On May 13, 2016, Shen Tianma released the "Announcement on Optimizing the Production Project of the 6th Generation Low Temperature Polysilicon (LTPS) TFT-LCD and Color Filter (CF) Production Line of Wuhan Tianma, a wholly-owned subsidiary, which will show Wuhan Tianma Some of the equipment in the production line at the end of the G6 project was optimized to become the AMOLED production line with LTPS as the drive substrate. At present, Tianma has a 4.5-generation AMOLED pilot line built in 2010. A 5.5-generation AMOLED production line that was built in 2013 through Shanghai Tianma Organic Luminescence Display Technology Co., Ltd. has started mass production and shipment to ZTE mobile phones this year.
LCD panel makes money difficult. Panel factory converts AMOLED
The AMOLED driver substrate technology includes a-Si, IGZO, and LTPS. Among them, a-Si is less than 3.5-inch low-resolution AMOLED display driver substrate, mainly for some 3.5-generation line production lines using a-Si technology for mass production. In addition to the application of the IGZO technology in the display of some small-sized wearable devices, the technology of the experimental line is generally optimized, and it is expected to replace the a-Si technology and achieve large size in the future. LTPS is a mainstream technology for some new production lines represented by Samsung. It is the best mass production technology on high-resolution AMOLED panels.
Although AMOLED display technology has been developed for a long time, in 2007, related products were introduced to the market. However, due to various reasons such as the life of the panel, the aging of the components, and the high cost of the large size, the finished products that everyone can see, apart from the TV products of Sony and LG, are only a few small-size mobile phone products based on Samsung. .
In fact, in the early days of AMOLED development, many Japanese companies that could not find North in the LCD era were regarded as a life-saving straw for regaining the market. In the early days, Japanese companies were indeed leading in this field. However, as Apple continues to optimize the LTPS LCD display technology, and disguisedly disclosed its new high-resolution LTPS TFT circuit design and drive compensation technology, the core parameters are standardized and solidified on the production line equipment and driver IC circuits. It reduces the dependence of flat panel display technology on materials and processes.
Apple's move not only broke the price monopoly alliance of the original panel companies, but also weakened the leading edge of Japanese companies in LCD flat panel technology, and with the maturity of technology and cost reduction, Japanese companies in the field of flat panels and other electrical appliances Retreat, no energy and money to invest in the field of AMOLED research. Samsung, which first modified the circuit design according to Apple's technology, earned a lot of money by quickly accumulating capacity and market share by providing a low-cost LCD panel with a public board design in mainland China. Then LG started with the help of Apple. With rapid expansion, Korean companies have surpassed Japan to become the leader in display technology innovation. At the same time, Samsung and LG, which acquired the patents related to OLED ancestor Kodak, also began to optimize the backplane-driven TFT circuit design of AMOLED with reference to Apple's LTPS liquid crystal panel technology, reducing the dependence of AMOLED on materials and process technology, and leading again. Japanese companies have become the mainstay of AMOLED shipments.
With the maturity of LTPS TFT circuit design in the past two years, the factors affecting the resolution of AMOLED have been basically solved; while the advancement of material technology and the optical compensation circuit of the driver IC are constantly improving, the problem of aging of AMOLED components is also slow. Slowly circumvented; the rapid shortening of consumer electronic switching caused by the rapid change of communication technology and the maturity of the related AMOLED driving technology make the AMOLED display effect cycle become longer, and the AMOLED display has more market applications. Space; the structure of AMOLED is simplified and the manufacturing cost is reduced, and the cost of AMOLED panel and LCD panel begins to appear upside down. After these major market application obstacles are solved, AMOLED has only a relatively long life and color accuracy compared with the short board of LCD. In the future, as the cost of AMOLED driver ICs is further reduced, the price of AMOLED modules will be lower. It will be lower than the price of the LCD module, so that it will gain more competitive advantages in the consumer electronics field where the service life and color accuracy are not strict, and the market share will be further expanded.
On the other hand, as Apple moves more static professional display functions to iPad tablets and iMacs, the timing of adopting AMOLEDs on iPhones is beginning to mature, and Apple is also preparing to equip some iPhones with AMOLED screens around 2018. Samsung and Apple have a huge influence in the smartphone industry. After Apple introduced the AMOLED screen, it is expected that its related technologies for optimizing AMOLED display devices will be promoted by the industry as quickly as the LTPS technology of the year, which can ensure that Apple's supply chain can quickly reduce costs, and secondly, it can provide more options for Apple's suppliers. More opportunities to stabilize Apple's supply chain.
At present, it is almost certain that Apple will only cooperate with Samsung in the early stage to ensure that Apple's iPhone has sufficient capacity on the AMOLED screen, but it does not mean that the trend of Samsung's profit on the AMOLED screen in the past few years can be maintained. Earlier said that Apple optimized LTPS technology in the LCD era, and authorized the use of LG, JDI and Sharp, and assigned orders to the three panel companies. However, the LTPSLCD panel is not without competitors. Using the similar TFT circuit design of LTPS, the a-Si technology also achieves HD and FHD specifications in resolution, resulting in the price of the same specification LTPSLCD panel has been declining. However, judging from the operation of the first three companies, in addition to the good operation of LG, JDI and Sharp did not improve their operations because they were suppliers of Apple.
Founded in 2012, JDI, which combines Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi display services, not only uses LTPS technology to produce Apple's LCD panels, but also provides LTPS LCD panels and modules for Chinese handset manufacturers. But its latest results show that JDI is getting harder and harder as the global smartphone market becomes saturated. JDI expects the company's net loss to reach 31.8 billion yen (approximately 1.908 billion yuan) in FY2015 as of March 31, compared to a net loss of 12.3 billion yen (approximately RMB 738 million) in FY2014. Significantly expanded.