Latest News

LG LCD applied 5 mask process to all product models extensively since last January that reduces the LCD production process time and contributes to the cost-effectiveness. Using this process, LG LCD significantly enhanced the production capacity, and was able to increase profits while effectively coping with the recent overall LCD supply shortage.

The demand from the LCD market has been growing rapidly since the second half of 1998. Especially, explosive growth of large size LCD’s of more than 15" monitors has accelerated the supply shortage. This supply shortage seems destined to continue for some time since most LCD manufactures stopped new investments in 1998 due to the economic crisis.
Therefore, the increase of LCD production through 5 mask process is welcomed by many hardware vendors who adopted the LCD for their display device.

The most important process of LCD production is to make the TFT (Thin Film Transistor), which can be formed by masking several film layers, which requires repetitive cleansing, thin-film deposition, and photo and etch processes sequentially. It normally requires 6 to 7 photo masks during these processes. However, the LG LCD applied 5 mask process that completed the TFT using only 5 photo masks, therefore significantly reducing the process time which yields enhanced productivity.

While developing technology to transfer to 5 mask process, the overall process technology was greatly improved and production harvest rate also improved. Several patents were applied for during the development of this process.

This technology is applied only to the 370x470mm line (mainly producing 12.1" and 14.1" LCD) among two production lines. This will do much to ensure a smooth supply of 14.1" LCD’s for the notebook PC portion of the computer market, which has experienced rapid growth from the second half of last year.

Last year, the monthly glass input capacity for the production line remained at only 45,000 sets. With the use of 5 mask technology, it increased to 54,000 (20% increase) per month. As a result, 18,000 additional sets of LCD’s can be produced without any new facility investment.

It will also be applied to the 590x670 line from the second half of this year. Consequently, it is expected to contribute to ease the supply shortage of 15.1" and 18.1" LCD for monitors that are increasingly popular.

With the introduction of 5 mask process technology, LG LCD will grow as the world’s number one TFT LCD manufacturer with a production capacity of 4.7 million sets of LCD’s per year based on the 13.3" LCD standard.