Quantum Materials Corp. (fka QTMM)

[trevorbc]

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=205637

The world’s top TV manufacturer will further sharpen its LCD technology using quantum dot materials rather than investing more in OLED TVs, a senior Samsung Electronics executive said Thursday.
x

“Progress in TV’s viewing quality has so far been in line with the development of new materials. Samsung believes quantum dot is the right material to guide companies for product innovation,” Jang Hyuck, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics’ technology center, said in a forum held in the Ramada Plaza Jeju.

The executive said efforts to develop electronics devices have been stalled on the hardware front, though display companies were consistent in striving to satisfy consumers’ tireless appetite for improved electronic displays.

“You should acknowledge that accomplishing that goal has as much to do with color as it does with resolution. Therefore, quantum dot technology gains steady momentum,” Jang said during the forum. “Quantum dot is expandable and we will never stop enhancing this fancy material.”

The executive didn’t specify whether or not Samsung has a plan to skip OLED TVs, though he stressed Samsung is on track to advance LCD technology with quantum dots.

While cadmium-based quantum dot tech has been around since the mid-1980s, more recent advancements in the chemical makeup of quantum dot have new market potential without a performance trade-off.

Samsung Electronics was the industry’s first to release its LCD TV with cadmium-free quantum dot materials in 2015.

The Samsung executive said quantum dots help display makers to integrate their products. While the quantum dot industry is complicated, the investment required to integrate them into a manufacturing process is minimal, according to experts.

This is the factor that impressed Samsung management, as unlike OLEDs, which require an expensive overhaul of production lines, quantum dot tech has the leverage to use existing LCD infrastructure, enabling Samsung partner companies to develop new products without high expenses.

Samsung’s longtime TV rival LG Electronics is focusing on pricey OLED TVs, which Samsung has no appetite to mass produce, which comes as negative news for LG because LG needs the global TV leader Samsung to bolster up its OLED TV business.

“Quantum dot has a better lifespan. On technology fronts, quantum dot is clearly better than OLEDs by efficiency and productivity to manufacture larger TVs,” he said.

The key issues with OLED remain high production cost, low production yields _ simply defect rates. Samsung earlier developed OLED TVs, but the company failed to mass produce those sets.