"Overcame FMM Limitations with 22 Years of Expertise"... LG Display Unveils Next-Gen OLED Patterning Technology 'FLiPP'

Choi Youngseok, CTO: "The most significant process innovation for 8th-generation production"
Increases luminance by 1.6 times and lifespan by 2.4 times, while improving efficiency
First applied to tablets and laptops... expanding to wearab

LG Display has unveiled a next-generation OLED patterning technology that overcomes the limitations of the conventional FMM (fine metal mask) method. The company plans to use the technology to strengthen its position in the next-generation OLED market. It can leverage existing Gen 8 OLED production infrastructure, boost productivity and material efficiency, and improve OLED panel performance.

On October 8, LG Display held an online “FLiPP (FMM-Less Innovative Pixel Patterning) Tech Seminar” and introduced FLiPP, its next-generation OLED patterning technology. At the event, Choi Youngseok, LG Display’s chief technology officer (CTO), said, “FLiPP, a next-generation OLED patterning technology, is the most advanced process innovation available for Gen 8. It will serve as a moat that will be difficult and daunting for other players in the display industry to challenge.”

At LG Display’s “FLiPP Online Tech Seminar,” held on the 8th, CTO Choi Youngseok (center), Executive Director Cho Heungyeol (right), and Expert Advisor Kim Eungyong (left) introduced FLiPP technology. LG Display.

FLiPP is a new OLED patterning process that eliminates the FMM, a metal plate used to produce conventional RGB (red, green, and blue) OLED panels, and uses photolithography to form pixels. Organic light-emitting materials are deposited across the entire substrate, the required areas are protected, and ultraviolet (UV) light is used to remove the unwanted areas. This process is repeated for each RGB color to complete one RGB pixel.

LG Display successfully developed the technology after about a year of research that began in July 2025. Kim Eungyong, an expert advisor at LG Display, said, “The biggest challenge with Gen 8 was achieving uniformity so that the process could be applied consistently and evenly across the large glass substrate, from the center to the edges. We were able to shorten the development period by applying to FLiPP the OLED deposition technology and mass-production expertise we had built up on our WOLED (white organic light-emitting diode) mass-production line.”

Choi emphasized that FLiPP could fundamentally change LG Display’s existing OLED production methods. “We started by removing the technological limitations that had been holding back OLED’s potential,” he said. Because FLiPP does not use FMM, it can minimize the spacing between pixels, increase the aperture ratio (the proportion of the area that emits light), and optimize each RGB subpixel individually, he explained.

FLiPP’s aperture ratio rises from 42% with the conventional FMM method to 65%. As a result, under the same conditions, luminance can be increased by 1.6 times or lifespan extended by 2.4 times, while power consumption can be reduced by 13%, according to the company.

FLiPP also offers a productivity advantage when combined with LG Display’s existing Gen 8 OLED production infrastructure. The conventional Gen 8 FMM method requires a half-cut process, in which the motherglass is cut in half to prevent mask sagging. FLiPP does not use FMM, so the motherglass can be used intact without being cut. LG Display is currently the only company able to implement FLiPP technology using Gen 8 motherglass.

Accordingly, when producing 23.5-inch panels from Gen 8 motherglass, panel utilization—the proportion of the substrate that becomes usable panels—increases from about 75% with the conventional FMM method to more than 93% with FLiPP. Productivity improves by about 24%. Organic material deposition efficiency, which measures the performance of the process of coating the substrate with a thin film of organic light-emitting material, also rises from about 40% with the conventional FMM method to around 74%, improving material efficiency by about 1.9 times.

Processing time is also reduced. The conventional FMM method requires the motherglass and mask to be precisely aligned and joined before deposition, then separated again, with this process repeated. FLiPP, by contrast, uses the in-line deposition method employed in LG Display’s WOLED production, in which the motherglass moves through multiple deposition processes in sequence. LG Display expects this to cut deposition process time by about 40% compared with the FMM method.

Cost savings are also expected from eliminating FMM. According to LG Display, the technology can reduce FMM manufacturing and maintenance costs, the cost of making new masks when models or resolutions change, and defect-related costs arising from issues such as mask sagging. Kim said, “There are quite substantial benefits to not using FMM. It is definitely cheaper than FMM.”

FLiPP can also use existing production infrastructure, reducing the investment burden compared with building a new Gen 8.6 production line. Choi said, “By adopting FLiPP, we can make full use of our existing infrastructure and produce panels regardless of product lineup, size in inches, or application. We can achieve significant results with a relatively smaller investment than would be required for a new Gen 8.6 investment.”

LG Display plans to establish FLiPP as a production platform and expand the range of products to which it is applied. The company intends to start with OLED panels for IT devices such as tablets and laptops, then extend the technology to wearables and TVs. The company says FLiPP has significant potential for expansion because its FMM-free structure reduces constraints related to panel size and resolution.

However, FLiPP is still under development, and no specific mass-production plans have been finalized. Choi said that if FLiPP enters mass production, it could be operated alongside existing WOLED production lines to optimize operational efficiency. “Since beginning research into large OLEDs, LG Display has steadily built up its technology and expertise over the past 22 years,” he said. “Our ability to view the assumptions underlying conventional methods in a new way comes from the technical expertise we have developed by researching and understanding OLED more deeply than anyone else.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.