While utilization rates are still relatively low in LED fabs, many chipmakers are reluctant to convert all of their backlighting-specific (BLU LEDs for display applications) LED tools to lighting-specific production, because they value yields honed for a specific design. Chipmakers told Barclays that they do not want to reconfigure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) tools unless they are confident that this backlighting-specific production will no longer be needed. This suggests that anticipated LED lighting demand in H2 2012 and beyond will require more MOCVD tool orders, even without higher capacity utilization rates in LED fabs. Gradually improved MOCVD capex, in Q3 2012 and beyond, will be supported by a steady stabilization in LED supply/demand as 2013 approaches.

Barclays observed that LED chips still compete based on price, even among the Tier 1 LED makers, and further cost reductions are needed if margins are to survive. LED component price declines did moderate to an extent relative to last year?s price cuts, but the aggressive pricing trend continues, driven in part by end customers leveraging Tier 3 quality price points in China against Tier 1 and 2 LED makers. Until LED makers reach 80%+ effective yields in the fabs, the distribution of LEDs per run is fairly wide. Chips that do not meet their application?s specs are dumped on the market at a much lower price. Indeed, even in lighting-grade LEDs, there is ?no rationality for price points,? according to 1 Tier-1 supplier. The good news for LED revenues is that unit volume growth is offsetting the price cuts.

The quality barrier between Tier 1 and Tier 2/3 LED suppliers continues to hold, with only ~10 LED makers that can reach 100lm/W efficacy levels in mass production, and meet Energy Star, UL, etc., specifications. In step with the luminous efficacy improvements at the chip level, system-level efficacy also continues to increase, with various troffers and luminaries already approaching 100lm/W. Korean LED makers are considering leveraging BLU LEDs for some lighting applications, like linear lighting and troffers, because specifications are similar. As a result, Samsung is becoming a major threat to Tier-1 LED suppliers, longer term, as it focuses on quality.

Also read: As LED patents run out, supply chain value will shift downstream

With LED lifetimes approaching 50K hours, LEDs are no longer the predictors of the lifetime of the full system, and the lifetime of the other components is becoming more prominent. Despite various certifications available, data on the lifetime and reliability at the total system level is still fairly limited.

While still in the early stages of development, OLED lighting was also being exhibited by several suppliers, with Philips and OSRAM appearing to be at the lead from an efficacy and product quality standpoint. Philips? OLED lighting panels reached 25lm/W this year, with the company aiming for 60lm/W next year, driven by new developments in OLED materials (Philips using RGB stack with combination of phosphorescent and fluorescent materials); new developments in the glass substrate (adding reflective element to the glass composition); and advances in the deposition and processing technology. However, while reaching 60lm/W efficacy would be a big breakthrough, the key from there would be lumen maintenance, which is still very low for the OLED lighting panels currently available on the market. And while some companies suggested that OLED lighting is now moving from a designer/architectural application to a high-end lighting application, based on the product specs and the pricing, Barclays puts OLED lighting ~5-7 years behind LED lighting.

This year?s Lightfair was ?almost entirely focused on LEDs,? said Barclays analysts. While LED dominance in new products at the booths is not yet indicative of end market penetration, it highlights the inevitability of LED lighting adoption in the coming years. Most lighting manufacturers and suppliers and LED makers alike see 2012 as a year of steady, strong LED lighting demand growth, though not yet an inflection. The biggest ramp in demand remains in segments where lighting is on for longer than 8 hours per day (streetlights, gas station canopies, retail, hospitality, warehouses). This is aided by the Federal Recovery Act spending on retrofitting public fixtures. Membership in the Solid State Street Lighting Consortium -- a Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored consortium of cities and municipalities looking to upgrade their lighting systems to energy-efficient solutions -- has expanded to ~350 members from less than 100 last year. Payback periods for LED installs are compressing -- for outdoor lights, LED systems have gone from 50-60% more expensive than non-LED lights last year to ~30-50% more. The payback for replacing non-LED luminaires in many applications is currently 2-5 years, sufficient to ensure funding for many commercial and industrial users. Utility rebates and government subsidies offered in various regions enhance paybacks further.

Many companies at Lightfair indicated that advances in LED chips and components, especially with regard to high efficacy, have lowered the cost of other components in a lighting system, driving down costs.

Learn more about Lightfair at http://www.lightfair.com.

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Stephan Brüning, responsible for R&D laser applications at Schepers GmbH & Co KG, was awarded the ?10,000 Innovation Award Laser Technology 2012 prize at this week's International Laser Technology Congress (AKL). His team was recognized for their work in "3D micro-structuring of large-scale metal surfaces for embossing and printing applications with high-power ultrashort-pulse lasers." Brüning also has been awarded the title of Fellow of both AKL and the European Laser Institute (ELI).

The 2nd place for the award went to a team led by Coherent's Rainer Pätzel focused on excimer lasers for active-matrix liquid crystal display (LCD)- and organic light-emitting diode (OLED)-based flat-panel displays (FPDs). Coherent's high-power 308nm excimer laser with pulse repetition rate of 600Hz and stabilized output power of 1.2kW provides fast cycle times for excimer laser annealing (ELA) on Gen-6 FPD panels, increasing throughput over typical Gen-4 tools. In ELA, a laser processes amorphous silicon (a-Si) into low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS), increasing electron mobility by more than 100x. The laser line beam has a final homogeneity of 1.8% to allow 10-20 overlapping irradiations of each location with the same fluence when scanning the substrate. Coherent's state of the art cylindrical optics deliver a homogeneous line beam with dimension 750 mm X 0.4 mm for Gen-6 ELA, creating a display backplane with very homogeneous 50nm film of polysilicon of approximately 0.3um² grain size providing 150cm²/Vs -- 2 orders of magnitude higher than the electron mobility of an amorphous silicon backplane. The output power of 1.2 kW was achieved by spatially merging and temporally synchronizing two high-power UV-oscillators, each capable of 1 Joule energy/pulse and 600 Hz pulse frequency. The VYPER dual-oscillator laser platform (photo above) was combined with a novel beam delivery concept for beam forming, mixing, homogenizing and projecting the incoming laser beams into one homogeneous line beam.

Third prize went to a team led by Precitec Optronik's Markus Kogel-Hollacher for a 3D-capable co-axial laser brazing head with integrated seam tracking.

The Innovation Award Laser Technology is a European research prize awarded at two-year intervals by the associations Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik e.V. and the European Laser Institute (ELI), conferred on an individual researcher or on an entire project group, whose exceptional skills and dedicated work have led to an outstanding innovation in the field of laser technology. The scientific and technological projects in question must center on the use of laser light in materials processing and the methods of producing such light, and must furthermore be of demonstrable commercial value to industry. Jury decisions are based on:

• Proven commercial benefit
  
• Innovative quality of the resulting laser beam source, laser manufacturing process or laser system
  
• Scientific / technological quality of the underlying research
  
• Creative approach to technology demonstrated by the designated individual or project group
  
• Importance of the contribution of the applicant's work to the overall innovative process
  

More information about the awards and this year's winners can be viewed at www.innovation-award-laser.org.

Article courtesy of our sister publication Industrial Laser Solutions. Visit http://www.industrial-lasers.com/index.html for more information.

As OLED adoption ramps up, mass production technology for large-area OLED is increasingly an issue that could prohibit OLED from gaining market share on LCD. In current OLED manufacturing, color patterning is achieved by fine metal mask (FMM) using thermal evaporation, and laser-induced thermal imaging (LITI), which can be limited to small-size panels. Manufacturers are now looking for color patterning technologies -- from solution-based printing to laser imaging and layering white OLEDs with filters -- that suit display production at Gen-8 fabs or larger.

Also read: OLED trends: Materials, color patterning advances and the display race

Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) is developing small mask scanning (SMS) technology, which improves FMM color patterning. Hybrid patterning system (HPS) technology combines LITI and FMM, and is currently under development. LG is working on a method that combines white OLEDs with color filters (WOLED+C/F).

Displaybank issued a Korean patent analysis report regarding the OLED color patterning technology, comprising research and analysis about the patents of foreign companies in Korea as well as the key patents of Korea-based companies. 495 patents relating to OLED color patterning technology were selected in the primary screening among a total of 2,532 raw data disclosed or registered by December 2011. 52 key patents regarding SMS, HPS, Ink-jet, and WOLED+C/F technology were then analyzed as large-area OLED color patterning technologies. Learn more at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=855&cate=2

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Deliveries under this contract have already begun, with all the microdisplays to be delivered by the end of 2012. The eMagin SVGA+ OLED-XL microdisplay was originally chosen for this program in 2008, with original shipments starting in 2009 and expected to continue into 2013.

eMagin was awarded a $1.12 million SBIR contract from the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to optimize its WUXGA OLED micro display for mass production in February 2012.

The program specifies high-performance microdisplays with low power consumption, noted Andrew G. Sculley, president and CEO of eMagin, who added that eMagin sees OLED microdisplays increasingly adopted as a critical component for military applications that require high resolution, low power and ?instant-on? under a wide range of temperatures.?

eMagin integrates high-resolution OLED microdisplays with magnifying optics to deliver virtual images comparable to large-screen computer and television displays in portable, low-power, lightweight personal displays. eMagin microdisplays provide near-eye imagery in a variety of products from military, industrial, medical and consumer OEMs. More information about eMagin is available at www.emagin.com.

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This month, I'd like to put on my Associate Publisher hat and tell you about some of the changes Solid State Technology has recently made, and what we can do for you.

For starters, you may have noticed a change to our logo on the front of the magazine and on our website, with a bit more empahsis on the "Solid State" part of it. We did this in part to call attention to our roots, going back 54 years to 1958. The magazine actually started out as "Semiconductor Products" and then became "Semcionductor Products and Solid State Technology" in 1962, and then "Solid State Technology" in 1968. It was cool then, and it's still cool today!

Another reason for the change is that we have broadened our focus beyond mainstream semiconductor manufacturing to include more on advanced packaging, MEMS, LEDs, displays and other types of electronics such as biomedical devices, sensors and power electronics. Each of these has evolved to the point where new and unique process technologies and materials are required, and our goal is to keep you informed of the latest advances.

Most of you are reading this magazine in a digital format, perhaps on a mobile device. In October of last year, we launched a new design tailored for easy readability in the digital format.

We also made substantial improvements to our website, www.solid-state.com, to provide easier navigation, better search, faster load times, better SEO and greater ease-of-use with mobile devices. Five channels (each with topic centers) focus on Semiconductors, Packaging, MEMS, LEDs and Displays.

We have a strong line-up of Solid State Technology newsletters now including: WaferNEWS, LED Manufacturing News, Displays Digest, Advanced Packaging News, MEMS Direct and, every weekday, The Daily Pulse (sign up on the web).

Each month, we deliver this magazine to 40,000 people around the world. If you include SST China and SST Taiwan, each of which includes translated and original content, that number is well over 57,000 (57,301 to be exact).

What's important to note here is that the people reached by the magazine is a very different audience than that of our website (about 100,000 unique visitors/month) and newsletter subscribers (45,000). This gives us a total worldwide reach of 233,286 people.

In addition to the magazine and the website, we produce The ConFab, an exclusive invitation-only event coming up next month in Las Vegas (I'm the conference chair), webcasts, technology guides, videos, and an online Buyer's Guide. On our website, you'll also find white papers, podcasts, blogs and a bunch of other stuff (whew, if you're tired of reading this, think about me!).

Industry Forum columns conclude with a call to action, so here it is: Think about how you might contribute material. We're always looking for good feature content ? you'll find our "roadmap" in our editorial calendar ? as well as business and technology news, blogs, columns, book reviews, conference reports, case studies, how-to articles, new products.. you name it. We're happy to work with you to see what makes the most sense.

Any questions? Contact me for editorial matters, at peters@pennwell.com, and, for advertising and sponsorships, contact Kerry Hoffman at kerryh@pennwell.com.

Solid State Technology, Volume 55, Issue 4, May 2012

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SMD began large-scale AMOLED production in 2008, and the market has expanded under SMD?s leadership, gaining adopters for smartphone displays and other 3?-4? displays.

AMOLED shipments are increasing dramatically, shows Displaybank?s report, ?Korea AMOLED Light-Emitting Material Industry Analysis.? In 2011, SMD ramped a Gen-5.5 line. LGD nearly quadrupled its AMOLED production capacity since 2010, with a Gen-4.5 line coming fully on-line. In H1 2012, both companies plan to commercialize 55? AMOLED TVs. They are accelerating development with deposition equipment of 4~10K.

Also read: AMOLED displays draw attention on smartphone adoption

Figure. Korea's AMOLED light-emitting materials market size. Includes HIL, HTL, R?, G?, EML(RGB) dopant/host, ETL, EIL, and CPL materials. SOURCE: Korea AMOLED Light-Emitting Material Industry Analysis, Displaybank, Nov 2011.

With the growth in AMOLEDs, related material markets -- especially light-emitting materials -- are seeing significant increases.

Displaybank?s ?Korea AMOLED Light-Emitting Material Industry Analysis? report analyzes equipment trends, development trends, and the supply chains of Korean AMOLED panel makers. It analyzes the current state of Korea?s AMOLED light-emitting material industry through the analysis of domestic AMOLED common layer materials and market size of light-emitting materials, and competition analysis of each material. Learn more at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=865&cate=10.

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Semiconductor companies (fabless companies, integrated device manufacturers [IDMs], and semiconductor suppliers) saw $28.9 million in venture capital investments; a 81.9% decrease from February 2011 and a 84.9% drop from March 2011.

8 semiconductor companies received funding in March; a 42.9% decrease M/M and a 14.3% increase Y/Y. Of these, 6 were fabless and 2 were chip suppliers.

A single semiconductor company, Merus Audio of Denmark, received first-round investment dollars in March. M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings held its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (ticker: MTSI). LED company Novaled AG filed with the SEC to raise up to $200 million in its IPO.

In March, semiconductor mergers and acquisitions (M&As) increased (6 more over February) and held steady Y/Y. These include entire fabless, IDM and semiconductor supplier companies, not sectors/product lines or foundry facilities. The largest was Advanced Micro Devices? (AMD?s) acquisition of SeaMicro for $334.0 million.

Access the report at http://www.gsaglobal.org/publications/fundings/index.asp. The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) aims to accelerate growth and increase the return on invested capital of the global semiconductor industry by fostering a more effective ecosystem through collaboration, integration and innovation. It addresses the challenges within the supply chain including IP, EDA/design, wafer manufacturing, test and packaging to enable industry-wide solutions.

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OLEDs made up a $1.9 billion market in 2011. In small-screen displays, like smartphones, OLEDs are gaining adoption and working toward cost parity with LCDs. For large-screen displays, like televisions, OLEDs require further technological advancements, bringing down cost barriers, said Jonathan Melnick, Lux research analyst and lead author of the report, ?Cutting Up the LCD Pie: Calculating the Billion-Dollar Slices from Display Innovation.?

OLEDs give smartphones thinner designs with better-performance displays, longer battery life, and lighter weight for an acceptable higher cost than conventional displays. Lux Research?s component materials and manufacturing cost analysis shows that ?OLEDs will decrease from their current $3,000/m² for small-area displays to be cost competitive with LCDs by 2016,? Melnick reports. By 2017, more than one third of all smartphones will use OLED displays, or $9.5 billion of the $11 billion OLED market. If Apple switches its iPhone and iPad designs to OLED displays, this could drive 3x growth or more, to $35 billion.

Also read: AMOLED display gives Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 the edge

In 2017, the reflective display market will reach $1.6 billion. Lux Research expects the e-reader market to be subsumed under tablet PCs and hit market saturation starting in 2013. E-readers dominate the non-segmented reflective display market. With e-reader numbers dropping, digital signage will take over as the primary application for reflective displays in 2017.

In the flexible display space, manufacturing technologies are immature, such as barrier films, restricting potential use in new and existing display form factors. Flexible displays will reach a $140 million market in 2017. OLEDs are considered candidates for the flexible display market, though materials and manufacturing challenges exist, keeping OLEDs to a 15% share of the total flexible display market.

The report, ?Cutting Up the LCD Pie: Calculating the Billion-Dollar Slices from Display Innovation,? is part of the Lux Research Printed Electronics Intelligence service. Lux Research provides strategic advice and on-going intelligence for emerging technologies. Visit www.luxresearchinc.com for more information.

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Total SMD shipments hit 186.8 million units in February, up 9% from January, serving mobile handset, tablet and digital still camera makers, according to an IHS iSuppli Small & Medium Displays PriceTrak report. The increase brought to an end 4 straight months of shipment declines that started in October 2011 (see the figure).

Figure. Worldwide small/medium displays forecast by millions of units shipped. SOURCE: IHS iSuppli Research, April 2012.

AMOLED displays are gaining market share, and increased orders are coming in from Chinese electronics vendors. Worldwide shipments of AMOLED mobile handset displays are expected to increase sequentially by 14% in Q1 2012 and by 80% compared to the same time a year ago.

AMOLED displays are lighter weight and offer more saturated colors than traditional LCD panels. Samsung Electronics, Nokia Corp., and HTC Corp. have adopted AMOLED displays for new mobile handsets. AMOLED displays will gain more share as tablet PCs switch to the technology, likely this year.

?Display manufacturers are increasing their AMOLED manufacturing,? said Vinita Jakhanwal, director for small & medium displays at IHS, adding that ?AMOLED is coming of age in 2012.

Samsung Mobile Display Co. currently drives the AMOLED market, with the largest manufacturing capacity. Also read: AMOLED display gives Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 the edge

LG Display Co. recently redirected its AMOLED focus away from mobile handsets toward the TV market, but it is still Samsung Mobile Display?s largest competitor.

Taiwanese and Chinese display suppliers are working to improve their competitive positioning, looking to challenge these leaders in AMOLED production and win orders from top handset makers. AU Optronics Corp. (Taiwan) has likely orders from handset manufacturer HTC and Sony, and should start shipping small volumes of AMOLED displays in Q2. AUO is reportedly planning for AMOLED production at a Gen 6 fab. ChiMei Innolux Corp. (Taiwan) should start AMOLED panel production in 2012.

In mobile phones, AMOLED prices increased 0.9 percent to an average of $54 in February, due to the introduction of new, higher-specification AMOLED displays. AMOLED commands price premium of 15 to 20% over comparable low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) LCD displays with touch capabilities. A 4.3? QHD ?Super? AMOLED display for mobile phones with an integrated on-cell touch solution, boasting QHD resolution at 960 by 540 pixels, was priced at $51 in January. A comparable LTPS LCD plus projected capacitive touch solution had a total price of $42. Prices could come down if AMOLED supply increased, although its performance advantages will help prevent price erosion.

In tablets, total average panel prices retreated 0.4% to $48.87, down from the January average of $49.06. AMOLED tablet displays, meanwhile, stayed at about $100. LG and Samsung remain the pre-eminent suppliers for the tablet PC display market, with high capacity and reliable shipments to Apple for its iPad, to Amazon for its Kindle, and to Samsung Electronics for its Galaxy Tab.

Learn more in Increased AMOLED Display Demand Preserves Premium Pricing from IHS iSuppli.

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The material is formulated for conductivity and stability on various substrates when cured at 100°C or higher (Cure time of 1min @ 180°C or slower at lower temperatures). Its dispensing work life exceeds 48 hours (25% increase in viscosity).

The product resists damp heat and boasts conductivity stability on tin, tin-silver and silver-plated ribbons. It cures to a rubber-like flexibility with high peel strength, withstanding stresses induced in reel-to-reel (R2R) manufacturing processes and flexible end-use applications.

Engineered Conductive Materials, LLC (ECM) is a wholly-owned company of Engineered Materials Systems, Inc. (EMS). ECM?s technology focus is electronic circuit fabrication that compliments EMS?s circuit assembly product line. Web site: www.conductives.com.

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Shekhar Borkar, director of Extreme-scale Technologies at Intel Labs, will provide the technology keynote on Intel?s mid- and long-term development efforts in IC scaling, power reduction, and performance improvements. Attend at 9:00am, July 10.

SEMI plans 3 TechXPOT sessions at SEMICON West: Fully depleted transistor architectures on Tuesday, next-generation lithography on Wednesday, and the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) on Thusday.

Learn about advances -- and challenges -- in fully depleted devices and III-V channel materials for new transistors at 10:30am, July 10, in the South Hall TechXPOT session. Speakers:

• Raj Jammy, VP, Materials and Emerging Technologies, SEMATECH
• Carlos Mazuré, EVP  and CTO, Soitec
• Kaizad Mistry, VP, director of Logic Technology Integration, Intel
• Aaron Thean, director, Logic Program, imec

Lithography achievements, technology roadmaps and development efforts will be discussed in the July 11,10:30am, South Hall TechXPOT session. Learn about extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) readiness from transmission and conversion efficiency to mask and resist work. The session will also cover double-patterning and the role of complementary technologies, such as e-beam lithography. Speakers:

• Yan Borodovsky, senior Intel fellow, director, Advanced Lithography, Intel
• Stefan Wurm, director, Lithography, SEMATECH
• Hans Meiling, director, Product Management EUV, ASML
• Franklin Kalk, CTO, Toppan Photomasks
• Serge Tedesco, IMAGINE (MAPPER), program manager, CEA-Leti
• Donis Flagello, NRCA fellow, Nikon Research Corporation of America

The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) sessions will be part of the TechXPOT and Extreme Electronics platforms, July 12.

The Test Vision 2020 Conference will be held in conjunction with SEMICON West, on July 11-12.

A special session on supply chain opportunities in 450mm wafers will be held on July 12.  

Other TechXPOT sessions, yet to be announced, will address new materials, advances in 3D-IC, MEMS, test, advanced packaging, LEDs, OLEDs, and productivity solutions for 200mm and 300mm fabs.  

Register through April 12 for a free Expo Only badge. For more information, including keynotes, programs, registration, and exhibiting, please visit www.semiconwest.org.

SEMI is a global industry association serving the nano- and microelectronics manufacturing supply chains. For more information, visit www.semi.org.

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Also read: DOW CMP slurry boasts lower defects and better removal rates

Major areas of research and development at the Dow Seoul Technology Center include lithography, organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), display materials, and advanced chip packaging to support growth.

The site will be the global hub for Dow?s OLED research, and Dow has also equipped the site with a Nikon 193nm immersion scanner and 300mm tool cluster. Dow also has a 193nm dry scanner at its Cheonan, Korea facility.

Dow Electronic Materials is a global supplier of materials and technologies to the semiconductor, interconnect, finishing, photovoltaic, display, LED and optics markets. Dow (NYSE:DOW) is a science and technology company. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

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• ?Technology and Application Outlooks for Small-Middle Size Display? by Jia-Heng Wang, co-chief operating officer and executive vice president of BOE Group
  
• ?Evolving Glass Solutions Address Challenges in Advanced Display Trends? by Fang Li, president of Corning Display Technologies China
  
• ?Greener TFT-LCD and Display Panels? by Han-pin Hsieh, professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Chiao Tung University (Hsinchu, Taiwan) 
• ?Orientation of China Mobile Display Market? by Qing-Quan Liu, Marketing director of Tianma Micro-electronic
  

In addition, the FPD Conference includes technical sessions on Next Display Technology; Touch Screen; Naked-Eye 3D; 2 sessions on TFT-LCD; and OLED.

For more information, visit www.fpdchina.org.

SEMI is a global industry association serving the nano- and microelectronic manufacturing supply chains.

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Flexible, printed electronics will usher in the "Organic Age" predicted Dr. Jennifer Ricklin, chief technologist at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and the opening speaker of the 2012 FlexTech Alliance Flexible Electronics & Displays Conference & Exhibition. Dr. Ricklin stated, "Flex electronics is a revolution, following in line with previous electronics industry innovations. It is a disruptive technology that will create, change and disturb markets." Ricklin further explained that disruptive technology takes decades to mature and we are now entering the Organic Age ? the coming together of nanotechnology, biology and information technologies to enable multiple applications in commercial and defense markets.

A novel PARC process enables jet-printing organic semiconductors and conductors. Additively printed polymer TFT arrays on plastic substrates can enable low-cost displays with new functionality and performance.

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDS) are a common demonstration of organic electronics, with displays and lighting the most visual applications. Steven Abramson, president and CEO of UDC, noted that OLED displays will challenge the liquid crystal display supremacy (LCD) because they have fewer parts, a lower bill of materials, and a superior image. OLEDs, which just passed $1B in sales, are increasingly found in mobile formats, while large consumer electronics manufacturers are prototyping 50"+ OLED TVs.

Flexible organic photovoltaics (PV) demonstrate how energy can be harvested from earth abundant materials. Jim Buntaine of Konarka presented working examples of off-grid applications of flexible PV such as bus stations in San Francisco and green houses in the Middle East. The large off-grid population opens new markets for this technology.

In many respects, flexible, printed electronics products will be enabled by advancements in materials technology. A primary example is the e-reader, which has become a huge market based on electronic ink developed and commercialized by E Ink.

The printing industry is increasingly engaged with the electronics industry and this merger of capabilities was explained by John McCooey of DuPont MCM and Kevin Manes of Mark Andy. Both noted that there are multiple printing mechanisms that will print electronic circuitry, with gravure and flexography as the most likely contenders. Manes indicated that the printing industry has significant experience in this area for graphics printing which needs to be adapted to functional printing. He commented that "it is possible to fool the eye, but you cannot fool electrons."

Can glass be made flexible? That question was answered affirmatively by Corning Inc., which demonstrated very thin glass moving over rollers and through processing tools. Flexible glass offers significant advancements in optical transmission, dimensional stability, and prevention of water vapor and oxygen permeation; it's a true "game-changer". Corning shared a glimpse into the future with a showing of their video ? A Day in Glass 2 ? illustrating how flexible glass can improve quality of life.

David Barnes of Biz Witz offered product packaging and wearables as targets of flexible electronics opportunities. Furthermore, Barnes advised that sharing the risk in developing and deploying new technology, as well as collaboration, can propel an emerging industry to success.

"Collaboration was a strong theme being echoed throughout the opening day presentations," said Michael Ciesinski, CEO of FlexTech Alliance. "FlexTech Alliance has long been facilitating this collaboration by developing the flexible supply chain with an R&D funding program and providing forums to exchange ideas."?P.S.

Solid State Technology, Volume 55, Issue 2, March 2012

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Also read: Samsung plans record investments in 2012

The LCD market has been in oversupply since Q2 2010, and panel makers have suffered losses. At the same time, AMOLED has matured and gained market acceptance. Panel makers are changing their strategies in order to reverse their losses, and with the most substantial resources in AMOLED, the Samsung group is moving fast to make big changes.

NPD DisplaySearch believes that Samsung's LCD/AMOLED transistion timeline seems to be moving up; the restructuring could take place as soon as the middle of 2012.

Read NPD DisplaySearch's blog post on the possible reorg, Will Samsung Spin Off its LCD Panel Division? What are the Possible Impacts? for a discussion of the reorganization method (merge OLED and LCD units, or spin off LCD first?), the impact on Samsung's LCD customers with a change in its sales and component sourcing strategies, how changes would affect the market price for LCD panels, and what Samsung suppliers can expect.

David Hsieh is Vice President, Greater China Market at NPD DisplaySearch.

Yoonsung Chung is Director, Large-Area Displays & FPD Materials, NPD DisplaySearch.

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Figure. Supply/demand balance in flat panel displays (000m2/quarter). Source: NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly FPD Supply/Demand and Capital Spending Report.

FPD capital expenditures (capex) are in decline, even when factoring in investment for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) capacity, Barclays warns, calling it a "substantial contraction in FPD capex spending." But the industry will begin to right itself, thanks to the "cyclical nature of market forces," said Charles Annis, VP of manufacturing research at NPD DisplaySearch, stating that 2012 and 2013's capacity expansion delays will converge with increasing demand, pushing the industry upward in the long run.

Good news isn't on the doorstep, however. The H2 2012 recovery in FPD may be "somewhat more muted" than originally expected, Barclays reports, with Samsung's China fab investments delayed, and the magnitude of the OLED investment by the Taiwanese and Japanese panel makers still uncertain. FPD makers have lost money for the past 6 consecutive quarters, its longest down turn since the industry began. This caused an expansion freeze across nearly all liquid crystal display (LCD) TV fabs. The overall FPD equipment market will suffer a severe recession in 2012, falling 63% from 2011, DisplaySearch notes. Also read: Top 10 LCD manufacturing trends of 2012

On the demand size, lower prices are stimulating consumer spending, particularly for large (50?+) TVs, DisplaySearch reports. Prices for large-sized liquid crystal display (LCD) panels stabilized in December 2011, thanks to better-than expected sales and decreased production, according to an IHS iSuppli LCD PriceTrak report.

The net effect will be a tightening of the supply/demand balance, particularly in 2013, when the glut ratio is forecast to fall well below 10% for the first time since Q2 2010. This will set off another crystal cycle of improved panel pricing, higher profitability, and increased investment. Spending on new active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) production lines in particular will drive the FPD rebound in 2013.

Another technology, indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) LCDs, entered mass production in late 2011. Initially, IGZO will focus on LCD tablet and ultrabook display markets, but will likely see wider use in super-high-resolution large LCD TVs and some AMOLEDs. IGZO will grow continuously in the future.

The NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly FPD Supply/Demand and Capital Spending Report features in-depth analysis and critical data and detailed interpretation of market and technical trends. NPD DisplaySearch is a global market research and consulting firm specializing in the display supply chain, as well as the emerging photovoltaic/solar cell industries. Access reports at http://www.displaysearch.com/.

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