Showing posts with label OLED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OLED. Show all posts

Friday, December 29, 2023

Rising Tide in AR/VR Market: New Era of Spatial Computing Begins Amidst Challenges

The augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) market is witnessing a resurgence of interest, particularly with the industry's pivot towards the metaverse. Key players like Meta and Apple are at the forefront, with Apple's launch of Vision Pro marking a new phase in spatial computing. This technology is widely viewed as the next evolutionary step in 3D digital interaction.


Source: DSCC

Despite the enthusiasm, the market reality has lagged behind expectations. According to a recent IDC report, global AR/VR headset shipments have seen a consistent decline, dropping 44.6% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2023. This trend highlights the challenges in boosting demand and adoption rates. A critical area for growth lies in innovative display technologies, crucial for developing AR/VR products.


The Quest 3's design is an evolution of that of the Quest 2, combined with elements of the Meta Quest Pro. It uses a pair of LCD displays with a per-eye resolution of 2064×2208 (an increase over the 1832×1920 resolution of the Quest 2), viewed through pancake lenses similar to the Quest Pro to enable a thinner enclosure. The face of the headset is adorned with three "pills" containing sensors and cameras; the two outer pills each contain a monochrome camera used for positional tracking, and a color camera used for mixed reality passthrough. The center pill contains a depth sensor, which is used in combination with other sensors to sense the user's surroundings for boundaries and mixed reality experiences. The Quest 3 uses the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, a system-on-chip manufactured by Qualcomm and based on their Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagship mobile phone SoC. which Meta has touted as having more than twice the raw graphics (GPU) performance of the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 used by the Quest 2 and other similar standalone headsets

The future, however, looks promising. Guillaume Chansin of DSCC anticipates a significant uptick in the AR/VR headset market over the next five years, beginning in 2024. This optimism is fueled by expectations of advanced headsets powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, alongside new offerings from Meta, ByteDance, and Apple. Despite a steep price tag, Apple's Vision Pro, equipped with optical inserts from Zeiss, is expected to make a mark in the market.


Apple Vision Pro is an upcoming mixed-reality headset developed by Apple Inc. It was announced on June 5, 2023, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, with availability scheduled for early 2024 in the United States and later that year internationally. It is Apple's first product in another major category since the Apple Watch in 2015

The shift towards multiple displays in AR/VR products is another notable trend, with most devices incorporating dual displays. DSCC projects a staggering increase in display shipments for AR/VR, reaching 124 million units by 2028. While VR is set to dominate consumer spaces, see-through AR will be more prevalent in professional settings.

The battle of display technologies is central to this evolution. While VR and pass-through AR mostly rely on TFT LCD and AMOLED, MicroOLED has started to make inroads. MicroOLED, particularly favored by Apple's Vision Pro, offers high resolution and luminance, crucial for an enhanced user experience. Additionally, the emerging MicroLED technology, known for its high brightness and reliability, is poised to revolutionize see-through AR displays.

Despite these advancements, the AR/VR market continues to grapple with challenges in display technology. Innovations in Micro OLED and MicroLED are essential to overcome these hurdles and drive market growth. As the industry continues to evolve, these technologies will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of spatial computing.

ALD offers significant advantages in Micro OLED and MicroLED display manufacturing. Its ability to deposit ultra-thin, uniform layers is crucial for layer uniformity and display quality. ALD is pivotal for creating barrier layers in Micro OLEDs, protecting them from environmental degradation, and for depositing dielectric layers in MicroLEDs, essential for improving efficiency and reducing pixel cross-talk. Additionally, ALD enhances light extraction, encapsulation, and interface engineering, crucial for flexible and transparent displays. While initially costly, ALD's scalability and material diversity make it a key technology for advancing Micro OLED and MicroLED displays, potentially reducing overall manufacturing costs and enhancing display longevity and performance.

Sources: 

MicroOLED and MicroLED: The Future of AR/VR Displays – Display Daily

Wikipedia

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Merck has introduced new ALD barrier materials that are superior in flexible OLED devices

Merck has introduced new barrier materials for flexible OLED devices, utilizing low-temperature Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology. These materials offer superior flexibility, reliability, and longer lifetime compared to existing solutions. The ALD silicon materials, recognized with the Display Component of the Year 2023 award from the Society for Information Display, provide improved thin film encapsulation for OLEDs. Merck's investment in OLED production capacity expansion in Korea and China strengthens its position as a leading global supplier of high-purity OLED materials, meeting the growing demand and ensuring a stable supply chain.

Merck has introduced new barrier materials that offer superior flexibility, higher reliability, and longer lifetime in flexible OLED devices compared to existing solutions. These innovative materials, processed using low-temperature Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology, provide highly improved barrier characteristics that are 100 times more effective and 20 times thinner than current solutions. Merck's ALD silicon materials have won the Display Component of the Year 2023 award from the Society for Information Display (SID), recognizing their advancements in the display industry.

The demand for flexible OLED displays, which enable free-form devices and new applications, is rapidly growing. However, OLEDs are susceptible to degradation by moisture and oxygen. To address this, Merck developed encapsulation materials that are conformable, flexible, and durable. By leveraging its expertise in developing encapsulation materials for the semiconductor industry, Merck created barrier materials that enhance the thin film encapsulation of flexible OLEDs. These materials not only extend the lifetime of OLED devices but also meet stringent automotive requirements.

“As a pioneer in display materials, we are committed to providing our customers with solutions that enable new form factors,” said Damien Tuleu, Executive Vice President and Head of Display Solutions business unit at Electronics. “As the most advanced thin-film deposition technology, our low-temperature ALD silicon materials offer highly improved barrier characteristics - 100 times more effective than current solutions. And they come along with a thinner layer too - 20 times thinner than existing solutions. Ultimately, this means better conformability, flexibility, and durability than ever before.”


Merck's investment in OLED manufacturing capacities and its commitment to meeting the increasing demand for high-purity OLED materials have positioned the company as a leading global supplier in this technology. With three decades of research experience and early investments in OLED production, Merck is well-prepared to serve the market's needs. The company's expansion of OLED production capacity in Korea and China, with an investment of approximately €30 million, allows for easier access to OLED materials and a more stable and flexible supply chain for its Asia-based customers.


Source: Merck’s new barrier materials | Merck (merckgroup.com)

Thursday, September 1, 2022

WEBINAR - Production-suitable 200 mm batch ALD/MLD thin film encapsulation toward flexible OLED manufacturing

New Picosun webinar available! Spend insightful 20 minutes watching our latest webinar "Production-suitable 200 mm batch ALD/MLD thin film encapsulation toward flexible OLED manufacturing" 


In this webinar, we present characterization and scale up results of a thin film encapsulation solution, demonstrated by scaling a previously small scale process into a production-proven 200 mm batch ALD system.



Thursday, November 5, 2020

Improving Curved uOLED encapsulation with ALD

[Beneq Blog] For the past decades, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have become of great interests for applications to micro-displays. Unfortunately, these systems are highly sensitive to moisture and oxygen ingress and require high barrier encapsulation. Additionally, a specific protection needs to be added to protect the device from mechanical failure. Depending on the application, various options from glass lids to flexible barriers have been developed. The former offers high mechanical protection but suffers from long implementation processes, while the later typically exhibit low hardness and poor wear resistance.

Pinhole free encapsulation via ALD deposited directly onto micro-OLEDs means simpler manufacturing and robust protection. The thinner ALD encasement enable substrate bending and open the possibility of more compact curved devices with less complex optical engines.

Continue reading at BENEQ: LINK

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Stanford and Samsung Display use solar panel tech to create new ultrahigh-res OLED display

Stanford University reports that by expanding on existing designs for electrodes of ultra-thin solar panels, Stanford researchers and collaborators in Korea have developed a new architecture for OLED – organic light-emitting diode – displays that could enable televisions, smartphones and virtual or augmented reality devices with resolutions of up to 10,000 pixels per inch (PPI). (For comparison, the resolutions of new smartphones are around 400 to 500 PPI.) 

The crucial innovation behind both the solar panel and the new OLED is a base layer of reflective metal with nanoscale (smaller than microscopic) corrugations, called an optical metasurface. The metasurface can manipulate the reflective properties of light and thereby allow the different colors to resonate in the pixels. These resonances are key to facilitating effective light extraction from the OLEDs. 


Illustration of the meta-OLED display and the underlying metaphotonic layer, which improves the overall brightness and color of the display while keeping it thin and energy efficient. (Image credit: Courtesy Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) 

In lab tests, the researchers successfully produced miniature proof-of-concept pixels. Compared with color-filtered white-OLEDs (which are used in OLED televisions) these pixels had a higher color purity and a twofold increase in luminescence efficiency – a measure of how bright the screen is compared to how much energy it uses. They also allow for an ultrahigh pixel density of 10,000 pixels-per-inch.

Full Report: Stanford materials scientists borrow solar panel tech to create new ultrahigh-res OLED display LINK

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

SALDtech receives further funding to enable mass production of the next generation foldable OLED displays

SALDtech speeds up commercialization of Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition equipment for the display industry

Eindhoven, 22 May 2019 - SALDtech announced today that it has closed a second investment round with Innovation Industries, a leading high-tech VC fund and BOM, Brabant Development agency. TNO, through its subsidiary Holst Centre, has invested over 10 years in developing a new technology called Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition to produce large area ultra-thin layers with world class performance. SALDtech, a spin-off of TNO, will use the investment to develop and build production equipment to be integrated into the production lines of next generation flexible OLED displays for mobile phones, tablets, TVs and more. 
 

(Photo: TNO)
 
“We are very pleased with this investment as it enables us to further develop our product and speed up our sales” Huib Heezen, CEO of SALDtech states: “SALDtech will continue to cooperate closely with TNO on process innovation and will use the expertise on high tech equipment as readily available in the Eindhoven area for our product development. We are delighted to now have two top Dutch investors in the form of Innovation Industries and BOM on board who are committed for the long term.”
 


“We are excited that we have been a part of SALDtech since its first round last year and that we can continue to support SALDtech’s growth by participating also in this financing round”, says Nard Sintenie, Partner at Innovation Industries. “SALDtech’s technology has the ability to change the way we are working and interacting with displays and thereby addresses a huge market.”

“SALDtech has the potential to become the leading supplier in the display market” according Jurgen Van Eck, Senior investment manager at BOM Brabant Ventures“ As such, the company will play an important role towards local suppliers. We are happy we are able to contribute towards the further development of SALDtech”

Founding institute TNO is delighted with the opportunity this second financing round offers to SALDtech. “Both Innovation Industries and BOM have multiple investments in TNO spin-offs, , which shows the potential of the research we are doing at Holst Centre and TNO for the Dutch high tech industry. This investment is the next step in strengthening the Dutch economic position and Brainport in particular.” says Jaap Lombaers, Director at TNO.

About SALDtech

SALDtech BV is a spinoff from the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and is based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The company was founded in 2018 to further develop, build and sell commercial Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD) systems into the flat panel display industry. The SALDtech tool will help enable the production scale up of next generation display technologies. Related end product display markets include smartphones, tablets, TV’s as well a new form factor displays in (autonomous) cars and on practically every surface.

Contact:
Huib Heezen (CEO)
huib.heezen@saldtech.com
+31 (0)6 30615028

Friday, May 17, 2019

Foldable Laptops Are On Their Way To Hit The Market By 2020 With Lenovo’s Unveiling Of The World’s First Foldable Laptop

ALD is know to be used in the OLED foldable display manufacturing as a moisture barrier mainly for foldable smartphones and other mobile devices. It’s not been many days of Samsung and Huawei unveiled their first foldable smart-phones: The Galaxy Fold and Mate X, respectively. Now Lenovo is jumping on board with a foldable laptop prototype in its ThinkPad X1 family powered by an Intel processor. For now, it’s just a prototype, but Lenovo may launch it for sale by 2020. The official visual preview can be seen here
 
 
Engadget (Youtube.com) "We got a chance to get our hands on Lenovo's new early prototype foldable PC. This device has some familiar features like an OLED screen and Bluetooth keyboard, but unlike other 2-in-1 laptops, the entire device can fold in half. This lets it fold up to around the size of a paper notebook for easy transport, or even lets you turn the bottom half into a keyboard you can type on. This is still early tech, but it's a look at what portable devices could be in the near future."
The prototype is with a 13.3″ screen that you can fold into the size of a compact 9.6″ Moleskine notebook. The laptop can be unfolded entirely and you can use the built-in kickstand on the rear to keep the screen standing up. You can also connect a Bluetooth keyboard to the device to use it as a traditional laptop; or, you can also just fold the screen halfway, and place it down on a table to use the bottom half as a virtual keyboard for typing. An attached stylus from Wacom can be utilized for super-accurate touch input or for virtual ink. The laptop also employs an attractive OLED screen (2K screen resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio) manufactured by LG display.


Lenovo doubles the number of hinge cycles it tests for its laptops to prevent the wear down of the foldable mechanism over time. Because it is under the ThinkPad name, the product will still need to pass Lenovo’s “rigorous” testing for ThinkPad category to ensure it’s just as durable. This is a Windows-based device, and Lenovo is working with Microsoft to make sure the software experience is optimized for this foldable format, for example, swapping to different modes needs to be seamless, and Windows needs to improve its tablet and touch interface to add value to this product. Moreover, the laptop has stereo speakers, an infrared camera, and two USB-C ports. Lenovo also claims it will offer an “all-day battery,” but there is no numeric figure out yet. 
 
A patent application has just been published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, which comprises a foldable notebook with an OLED screen and a keyboard portion. Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. US20190011955 DEVICE WITH FOLDABLE DISPLAY (LINK)
 
However, last Thursday, a senior Intel executive told the Nikkei Asian Review that the foldable laptops are at least two years away. "It's early path-finding now, and we are trying to understand the capability and the limitation of the [foldable] technology," Joshua D. Newman, Intel's general manager of mobile innovation and vice president of the company's Client Computing Group, said Wednesday on the sidelines of an Intel symposium in Taipei. (Link
 
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By Abhishekkumar Thakur and Jonas Sundqvist




Monday, April 1, 2019

Integration of high-k dielectric materials in a-IGZO thin film transistors by ALD

High field-effect mobility of Amorphous Oxide Semiconductor Thin Film Transistors (AOS TFT’s) has become more critical in switching devices for active matrix OLED’s (AMOLED). 
Out of many AOS materials, stable a-IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) TFT’s has shown high performance in display devices. However, the process integration of TFT’s is very complicated where a high number of parameters are to be considered and optimized to obtain maximum device performance. Therefore, it is essential to develop each process step through various device structure of thin film transistors using Back Channel Etch and self-aligned TFT. 
An example: Magnified image of the AMOLED screen on the Google Nexus One smartphone using the RGBG system of the PenTile matrix family (Wikipedia).
Currently, incorporation of high–k dielectric materials such as Al2O3 and HfO2 as a passivation layer and gate insulating material shows promising results in obtaining high performance of TFT’s in terms of low operating voltages, bias stability and reducing degradation by isolation from the external environment. A primary focus is on Al2O3 films by ALD technique, where the doping of film to the active layer (a-IGZO) is investigated through back channel etch (BCE) device structure by two different deposition temperatures followed by annealing studies. The performance of the self-aligned TFT's is primarily determined by the two factors :
I. Deposition temperatures of the passivation layer (Al2O3) 
II. Etching rate. 
The conclusions drawn from the studies of BCE applied to a-IGZO 10% O2 aelf–aligned (SA) device structures where Al2O3 layer deposited by ALD at 150 °C as a gate insulating material. The electrical characteristics of fabricated Thin Film Transistors are obtained to be very promising for further engineering applications. 
A deep study and understanding of each step in process flow and significance of Atomic Layer Deposition gave a fruitful insight into many aspects.
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Guest Blog by: Ravi Pendurthi, imec, Leuven, Belgium LinkedIn Profile




Tuesday, January 8, 2019

LG Display’s 65-inch rollable OLED TV will go to production

ALD moisture barriers for flexible and shaped electronics, displays and solar cells have been researched, developed and scaled up for production for some time now. Besides rounded display edges of smart phones and gizmo's that have been shown at trade shows and other events there has not yet been that many potential high volume markets out there.
 
 
LG Display’s 65-inch rollable OLED TV as presented at CES2019 (youtube.com)
 
It’s been a year since LG Display’s 65-inch rollable TV prototype was demonstrated at CES, and now LG Electronics is bringing it to market as the company’s flagship 4K OLED TV for 2019. The finished Signature OLED TV R that consumers will be able to buy sometime this spring — for an astronomical, premium price — is quite similar to that prototype, but LG has refined the base station and added a 100-watt Dolby Atmos speaker for powerful built-in audio.This is a TV that’s there when you want it and disappears when you don’t. 
 
 
Youtube: LG Display’s 65-inch rollable OLED TV is only a prototype, so there’s no price or release date, but it’s still very cool. The Verge Senior editor Vlad Savov got a first look at the TV at CES 2018.
 
Not everyone loves having a big, black rectangle as the focal point of their living room, and plenty of people don’t own a TV at all. This TV disappears completely whenever you’re not watching. It drops slowly and very steadily into the base and, with the push of a button, will rise back up in 10 seconds or so. It all happens rather quietly, too.There’s also a mode — LG calls it “Line Mode” — where the display will drop down so that only about one-fourth of the panel is showing. You’ll still have on-screen music controls and the option to control your smart home gadgets in this mode. 
 
LG also includes some mood-setters like a crackling fireplace or rain sounds. Support for Alexa voice controls are being added this year in addition to the existing Google Assistant integration in LG’s webOS software; you just hold down the Prime Video button on the remote to bring up Alexa. And LG is also one of the companies that’s adding Apple’s AirPlay 2 for easy media playback or device mirroring. You can play music on the Atmos speaker system even when the TV is fully rolled up, which is great. Port selection is on par with other premium LG sets, and they’re all located at the back of the base. LG is making the move to HDMI 2.1 with its 2019 series, so that’s a big plus in terms of future proofing this very expensive TV.

Source: The Verge (LINK)

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By Abhishekkumar Thakur and Jonas Sundqvist

Sunday, November 4, 2018

AP Systems to supply Thin Film Encapsulation to Samsung Display QD-OLED line

DIGITimes China reports [LINK] that Samsung Display is building a large-scale quantum dot organic light-emitting diode (QD-OLED) panel pilot production line. The line is scheduled to be finished in December 2018 and will be activated after 6 months (mid 2019). According to the report the supply ration from Korean equipment manufacturers has increased significantly for this line.

As an example the the report claims that AP Systems beat Applied Materials to supply the Thin Film Encapsulation (TFE) equipment. AP Systems has previously supplied TFE equipment for the 8th generation RGB OLED TV panel production line (V1) of Samsung Display. In the past Samsung Display has used TFE equipment supplied by Applied Materials in the 6th generation flexible OLED production line, but has now switched and for its AP Systems in this 8th generation QD-OLED test production line.

Also according to the report, the PECVD equipment will be supplied by Wonik IPS from Korea whereas the blue OLED material evaporation equipment will be supplied by Canon Tokki (Japan) and the red and green QD material inkjet printing machine will come from Kateeva (USA).
The KORONA™ TFE System running PEALD with "Multi-linear Nozzle" technology and ICP antenna design technology (high density/low damage plasma).
For TFE AP Systems are using a Plasma enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PEALD) technology on their KORONA™ TFE System. The system is capable of depositing a film structure that acts as a sealant to prevent oxygen and moisture penetration into OLED device. Based on a 1000Å, SiNx/SiOx multi-layer structure the Water Vapor Permeability is less than 5e-5 g/m2/day.
According to AP Systems they can also apply the film as a flexible sealant to realize flexible, rollable, and foldable displays. 


Thursday, October 25, 2018

NCD contracted to supply new ALD equipment for production of µ-OLED with LG Display

Korean ALD equipment manufacturer, NCD reports new order of µ-OLED ALD equipment from LG Display

"NCD has recently contracted with LGD to supply µ-OLED manufacture equipment which is new Lucida GuD Series for Al2O3-ALD encapsulation to avoid OLED degradation induced water and oxygen. Newly introduced Lucida GuD is high volume batch-type ALD equipment based on the process and hardware of OLED encapsulation technology of Lucida GD Series.

µ-OLED produced by this system is micro display with high resolution for augmented reality(AR) and virtual reality(VR) and has been expected the huge application and market in the future.

Otherwise, manufacture of µ-OLED requests high productivity like display industry therefore ALD tools with high film quality and low throughput for Semiconductor couldn’t meet the need of the customers and the market. So NCD is more expecting that this µ-OLED is next growth engine market because it has high volume ALD equipment and excellent OLED encapsulation technology.

NCD will lead µ-OLED ALD equipment market with this starting point and continue to make efforts to become the world’s best specialized ALD technology company.”
 



LucidaTM GuD Series




Monday, October 22, 2018

Shaanxi Kuntech launch flexible semiconductor service manufacturing Base Project

OLED-Info reports: The press conference for the landing and launching of Shaanxi Kuntech Flexible Semiconductor Service Manufacturing Base Project was grandly held in West Fengxi New City, West Xian Xin New District, Shaanxi province on the morning of October 16, with its theme being Shinning Shaanxi and Shaping the Future World".

Kuntech is the first high-end enterprise in China that focuses on the development and autonomy of flexible semiconductors and advanced display technologies. It develops and actively accumulates intellectual property with the highest intensity focus technology, and achieves technology autonomy and freedom to operate. Facing the huge challenges of future display and semiconductor development, Kuntech Semiconductor continues to innovate and advance in the field of flexible semiconductor display through a series of revolutionary technologies.

It is reported that Shaanxi Kuntech flexible semiconductor service manufacturing base is a major science and technology industry project of Shaanxi Province, China. The total investment of the project is 6 billion USD. The project includes a world-class flexible semiconductor and display technology R&D certification center, a strong and complete flexible semiconductor and display industry chain, and the sixth-generation flexible AMOLED demonstration production line with its production capacity being 30K large substrates per month, featuring three major processes (array, AMOLED EL, flexible module). The size of the substrate is 1500mmx1850mm.
Full story : OLED-Info LINK


Monday, April 16, 2018

NCD Contracted with TIANMA to supply 6G half ALD equipment for flexible OLED encapsulation

NCD recently signed a contract with TIANMA, one of Chinese leading display manufacturers, to provide 6G half ALD equipment for encapsulation of flexible OLEDs in the next six months to Wuhan TIANMA. This is a follow-up order to purchase NCD's 6G half (1500mmX925mm) ALD equipment, which is based on the superior performance evaluation of earlier installed 5.5G class ALD equipment in Shanghai TIANMA.

The performance of ALD encapsulation by the existing equipment showed excellent film uniformity as well as excellent moisture permeability and step coverage, compared to that by PECVD, and was qualified by the customer's flexible OLED products.

This proves that NCD's ALD core technology and the reliability of equipment have been recognized by its customer.
 
It is challenging to realize device reliability using current encapsulation technology deposited by PECVD for the next generation flexible OLED devices, since it requires bending, folding and rolling, ALD technology will be an essential choice for future flexible OLED products with its excellence and competitiveness.

NCD will make the Lucida GD series become the standard ALD equipment for all flexible OLED encapsulation based on these needs, and continue to grow into the world's most professional ALD Company with new challenges and developments. 
 
 
Cluster system for Lucida™ GD series

Friday, January 27, 2017

Apple Dual Fold-Out/Fold-In Form Factor phone

As reported today by Petently Apple, Apple's Third Major Folding iPhone Invention has come to Light Illustrating a Dual Fold-Out/Fold-In Form Factor.


Earlier Patently Apple also reported that Samsung continues to internally debate whether to launch a Fold-Out Smartphone later this year (LINK).






Monday, January 16, 2017

Encapsulix SAS selected as supplier of ALD-TFE deposition systems by leading Asian AMOLED manufacturer

January 16, 2017 : Encapsulix SAS today announced that it has been selected as the supplier of ALD-TFE deposition systems by a leading Asian AMOLED manufacturer. The first tool is presently under construction and scheduled for operation from the spring of 2017 onwards. The systems will be used to encapsulate flexible AMOLED displays with multifunctional nanolaminated coatings. The order was awarded to Encapsulix SAS after an extensive evaluation of available ALD equipment suppliers of barrier and encapsulation coatings.

The Infinity ALD equipment platform has the unique capability to deposit the most advanced nano-engineered coatings in a manufacturing environment. These coating have an overall thickness in the 20-50nm range, and typically comprise tens of sublayers of up to 10 different materials with thicknesses in the nanometer range. A wide range of available materials includes both inorganic (e.g. Al2O3, SiO2, ZrO2, TiO2, SiNx, HfO2,..) and organic (Alucone, Zircone, ..) nanolayers allowing to engineer the barrier, mechanical, optical en electrical properties at the atomic scale.

« This order confirms the technological superiority and leading Cost-Of-Ownership of our ALD-TFE equipment and process solutions for AMOLED manufacturing » stated Dr. Jacques Kools, founder and CEO of Encapsulix SAS. He also stated « We are now seeing rapid market adaptation of Nanolaminated ALD-TFE as the ideal solution for the emerging application of foldable OLED devices. »

About Encapsulix, Encapsulix was founded to address the geometric scaling of critical deposition requirements for industrial & microelectronic devices and foils. The company has its development and headquarters in Simiane- Collongue France, equipment development, sales and service in the USA. 
For more information:
Contact: www.encapsulix.com

For those of you attending ALD For Industry in Dresden 17-18 of January you will have an excellent opportunity to listen and be enlightened by Dr. Kools himself giving a talk entitled "Industrial deployment of nano-engineered ultrabarriers for encapsulation of organic electronic".

Friday, January 13, 2017

Hybrid Remote Plasma ALD / MLD process for OLED Encapsulation

Chinesse reserachers from Jilin University reports in Nature Scientific Reposts on Zircone PEALD/MLD encapsulation üprocess for OLED. Chen, Z. et al. published "Low-temperature remote plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition of ZrO2/zircone nanolaminate film for efficient encapsulation of flexible organic light-emitting diodes" Sci. Rep. 7, 40061; doi: 10.1038/srep40061 (2017).

They used a PEALD chamber from Kemicro (PEALD-150A, Ke-Micro) to deposit the hybrid ZrO2/zircone nanolaminate was deposited using a remote Plasma set up. The reaction mechanism of PEALD process was investigated using an in-situ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and in-situ quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS). The precursors was tetrakis(dimethylamino)zirconium (TDMAZ) and the O2 remote plasma.


Friday, January 6, 2017

Functional OLEDs on Graphene electrodes by Fraunhofer FEP and Partners

Fraunhofer FEP reports that for the first time it has been shown possible to produce functional OLED electrodes from graphene. Such OLEDs can be integrated into touch displays according to the report.



  • Flexible OLED electrodes from graphene
  • The perfect material: transparent, stable, flexible, conductive
  • Ideal for touch screens, photovoltaic, wearables and much more

Above in a tweet embedded from Fraunhofer FEP an Orange luminous OLED fabricated on a graphene electrode. The process was developed and optimized in the EU-funded project "Gladiator" (12.4 M EUR - Graphene Layers: Production, Characterization and Integration) and you can find mor information here on the Fraunhofer FEP news release. Important partners where the Spanish company Graphena S.A. and British Aixtron supplier of the CVD reactor for Graphene growth.



Aixtron is offering CVD reactors for graphene and CNT growth. The AIXTRON BM systems can operate in both thermal CVD and plasma-enhanced CVD modes. The systems are based on the highly scalable showerhead concept and are available for wafer-sizes from 50mm to 300mm diameter. (aixtron.com pdf flyer)
Spanish company Graphenea S.A., which is responsible for the production of the graphene electrodes, as well as the British Aixtron Ltd., which is responsible for the construction of the production CVD reactors.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2017-01-milestone-graphene-production.html#jCp
Spanish company Graphenea S.A., which is responsible for the production of the graphene electrodes, as well as the British Aixtron Ltd., which is responsible for the construction of the production CVD reactors.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2017-01-milestone-graphene-production.html#jCp
Spanish company Graphenea S.A., which is responsible for the production of the graphene electrodes, as well as the British Aixtron Ltd.,

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2017-01-milestone-graphene-production.html#jCp
Spanish company Graphenea S.A., which is responsible for the production of the graphene electrodes, as well as the British Aixtron Ltd.,

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2017-01-milestone-graphene-production.html#jCp

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

AUO introduced bi-directional foldable AMOLED display with less than 4 mm folding radius

OLED Net reports: Taiwanese company, AU Optronics(AUO) introduced bi-directional foldable AMOLED display at IDW(International Display Workshoops) 2016 opened in Japan Fukuoka from last December 7th through 9th, which both internal and external displays can be bent 180 degrees.

The Display has an impressivily small folding radius of less than 4 mm and can endure folding cycle of more than 1.2 million times. There are no reports yet of which encapsulation technology that has been employed.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

LG Display partner with Apple, Google and Microsoft for foldable OLED displays

Previously this year there have been a number of rumors that OLED display manufacturers will start using ALD barriers in production of next generation smartphone display. Now recent reports suggest that LG Display will start supplying foldable OLED displays for tablet sized smartphones (see tweet below) that can be folded to a typical smartphone format. Until now there has been no reports on ALD barriers for this one but one can assume that it is a good opportunity for ALD to be developed for these type of extreme display applications.


ETN News Reports : It is confirmed that LG Display has partnered up with Apple and google and is developing ‘out-foldable’ displays for Smartphones. It is going to start mass-producing them in 2018 and supply them to Apple, Google, and Microsoft. It is predicted that Samsung Display and LG Display will compete against each other in order to grab upper hands in markets for foldable displays.
According to an industry on the 15th, LG Display is currently developing out-foldable panels for Smartphones. Unlike how Samsung Display is working with Samsung Electronics’ Wireless Business Department, LG Display is developing foldable devices with outside businesses such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

Full story : LINK



 

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Tuning mechanical properties of ATO nanolaminates by ALD

ALD nanolaminates were first introduced in high volume manufacturing in Finland for TFEL-displays. Today even a see through version display is produced by Beneq (Lumineq). Nanolaminates have also found applications in optics by combining materials with a high difference in refractive index to tune optical properties. Also any ALD manufactured devices in the semiconductor industry can be regarded as an ALD nanolaminates like for instance the MIM stack in the DRAM capacitor cell for 90 nm and below or the HKMG stack used for transistors starting at 45 nm.

Since then, ALD nanolaminate barriers have also become technologically very important for highly flexible OLED (light-emitting diode) displays expected to go in production during 2017 for e.g. smart phone displays. Rumors in the industry say that both Samsung Electronics, LG Display and Chinese manufacturers are adopting ALD barrier production technology and that possible one of the next Iphones will have ALD barrier technology.

One of the mostly reported ALD barrier stacks consists of a repetition of a Al2O3/TiO2 bi-layer stack so called ATO nanolaminates or multilayers. These are employed to encapsulate the OLED from gas and water penetration otherwise killing the device. The key is to reduce the thickness drastically as compared to PVD or CVD barriers and thereby gaining flexibility while keeping the barrier properties for gas and water diffusion and therefore most importantly the barriers must also be pinhole free. Any pinhole will kill the diode and lead to a pixel failure. I´ve been told that a typical acceptance level for pixel failure for tablet sized displays is three (3!).


(Color online) Residual stress of the ATO nanolaminate as a function of the (a) ALD temperature, and (b) bilayer thickness. The error bars present the maximum measurement uncertainty as explained in Sec. II. © 2016 American Vacuum Society. Reproduced from J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 35, 01B105 (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.4966198, with the permission of AIP Publishing and corresponding Author Oili M. E. Ylivaara
 
Until today there are not too many published reports available on residual stress, adhesion and mechanical properties in ATO nanolaminates published. Please find below the link to the Open Source publication from researchers at VTT, University of Jyväskylä and Aalto University in Finland, systematically investigating those properties as dependence from bi-layer thickness and ALD process temperature as shown above and much more. Even though the focus in this study is not on barrier properties I think there is a lot to learn here for the OLED community, especially since you operate under relatively low process temperature conditions (<100C) you must have a lot of residual stress in those flexible barriers.

Besides this report, you can also find an earlier very nice poster from Riikka Puurunen here that focuses on tuning the electrical properties of ATO nanolaminates. All this work were performed in a Picosun SUNALE(TM) R-150 reactor.

Aluminum oxide/titanium dioxide nanolaminates grown by atomic layer deposition: Growth and mechanical properties

Oili M. E. Ylivaara, Lauri Kilpi, Xuwen Liu, Sakari Sintonen, Saima Ali, Mikko Laitinen, Jaakko Julin, Eero Haimi, Timo Sajavaara, Harri Lipsanen, Simo-Pekka Hannula, Helena Ronkainen and Riikka L. Puurunen
 
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 35, 01B105 (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.4966198