Three years after introducing its first QD-OLED panels, Samsung has now announced a brand-new recycling technology that can help reduce the waste in quantum dot (QD) ink used in its production.
Recycling discarded ink could result in a direct cost saving at the manufacturing stage which in turn reduces costs once the panels hit store shelves.
At present, in JB Hi-fi, a 65-inch Samsung S95C QD-OLED 4K TV is priced at A$3,988.
Samsung Display uses ultra-fine semiconductor particles known as quantum dots (QD) for its displays. A new technology now collects and recycles QD ink that is typically wasted during the QD-OLED manufacturing process.
The QD layer in its displays is made using an inkjet process that sprays red and green QD ink into tiny micrometer-sized nozzles.
Up until now, 20 per cent of that ink used ended up stuck in the nozzles and was ultimately discarded.
The company’s new recycling process now recovers and reuses up to 80 per cent of that wasted product.
According to Samsung, having the ability to recover this amount of QD ink throughout the process may result in annual savings of KRW 10 billion (approximately A$11.09 million).
Samsung Display assembled a task force led by the BP technology team, last December, to develop a facility to recycle the ink. By August, the team successfully developed a QD ink recycling facility.
The company says that the ink collected by way of the new recycling technology undergoes a similar advanced synthesis technology process that “revives its purity and optical properties” which results in the “same performance levels as the original ink in quality tests.”
“By developing this groundbreaking technology that recycles high-quality QD ink in-house, we will significantly contribute not only to cost reduction but also to resource recycling,” said Seongbong Kim, Vice President and Head of the Large Manufacturing Technology Center at Samsung Display.
Samsung says that it is coupling this recycling tech with enhanced equipment performance and process capabilities to further increase productivity and yield.
