Light Guide Plates Are Used On LCD TV Panels To Help LCD Catch Up With OLED Panels in The High-end Market

Samsung LG has developed ultra-thin LCD panels as thin as OLEDs. Soon, TV manufacturers will launch ultra-thin LCD TVs with a thickness of only 5 millimeters. The current "wallpaper TVs" use OLED screens, and LCD TVs will be as thin before long. According to estimates, starting from 2018, TV manufacturers will compete in the ultra-thin high-end TV market, which is more intense than before. Because the market has an increasing appetite for 70-inch and larger TVs, manufacturers have already competed fiercely. NS.

Light guide plates are used on LCD TV panels to help LCD catch up with OLED panels in the high-end market

Industry sources revealed on the 6th of this month that LG Display has recently begun mass production of new LCD TV panels. It uses glass light guide plates, not plastic light guide plates. Samsung Display (Samsung Display) has also developed a new quantum dot panel, Samsung coated QD material on the glass light guide plate, Samsung is currently recruiting customers.

OLED does not need a separate light source, LCD needs a light source and other components, so LCD TVs are thicker than OLED TVs. LG Electronics has developed wallpaper OLED TVs, which are very thin, just like wallpaper, with a thickness of only 4 millimeters. Generally speaking, the thickness of an ordinary LCD TV is about 10-15 mm.

If the light guide plate is used on the LCD TV panel, the thickness can be greatly reduced. With this technology, LCD can catch up with OLED in the high-end market. In addition to thickness and weight, the high-end market also pursues ultra-high image quality and large size.

The light guide plate is the main part of the backlight unit (BLU). In the LED LCD panel, the LED lamp is installed next to the light guide plate, and the light passes through the light guide plate and is sprinkled on the surface of the large screen. The light guide plate distributes the light evenly and illuminates the surface.

Generally speaking, the light guide material used by enterprises is transparent polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Because PMMA is very strong and very light, it is not easy to break, and PMMA is extremely transparent and radiant. When placed in a place with visible light, the light absorption ability of the polymer is also very weak. It is a pity that PMMA is not heat-resistant and moisture-resistant, and will deform and stretch over time.

In order to solve these problems, manufacturers will install a wider frame when designing the TV, leaving a wider air gap, but in this way the thickness of the BLU will increase.

Companies can use glass as a light guide plate material because glass is heat-resistant and moisture-resistant. Why didn't companies choose glass? Because glass also has shortcomings, compared with other materials, its gloss is worse. Display manufacturers changed the composition of glass and developed a special glass that is particularly suitable for use on light guide plates.

For example, Asahi Glass has developed a new type of glass light guide plate called XCV, which is 20 times stronger than the existing light guide plate. Moisture will affect the heat strain speed and expansion speed of the light guide plate. The effect is 8 times and 100 times better respectively. Since last year, Asahi Glass has provided LG with XCV light guide plates. The thickness of the light guide plate is only 1.8 mm, which is suitable for large-screen TVs.

LG Display plans to use Asahi Glass SCV light guide plates to mass-produce ultra-large and ultra-thin LCD panels. These LCD panels have almost no bezels and can be used in ultra-thin products as well as high-end LCD TVs.

In 2015, Corning launched the Iris glass light guide plate. It also cooperated with Japan's SDP to launch a 70-inch 4K LCD module prototype. Corning explained that if Iris is used to make LCD TVs, the thickness can be reduced to 5 mm.

Samsung Electronics once launched a 65-inch UHD ultra-thin curved LCD prototype panel with a thickness of 4.9 mm, using Corning Iris light guide plate. Although Samsung has not yet decided on whom to supply, Samsung has already promoted new products to Chinese companies since the middle of this year.

In order to reduce the thickness, Samsung Display coated the glass light guide plate with QD material instead of using QD film. This method is also flawed. Samsung uses a barrier film to protect the QD material from heat and humidity. In order to overcome the shortcomings, Samsung Display is preparing to launch a product with better color expression and higher brightness. Not only that, Samsung will also integrate the color light leakage film with QD to reduce the thickness.

Once Korean companies start supplying LCD panels with glass light guide plates, the global high-end TV market will be more fiercely competitive, and TV manufacturers will rush to launch products with more unique designs.