Kateeva Expands Its Facilities To Create A Dedicated Manufacturing Space

[gadgtfreek]

http://www.oled-info.com/kateeva-ex...nfo+(OLED-Info:+OLED+tech+news+and+resources)

After years of development, Kateeva finally unveiled their OLED inkjet systems in November 2013. During the unveiling, we discussed Kateeva's technology and business with Dr. Conor Madigan, the company's President and Co-founder.

Kateeva already has R&D tools deployed at customers sites in Asia, but now they are focused on commercial systems. We know that the company is building a Gen-8 system that can be configured as either mass production or a pilot tool. It is estimated that the first shipments will be of pilot line tools.

In the pilot configuration, the first layer would be printed, the substrate would move to a drying and baking system, and then the substrate would be returned to the printer for printing of the second layer, and so on. The system is aimed towards large-sized OLED panels (for OLED TV applications).

 

[mike123abc]

It is an interesting discussion but:

It’s premature for us to talk of product shipments. And, of course, we can’t speak for customers on their production plans. Today’s news centers on the YIELDjet platform – the core technology upon which our future products will be based. We’re excited to hit this milestone. It marks Kateeva's transition from R&D to commercialization. But, count on hearing more from us on products in the coming months.

OLED is still close, but not quite here. The inkjet printing looks interesting if they can achieve the 30% under LCD costs:

Based on our modeling, with YIELDjet, OLED manufacturing costs have the potential to be 30% LOWER than LCD. While it will take some time to reach this level of manufacturing maturity, the critical benefits of YIELDjet – i.e. enhancing yields and providing inkjet’s inherently greater scalability and high material efficiency – will immediately offer substantial cost reductions for manufacturers and will put OLED on the path toward achieving its full low-cost potential and ultimately replacing LCD as the leading TV technology.