Sony XEL-1 OLED TV

There’s an interesting analysis comparing LCD TV manufacturing to OLED TV manufacturing.

There is currently a short supply of LCD panels and manufacturers are expected to increase production to meet demand for improved LCD technology and demand from China.

However, the analysis reveals that this may serve to slow down the manufacturing and production of large sized OLED TV models.

“Meanwhile there are announcements on OLED panel for TV. Samsung announced that their 31″ OLED TV is ready for production. LG announced their 15″ OLED TV will be sold in Korea in Dec 2009. Sony repeatedly announced on the release of 21″, 27″ OLED TV. All these OLED TVs will require OLED panels. LCD manufacturers are also OLED manufacturers. These companies may adopt certain financial and technical strategies. Building 7 gen or 8 gen plants for OLED manufacturing is capital intensive like LCD Gens. In the past the backplane for OLED was trivialized as a simple modification of the LCD backplane. Later it was found that was not the case. ”

More information on this analysis at: www.glgroup.com

“The set is expected to match the capabilities of the prototype unit, first unveiled in January.  The prototype sported a fancy 1,000,000:1 contrast (same as XEL1), a 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution (better than XEL1), and a 30,000-hour shelf life (much better than XEL1, which degrades after 1,000 hours).  It is also expected to be ultra-thin (the XEL1 is just 3mm thin).”

The LG OLED TV will be available first in Korea, then Japan and the United States. No word yet on pricing or production numbers but if the Sony XEL-1 is any example, it won’t be cheap. I’m looking forward to LG OLED TV reviews by Christmas 2009.

More information at: DailyTech

Here’s Jan Ergen, a Sony Australia product manager:

“It’s technically feasible [making large screen OLEDs], the problem is the cost of production. There’s no point making a large screen OLED that nobody can afford.

“So that’s where development needs to be put into the technology, which is happening behind the scenes, to reduce the cost of production to bring it down to an achievable level for consumers.”

Ergen was clear to point out, however, that his desire for large screen OLEDs in time for the World Cup will not be enough to make it happen. What he does know is that OLED is set to be big for Sony.

“The picture quality is stunning…It’s a big part of the future, whether or not we can see new models in the next 12 months. I just don’t know.”

Full story at current.com.au

SAN ANTONIO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Mobile Display (SMD), the world’s largest manufacturer of OLED displays, will exhibit an extensive range of OLED and mobile LCD displays here at Display Week 2009, hosted by the Society for Information Display (SID), June 2-4.

Featured at the Samsung booth are:

Production-ready AM OLED TV

SMD is exhibiting 14.1-inch and 31-inch diagonal OLED TV panels. The 31-inch is the world’s first OLED display that features full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, a color gamut of over 100% NTSC and a ultra-slim design of only 8.9mm – providing outstanding brightness and exceptional image quality. The OLED TV panels can be mass produced through the use of Fine Metal Mask (FMM) technology.

Active Matrix (AM) OLED for the Future

SMD is showing the world’s thinnest “flapping” OLED panel, one that can flutter in a breeze. The super-thin panel is only 0.05mm thin, about one tenth the thickness of OLED panels with a normal glass substrate. It features a high contrast ratio, is polarizer-free and has a pixel resolution of 480 x 272.

SMD also is showing 4.82-inch and 12.1-inch transparent, foldable and ID card displays as well.

AM OLED for Mobile

OLEDs have become an important consideration in mobile design as set makers require smarter displays to accommodate multi-functions.

SMD will exhibit a full line up of mobile displays from a 3.2-inch “real” WVGA to a 7-inch WSVGA. The 3.2-inch WVGA on exhibit is the world’s first OLED display with 310ppi. (pixels per inch).

A significant benefit of OLED panels is that they do not require backlighting, can be made much thinner than traditional displays and consume far less power. Other factors that will drive the expected exponential market growth of OLED technology include faster response time, blur-free motion, a 180-degree viewing angle and potentially lower manufacturing costs.

Dupont OLED TV material

Great advances have been made especially in blue emitting materials;

“In addition, DuPont Displays developed some blue light-emitting materials. Among them, one with color coordinates of (0.14, 0.12) has a current efficiency of 6.0cd/A and a luminance half-life of 38,000 hours when measured with the initial luminance of 1,000cd/m², according to the company.”

For deeper blues, “If the initial luminance is set at 200cd/m², which is required for a display, the luminance half-life is calculated to be approximately 41,000 hours,” DuPont Displays said.”

This is far ahead of the current OLED TV material longevity specifically the short blue half-life of the Sony XEL-1 OLED TV.

Full story at: Techon

Seiko Epson Corporation today announced it has established inkjet technology that enables the uniform deposition of organic material in the production of large-screen organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions. The new technology represents a major step toward the realization of 37-inch and larger full-HD OLED TVs by resolving the uneven layering that had previously been an issue with the inkjet method.

OLED televisions are the odds-on favorite to supplant current technologies as the next generation display. Offering outstanding viewing characteristics, including high contrast, wide viewing angle and fast response time, OLED TVs are also lightweight, ultra-thin, and have low power requirements. A major roadblock preventing mass production of large-screen OLED TVs has been the lack of a technology capable of reliably forming uniform organic layers on large substrates. Vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE), currently the most widely used method of depositing organic materials, is surrounded by technical hurdles that have prevented it from solving the layer uniformity issue and making the jump to mass production of large panels. An inkjet process that deposits organic material in liquid form has long been viewed as the ideal alternative.

Read more at Epson OLED TV

According to smarthouse.com.au Panasonic figures that they can do a better job than Sony and produce a Panasonic OLED TV with a 37″ screen and a lifespan of up to 50,000 hours.

These new Panasonic OLED TVs are to be built at the IPS Alpha factory and may be produced in a partnership with Toshiba.

There seems to be more positive OLED TV news the past few weeks. Can’t wait to see one of the larger sized OLEDs in the stores.

“LG is set to steal Sony’s OLED advantage with Company insiders in Korea telling SmartHouse that the Korean Company will have a 15″ for sale by Xmas and a 32″ in mid 2010.”

This is in addition to LG producing 15″ OLED displays for a new Apple notebook this year.

Pricing is expected to start a 2-3x the price of an equivalent size LCD TV. Even so, it appears that LG will have a 32″ OLED TV out before Sony has anything in that range.

Both Panasonic and LG have announced in the last year that they would have 37″ and 15″ OLED TVs available within the next year or two but I’ll believe that when I see it.

Samsung just  told European journalists at its 2009 European Forum that consumers expecting an OLED television from the company anytime soon shouldn’t hold their breath.

“We still have several issues to overcome in terms of cost and production”, said a HS Kim, vice president in charge of Flat Panel Development at Samsung when asked when the company would be releasing an OLED television.

Confirming statements made earlier by Kim in 2008, the big cheese at the company’s TV department said “It will be four or five years before OLED is mainstream”.

The company recently showed off Samsung OLED TV prototypes at CES in Las Vegas in January.

With the recent cancellation of the Pioneer Kuro Plasma TV line, there is a real gap at the top end of flat panel displays. Who will fill it? Canon with SED TV? FET with FED TV? Wait and see. I don’t see too many new OLED TV reviews coming this year.

Thanks to pocket-lint.com