With the increasing demand for silicon-based OLED display panels such as AR glasses, VR helmets, infrared detectors, and 3D medical equipment, the market prospects for silicon-based OLEDs are widely optimistic. International consulting firm IDC predicts that the market size is expected to reach 12 billion yuan next year. At the same time, silicon-based OLEDs have set off another investment boom. In 2020, China's investment in production lines will exceed 20 billion yuan. The display field will usher in the spring of silicon-based OLED.
China's production line investment exceeds 20 billion yuan in 2020
Silicon-based OLED micro-display devices are active organic light-emitting diode display devices made of monocrystalline silicon as an active drive backplane. They have many advantages such as high resolution, high integration, low power consumption, small size, and light weight.
It is understood that there are not many manufacturers engaged in the development and production of OLED microdisplays in the world, mainly in European and American countries, including eMmgin in the United States, Micro Emissive Displays (MED) in the United Kingdom, Fraunhofer IPMS research institute in Germany, and Micro OLED in France. And Chinese manufacturers have also reaped corresponding results at the end of 2020.
In the middle of last year, Hay Think received a reply when interviewing some silicon-based OLED manufacturers: By the end of 2020, both production lines and technology will achieve substantial breakthroughs. In December 2020, when answering questions from investors, JDF stated that it has built an 8-inch silicon-based OLED production line and has invested in the world’s largest 12-inch silicon-based OLED production line. Its main products are positioned at ultra-high PPI VR/ AR display technology, silicon-based OLED products of various sizes are currently under development. VR products have cooperated with VR head companies and are in stable supply.
In the same December, SZZD Optoelectronics Technology Group invested 1.45 billion yuan to build a silicon-based OLED micro-display project, which was constructed in three phases. After it is officially put into production, it is expected to achieve sales of 688 million yuan in the first year. The company said that it has successfully broken through the technical bottleneck of OLED in related fields such as research and development and mass production.
Since May last year, Chinese display manufacturers have been making frequent moves in the field of silicon-based OLEDs. AHXT Optoelectronics Technology Group invested 12 billion yuan to build a silicon-based OLED microdisplay production line project with an annual output of 250,000 pieces; KSMX Display Technology Group, a subsidiary of WXN Technology Group, invested 2 billion yuan to build an OLED microdisplay production project; CW Optoelectronics Technology Group invested 1 billion yuan Yuanjian OLED micro-display module factory…
It is understood that the 8-inch silicon-based OLED micro display device production line that JDF has built can fully respond to the needs of EVF (electronic viewfinder) and civilian infrared/night vision equipment. The 12-inch production line can provide more flexibility in terms of brightness, power consumption and other specifications. "The cutting efficiency of 12-inch wafers is 2 to 3 times higher than that of 8-inch wafers, and it has a greater competitive advantage in terms of cost. Therefore, 12-inch silicon-based OLED production lines will gradually become the mainstream.
Progress in key links of the industrial chain
Recently, some manufacturers' silicon-based OLED microdisplay products have appeared one after another. In November last year, HFSY Display Technology exhibited a 1.03-inch full-color OLEDoS display with a resolution of 2560×2560. It also publicly displayed a 1.03-inch single green with a brightness of up to 20000nits, a 0.62-inch full-color, a 0.49-inch full-color OLEDoS display and an EVF optical machine for the first time. solution.
Hay Think understands that in addition to perfecting the OLEDoS display product line, HFSY is planning and developing a variety of opto-mechanical modules, with application areas covering VR/AR, movie viewing, medical and EVF equipment, helping the industry chain to quickly form product concepts and achieve product landing .
In terms of terminal applications, in December last year, Epson demonstrated a VM-40 smart glasses optical display module equipped with a silicon-based OLED optical engine.
Han Linfeng, the product manager of the projector market at Epson (China) Co., Ltd., introduced that with silicon-based OLED, one can achieve “savings”. The panel can achieve single-pixel control, reducing power consumption to 3W, making battery life longer, and The power can be turned off when necessary to save energy and solve the problem of heat generation after long-term use. The second is to achieve "small". By controlling the light-emitting direction of the pixel panel, the miniaturization of the optical engine can be achieved, which can further reduce the display area, and the overall weight is below 60g, bringing users a more portable and friendly experience. The third is to achieve "precision". The panel can make the picture more detailed, and at the same time, it can achieve a pure black display through a single pixel power-off, so as to achieve a higher contrast, and the picture will be more delicate.
According to industry insiders, since the development of AR glasses in 2012, optics has always been the main bottleneck and pain point in the industry. At the same time, the cost of optical display modules in AR glasses even exceeds that of CPUs. Display, battery life, heat generation, wearing, and application, these shackles brought by the upstream and downstream of the industry chain need to be broken one by one, and silicon-based OLED mentioned a certain role in it.
Industry began to scale application
The current development trend of near-eye display devices is the shift from LCD to silicon-based OLED. Terminal products using silicon-based OLEDs can be widely used in industries, cultural tourism, medical care, drones, and other fields, with broad development space.
In the industrial field, with the maturity of infrared detector technology, various low-cost infrared detectors suitable for civilian use continue to come out. Correspondingly, matching displays are required to form infrared thermal imaging equipment. Due to the good environmental adaptability of OLED micro-displays, it is expected to improve Penetration rate in the field of industrial inspection; in the field of cultural tourism, OLED micro display can realize functions such as AR tour guide, 3D recognition and animation overlay; in the field of medical assistance, take 3D medical endoscope as an example, with higher resolution and display The smaller size of the OLED micro-display can help doctors see the diseased parts of the patient more quickly and accurately, while effectively improving the accuracy and smoothness of the operation.
IDC predicts that in 2022, the VR/AR headset market will grow to 68.9 million units, with a compound annual growth rate of 52.5%, and silicon-based OLEDs will be about 14 million units at a 20% penetration rate. In addition, silicon-based OLEDs will also be widely used in fields such as industry, medical care, and electronic viewfinders. By 2022, the market for silicon-based OLEDs is expected to reach 12 billion yuan.
Although the application space is wide, China's silicon-based OLED microdisplay industry still needs a gradual growth process. The upstream of the silicon-based OLED industry chain includes silicon substrates, driver ICs, photoresist developing materials, metal materials, organic materials, color filter layer materials, packaging materials, production equipment and other major links, providing raw materials and equipment for midstream OLED microdisplay manufacturers. After midstream manufacturers manufacture display panels, their products can be applied to downstream applications such as head-mounted display products, smart wearable products, industrial instruments, and medical instruments.
It is understood that the current upstream of China's silicon-based OLED industry, that is, equipment and raw materials are relatively weak. In terms of equipment, China has not yet been able to supply the core high-precision equipment for silicon-based OLED production; in terms of raw materials, basic industries such as China's fine chemicals are not enough to equip key materials, such as organic materials and color filter materials.
At present, silicon-based OLEDs need to achieve two goals: one is to reduce costs. Silicon-based OLEDs are a combination of integrated circuit and new display technologies. The integrated circuit manufacturing process accounts for 70% to 80% of the device cost. As the market demand for silicon-based OLED devices continues to grow, the existing production methods still need to be explored and adapted; the second is to optimize the system and improve the design level of the whole machine. The display effect of VR/AR is not only determined by the display device itself, but also involves optics. Design and manufacturing, ergonomics, operating system and application programs and other aspects of cooperation. Therefore, the improvement of the silicon-based OLED product ecosystem will be another focus.