Han Ki-Su, CEO of South Korean maker Philoptics, said it is testing its OLED fine metal mask (FMM) with a Chinese panel maker. The manufacturer is currently relying on a Japanese company’s FMM and wants a second supply.
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Moreover, Han Ki-su said at the shareholders’ meeting held on the same day: “The test and evaluation work started at the end of last year is expected to take about a year to complete.” New revenue will be generated from FMM sales. But it stressed that the company’s FMM technology is “complete”.
FMM is a material used to deposit organic materials during the production of smartphone OLED display panels. Dai Nippon Printing of Japan is the largest FMM supplier in the world. Rather than using etching techniques to fabricate FMMs, Philoptics opted instead for electroplating, where invar is electroplated onto a patterned substrate to fabricate the FMMs.
Before that, Philoptics lost the chance to win a Chinese project awarded by the South Korean government to develop FMMs that do not use etching production methods but continue to develop their own.
If Philoptics is successful in supplying FMMs to the Chinese panel maker, it will likely supply FMMs to Samsung Display as well. The FMM used in the latter smartphone OLED panel relies heavily on Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.
Furthermore, Philoptics said the company plans to use its own electroplating method to fabricate FMMs in MLCCs and Mini-LEDs.
