Japan's OLED lighting mass production yield is still a big problem

It was recently learned that the CEREBA, a research institute jointly established by the Japanese chemical manufacturer and the Institute of Industrial Technology, has led the world and pioneered the development of flexible OLED lighting mass production technology.

According to reports, the technology abandoned the existing glass substrates and changed the transparent resin film to form a light-emitting layer. Japanese manufacturers will use this technology to achieve mass production of OLED lighting products this fall.

Liu Fei, director of Innovation Office of BOE Optics Co., Ltd., said that flexible OLED lighting includes full bending and semi-bending. The full bending is in the form of a resin polymer, while the semi-bending uses a thin glass substrate. "As for mass production of OLED lighting products on resin polymers, there will still be higher costs and lower yield rates in the short term."

“The reason why this is said is because the resin material will be subject to many factors, such as adjusting the packaging, light efficiency, etc.” Liu Fei said, “The OLED lighting laboratory mass production technology has been achieved, and the future with the improvement of materials, technology With the improvement of conditions, mass production will become less and less a problem."

OLED lighting has features such as light, thin, and full-face light sources that are not available in current lighting products, and unlike fluorescent lamps that add mercury, they can reduce the burden on the environment. Plus, light does not contain ultraviolet rays and can reduce irritation to the eyes. It is the most promising next-generation lighting product after LED lighting.

Therefore, OLED lighting has become the focus of domestic and foreign giants to invest in R&D. Among them, CEREBA, which is funded by 13 companies/groups including Mitsubishi Chemical, Sumitomo Chemical, Asahi Kasei, FujiFilm and Konica Minolta, is one of them.

It is reported that CEREBA has been engaged in the research and development of OLED since its establishment in 2011. The OLED lighting products produced using CEREBA technology are bendable and thin, so they can be used in various shapes and applications such as furniture, automobiles, and aircraft.

According to relevant sources, in order to officially attack the OLED lighting market in 2014, Konica among 13 CEREBA organizers will invest about 10 billion yen to build a factory in its Kofu Plant site, and use CEREBA technology to mass produce the world's first resin substrate. Flexible OLED lighting panel products.

The plant is scheduled to be completed in the summer of this year, and it will begin mass production with a monthly output of about 1 million pieces. It is expected that OLED lighting business revenue will be increased to 50 billion yen by 2020 to challenge the leading position in the industry.

How does Japan's deployment affect domestic OLED manufacturers? Liu Fei believes that "this is a good thing and has played a role in promoting the entire industry."

"From the information of BOE's participation in the Guangya Exhibition last year and the reports of Japanese media on BOE at that time, Japan's technology has changed little in the past two years and the cost has been higher." Liu Fei further said, "and at the time Japanese manufacturers We were shocked by the products displayed by BOE. This gave us enough confidence."

"Japan has a high level of technology in this area, but it also has certain deficiencies. Who will lead in the future depends on who has improved technology, better utilization, lower cost, larger market, and more Can grasp the opportunity." Liu Fei pointed out, "At present we are still in the market to cultivate and establish product lines, there is still a long way to go."

According to foreign relevant agencies, OLED lighting global market size is expected to grow to 300 billion yen in 2020.

In this regard, Liu Fei also expressed his own views, he believes that 2020 OLED lighting and LED lighting, are facing an explosive growth after the expiration of patents, "but even if OLED lighting reaches the above scale, but in The entire lighting industry is also only a small part, because the entire lighting industry can reach 300 billion US dollars, and for 2020 OLED lighting can reach the foreign institutions as expected, but also to see