The global market for AMOLED light-emitting materials will expand to US$445 million in 2014, up from US$350 million in 2013, according to IHS.
"South Korea's Samsung Display has successfully pioneered the AMOLED business during the last five years, attaining major success in the market for smartphone panels ranging in size from 3-inches to 5-inches," said Doo Kim, principal analyst, display component and materials research. "Now other panel manufacturers are seeking to cash in on the expanding demand for AMOLEDs in smartphone, televisions and other products. This phenomenon will spur the continued increase in sales of materials used to create AMOLEDs in 2014."
The market for AMOLED light-emitting materials saw a larger 49% increase in 2013, IHS disclosed.
Samsung Display started the AMOLED market when it commenced large-scale mass production in 2008. Since then, it has led the AMOLED market's expansion, IHS noted.
In 2013, LG Display launched a white OLED (WOLED) TV panel and a flexible AMOLED panel. Meanwhile, AU Optronics (AUO) introduced samples of small- to medium-sized AMOLED panels.
In 2014, LG, AUO and Japan Display (JDI) are poised to commence or increase AMOLED panel production, IHS observed. As a result, light-emitting material makers are expected to compete in a more diverse market environment with increased demand and a broader base of customers. This will represent a marked change from the last five years, when they depended wholly on demand from Samsung Display, IHS said.
The organic light-emitting materials utilized in AMOLED panels can be largely divided into two categories: common functional layer materials and color-emitting materials. The common layer materials include hole transport layer (HTL), hole injection layer (HIL), electron transport layer (ETL), electron injection layer (EIL), capping layer (CPL), charged generation layer (CGL), electron blocking layer (EBL), efficiency enhanced layer (EEL) and RGB prime layer materials. The color-emitting materials are red, green and blue host and dopant materials. Yellow-green materials are used in WOLED. Materials such as PIN dopant are also adopted to improve efficiency.
