How Zhaochi Jingxian promotes the development of the LED industry through COB technology

The LED industry has developed in recent years

In 2022, despite the impact of macroeconomic weakness, the overall performance of the LED industry will be flat, but Mini/Micro LED is an exception and has become a big highlight in the LED industry. Mini/Micro LED has performed well in terms of R & D investment and capital support. In 2023, with the major reform of domestic epidemic prevention policies, the once suppressed demand will be gradually released, and the development of Mini/Micro LEDs will also usher in a new chapter.

In addition, the competition for LED displays is no longer limited to within the industrial chain, but has begun to spread across borders to the entire display industry, continuously strengthening its competitiveness in the Mini/Micro LED field. Zhaochi is actively exploring downstream display application extensions in the layout of the entire LED industry chain, comprehensively deploying chips, packaging, backlights, direct display, lighting and other fields. Zhaochi Jingxian is actively promoting the application of Mini/Micro LEDs in their respective fields and integrating them into the middle size, and aims to become the world's largest COB panel factory. While pushing production costs and terminal costs down, we are actively deploying MLED display technology to the consumer electronics market. The development of the LED industry follows Heitz's Law. It is expected that in the future, LED light efficiency will increase 20 times every ten years, while costs will be reduced by 90%.

Advantages and development history of COB technology

COB was born in 2012 and is a technical route for LED integrated packaging. This technology adopts an overall packaging method, which does not require SMT mounting, and also eliminates the original process such as brackets and reflow soldering. The process flow is greatly simplified, and the product has high density, high protection, high adaptability, and high image quality., long life and low cost of use, has obvious advantages in Mini/Micro LED products. Highly expected COB technology is a highlight of the LED industry, which can promote the evolution of traditional LED displays into Mini LEDs and then the right path to Micro LEDs.

However, COB technology is difficult, and there is still room for improvement in terms of yield, ink consistency, inspection and repair, etc. After more than ten years of exploration, the development history of COB technology has been once favored by the industry, but due to difficulties such as mode ambiguity and through-rate, it has not become the mainstream in the production technology of small-pitch LED display products. At present, COB products are gradually turning to the consumer electronics market, focusing on solving the cost performance of products. Its core dimensions will increasingly focus on production yield, equipment and process optimization. At the same time, this technology integrates upstream chip technology, midstream packaging technology and downstream display technology. It is a technology-intensive, capital-intensive, and talent-intensive industry that requires strong control over the industrial chain.

Zhaochi's vertically integrated layout in the entire LED industry chain and Zhaochi's competitive advantages.

As a company specializing in the field of LED, Zhaochi has formed an organic whole in the entire LED industry chain with interlocking and strategic coordination in all links. This vertically integrated layout allows Zhaochi to use COB to refer to Mini/Micro LEDs with outstanding differentiation advantages, such as opening up barriers between companies upstream and downstream, highly consistent new technologies and goals, joint research and development, reducing intermediate repetitive links, controllable production costs and operating costs, etc. In addition, Zhaochi's development in COB technology has improved product consistency and reliability, laying a solid foundation for the marketing of Mini LEDs and Micro LEDs. With its vertically integrated layout of its own industrial chain and strong intelligent manufacturing capabilities, Zhaochi has become a leader in the COB camp.

Zhaochi entered the LED field in 2011. Compared with other LED companies, Zhaochi shares have three major characteristics:

First, the in-depth layout of the entire LED industry chain has been achieved.

As mentioned above, in the Mini/Micro LED era, COB is the most preferred, but this technology still has many problems to be solved and requires close cooperation from upstream, middle and lower reaches. Zhaochi Co., Ltd. started with packaging, and has now broken down barriers between upstream chips, midstream packaging, and downstream applications, and achieved the layout of the entire industrial chain, which is of great positive significance.

This is mainly because although the Mini/Micro LED market is already growing, it has not yet ushered in a large-scale explosion. At this stage, companies need to accelerate breakthroughs in key upstream technology links and drive the market with technology; and when Mini/Micro LEDs continue to penetrate into multiple end markets in the future, companies need to accurately grasp market dynamics and clarify the development direction.

At present, the layout of Zhaochi shares in the entire LED industry chain is as follows:

Upstream chip: Zhaochi Semiconductor

In 2022, 52-cavity MOCVD and corresponding supporting equipment will be added. After being put into production, the total monthly production capacity of gallium nitride chips is expected to reach 1.1 million 4-inch chips; the project is expected to achieve full production in the first half of 2023.

Midstream packaging: Zhaochi Guangyuan

It has outstanding technical strength and advanced manufacturing level in the three mainstream packaging application fields of LED backlighting, LED lighting and LED display.

In 2022, it has 3500 wires, with a production capacity of 36036kk/month; in 2023, the monthly production capacity will further increase to 40950kk, and it also has 50 SMT wires and 5 Mini COB wires.

Downstream applications: Comprehensive layout of backlight, direct display, lighting

Among them, the number of production lines for COB display modules in the first half of 2022 is 100; in November 2022, when Zhaochi Jingxian Nanchang base was put into production, the production line has been expanded to 600; in the first quarter of 2023, the production line has been further expanded to 1600+.

The entire LED industry chain of Zhaochi Co., Ltd. has formed an organic whole with interlocking and strategic coordination in all links. This vertically integrated layout allows Zhaochi Co., Ltd. to have outstanding differences when using COB to refer to Mini/Micro LEDs. Advantages, such as opening up barriers between companies upstream and downstream, highly consistent new technologies and goals, joint research and development, reduction of intermediate repetitive links, controllable production costs and operating costs, etc.

The second is to have strong intelligent manufacturing capabilities.

In the 2022 semi-annual report, Zhaochi pointed out that the company is a pioneer in the integration of modernization and intelligent manufacturing in the consumer electronics industry. It continues to promote the improvement of automation and informatization. It is the first in Shenzhen to be evaluated and certified by China Electronics Technology Research Institute, reaching the three-level standard of "Intelligent Manufacturing Capability Maturity", realizing production automation and management processes, continuously improving operational efficiency, and strengthening high-end intelligent manufacturing capabilities. quot;

Zhaochi has accumulated more than ten years of experience in the field of intelligent manufacturing, and has now formed intelligent manufacturing competitiveness with agile response, high quality, efficiency, and on-time delivery. This experience and advantage have been extended from the original ODM business to the current LED business, and have been perfectly passed down in COB technology. It has become another trump card for Zhaochi to ensure finished products and improve yields.

The third is to have the rapid technical iteration ability to build a high moat.

Thanks to the layout of the entire LED industry chain, Zhaochi's business has the characteristics of strong technological innovation capabilities, fast iteration, greater extensibility space, stronger resilience, and higher moat.

Among them, Zhaochi Crystal Display is a key link in Zhaochi's LED display industry chain. It uses flip chip and cooperates with COB process to be positioned in the mid-to-high-end large size LED display market.

In terms of market development, Zhaochi Crystal Display follows the idea of gradually penetrating the P1.0-P2.0 end with COB flip chip technology, simultaneously promotes the expansion of the micro-pitch market scale below P1.0, and gradually develops the field of high-end TV consumer TV above 80 inches below P0.5-This product layout path is the evolution of large-screen display from Minileds to Micro LEDs, which not only conforms to the laws of technological development, but also conforms to the expectations of the end market.

Based on the accumulated experience of Zhaochi Semiconductor and Zhaochi Optics in the R & D and production of chips and packaging, Zhaochi Crystal has also made bold innovations in a number of processes.

On the equipment side, Zhaochi Crystal Display and equipment manufacturers have jointly developed more than 7 production equipment, of which more than 20 improvements have been made on the ASM die bonder alone. At present, Zhaochi Crystal Display has dozens of patented technologies and has formed an equipment matrix; by solving huge transfer technical difficulties, Zhaochi Crystal Display's through-through rate and yield are far ahead.

On the process side, Zhaochi Crystal Display innovates from multiple dimensions such as box structure, power supply, image control card application, and light panel display matrix arrangement, boldly breaking the industry's inherent production process.

On the product side, Zhaochi Crystal Display follows the product design concept of minimalist design and convenience for customers, and achieves minimalist design in aluminum boxes, motherboards, assembly processes, etc., which greatly reduces the weight of the display box and simplifies the installation process of the display screen. and post-maintenance.

It is worth mentioning that Zhaochi Crystal Display is also the first in the industry to design a three-in-one motherboard of a HUB board, a signal receiving board, and a power supply board. It makes the greatest use of the signal receiving card and internal wireless material links to achieve a very simplified design of assembly. Break the shortcomings of traditional engineering displays that are cumbersome, complex, and labor-intensive, and achieve a simple and thin design.

The results are very gratifying: Zhaochi Jingxian finally successfully solved the pain points of low through yield and high cost in mass production within one year, and promoted the scale/mass production process of COB technology in the industry. Currently, Zhaochi Crystal Display can provide customers with P0.6-P2.0 display panels.