The OLED-Info newsletter (June 28, 2022)

LG Display has deployed 38 55" transparent OLED displays at a new bakery in Korea. This is a "futuristic" flagship branch of Korea-based Paris Baguette, in Pangyo. LG says that in this new bakery, new products and services can be experienced first, and this goes in line with the adoption of the transparent screens.

This is the largest ever transparent OLED installation, where these OLEDs are used to create a giant digital signage system. The screens are used in the store's entrance, as a smart partition between the baking station and the store, as transparent art wall, and also as transparent signage on the windows, on the bread stand.

The Elec reports that Samsung Display is currently using a transparent tape (OCA) to attach the OLED panel to the cover glass, in its foldable OLED production process. The company has decided to switch to liquid transparent adhesive (OCR) in order to reduce production costs.

The cover glass lamination is performed at Samsung's module factory, in Vietnam . The company will make the necessary investments in the plant to enable it to use OCR technology.

Reports from Korea suggest that BOE has decided to adopt LG Chem's blue host material in its AMOLED displays, replacing its current supplier, Idemitsu Kosan.

LG Chem has been focused on soluble OLED materials, and it acquired Dupont's soluble OLED IP in 2019. But in recent years it has started to develop evaporation OLED materials, and it has now secured the design win at BOE. It is understood that BOE chose LG Chem over Idemitsu as its materials offer longer lifetime and lower costs.

Researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) and from the Silesian University of Technology have developed new OLED emitter materials based on aromatic electron-donating and -accepting moieties bridged by an antiaromatic seven-membered ring.

The researchers say that the new design of its N-doped PAHs is very flexible, and their properties are very responsive to the choice of the electron-accepting group. The researchers can thus can tune the emission mechanism between TADF emission and room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emission, which gives high degree of control over the emission profile.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin announced that EO System Company (EOST) , an established electro-optical devices defense supplier, has been using the company's range of OLED microdisplays in its products.

EOST is using eMagin's displays in its snipers thermal weapon sights, thermal imaging systems and binocular systems for surveillance. The company says it has deployed over a dozen different eMagin OLED microdisplays over the years. eMagin says that its current backlog to EOST is over $1 million.

TCL (CSoT) announced that the company has finalized the development of several new OLED technologies, which has been deployed at the company's production lines.

The first technology is LTPO, or Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide, an OLED backplane technology developed originally by Apple. LTPO enables variable refresh rates, and TCL's technology can support a wide range of frequencies, from 1Hz to 144Hz.

LG Display, together with British design magazine Dezeen recently launched the 2nd OLED Go! Design competition. LGD announced the winner of this year's competition, the Caelum desk, designed by Turkish designer Cagatay Afsar.

Caelum integrates a 27-inch transparent OLED displays into the desk partition, eliminating the need for a separate monitor to free up desk real estate and reduce household clutter. When not in use, the display can switch to its transparent mode as to seamlessly blend in with the room’s décor.

According to reports, Samsung Display has been chosen by BMW to supply it with AMOLED displays for the company's high-end sedans. BMW will start adopting Samsung's AMOLEDs in 2024 and will buy a total of 4 million displays in about 6-7 years. We do not have any information regarding the display size and features.

Samsung has been a relative late comer to the automotive AMOLED market (the clear leader today is LG Display ), and this is an important design win for the company. Samsung also supplied rear-view mirror displays for Hyundai's Ioniq 5 EV and for Audi's e-tron SUVs, but both these systems were optional and the BMW deal is the first major one for Samsung.

Xiaomi's Poco F4 smartphone features a 6.67-inch 120Hz 1,300 nits 1080x2400 AMOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset, 6/8/12 GB of RAM, 128/256 GB of storage and a triple camera setup.

The Poco F4 will start shipping before the end of June 2022, starting at around $425.

A new startup based in Italy, called Invisible Cities, launched a new tourist experience based on a virtual-reality bus tour.

The bus uses several innovative technologies, including the adoption of 8 transparent OLED TVs (55" LG panels) that overlays information and videos on the view from the bus. Using sensors and software, the bus can maintain and overlay the image over the real world views outside. There's even a network of vents that deliver smells that suit the view - all intended to "transport you 2000 years into the past".

Hisense's flagship TV for 2020, the A9H, sports a 55" or 65" 4K 120Hz WOLED panel, two HDMI 2.1 ports, VRR (up to 120Hz), Dolby Vision IQ, Smart TV platform, HDR10+ , a 80W speakers setup and a Sonic Screen (Crystal Sound OLED technology).

The A9H will ship soon, starting at around $2,800.

Merck announced that it has completed its OLED manufacturing capacity expansion project at its Poseung site in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Merck invested around 20 million Euros to install sublimation equipment and an OLED vacuum deposition unit.

From the left, Jung Do Young, Director General for Economic Planning of Gyeonggi-do, WooKyu Kim, Managing Director of Merck Korea, Choi Won Yong, Deputy Mayor of Pyeongtaek City

Merck began to lay the foundation for R&D, production and the stable supply of OLED materials to Korean panel makers in 2005, as part of its successful strategy of achieving success through domestic research and production. The company continuously interacts with OLED researchers from Korean panel companies so that Korea can continue to lead the OLED industry, and Merck develops materials for OLED TV and flexible, rollable and foldable OLED displays together with its customers.