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[GLOBAL TECH KOREA 2021] Solus Advanced Materials ‘Expansion of new businesses other than light emitting materials such as high refractive filler and TFE’

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At ‘GLOBAL TECH KOREA 2021’ held in September 2021, Taehyung Kim, Head of Electronic Materials Business Division, Solus Advanced Materials made a presentation under the theme of ‘Solus’ Giant Step To Lead OLED Materials Technology’.

Solus Advanced Materials has monopolized the HBL market for over 8 years as a domestic display material specialist. Director Kim of Solus Advanced Materials said, “During the development of HBL, we also developed ETL with similar chemical structure and important compatibility with HBL. The performance is evaluated as equal to or higher than that of other companies’ top performance, and it will be able to enter the market soon.”

Director Kim said, “Originally, we mainly developed ETL or HBL related to electronics, but it was difficult to develop from the perspective of the overall device, so we developed HTL related to hall.” In addition “The development of HTL was completed about two years ago through joint development with LG Display, and it was approved for large panel use in May” he said. He also said, “The panel supply is gradually increasing and will be expanded to the Guangzhou line by next year.”, “HTL is structurally related to g-prime for mobile, so it is expected that it can be expanded to g-prime on the mobile side,” he said.

Solus Advanced Materials is developing not only light-emitting materials, but also high-refractive fillers and TFEs. Director Kim said, “The mass production of fillers will be visible from this year. There are various materials such as epoxy, urethane, and acrylic type, and we plan to mass-produce the refractive index and viscosity control according to customer specifications.”

In the TFE sector, General Manager Kim said, “The permittivity of TFE currently used in the market is 3.0 or higher, and we received a request to lower the permittivity of the monomer by 30% or more to increase touch sensitivity two years ago and have been developing it. “The permittivity of the TFE monomer being developed by Solus is down to 20%, and the UV CUT function has achieved a specification of less than 5% at around 400 nanometers, and it is being promoted and tested by customers.”

Solus Advanced Materials is currently expanding its OLED-related businesses to various OLED-related luminescent materials such as HBL, ETL, and HTL, as well as high-refractive materials and TFE monomers. It is noteworthy in which areas these various business groups can shine in the future

 

머티어리얼사이언스, OLED용 청색 도판트 개발 성공…OLED 효율⋅수명↑

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국내 한 벤처기업이 일본 업체가 특허를 독점하고 있는 유기발광다이오드(OLED)용 청색도판트(dopant)를 개발하는 데 성공했다. 도판트는 OLED 내에서 실제로 색을 내는 호스트(host)에 섞어 효율⋅수명을 개선해주는 소재다.

그동안 OLED용 호스트를 개발한 국내 재료 업체는 많았지만, 도판트를 대기업의 지원을 받지 않은 벤처회사가 독자적으로 상용화 수준까지 개발한 사례는 처음이라는 점에서 개가로 평가된다.

OLED용 유기재료 개발업체 머티어리얼사이언스(대표 이순창)는 일본 I사 청색 도판트 특허를 대체할 수 있는 기술을 개발했다고 7일 밝혔다. 지난 2014년 설립된 머티어리얼사이언스는 국내외 OLED 패널 업체에 정공수송층(HTL)·전자수송층(ETL) 등을 공급하고 있다. 총 50여명 임직원 중 절반이 연구개발 인력이다. 지난해 매출은 66억원, 올해는 100억원을 돌파할 것으로 예상된다.

이번에 머티어리얼사이언스가 청색 도판트를 개발함에 따라 OLED 패널 업체들은 I사 외에 청색 호스트 및 도판트를 공급해 줄 수 있는 대안을 갖게 됐다.

일본 I사는 지난 1995년부터 청색 도판트를 개발해왔다. 현재 총 30건 이상(일본 출원 기준)의 청색 관련 특허를 보유하고 있으며, 이 중 8개의 주요 특허는 오는 2034년까지 유효하다.

특히 안트라센(벤젠 고리 세 개가 차례로 접합된 화합물) 구조로 된 청색 호스트와 파이렌을 포함하는 청색 도판트가 조합하는 방식에 대한 특허를 독점하고 있다. 이 때문에 I사 청색 도판트를 구매하는 패널 업체는 반드시 호스트까지 I사 재료를 구매해야만 한다. I사 청색 도판트에 다른 업체 호스트를 섞어 쓸 경우 호스트 물질이 안트라센 골격이면 특허 침해가 불가피하다.

삼성⋅LG디스플레이 모두 I사 청색 도판트 및 호스트를 사용하여 왔다.

머티어리얼사이언스가 개발한 청색 도판트는 I사 조합특허를 완전히 벗어나도록 분자를 설계하였다. 기존에는 OLED의 효율⋅수명을 개선하며 진청색을 얻기 위하여 강력한 전자 받개(electron acceptor)를 분자에 적용하는 방식을 사용하여 왔다.

머티어리얼사이언스는 반대로 전자 주개(electron donor)를 분자에 도입하여 효율과 수명을 개선하면서 진청색 구현을 실현하였다. 이 도판트는 주위의 극성에 따른 발광 파장이 변화되는 용매의존발색현상(solvatochromism)을 크게 감소 시킴으로 호스트의 극성에 따라 발광 파장이 변화하는 현상도 크게 줄었다.

정재호 머티어리얼사이언스 연구원은 “새로운 구조 및 합성 방법을 개발해 기존 도판트와 차별화된 제품을 생산했다”며 “패널 업체들이 다양한 종류의 청색 호스트를 활용할 수 있을 것”이라고 설명했다. 머티어리얼사이언스는 최근 OLED 패널 업체들이 청색 형광체 수명을 늘리기 위해 도입을 추진 중인 열활성화지연형광(TADF) 기술도 개발하고 있다.

<발광재료 시장 전망, 유비리서치>

유비리서치에 따르면 OLED 유기재료 시장은 2021년까지 33억6000만달러(약 3조8000억원) 규모로 성장할 전망이다. 이 중 청색 재료의 매출 비중은 11.5%를 차지한다.

Material Science to develop blue dopant for OLED … OLED Efficiency ⋅ Lifetime Up↑

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A Korean venture company has succeeded in developing blue dopant for Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) that a Japanese company has had its exclusive patent for. The dopant is an element that improves efficiency and life time by mixing with host that actually colors within the OLED.

In the meantime, many domestic material companies have developed OLED host, but it is the first case that a venture company has independently developed dopant on a commercial scale without receiving any support of large corporations.

 

Material Science (CEO Lee Soon-chang), an organic material developer for OLED has developed a technology that can replace Japanese I Company’s patent for blue dopant. Established in 2014, Material Science is supplying HTL( Hole Transporting Layer) and ETL (Electron Transfer Layer) to OLED panel makers.
Half of the 50 employees are R&D personnel. Last year, its sales were 6.6 billion won, and it is expected to exceed 10 billion won this year.

This time, due to the development of blue dopant by Material Science, OLED panel companies have an alternative to supply blue host and dopant besides I Company.

Japanese I Company has been developing blue dopant since 1995. At present, the company has more than 30 patents related to blue dopant (based on Japanese application for a patent), and its major 8 patents are valid until 2034. In particular, it has an exclusive patent for the combination method of blue dopant that includes blue host and pyrene with an anthracene structure (a compound in which three benzene rings are sequentially bonded). For this reason, the panel makers which purchase dopant from I Company must buy its host. If they mix I Company’s blue dopant with another company’s host, it is inevitable to infringe the patent in the case a host material has an anthracene skeleton.

Both Samsung Display and LG Display have been using I Company’s blue dopant and host.

The blue dopant developed by Material Science is designed to make molecules that are completely out of I Company’s compound patent. Conventionally, the method of applying an electron acceptor to a molecule has been used to improve the efficiency and lifetime of OLED and have a blue color.
On the other hand, Material Science introduces electron donor into molecules to improve the efficiency and lifetime while generating dark blue color. This dopant greatly reduces the solvent-dependent color development (solvatochromism) where emission wavelength changes due to the polarity of the surroundings. Therefore, the change of emission wavelength is also greatly reduced.

Jung Jae-ho, a researcher at Material Science said, “We have developed a new structure and a synthesis method, which makes it possible to produce its differentiated dopant.” “Panel companies are now able to utilize various types of blue hosts”. In addition, Material Sciences has been recently developing TADF(Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence) that OLED panel makers are struggling to introduce for the longer life of blue-emitting phosphors.

 

<OLED emitting material market forecast, UBi Research>

According to UBi Research, the OLED organic market is expected to reach $ 3.36 billion by 2021 (about 3.8 trillion won). And blue materials account for 11.5% of total sales.