[iMiD 2017] LG Display, Spur Development of 77 inch transparent flexible OLED

LG Display’s Kwon Se-Yeol senior researcher introduced the 77-inch transparent flexible OLED which had been introduced in June at IMID 2017 held in BEXCO, Busan on Aug. 30, and announced the applied technologies to realize this.

 

 

Kwon Se-Yeol senior researcher mentioned, “OLED is self-luminous, so it can be manufactured with a thin thickness because it does not need a back light unit. The thinner the thickness, the more flexible the OLED can be so that it is easy to implement flexible displays with OLEDs.” and forecasted. “It can be used in various fields such as signage and smart desk.”

 

 

The 77-inch transparent flexible OLED which is released this time is a top emission type for improved luminance. The transparent thin film encapsulation layer is applied, different from the conventional OLED TV or large flexible OLED, and two polyimide substrates are used.

 

Kwon Se-Yeol senior researcher said “We applied a transparent thin-film encapsulation layer instead of the existing metal encapsulation layer for the top emission method ” and explained “A white OLED light emitting layer and a color filter layer were formed on two polyimide substrates and cemented together. A barrier film and a multi-barrier were applied to the top and bottom of the polyimide substrates to prevent moisture and oxygen penetration.”

 

 

The Kwon Se-Yeol senior researcher then states that “flexural rigidity of the panel is mainly affected by the thickness of the polarizer and the encapsulant layer, so it is necessary to reduce the thickness in order to improve the flexibility”, and emphasized “By reducing the thickness of the encapsulant layer from 100 μm to 20 μm, we can reduce the strain on the OLED module from 0.36% to 0.21%, along with improved flexibility”.

In addition, he mentioned that surface reflection due to polyimide birefringence phenomenon, laser wavelength selection according to polyimide properties in LLO (laser lift off) process, and use of flexible OLED module are all covered, and technical development is continuing.

Meanwhile, LG Display has developed the world’s first 77-inch transparent flexible OLED with UHD (3840 × 2160) resolution, transmittance of 40%, and radius of curvature of 80R as part of the national project.

[iMiD 2017] LG Display, 77 inch 투명 플렉시블 OLED 개발 박차

LG Display의 권세열 책임은 8월 30일 부산 벡스코에서 개최중인 IMID 2017에서 지난 6월 선보인 77 inch 투명 플렉시블 OLED를 소개하며 이를 구현하기 위해 적용 된 기술들을 발표하였다.

 

 

권세열 책임은 “OLED는 자발광이라 back light unit이 필요 없어 얇은 두께로 제작이 가능하며, 두께가 얇을 수록 유연성이 향상 되기 때문에 OLED는 플렉시블 디스플레이를 구현하기 용이하다”고 언급하며 “추후 사이니지와 스마트 책상 등 여러 분야에서 적용이 될 수 있을 것”이라 전망했다.

 

 

 

이번에 공개 된 77 inch 투명 플렉시블 OLED는 휘도 향상을 위한 전면 발광방식으로, 기존의 OLED TV나 대형 플렉시블 OLED와는 다르게 투명박막 봉지층이 적용되었으며 polyimide 기판이 2장 사용 되었다.

권세열 책임은 “전면 발광방식을 위해 기존의 금속 봉지층 대신 투명 박막 봉지층을 적용하였다”고 밝히며 “2장의 polyimide 기판에 각각 white OLED 발광층과 칼라필터층을 형성하여 합착 하였다. polyimide 기판 상하부에는 수분과 산소 침투를 방지하기 위해 barrier film과 multi barrier가 적용 되었다”라고 설명했다.

 

이어서 권세열 책임은 “패널의 휨 강성(flexural rigidity)는 주로 편광판과 봉지층 두께의 영향을 받기 때문에 유연성을 향상시키기 위해서는 두께를 줄이는 것이 필수”라며 “봉지층의 두께를 100um에서 20um까지 줄이면 유연성 향상과 함께 OLED 모듈에 가해지는 변형율(strain)도 0.36%에서 0.21%까지 저감할 수 있을 것”이라 강조하였다.

그 밖에 polyimide 복굴절 현상으로 인한 표면반사이슈와 LLO(laser lift off) 공정 시 polyimide 성질에 따른 laser의 파장 선택, 유연성을 가지는 OLED 모듈 사용 등의 주요 이슈를 다루며 기술 개발이 지속적으로 이루어지고 있다고 언급했다.

한편, LG Display는 국책과제의 일환으로써 UHD(3840 × 2160) 해상도와 투과율 40%, 곡률반경 80R을 가지는 77 inch 투명 플렉시블 OLED를 세계 최초로 개발한 바 있다.

LG’s 77 inch OLED TV at KRW 40 Million, Is the Price OK? Comparison with Competitors…

출처=LG전자

LG`s 77 inch OLED TV Picture Source = LG Elec.

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com
LG Electronics recently announced 77 inch OLED TV, and its factory price at KRW 41 million received much attention. With the diverse public opinions regarding this, OLEDNET looked into price trend of TV of similar size.
According to UBI Research, Samsung Electronics’ 78 inch SUHD TV product is being sold at USD 7997.99 ~ 9997.99 (lowest price at Amazon). Released in April, these products utilize quantum dot film attached LCD panel.
For Sony which uses LCD, 75 inch product released in January costs approximately KRW 6.7 million as of July, and 85 inch product costs approximately KRW 9 million. Sony products are less costly than Samsung and LG products.
The actual market price of LG Electronics’ 77 inch OLED TV is not yet exactly known. However, the comparison with its factory price of KRW 41 million shows it is about 4 times more expensive than Samsung Electronics’ 78 inch product and Sony’s 85 inch product.
Compared to LCD TV, existing large OLED TV of same size is about twice as expensive. Although the gap has been recently reduced, this is due to LG Electronics’ OLED TV price reduction. While it is true that OLED TV is pricier, that does not mean it is not marketable. In fact, LG Electronics announced that Q2 2016 OLED TV sales increased by 4 times compared to previous quarter through conference call.
However, some believe that the fact the difference is approximately 4 times, rather than twice, will bring down the competitiveness. Regarding this issue, Choong Hoon Yi of UBI Research explained that considering that the yield drops rapidly as the size increases, the price of LG’s 77 inch new product is not totally out of order. He added that the price will drop with yield improvement, and looking at TV market trend so far, the market price could eventually be half of the factory price.
LG Electronics’ 77 inch OLED TV could fall to about KRW 20 million from KRW 41 million, reducing the price gap against LCD TV of similar size to approximately 2 times. Yi further added that despite being twice as expensive as LCD TV, OLED TV has been solidifying its position in the market.