What Display Daily thinks: The display industry landscape of intellectual property (IP) and patents is exceptionally complicated. That complexity lends itself to opportunism, but if you want to be opportunistic with IP and patens then you need deep pockets or a cousin with a very big and powerful law firm. IP and patent litigation doesn’t have to succeed. It can take years and anyone with deep pockets can keep it going as long as they need, to do whatever it is they need to do.
Japan’s Semiconductor Energy Lab (SEL) appears to hold the dominant patent portfolio related to FMM-free OLED fabrication methods. Other companies like Japan Display (JDI) and China’s Visionox have demonstrated alternative methods, performing patterning before encapsulation. But SEL’s portfolio is broader. Samsung, LG, BOE and AUO have all filed patents on various photolithography patterning techniques as well, but fewer in number than SEL.
Will Samsung’s general semiconductor expertise, and its enormous capabilities, give it enough heft to fortify its OLED business against aggressors on FMM-free OLEDs, perhaps OLEDos and MicroLED, too? You’d have to think so. It’s going to be tough for any of Samsung’s display rivals to match it toe-to-toe if it can deliver on these technologies because of all the other expertise, IP, and patents that Samsung holds. And who is big enough out of any of the names mention above that can go toe-to-toe in litigation? BOE is trying, but more out of defense than offense.
Samsung Eyes FMM-Free OLED Displays to Fill Technology Gap
Following on from the closing of the company’s acquisition of eMagin, there is some discussion of how Samsung Display will strategize on OLED going forward. The company has dominated small and medium-sized OLEDs using fine metal mask (FMM) technology. But FMM’s limited scalability has spurred interest in “FMM-free” OLED fabrication. This alternate method utilizes semiconductor photolithography instead of shadow masks, unlocking larger display sizes.
The intellectual property and patent landscape for FMM-free technologies is crowded, even though no one can accuse Samsung of not knowing how to maneuver and position itself for litigation. However, the move to FMM OLED could be seen as the pivot point, making the move to a semiconductor-like industry more mainstream and applicable to existing processes rather than the longer view with MicroLED and NanoLED technologies. FMM is constrained to around 15-17 inches before production yields drop drastically. This leaves a gap between mobile OLEDs and 30″ plus TV displays, which use different manufacturing processes. FMM-free OLED could fill this void with enhanced scalability.
In FMM OLED, the red, green and blue subpixels are vacuum deposited through a thin metal sheet. But stretching the mask wider causes sagging issues. FMM-free OLED replaces this with a photolithographic exposure technique adapted from semiconductor manufacturing. This allows the light-emitting layers to be patterned directly on the substrate, eliminating mask constraints. FMM-free has sparked renewed attention since companies like Japan’s JDI and SEL recently demonstrated new technical approaches.
Samsung Display has shown strong interest as well, even meeting with SEL on their method. Transitioning to FMM-free would represent a major strategic shift though. Samsung’s OLED strategy has relied on monopolizing proprietary equipment and IP. But existing FMM-free tech is based on broadly similar methods, making exclusivity a challenge.
Still, if commercialized effectively, analysts see FMM-free OLED enabling small-scale, diverse and flexible display production. This could target niche markets differently than the high-volume approach of mobile OLED manufacturing.
Samsung faces patent risks and technological hurdles in adopting FMM-free OLED. But the potential to address display size limitations and expand product applications makes it an intriguing option. While it represents a competitive threat to FMM OLED, Samsung likely recognizes the need to prepare for this emerging technology transition. Its next steps could have significant implications across the display industry.
