LG was the first to dazzle the display world with its rollable OLED TVs, but it won’t be the only manufacturing giant that will have such flexible sets on offer. South Korean outlet TheElec has learned that Samsung has begun developing a more advanced version of its QD-OLED panel that should enable the same type of products, one that forgoes the glass substrate layer for QD color conversion to allow for not only a thinner panel, but one that is malleable enough to be rollable. There doesn’t seem to be any indication of when these panels might be finished, but Samsung’s current-generation QD-OLED displays, which are reportedly more complicated to make than LG’s W-OLED (white OLED) panels, can be found in select monitors that include Dell and Alienware’s curved AW3423DW ($1,299). Samsung’s QD-OLED TVs also began shipping this month, with two sizes available ($2,999 for the 65-inch model and $2,199.99 for the 55-inch model).
Samsung Display begins development of thinner QD-OLED panel (TheElec)
Samsung Display has begun the development of a thinner version of its quantum dot (QD)-OLED panel, TheElec has learned. The aim is to reduce the use of glass substrates from the current two to one, sources said. If the South Korean display panel succeeds, the new version of QD-OLED will also be rollable, they said.
The current iteration of the QD-OLED panel is comprised of, from the bottom, the following layers: glass substrate TFT, anode, emission layer, cathode, blue OLED encapsulation, filter, QD color conversion layer encapsulation, QD color conversion layer, QD color conversion layer glass substrate.
Samsung Display’s new project is aiming to remove the QD color conversion layer glass substrate at the top. The company is aiming to apply inkjet printing on top of the blue OLED encapsulation before the QD color conversion encapsulation process is done atop it. Samsung Display will be able to save costs on materials and simplify the production process for QD-OLED panels if it succeeds.