Transparent Displays
According to market research firm IHS, the transparent display panel market is estimated to reach US$100 million in size this year, and to grow to US$87 billion in 10 years.
At present, two techniques are in use for the realization of transparent displays. One is based on projection and are thought to be used as heads-up displays for vehicles. The other relies on optical transmission and uses OLED and LCDs shining from within, which is closer to the idea of a true transparent display.
Korean display panel manufacturers like Samsung Display and LG Display are focusing especially on transparent OLED, because it is simpler in structure than LCD, with the elements constituting the screen generating light on their own. Samsung Display recently achieved 30 percent transparency, more than twice most of the products on the market with a transparency of 10 percent. Still, it is expected to take some time until 30 percent-transparent panels are actually put on the market.
In the meantime, Planar recently announced at an exhibition in Amsterdam that it would supply 30 percent-transparent, 55 inch commercial display products starting early next year. Industry experts predicted, in view of the level of the technology, it was Samsung Display that supplied the panel for the product.
LG Display is planning to come up with a flexible display panel with a transparency of 40 percent and a size of 60 inches by 2017. It has signed a patent license contract with UDC, an OLED material manufacturer having more than 3,300 related patents, to accelerate its development.
“LCD-based transparent panels were commercialized first, but they have their own limits in terms of transparency improvements,” LG Display explained, adding, “Companies are focusing on OLED-based ones because LCD-based panels cannot have a transparency exceeding 20 percent.”