INNOX Advanced Materials was established independently from INNOX in 2017 and is a Korean listed company. Nitto Denko (Nitto Denko), established in 1918, was a Japanese listed company in 1967.
This time, the support film for domestic production in Korea is an adhesive film, which is a material used to prevent the flexible OLED PI substrate from curling. Flexible OLEDs are fabricated on a glass slide by a PI substrate, organically evaporated and packaged, and then LLOed. After the LLO process, the thickness of the PI removed from the glass slide is extremely thin, and it is easy to curl. Therefore, the anti-curl support film is generally applied after touch sensing and polarizing film bonding.
The core of this support film is easy to stick and tear. By supplying SDC support film, INNOX can match the quality of Japanese large companies with a history of more than 100 years, which is equivalent to being recognized by technical strength. SDC has ensured stable supply and more flexible price negotiation capabilities through the introduction of a second supplier.
INNOX is also a supplier of packaging films. Large-sized OLEDs are different from small ones in that they use film packaging instead of TFE film packaging. At first LGD also considered large-size TEE film packaging, but in the end, it chose a film packaging method with relatively low manufacturing cost. In addition to INNOX, LG Chem is also supplying LGD packaging films.
After LGD established a Guangzhou OLED corporation in Guangzhou, China last year, INNOX also set up a corporation and packaging film factory in Guangzhou in July. It is expected that after the mass production of LGD in Guangzhou in the second half of this year, the packaging film supply ratio of INNOX to LGD will continue to rise. Last March, LG Chem sued INNOX for patent infringement in the Seoul District Court.
Recently, as global manufacturers' competition for foldable smartphones has become increasingly fierce, the number of patent applications for PI films related to foldable mobile phone core materials has also increased dramatically.
From the point of view of the foldable mobile phone that can be folded and unfolded, new materials are needed for cover glass, TFT substrate and base film. Because the transparent PI film has better mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties than other materials, it can be used as a substitute for glass. There are no traces even hundreds of thousands of times of folding and unfolding. The soft and thin characteristics can be applied not only on smartphones but also on notebooks.
According to the Patent Office on June 16, according to the number of applications in the field of PI film in the last five years, there were only 60 in 2014, and the average annual growth rate during the two years from 2017 to 2018 was about 37%, and in particular it surged to 150 in 2018. .
Not only the increase in the number of applications, but also in order to respond to rapid technological changes, in order to preemptively occupy patent rights, the priority examination application rate for ensuring rights and interests in advance has also increased.
In terms of the types of applicants, Korean manufacturers have the highest number of applications, reaching 60.9%, followed by Japanese manufacturers, with patent applications accounting for 25.3%.