While OLED and QD-OLED is at the forefront of today’s display technology, manufacturers are still committed to delivering LCD-based options, be they QLED or miniLED. The most recent innovation to that LCD layer was IPS Black, developed by Merck for LG Display and BOE. Since then, however, attempts to further improve the LCD backbone of several display types has ceased, with more focus being placed on other components of the display.
In a discussion with Bob Raikes of Display Daily, major liquid crystal supplier Merck mentioned that they no longer have any R&D projects in the LCD sector.
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“So at Display Week this year, I asked EMD (which is the US name of Merck KGaA and is by far the dominant supplier of LC materials), what they were doing to push LC materials for displays on to the next stage. They told me that they have no major R&D for LC materials in larger displays, although there is some work with reactive mesogens in the VR/AR field. They are developing LCs for privacy windows and antennas, but they told us that ‘there is no pull from clients’ for significant development in LC materials,” Raikes wrote.
It’s important to remember that this doesn’t mean LCD is dead, Raikes points out in a follow up article. While further development on the cell might be stagnating, there is much progress yet to be made on what can be done with it.
