Samsung Display to add Solus as a supplier for OLED M12 material 

Samsung Display is likely to add Solus Advanced Materials as a supplier for capping layers (CPL) in its M12 OLED material set, TheElec has learned.

The South Korean display maker had previously only used Hodogaya Chemical as a supplier for CPL in its M11 OLED material set, sources said.

Samsung Display is also likely to procure G prime, another material used in OLED production, from Merck DS, which it has previously relied solely on DS Neolux for, they said.

OLED layers are comprised and stacked, from the bottom, of anode, hole insertion layer, hole transport layer, emission layer, electron transport layer, electron injection layer and cathode (anode-HIL-HTL-EML-ETL-EIL-cathode). CPL is then placed on the cathode to adjust the optical characteristic of the layer. G prime is part of the emission layer and supports the green color.

While Solus Advanced Materials failed to make the cut for the supply chain for the M11 set, it has been the exclusive supplier of CPL for the M10 set prior to that.

The South Korean company had been consistently supplying the electron transport layer and advanced electron transport layer (aETL). 

Samsung Display will use CPL from Solus for OLED panels aimed at Samsung’s Galaxy series; it will use CPL from Hodogaya for OLED panels aimed at Apple’s iPhones.

Meanwhile, M12 will be first used in Samsung’s foldable phones launching later this year and the iPhone 14 series.

Merck, meanwhile, was a supplier of G prime up to the M9 set but lost the order to DS Neolux for the M10 and M11 sets.