TFT LCD Backlight Market And Technical Analysis

  Important materials for large-size TFT LCDs include glass substrates, color filters, polarizers, driver ICs, and backlight panels. Among these many materials, the backlight itself has several attractive characteristics. First, the backlight itself is a module that combines many optical film materials; second, the development technology of the backlight itself spans the fields of optics, chemistry, electronics, etc.; finally, there is no doubt that the backlight occupies a large size The cost of TFT LCD is quite high. In the LCD panels used in general LCD displays such as 17-inch and 19-inch, the backlight accounts for about 20% of the cost of all materials. However, for LCD TV panels over 32 inches, backlight panels It accounts for more than 30% of the cost.

  The latest technology and price trends of backlight panels

In addition to the traditional use of CCFL (Cold Cathode Tube) as the light source for the light source of the backlight, there are many light source technologies that can also be used on the backlight. The application and size of the large-size TFT LCD are used as a distinction, which can be simply classified as a Notebook ( 10 inches to 15 inches), Monitor (17 inches to 19 inches), Medium Size TV (20 inches), Large TV (26 inches to 46 inches), etc. The structure of the backlight panel can be divided into Edge (side type) Backlight and Direct (direct type) Backlight. Although some manufacturers use the direct type on the LCD monitor panel, the Direct Type backlight is mainly based on The main application of LCD TV. As for the light source, CCFL (cold cathode tube) is currently the most mainstream light source, all sizes are widely used; EEFL (external electrode lamp) is used in the direct backlight of some large-size LCD TVs; LED ( Light-emitting diodes) have shown a polarized development-more and more Notebook panels and LCD TV panels have introduced LEDs as backlights. However, in the LCD Monitor part, LED Backlight has been developed by manufacturers, but it is ultimately due to the limited market acceptance and Cost considerations gradually fade out. On the other hand, panel manufacturers have also begun to introduce FFL (flat light source) for large-size LCD TV panels. The advantage of FFL is that the structure is simple, and the cost may also be controlled to be cheaper than ordinary Backlight. In addition, in terms of the price of Backlight, here is the list Based on the price reference of LCD backlights of various sizes from 2004 to 2006, the backlight for 15.4-inch Notebook PCs is expected to drop from US$25 in the fourth quarter of 2004 to US$20 in the fourth quarter of 2006; the backlight for 19-inch LCD monitors will cost two. Within the year, it dropped from US$41 to US$29, with the largest drop being LCD TV Backlights over 32 inches. Such as 32 inches, 40 inches, etc., will be reduced by about 40% to 50% within two years; this part is mainly due to the reduction of the cost of optical film materials calculated by area and the improvement of the yield of large-size Backlight.

  Industry Opportunities for Backlight Panels

Manufacturer differentiation in the industrial supply chain of large-size backlight panels

There are no fewer than dozens of backlight panel manufacturers from Japan and South Korea, while the brightness enhancement film (BEF) is mainly based on 3M, but its competitors such as Efun and Goyo are growing rapidly. The original material of the light guide plate is There are suppliers such as Asahi, Mitsubishi, Kuraray, and Chi Mei Corporation. Some backlight module manufacturers, such as Wooyoung, Radiant, Coretronic, etc., not only have the ability to assemble the Backlight, but also have the ability to inject molded light guide plates by themselves. However, some backlight board manufacturers must purchase LGP (Light Guide Plate). As for the lamp (CCFL) part, Japanese manufacturers still control most of the lamp market.

  In other words, Harison-Toshiba leads with a market share of 17%, followed by Sanken’s 14%, Panasonic West’s 15%, and NEC’s 10%. In the LED segment, from LED dies to packaging manufacturers, there are many However, OSRAM, Lumileds, and Delta that currently produce large-size TFT LCD LED Backlights have some practical results. In the diffuser part, Japan’s Keiwa currently has a 48% market share, while others have Manufacturers such as Tusjiden, SKC, Kimoto, etc.; observing the various parts suppliers of the entire large-size TFT LCD Backlight, we can find that the proportion of Japanese companies is extremely high, and the market conditions of some parts show an uneven market distribution, which is mainly related to The technical obstacles of this optical component or film material are related, especially protective umbrellas such as BEF and patents. On the other hand, the technical obstacles of CCFL lamps are actually not high, but stable quality management of shipments has won customers; That is, panel manufacturers; one of the key factors is that in the past few years, in addition to Japanese manufacturers with rich experience in quality management to produce lamps, other manufacturers have to take more time to enter the lamp market.

  Industrial Supply Chain Architecture of Backlight Panel

  The backlight itself is a module containing many materials such as optical films, light sources, chemical molding, etc., and because of its large number of materials, and the panel manufacturers are accustomed to directly controlling the supply of many major materials in the supply and demand relationship (such as brightness enhancement film, Lamps and even diffusers, etc.), thus forming a complex industrial supply chain and ecology; Basically, there are manufacturers and cutting of master film (BEF), Reflector (reflector), Diffuser (diffuser), etc. The different roles of packaging and so on, while the lamp tube has the lamp tube manufacturer to cooperate with each other, the light guide plate (Light Guide Plate) is made of raw materials such as acrylic (PMMA) or Zeonor and other technologies to cooperate with the light guide plate forming manufacturer; Most Backlight manufacturers have the ability to produce light guide plates on their own; in addition, suppliers of metal frames, plastic frames, etc. are also included in the entire Backlight industry.

  Cost structure of large-size backlight panels

Since the structure of the backlight itself is very complicated, it is naturally necessary to observe its cost structure. Listed here is the cost structure of large-size (10 inches or more) TFT LCD Backlight, including notebook, LCD monitor and LCD TV. The light source is mainly CCFL tube, among which the part used for LCD TV, the industry convention is that Inverter is shipped with the Backlight, and can even be counted as part of the LCD TV Backlight, so it is included in the cost structure calculation; observing this structure, you can find , Notebook, LCD Monitor, 32-inch LCD TVs, and LCD TVs above 32-inches all present different Backlight cost structures-Notebook Backlight's brightness enhancement film accounts for the highest proportion of the cost, reaching 25%. In fact, this is because almost all Notebook Backlight lamps are all single, so the cost of the lamps is relatively low, while the LCD Monitor part shows a more uniform cost structure distribution, and its lamps account for 17% of the cost. Regarding the 26-inch to 32-inch LCD TV Backlight, what is pointed out here is the current practice of some manufacturers? Remove the original DBEF brightness enhancement film and replace it with another diffuser film. Although the brightness will decrease slightly, But it is still within the acceptable range of customers, but its cost has dropped a lot due to the removal of DBEF; this approach has changed its Backlight cost structure, especially after DBEF, which originally accounted for the highest proportion of costs, disappeared, and the lamp and Inverter jumped. It has become the heaviest in the cost structure; in addition, panels above 37 inches have a larger area and the diffusion efficiency of the diffuser, so it is relatively difficult to remove the DBEF and can achieve close brightness compensation with the Diffuser, so the DBEF is still Must and account for more than 20% of the total cost. For LCD TV panels larger than 32 inches, the lamp tube and DBEF are two important costs. Generally, the backlight of the direct-lit LCD TV panel is not a light guide plate, mainly because The area is large, and the efficiency of the side light guide can not make the brightness of the whole panel uniform, so the direct type is adopted, and a diffuser board (Diffuser Board) is used to replace the function of the light guide plate.