LG has confirmed that its 15-inch OLED HDTV will ship before Xmas and that they will launch a 30″ OLED TV in 2010 and a 40″ model in 2012 that will be cheaper than current model LED TV’s by 2016.

LG sales and marketing VP, Won Kim said that initally OLED TVs will be more expensive than their LCD counterparts in 2012, but expects this will flip by 2016.

LG said that OLED HD TV’s sized under 40 inches will use an eighth-generation size glass substrate, while smaller TVs will use a sixth-generation size glass substrate with a low-temperature polycrystal silicon.

 The former will require LG to develop equipment than can work at more than 700 degrees Celsius to crystallize while it’s still in a solid state. LG Display aims to use fluorescent materials until 2011 and phosphorescent materials after that point.

LG’s 15-inch OLED TV which will go on sale in the USA by Xmas is expected in Australia soon.

Panel resolution is 1,366 X 768.

LG Display said it is targeting a migration path with a 50 percent higher material cost and a 30 percent lower yield than those of LCD panels in 2012 and a 20-30 percent lower material cost and an equivalent yield in 2016.

Remaining technical challenges to achieving volume production of larger screen OLED panels reportedly include optimizing: driver elements (TFTs), organic EL materials and film forming processes and sealing processes.

At the FPD International show in Japan last week LG showed OLED products ranging in size from 2.67- to 20.7-inches, including a 14.1-inch panel for notebook PCs with a privacy protection function, the company said.

Also at the FPD show, LG Display is demonstrating 3D displays, and new environmentally friendly displays, according to a company statement.

Featured items include a 480Hz LCD panel for TV with a 4ms fast motion picture response time, and an e-book equipped with a solar cell.

New IPS LCD TVs on display include: ultra slim (5.9mm) 42-inch and 47-inch TV panels with an edge-lit LED backlight; a 55-inch TV panel lit by modular LED backlight, with local dimming and a thin panel design achieved by combining the advantage of edge-type and direct-type LED backlights.

In 3D, LG is showing a variety products including: a 47-inch 3D display that can be switched from 2D to 3D modes with the push of a button; and 3D displays ranging in size from 23-inch to 47-inches featuring various 3D technology approaches.