調査会社の米ディスプレイサーチが液晶ディスプレーの駆動方式の一つである「アクティブマトリクス型」有機エレクトロ・ルミネッセンス(EL)の製造コストを調査したところ、55型の有機ELテレビの場合、同サイズの液晶テレビに比べ10倍の製造コストがかかることが明らかになった。
 薄膜トランジスタ(TFT)を使った55型のアクティブマトリクス型テレビで白色有機ELとカラーフィルターを組み合わせた製造法では、同型のTFT液晶テレビの8倍のコストがかかるとしている。

Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) represents a rapidly growing and highly promising technology for all display applications. Based on planned investments, NPD DisplaySearch forecasts that the market will grow nearly tenfold from 2.3M square meters in 2012 to more than 22M in 2016.

Most AMOLED capacity is currently dedicated to small/medium production for smart phones, but much of the capacity increase going forward is expected to be driven by fabs dedicated to TV production. There are many unknowns about how far and how fast it will develop, though, since AMOLED technology has not yet been proven in large-size TVs.

According to the NPD DisplaySearch AMOLED Process Roadmap Report, the manufacturing cost of a 55” oxide TFT-based AMOLED using white OLED with color filters is 8 times that of a high-end 55” TFT LCD display of equal size. The cost multiplier of a 55” AMOLED module using red, green, and blue OLED is 10 times. These higher costs are mainly a result of low yields and high materials costs.

Jae-Hak Choi, Senior Analyst, FPD Manufacturing for NPD DisplaySearch, noted, “While cost reduction in LCDs has slowed, large panel AMOLED cost reduction is in its infancy. In the long-term, new and improved processes, printing technology, and higher performance materials will reduce AMOLED costs to levels equal to or lower than LCD.”

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