Xida Electronics: Compared with LED, OLED’s development in large areas is a bottleneck

Editor's note: Today, if we want to talk about the development of the LED display industry, we cannot bypass small spacing. In 2015, the popularity of small spacing shocked the entire industry. In order to provide a new and comprehensive interpretation of the current development of small spacing, "LED Screen World" specially invited Wang Ruiguang, general manager of Xida Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., to discuss the current development and future trends of small spacing.

For products with small spacing, as the point spacing shrinks, the number of lamp beads increases significantly, which poses a major challenge to the reliability of small spacing. How reliable are current small-pitch products? Is it possible to meet the indicator requirement of "failure rate" of one millionth of the lamp beads for small spacing? In order to continue to improve product reliability, what other directions do companies need to work towards?

In addition, the protection ability is also an issue. Moisture-proof, dust-proof, anti-static, waterproof and other aspects are very important for the product.The reliability of the product is under great pressure.

In view of the problems faced by products with small spacing, we have studied a new product called integrated packaging, which fundamentally solves the problem just now. It is difficult for some products to achieve a "failure rate" of one per million, but integrated packaging is possible. Our future goal is to be maintenance-free. If we do not take the maintenance-free road, the stability of the product will always be challenged.

Since surface-mounted products must first encapsulate the light-emitting chip into an independent light-emitting tube, and then weld the light-emitting tube to the circuit board using a patch method. This process cannot solve problems such as moisture-proof, dust-proof, and anti-static. However, integrated packaging can directly use chips without secondary welding, thus fundamentally solving the difficulties encountered by surface-mounted products.

The ideal small-pitch product needs to achieve a display effect of "low brightness, high gray and high brush". What are the current technical problems with small spacing? Are there any technical thresholds? In addition, what do you think of the statement that small-pitch technology is “excessive”?

Xida: Low brightness, high gray, etc. are not problems of the display screen, chip, or packaging. The major technology lies in the driver IC, such as the PWM products that Riyuecheng is currently making. Together with our improvements in circuit design, problems such as low brightness, high gray, and leakage have been fundamentally solved.

Technically speaking, the product must be advanced, but there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve mass production. For example, P0.7 is already available, but it does not mean that it has been mass-produced. P1.2 is already in mass production, and P0.9 is already on the market, but has not yet been mass produced.

Similarly, the small spacing of hundreds of thousands or even millions of lamp beads per square meter puts forward higher requirements for the services of small spacing manufacturers. Do you think this is a challenge? How should companies respond? Does your company have a better solution?

Xida: Nowadays, for products below P2.0, general engineering companies and dealers are not able to repair and maintain them, so manufacturers need to solve them themselves. Manufacturers must have complete after-sales solutions and cannot let users and dealers, If the project contractor has any difficulties, this is a problem that small spacing enterprises must solve.

With the maturity of various technologies involving small spacing, especially the advancement of technology in the lamp bead link, the price of small spacing has gradually declined, and profit margins have also narrowed. How do you view the decline in small spacing prices and profits? Do you think this is a long-term trend?

Xida: Any product has a start-up period, a growth period, and a maturity period, and small-pitch products are no exception. Now I personally think that small-pitch products are still in the growth stage. When they transition to the mature stage, when they reach the mature stage, their profit margins are basically fixed. The profits may be relatively large at the beginning of this process, and there are fewer people who can do it, but the initial investment is also relatively large. Small-pitch products are now in a profitable period, but they will gradually become mature and stable, and their profit margins may also be fixed.

From the current market application point of view, small spacing is still "commercial is king". Do you think small spacing will develop into the civilian market in the future? How big is this market space?

It’s just that the proportion is still very small. At present, the small-pitch market is mainly focused on mid-range conference devices and mid-range surveillance devices, and home use is still subject to many restrictions.

From the perspective of small-pitch products, small-pitch advertising machines, small-pitch TVs, and small-pitch rental screens have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. How do you see these small-pitch “niches” developing?

Hida: Judging from the development speed of small spacing, small spacing advertising machines, such as small spacing advertising machines, are mainly used in airports and other places. Their color, brightness, etc. have great advantages, and they will develop very fast.

From the perspective of the small-pitch market structure, in 2015, the total number of market participants reached more than 30, and industry concentration decreased compared with 2014. What do you think of the decline in industry concentration? Do you think there will be more participants in the small-pitch market in the future?? What will the future industry landscape be like?

Xida: The so-called decrease in concentration may actually be the opposite. In fact, there are not many manufacturers that can really enter the small spacing, and there may be less than ten companies that can achieve P2.0 very well. There are only a few companies that can truly master the small spacing technology, but there may be more and more companies selling them.

Driven by indoor small spacing, outdoor small spacing has also begun to gradually develop in recent years, and has been widely used in the P4-P10 small spacing market, and the smallest point spacing has also exceeded P4.0. Do you think outdoor small spacing will continue to develop in the direction of even smaller spacing? Are you optimistic about the development of outdoor small spacing?

In addition, in terms of cost, the smaller the dot spacing, the more expensive the unit area is.

As OLED technology continues to mature, OLED will inevitably compete for the indoor LCD application market in the future. Do you think OLED will pose a threat to small spacing? In addition, what challenges will the development of small spacing face?

Xida: OLED has also fallen into a misunderstanding in recent years, such as replacing LED displays and even lighting. Compared with LED, OLED's large-scale development is actually a bottleneck. Its primary competitor is not LED, but LCD. OLED's cost, lifespan, and luminous efficiency are not comparable to LED, and its competition with LED will have a long way to go.

The biggest failure of small spacing now is to take the road of assimilation and rely entirely on price to compete viciously.