There are two deals which are joint developments
with Korea. One is with MRS Technology (Nasdaq: MRSI) for a large
stitcher-exposure tool, and the other is with Accudyne for assembly and cell
cutting processing equipment. These two US companies, as well as CFM
Technologies (Nasdaq: CFMT) and others, are optimistic about supplying the
Korean market, and taking market share from Japanese equipment suppliers.
Samsung had a beautiful 30 inch diagonal TFT (Thin Film Transistor) LCD on
display at the show. They did not show full motion video on it, but did say
they that they will be demonstrating it in 2 weeks' time in Japan. Desktop
flat panel systems in sizes 15", 17", 19" and 21" were also available from
Samsung. Samsung's displays had first class color! LG's development units
with polysilicon drivers integrated with the TFT's were also shown and these
had good color and resolution. The integration of drivers on glass would be
a cost reduction for the panel industry. Today, when assembled as separate
ICs on to the glass, drivers may represent as much as 30% of an FPD cost.
LG and Hyundai showed AMLCD's for desktop applications up to 15". They are
not making any passive matrix (TN/STN) displays. Korean display makers are
finding good markets in Taiwan and plan to market to the US computer
companies this year, into 1998 and beyond.
Photon Dynamics (Nasdaq: PHTN) has noted that yields are up on Gen 3 FPD
Lines in Japan, requiring less repair to be done. Displays are showing far
fewer pixel defects overall, signifying that quality levels are up and the
technology is maturing. Inspection is now critical for mura or "haze"
defects and Photon Dynamics have developed new algorithms to detect these
type of defects more accurately and consistently. However, these defects
are not repairable by laser methods, or otherwise, and generally lead to
scrap. The display manufacturers in both Japan and Korea still "bin" the
displays quality into client acceptable categories, such as "Compaq",
"Dell", etc. It is reported that Compaq are the most demanding and have
some of the strictest quality requirements of all computer manufacturers.
The Koreans are always looking for new business opportunities and we heard
that Hyundai Elevator Company and some trading and equipment companies are
interested in entering the business of making and selling FPD Manufacturing
Equipment. Specific interest was expressed in Stepper/Stitcher
manufacturing, with rumors of a possible partnership with MRS Technology of
Massachusetts. Negotiations are believed to be in progress, but no specific
deal has been announced yet. Additional specific interest was expressed in
material handling equipment, especially tool automation. This could mean
competition or more licensing deals for PST, PRI Automation (Nasdaq: PRIA),
MECS, Rorze, Daifuku and Murata.
This was only the second year of this show which was sponsored by SEMI, the
USDC (US Display Consortium), and EDIRAK (Electronic Display Industrial
Research Association of Korea). SEMI did a very professional job and the
show will probably grow in future years as the industry expands.
**************
Abbie Gregg
President, AGI,
Abbie Gregg, Inc.
(602) 446-8000 |
