Rebirth of Northland Technology

The capillary method has been in use since RCA invented the liquid crystal display.It has become the subconscious mind of the LCD industry, and has even been written in textbooks at this time.

But when it comes to large-size displays, its shortcomings are very obvious.

The length of the capillary adsorption process can be imagined.Take the 10-inch LCD as an example, its pressing and adsorption process takes as long as 28 hours!

And as the panel size increases, the capillary action needs to resist the greater gravity.Not to mention the longer it takes, the greater the failure rate.

This is also the fundamental reason why the Japanese do not believe that LCD monitors can exceed 17 inches!

Throughout the 1990s, it was this capillary technology developed from watch LCD that became a stumbling block for the development of the LCD industry in all other countries!

This kind of craft requires too high requirements for the accuracy of the front and rear procedures and the skill of the operator.

The prerequisite for capillary adsorption is that the spacing between the glass plates should be small enough, but too small will not work!The general process requirement is 3 to 5 microns, and the size of the display is 30 cm to 50 cm (even to 3 meters in later generations).

In addition, the housing of the liquid crystal display is composed of two pieces of thin glass with a thickness of less than one millimeter, and the strength is very low.

With such a large area of ​​the cavity, such a thin glass shell, and maintaining such a small parallel spacing, the subtleties are beyond words!

Perhaps only the Japanese have the patience to optimize the process and operation steps, and finally master the know-how of this technology.

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But from the perspective of later generations, this is a crazy craft.

After the 5th generation, the capillary method was abandoned and switched to OneDropFilling (ODF).

The drip irrigation method is the normal way of thinking.That is to add liquid crystal to the display first, and then close the liquid crystal display after adding it.

The advantages of the ODF method are extremely obvious. In addition to the yield, it effectively shortens the process time and reduces the loss of liquid crystal.In addition, it can also reduce the investment in equipment such as vacuum tempering process, liquid crystal injection machine, sealing machine, and panel cleaning after sealing.

This ODF method is Cheng Yongxing and Optoelectronics Research, who dare to use their own strength to fight against the advanced country of Japan and the killer of Japan's 17 enterprise alliances!

With technology from the beginning of the 21st century, dimensionality reduction was used to combat the Japan LCD Industry Alliance in the early 90th century!

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Of course, the liquid crystal display industry is different from the LED industry. Although its accuracy is not as high as that of the wafer industry, its complexity is not bad at all.

At this point in time, to enter this industry, optoelectronic research will also face various difficulties.

The first difficulty is the timing.

Entering the blue LED is a reference to the time node of the paper published by Heroes Nakamura, March 1991.According to this time backwards, the trilogy of optical fiber, MEMS, and blue LED was determined.

In the LCD industry, the pressure of time does not come from the discovery node of technology.

The emergence of the world's first 5th generation line was around 2002.Inferring from this time, plus the design, manufacturing, equipment design and manufacturing of the production line.At least 95 years ago, optoelectronic research was safe.

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Where is the time pressure for optoelectronic research?

There is another concept here, called the boom cycle of the LCD industry.

The boom cycle of the LCD industry is very fast, almost three years is a cycle.

The first boom period was between 1992 and 1993.Its appearance is driven by the support for color screens brought by laptops and Windows 3.1.

In September 1992, after the United States IBM completed the reorganization of its personal computer division, it launched an epoch-making product-IBM700C, which was the first model of the Thinkpad series.

The 700C received immediate attention as soon as it was launched. It is the first notebook computer to use a color TFT-LCD display. It uses DTI's 10.4-inch color LCD screen and is priced at $4,350.

This notebook became a hit when it was born, with orders for more than 100,000 units that year.Driven by it, some competitors have also launched products with TFT-LCD. Toshiba T4400SXC has a 9.5-inch display.

The first LCD boom cycle refers to this wave.

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But as more TFT-LCD production lines were put into production, the price of LCD panels quickly dropped in the competition.At this time, all the lines put into production are first-generation lines, and the cost is relatively high.By 1993, the selling price of LCD products was lower than the cost.

This is the first time in history that the economy has declined and everyone is no longer making money.This wave of business cycle entered a trough from the end of 1993 until it rose again in 1994.

In other words, if optoelectronic scientific research cannot industrialize liquid crystal displays before mid-92, it will miss this economic cycle!

The LCD boom cycle for the first time in human history has a profound impact on later generations.

In fact, there are actually only three manufacturers that have caught up with this business cycle.They are NEC, DTI, a joint venture between IBM and Toshiba, and Sharp.

The reason why Japan has nine companies and joined the LCD production army is because these three companies have made a lot of money in this wave of business cycles!

Everyone is jealous!

These are the only companies that can provide large-size (10-inch) LCD panels. Due to the limited production capacity and yield rate, the panel prices remain high (the price of 10-inch panels, the ex-factory price exceeds one thousand US dollars), and the gross profit of the LCD industry And the reward is considerable.

If optoelectronics research can intercept most of the market profits in this wave of business cycles, these three players will be unprofitable or marginal.Whether other Japanese manufacturers are willing to end is still unknown!

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And once this wave of business cycle is missed, the enemies of optoelectronics will change from three to nine.And the technological level of competitors has also changed.

Because new players are not using the first-generation production line technology.The production lines built since 1993 have successively adopted second-generation technology.

By the time the second economic cycle came, (until 1995) Japan had built a total of 21 TFT-LCD production lines!

At that time, Optoelectronics faced the already established wings and the army of the Japan LCD Industry Alliance.

Compared with the first generation, the second generation has the same basic concept, but it has a higher yield rate (because of the special LCD device) and a larger display screen.One trades and the other grows, and the technological generation advantage of optoelectronic research will shrink.

What's more terrifying is time, nights are long and dreamy.

ODF is not too difficult technology.On the contrary, it is a very simple technique!

Due to the exposure of the technology, other players will soon use the power of capital to quickly copy and master this technology that is not difficult to master.

Can ODF technology be protected by patents like blue LEDs?

the answer is negative.

To put it bluntly, ODF is to drop the liquid crystal.How to apply for a patent for this thing?Even if it is possible to apply for some patents on process equipment, it will not help.

Optoelectronic scientific research, calculated from now, only has one year, at most one and a half years, to launch its own liquid crystal display.

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Of course, in addition to the pressure of time, there are other difficulties.

The second difficulty is the industrial chain.

The industrial chain of LCD production is much longer than that of LEDs.Glass substrates, liquid crystal materials, polarizers, backlights, light guides, and diffusers, all of which must be started from scratch.

...

The third difficulty is production equipment.

In the LED industry chain, fixtures can be used, and people can conquer the sky.What about LCD?

In some key equipment, the United States is in a de facto monopoly position.This kind of equipment (for LCD) is currently not available in the world. Even if it has been developed, it is also the life of the embargo on China.

Why did China only import first-generation cables until the end of the 20th century?

Was the decision maker really stupid?

And one failed, and then the second one was introduced?Pay the tuition until the foreigner is satisfied?

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The fourth is financial support.

The Korean government supports LG and Samsung for ten years!

They have successively formulated a series of plans, the "Next-Generation Flat Display Plan" and the "LCD Basic Technology Development Plan" to accelerate the development of the Korean LCD industry.

In order to reduce the pressure on domestic enterprises, the South Korean government has introduced a series of supporting policies such as tax reductions and R&D subsidies to help enterprises grow rapidly. The accumulated investment in more than 10 years has exceeded 100 billion won.

In order to promote the localization of equipment and parts, the South Korean government actively promotes upstream and downstream cooperation in the industrial chain, investing 3 billion won each year.The government's firm support also contributed to the success of the Korean LCD industry.

There is no rich government support behind optoelectronic research.Everything depends on yourself.

The LCD production line has always been a gold swallowing beast. In the 10th generation line, the investment in a production line was as high as 4.2 billion US dollars!

The investment for the first-generation production line is not so high, but the $100 million level is always required.What should I do if I don’t have enough money?

...

The fifth, international support, and the international market.

The Koreans went to grab the Japanese market, and the Americans supported it!

Some articles always say that due to the Asian financial crisis, Samsung is controlled by American capital.But if it is not controlled by US capital, is it possible for Samsung to develop?

Samsung is so, TSMC, in fact, the same reason!

What about China?

The "Wassenaar Agreement" was formulated in 1996!(The agreement has been revised several times and is now the guiding document for the West to impose a technical blockade on China.)

There is no LCD market in China.

Notebook brand?

where?

Even the CPU is embargoed!