Kateeva reported that Tianma Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (Tianma) has ordered a YIELDjet EXPLORE inkjet printing system to expand its R&D programs for next-generation OLED displays.
China-based Tianma is a manufacturer of displays used in smartphones, tablet PCs, medical instruments, and more.
The company already uses Kateeva’s YIELDjet FLEX tools to mass-produce mobile OLED displays.
The new system, which is built for 200mm glass substrates, will be used to develop devices and materials for various new mobile device applications.
The tool will be shipped to the customer’s Shanghai facility later this year.
The installation will bring the number of Kateeva printers at customer sites to 60, making it the world’s largest installed base of inkjet tools mass producing OLED applications.
Kateeva developed the YIELDjet EXPLORE tool at its Silicon Valley innovation center to give display leaders a proven system to develop new OLED devices, evaluate advanced materials, and pilot new processes.
The EXPLORE product is based on Kateeva’s YIELDjet platform – the world’s first inkjet manufacturing equipment solution built from the ground up to produce OLED displays in high volume.
The first product to emerge from the platform was the YIELDjet FLEX system.
Since its introduction in 2014, the system has been used to manufacture more than 500M display panels in fabs throughout Asia. Today, the vast majority of high-end mobile phones feature displays that are produced by Kateeva tools.
“Tianma is known for integrating industry-leading technologies into its mass-production lines as it relentlessly innovates new displays,” said Kateeva CEO May Su. “The EXPLORE system lets it stretch its innovation aspirations and evaluate the myriad ways its future OLED mass-production processes can benefit from a proven inkjet deposition solution."