Interview with Dr. Wei Xinnuo, Dr. Zhang Deqiang: Ice-breaking and Advanced of Domestic OLED Industry

Advanced OLED technology, popularization and application

OLED is the abbreviation of organic light emitting display because it has self-luminous, infinitely high contrast, wide viewing angle, low power consumption, extremely fast response, and flexible display. It has been recognized as a new generation of display technology since it was discovered. .

In the past two years, panel makers represented by LGD and Samsung have stepped up promotion of OLED display at the market level. LGD has set up an experience zone in Suning, with wallpapers, OLED TVs, and hyperbolic OLED TVs. Bright, but objectively speaking, due to the price factor of large-size OLED panels, the current popularity of large-size OLED TVs is relatively slow. Related research institutions show that in 2017 global shipments of OLED TVs were approximately 1.5 million units, and global OLED TVs in 2018 Shipments can only reach 2.5 million units. Large-size OLED products are still a little bit away from popularity, while small and medium-sized OLED screens have gradually become more attractive on mobile terminals.

Dr. Zhang Deqiang said in an interview that the current pure-plane and fixed-surface AMOLED screen is only the middle stage of the development of AMOLED technology. The flexible and flexible mobile terminal with flexible and collapsible AMOLED is the best match. It is a trend. In the process of industrialization and commercialization of flexible AMOLEDs, the main challenges come from three aspects: the difficulty of flexible AMOLED technology, the lack of suitable materials in the upstream, and the uncertainties of downstream terminal products. Currently, most of the actual scenes of OLED screen applications are still using the advantages of flexible display technology to subvert the share of traditional liquid crystal display products. However, at present, the cost is still an objective reality of inferiority, but this is an inevitable law for the development of new technologies. With the technological breakthrough and the acceleration of industrialization, the cost is not a problem quickly. Flexible AMOLED enables the display form to evolve from tablet to deformable according to requirements. This feature will expand more application areas, such as wearable, car, VR, etc., can be used to imagine, there will be more application scenarios. The display will be ubiquitous, which will enable the display industry to usher in a truly explosive growth.

Domestic OLED development, how to deal with patent barriers?

China's LCD industry has experienced the process of introduction, digestion, and re-innovation. The core patents for LCD panels are in the hands of foreign companies, and it is difficult to form effective barriers in terms of patents. Will domestic OLED development repeat the development of domestic LCD panels?

Dr. Zhang Deqiang said that China has started early in the development of OLED technology, and the overall technical level has been synchronized with that of the international community. Under the existing format, no company can obtain all the technical patents, so mutual authorization is currently the mainstream form of patent protection. Wesino has the same quality and quantity as the international OLED manufacturers in the underlying core patent reserves. Therefore, patents will not be the bottleneck for the development of Visionox. This is also the insistence of independent research and development and active participation in the industry since the establishment of Visionox. The reason for the standard setting.

Visionox was founded in 2001 and its technical team comes from Tsinghua University's OLED project team. After 21 years of technology accumulation, Visionox has mastered a number of OLED key technologies and has more than 3,000 key patents related to OLED. Since 2002, Visionox led the formulation of OLED international standards and national standards, responsible for the formulation of two OLED international standards and two flexible display international standards, and led the formulation of five OLED national standards and three projects OLED industry standards. Standing on the commanding heights of international competition, it has won the right to speak for China’s industrial development.

Compared with Samsung and other international giants, domestic OLED advantages and short board?

According to media reports, Samsung is increasing investment in production lines of flexible OLED panels. The Samsung OLED production line, codenamed A4, is expected to be put into production in the second half of 2018. LGD is also catching up with small- and medium-size OLEDs, according to an upstream device manufacturer. In 2018, South Korea's sixth-generation OLED production line is expected to expand to 12 lines, and by 2020, it may increase to 24 lines.

When Korean companies expanded their OLED panel production capacity, domestic manufacturers also accelerated the pace of industrialization. Companies such as Visionox, Tianma, BOE, and Hehui have established OLED production lines and are in the stage of capacity expansion or capacity ramp-up. How can domestic OLEDs stand out from competitors such as Samsung and LGD, and stand out?

Dr. Zhang Deqiang said that Visoxino is the first company in China to have both PMOLED and AMOLED business, and has been ranked first in China's domestic OLED screen sales. Since 2012, PMOLED shipments have ranked first in the world for many years. AMOLED production line is the best production line in China and has become the only supplier of well-known mobile phones in China.

From the perspective of product competitiveness, Dr. Zhang Deqiang believes that relying on the integrated innovation mechanism of production, learning, and research, Visionox has made significant progress in OLED materials, devices, and processes, and holds many core patents and masters flexible displays. The standard sets the initiative so that Viscom can fully compete with Korean companies in terms of product and technology competitiveness. For example, on the time of high-screen (also called full-screen) product launch, Visionox is synchronized with the world. of. With superior product quality and quick response service, Visionox has gained the full trust of domestic smart phones, instrumentation, medical equipment and other manufacturers, and has become a reliable supplier for many companies. At present, Visionox is also expanding its production capacity further to meet the growing demand.

In the era of OLED, Chinese manufacturers started early, have technology, and are backed by a vast domestic application market, as well as a very active terminal application innovation environment. This is our advantage. However, in the ecosystem of the industrial chain, it is necessary to rapidly improve supporting capabilities.

Dr. Zhang Deqiang also pointed out that from the perspective of ecosystem establishment, Visionox also needs to stay ahead. For example, in the research and development of foldable technology, Visionox has developed a flexible AMOLED display that can realize AMOLED tens of thousands of folds. However, it lacks a composite optical film that can fold without leaving marks, and is sufficiently hard and flexible. The glass cover plate, the battery module that can be flexibly bent, and these matching components and components, to a certain extent, limit the commercialization progress of the flexible AMOLED. Therefore, Visionox has to do research and development and industrialization of flexible AMOLED technology on the one hand, and on the other hand it must establish a flexible display ecological chain on a global scale. Only through the joint innovation of the industrial chain can we really solve the technical bottleneck of the flexible display. In the future, Visionox will further strengthen the interaction and cooperation with the upstream and downstream, and work together with the whole industry chain to build a new ecology of the AMOLED industry.

During this year's Hi-Tech Fair, visitors from many technology industry visitors were amazed at the exhibits such as jewelry boxes and speakers equipped with Visionox's flexible AMOLED screen. The flexible AMOLED technology enables mobile phone display screens from hard screens to curved screens, from curved screens to full screens. In the future, it will develop from a full screen to a foldable screen. The trend of flexible development of folding screens has become a consensus. Looking to the future, Dr. Zhang Deqiang believes that flexible AMOLED technology will promote the development of smartphones and even more categories of mobile terminal industry. The key to winning and losing OLEDs in the future is who will be the first to commercialize mass production of foldable OLEDs. The production of mainland OLED production lines will be successively put into production. On the one hand, it can effectively solve the current situation of serious shortage of OLED panels, providing assurance for the safe operation of China's electronics manufacturing industry. More importantly, through the breakthrough of key flexible display technologies, China's science and technology has created a new and innovative outlet.