Successful Recovery of 80% of QD Ink Previously Discarded in QD Emission Layer Manufacturing Process
Samsung Display announced on the 28th that it has secured technology to collect and recycle QD ink discarded during the quantum dot (QD)-organic light-emitting diode (OLED) manufacturing process.
Samsung Display can now collect and reprocess 80% of the ink discarded in the detailed process of implementing the QD emission layer, achieving an annual cost reduction effect of over 10 billion KRW.
The QD emission layer is a core structure of QD-OLED formed by inkjet printing, where red and green QD inks are densely sprayed in micrometer (㎛) size through fine nozzles. Until now, the QD ink remaining in the nozzles was entirely discarded. This accounts for about 20% of the total QD ink used in the process.
To effectively utilize the high-cost material QD ink, Samsung Display formed a task force last December consisting of the large business division BP technology team, manufacturing, development, research institute, environmental safety, and purchasing teams, and succeeded in developing QD ink recollection equipment in August. The recycled ink undergoes advanced synthesis technology to enhance purity and optical properties, and in quality tests, it performs identically to the original ink. It has been used in mass production lines since October.
Kim Seong-bong, Vice President and Head of the Large Manufacturing Technology Center at Samsung Display, explained, "As the shipment volume of Samsung Display's next-generation large technology 'QD-OLED' increases, the scale of QD ink used is also continuously growing. Through the groundbreaking technology development to recover and recycle high-quality QD ink in-house, we have been able to contribute not only to cost reduction but also to resource circulation."
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