What Generation Means in the Display industry

Created on:2021-03-04 16:12

Article Source: https://www.samsungdisplay.com/chn/media/news/detail/ssdsNews-180529.jsp

 

 

What Generation Means in the Display industry

"generation" mean? When was this concept born? What is the current highest generation? Today, let's take a look at the "generation" concept of the mother glass used in making display panels.

 

What does ‘Generation’ mean for display panels?

 

In order to understand the concept of "generation", we should first understand the manufacturing process of the display panel. In the first stage, the substrate was used as the basis to start manufacturing panels, and the substrates of OLED and LCD were mostly glass substrates. Then, the number of cutting pieces is determined according to the panel size produced. For example, you can cut 55-inch TV panels or hundreds of 5-inch smartphone panels.

 

 

panel production process is called "mother glass (Motherglass)", and the "generation" is determined according to the size of the mother glass ". The English for "generation" is "Generation", so we can write "4.5 generation" as "G4.5".

, LCD manufacturing process was affected by technology and could not produce large-size glass substrates. Therefore, the average size of the glass substrate at that time was about 270 × 360mm, and this size was the first generation. In fact, there is no stipulation about the concept of generation. For example, the size of the 10.5th generation glass substrate in factory a and the 11th generation glass substrate in factory B can be the same. Each vendor determines generations based on specific strategies and conditions. If the size of the glass substrates used by several companies is almost the same, it is collectively referred to as the same generation, and some manufacturers have officially announced that the factory is the first generation.

 

glass substrate size according to "generation"

 

With the development of display panel, the size of glass substrate is getting larger and larger. The first generation is 270x 360mm. Although there is no regulation, the size and area will double for each additional generation. At present, the largest glass substrate is the 10.5th generation (some manufacturers say the 11th generation), and the size is 2940 x3370mm. From the first generation to the 10.5th generation, the area of the glass substrate has increased by about 100 times.

 

 

glass substrates: First, in the initial stage, large-size glass substrates cannot be used due to technical limitations. Secondly, the larger the glass substrate area, the higher the production efficiency of manufacturing large-size panels. So what is the concept of high production efficiency?

 

glass substrate with the highest economic efficiency? The economics of 'cutting efficiency'

 

the larger the size of the glass substrate, the more panels can be produced. For example, to produce the same amount of panel, using multiple small-size glass substrates and single large-size glass substrates, the latter is significantly more efficient than the former in terms of process time.

production efficiency is extremely important when manufacturing large-size panels such as televisions and PC monitors. With the increasing demand for large-size TVs and large-size PC monitors, panel manufacturers manufacture large-size panels in response to demand. The size of the product panel determines the cutting efficiency of the glass substrate.

In theory, the 8th generation glass substrate can cut 6 55-inch panels, but 65-inch panels can only cut 2. When cut to 55 inches, the economic value is higher and the use area is wider, while when cut to 65 inches, the area of the glass substrate discarded is about half. The area ratio used in the entire glass substrate area is commonly known as "cutting efficiency". The higher the "cutting efficiency", the higher the economic value.

 

 

cutting efficiency means high production efficiency. Therefore, panel manufacturers build new production lines and have to consider the panel size favored by consumers when choosing production line generations. After predicting the market demand and calculating the size of the glass substrate with the best cutting efficiency, the generation of the production line is determined.

 

Home    Events    What Generation Means in the Display industry