LG Targets Cheap OLED TVs By 2016

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 10/30/2009

Yokohama City, Japan. - LG Display is using the FPD International 2009 show here this week to reveal plans for marketing its first organic light emitting diode (OLED) TVs, according to a Nikkei report.

First on tap is a 15-inch OLED TV with an LG developed panel slated for market introduction by the end of 2009, the report said. Possible U.S. introduction panels were not mentioned.

Panel resolution was listed as 1,366-by-768.

Maximum screen luminance with an all-white signal and an all-black signal are 200cd/m2 and 0.01cd/m2, respectively, according to Nikkei. Peak luminance was said to be 450cd/m2.

The report said the panel was first unveiled last month in Korea and features "a bottom emission design using low-temperature polycrystal Si-TFTs that are crystallized by a high-temperature process (solid phase crystallization or SPC) as driver elements."

Next year, LG said it is planning to introduce 20-inch and larger OLED panels, moving to 30-inch and larger panels in 2011 and 40-inch and larger panels in 2012.

The 40-inch and larger models will be "fairly expensive" in 2012 a company representative reportedly said, but the company's goal is to reduce OLED panel cost to levels less than equivalent LCD panels in 2016.

LG Display said it is targeting a migration path with a 50 percent higher material cost and a 30 percent lower yield than those of LCD panels in 2012 and a 20-30 percent lower material cost and an equivalent yield in 2016.

Remaining technical challenges to achieving volume production of larger screen OLED panels reportedly include optimizing: driver elements (TFTs), organic EL materials and film forming processes and sealing processes.

At the show, LG is showing OLED products ranging in size from 2.67- to 20.7-inches, including a 14.1-inch panel for notebook PCs with a privacy protection function, the company said.

Also at the FPD show, LG Display is demonstrating 3D displays, and new environmentally friendly displays, according to a company statement.

Featured items include a 480Hz LCD panel for TV with a 4ms fast motion picture response time, and an e-book equipped with a solar cell.

New IPS LCD TVs on display include: ultra slim (5.9mm) 42-inch and 47-inch TV panels with an edge-lit LED backlight; a 55-inch TV panel lit by modular LED backlight, with local dimming and a thin panel design achieved by combining the advantage of edge-type and direct-type LED backlights.

In 3D, LG is showing a variety products including: a 47-inch 3D display that can be switched from 2D to 3D modes with the push of a button; and 3D displays ranging in size from 23-inch to 47-inches featuring various 3D technology approaches.

New eco-friendly display technologies on display include a 32-inch TV panel and 15.4-inch notebook PC panel lit by energy-saving LED backlights; and an e-book equipped with a thin film solar cell that can be recharged with solar power.

LG said it is also demonstrating new variations on LCD designs including a 1.4-inch round LCD and 1.4-inch donut-shaped LCD.

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