David Savastano, Editor08.14.19
The market for quantum dots (QD) for TVs and displays is thriving. Bob O’Brien, co-founder and president of DSCC, noted that last year, 4 million TV panels were sent featuring quantum dots. That is expected to grow to 6.5 million this year and 10 million QD panels next year.
With an eye on significantly increasing its manufacturing capacity to meet higher demand, Nanosys recently completed a significant expansion at its Milpitas, CA plant. The expansion increases production capabilities at Nanosys’ 60,000 square foot facility to more than 50 tons per year of quantum dot materials. This will help meet the increasing demand for next-generation heavy metal-free quantum dot displays for televisions, monitors and tablets.
“The adoption of quantum dot displays continues to grow,” Nanosys CEO Jason Hartlove said in announcing the expansion. “In 2018, we were rapidly reaching capacity for our existing production lines at 25 tons annually and are happy to make this investment in expansion now to continue meeting our customers’ demands for the highest quality, lowest cost quantum dots.”
DSCC’s O’Brien said that after languishing for a few years, quantum dots have taken a big step up in the TV market.
“Quantum dot TVs are now in the midrange of the product lines of Samsung, TCL, Vizio and others, which opens up a lot more volume,” O’Brien said. “Pricing of quantum dots as well as assembly costs for Quantum Dot Enhancement Films (QDEF) has been coming down and has reached a threshold. Now TV and display brands are adding QDEF in a broader selection of their models.”
Russell Kempt, Nanosys’ VP of worldwide sales and marketing, observed that three key influences driving rapid growth in quantum dot TVs.
“First, until the second half of 2018, quantum dot TVs had been priced comparably to the very expensive oled sets, limiting volume to the premium niche market. Now in 2019, quantum dots sets are being priced competitively to standard LCD sets,” Kempt said. “Today, consumers have a wide array of choices when shopping for a quantum dot TV with TV SKUs priced from $379 to $9,999.
“Second, an increasing number of brands including Hisense, JVC TCL, Vizio and others have joined Samsung in launching mainstream quantum dot products in the US this year,” Kempt pointed out. “Third, next-generation quantum dot technologies such as quantum dot-OLED hybrid displays are making rapid progress towards commercialization and these will become the next premium market revenue driver for display brands, offering new avenues for growth.”
Kempt said Nanosys is seeing a great increase in demand for quantum dots in the TV and display field.
“We see the quantum dot display market entering a new phase of explosive growth with more than 50% increase in product shipments for displays with our QDEF technology in 2019,” he noted. “Quantum dot TVs will continue to out-sell TVs based on WOLED technology over the next several years.”
“Quantum Dots are an important part of the premium TV story, and I definitely see Quantum Dots growing very substantially in volume,” O’Brien added.
Nanosys’ new facility doubles its production capacity to more than 50 tons of quantum dot materials per year.
“At the heart of the new facility is a new, 1,300-liter reactor that is two stories tall,” Kempt added. “This new level of scale enables us to produce our proprietary, heavy metal-free core-shell-shell quantum dots with the highest efficiency and best performance at the lowest cost in the world today. The know-how in manufacturing processes required to scale-up to this level have required a massive investment over many years and we don’t believe any other company has this depth of expertise.”
Quantum dots are found in more than TVs and displays. Nanosys sees further opportunities ahead in a wide range of fields.
“Quantum dots are light-emitting, semiconducting nanocrystals made using colloidal chemistry. They are unique in that they can be made to emit at any wavelength with very narrow spectrum and incredibly high efficiency,” Kempt said. “This makes the technology more valuable than LEDs or OLEDs because it does not suffer from limitations in emission wavelength due to material bandgap (for example, the green gap in LEDs) owing to its use of quantum confinement rather than bulk bandgap to set the emission wavelength.
Kempt cited examples of emerging quantum dot applications, including smart windows, biological taggants, greenhouse films, smart lighting, photomedicine and sensors. For example, Quantum dots can turn tinted windows into power sources, creating smart windows.
“This enables technologies like building-integrated sunlight harvesting and could revolutionize urban architecture,” said Kempt. “Solar windows would benefit from quantum dots’ high efficiency. Buildings utilizing quantum dot smart windows may eventually realize net-zero energy consumption or even end up supplying the grid with electricity, helping to reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions.”
Biological taggants are another area of interest.
“Because quantum Dots are tiny and have the ability to emit bright light in a range of possible colors, they can be used to track pollen grains and other biological phenomena,” said Kempt. “Quantum dots have the potential to solve the challenge of the past 200 years in pollination research and other fields where researchers do not have the data for where the specimen actually comes from prior to the study.”
Smart farming, using greenhouse films, are an opportunity.
“Quantum dots can be coated on various structures such as glass, rigid plastic and flexible film to modify the solar spectrum,” Kempt noted. “This can trigger early fruiting and shorten crop cycle by shaping sunlight to mimic the spectrum of desirable late October sun, leading to increased annual crop yields.”
As for smart lighting: Kempt said that lighting which matches our evolutionary circadian program enables reduced sleep deficit and an associated improvement in physical health.
“Quantum dots can be fine-tuned to emit different wavelengths to meet the requirement of circadian illumination applications and other specialty lighting requirements. Quantum dots are the only low cost and high-efficiency way to achieve a continuous, variable spectrum which can match the lighting requirements for circadian illumination applications,” he added.
Kempt sees the potential for quantum dots to play a role in photomedicine through photodynamic therapy.
“Quantum dots can be made into sheets of light-emitting material with high intensity and precise wavelengths which activate certain otherwise inert compounds for treatment,” he noted. “This enables targeting of specific cells, leaving surrounding tissue unharmed. Examples include non-invasive treatment for pre-cancerous lesions as well as rosacea, facial wrinkles, sun damage and age spots. A high brightness light source is required to make this application work. Quantum dots are uniquely able to provide light output needed.”
Sensors are another possible application.
“Quantum dot sensors are able to absorb light eight times faster than silicon sensors, eliminating silicon sensor challenges like the rolling shutter effect, limited dynamic range and poor low light sensitivity,” Kempt reported. “Quantum Dot sensors enable a new generation of sensors for applications such as time-of-flight sensing increased resolution and infrared capabilities. Quantum dots can be spin-coated as the photo-detecting layer onto silicon wafer substrates which contain circuit elements for imaging.”
“Quantum dots have the potential to disrupt a number of industries beyond displays,” Kempt concluded. “We have been developing Quantum Dot materials that meet the technical specifications of many of these new application areas previously listed and developing strategic relationships with companies who possess domain expertise in these emerging vertical markets.”
With an eye on significantly increasing its manufacturing capacity to meet higher demand, Nanosys recently completed a significant expansion at its Milpitas, CA plant. The expansion increases production capabilities at Nanosys’ 60,000 square foot facility to more than 50 tons per year of quantum dot materials. This will help meet the increasing demand for next-generation heavy metal-free quantum dot displays for televisions, monitors and tablets.
“The adoption of quantum dot displays continues to grow,” Nanosys CEO Jason Hartlove said in announcing the expansion. “In 2018, we were rapidly reaching capacity for our existing production lines at 25 tons annually and are happy to make this investment in expansion now to continue meeting our customers’ demands for the highest quality, lowest cost quantum dots.”
DSCC’s O’Brien said that after languishing for a few years, quantum dots have taken a big step up in the TV market.
“Quantum dot TVs are now in the midrange of the product lines of Samsung, TCL, Vizio and others, which opens up a lot more volume,” O’Brien said. “Pricing of quantum dots as well as assembly costs for Quantum Dot Enhancement Films (QDEF) has been coming down and has reached a threshold. Now TV and display brands are adding QDEF in a broader selection of their models.”
Russell Kempt, Nanosys’ VP of worldwide sales and marketing, observed that three key influences driving rapid growth in quantum dot TVs.
“First, until the second half of 2018, quantum dot TVs had been priced comparably to the very expensive oled sets, limiting volume to the premium niche market. Now in 2019, quantum dots sets are being priced competitively to standard LCD sets,” Kempt said. “Today, consumers have a wide array of choices when shopping for a quantum dot TV with TV SKUs priced from $379 to $9,999.
“Second, an increasing number of brands including Hisense, JVC TCL, Vizio and others have joined Samsung in launching mainstream quantum dot products in the US this year,” Kempt pointed out. “Third, next-generation quantum dot technologies such as quantum dot-OLED hybrid displays are making rapid progress towards commercialization and these will become the next premium market revenue driver for display brands, offering new avenues for growth.”
Kempt said Nanosys is seeing a great increase in demand for quantum dots in the TV and display field.
“We see the quantum dot display market entering a new phase of explosive growth with more than 50% increase in product shipments for displays with our QDEF technology in 2019,” he noted. “Quantum dot TVs will continue to out-sell TVs based on WOLED technology over the next several years.”
“Quantum Dots are an important part of the premium TV story, and I definitely see Quantum Dots growing very substantially in volume,” O’Brien added.
Nanosys’ new facility doubles its production capacity to more than 50 tons of quantum dot materials per year.
“At the heart of the new facility is a new, 1,300-liter reactor that is two stories tall,” Kempt added. “This new level of scale enables us to produce our proprietary, heavy metal-free core-shell-shell quantum dots with the highest efficiency and best performance at the lowest cost in the world today. The know-how in manufacturing processes required to scale-up to this level have required a massive investment over many years and we don’t believe any other company has this depth of expertise.”
Quantum dots are found in more than TVs and displays. Nanosys sees further opportunities ahead in a wide range of fields.
“Quantum dots are light-emitting, semiconducting nanocrystals made using colloidal chemistry. They are unique in that they can be made to emit at any wavelength with very narrow spectrum and incredibly high efficiency,” Kempt said. “This makes the technology more valuable than LEDs or OLEDs because it does not suffer from limitations in emission wavelength due to material bandgap (for example, the green gap in LEDs) owing to its use of quantum confinement rather than bulk bandgap to set the emission wavelength.
Kempt cited examples of emerging quantum dot applications, including smart windows, biological taggants, greenhouse films, smart lighting, photomedicine and sensors. For example, Quantum dots can turn tinted windows into power sources, creating smart windows.
“This enables technologies like building-integrated sunlight harvesting and could revolutionize urban architecture,” said Kempt. “Solar windows would benefit from quantum dots’ high efficiency. Buildings utilizing quantum dot smart windows may eventually realize net-zero energy consumption or even end up supplying the grid with electricity, helping to reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions.”
Biological taggants are another area of interest.
“Because quantum Dots are tiny and have the ability to emit bright light in a range of possible colors, they can be used to track pollen grains and other biological phenomena,” said Kempt. “Quantum dots have the potential to solve the challenge of the past 200 years in pollination research and other fields where researchers do not have the data for where the specimen actually comes from prior to the study.”
Smart farming, using greenhouse films, are an opportunity.
“Quantum dots can be coated on various structures such as glass, rigid plastic and flexible film to modify the solar spectrum,” Kempt noted. “This can trigger early fruiting and shorten crop cycle by shaping sunlight to mimic the spectrum of desirable late October sun, leading to increased annual crop yields.”
As for smart lighting: Kempt said that lighting which matches our evolutionary circadian program enables reduced sleep deficit and an associated improvement in physical health.
“Quantum dots can be fine-tuned to emit different wavelengths to meet the requirement of circadian illumination applications and other specialty lighting requirements. Quantum dots are the only low cost and high-efficiency way to achieve a continuous, variable spectrum which can match the lighting requirements for circadian illumination applications,” he added.
Kempt sees the potential for quantum dots to play a role in photomedicine through photodynamic therapy.
“Quantum dots can be made into sheets of light-emitting material with high intensity and precise wavelengths which activate certain otherwise inert compounds for treatment,” he noted. “This enables targeting of specific cells, leaving surrounding tissue unharmed. Examples include non-invasive treatment for pre-cancerous lesions as well as rosacea, facial wrinkles, sun damage and age spots. A high brightness light source is required to make this application work. Quantum dots are uniquely able to provide light output needed.”
Sensors are another possible application.
“Quantum dot sensors are able to absorb light eight times faster than silicon sensors, eliminating silicon sensor challenges like the rolling shutter effect, limited dynamic range and poor low light sensitivity,” Kempt reported. “Quantum Dot sensors enable a new generation of sensors for applications such as time-of-flight sensing increased resolution and infrared capabilities. Quantum dots can be spin-coated as the photo-detecting layer onto silicon wafer substrates which contain circuit elements for imaging.”
“Quantum dots have the potential to disrupt a number of industries beyond displays,” Kempt concluded. “We have been developing Quantum Dot materials that meet the technical specifications of many of these new application areas previously listed and developing strategic relationships with companies who possess domain expertise in these emerging vertical markets.”
