Indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) can produce high-performance TFTs and has great room for development in the field of display panels

Indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) is a fourth-generation semiconductor material. It is a thin film transistor (TFT) technology that can be used as a channel material for high-performance TFTs. It has the characteristics of high electron mobility and can be used to manufacture high-resolution High-efficiency, low-power ultra-high-definition display panel.

Common TFT technologies mainly include amorphous silicon (a-Si), low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS), and indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO). Amorphous silicon TFTs have high power consumption, low resolution, and are difficult to shrink in size. Since their performance cannot be further improved, they are gradually unable to meet the increasing technical requirements of display panels. Low-temperature polysilicon and IGZO are replacing amorphous silicon.

According to the “China Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report 2022-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center shows that compared with amorphous silicon, IGZO has a higher electron mobility, can manufacture smaller TFTs, and produces display panels with higher resolution, thinner thickness, and lower energy consumption; compared with low-temperature polysilicon , IGZO can also achieve ultra-high definition display, but the resolution is slightly lower, but it is difficult for the human eye to distinguish. IGZO has relatively low process requirements for manufacturing display panels, higher yield rate, lower cost, and can achieve narrow borders. Not only can it be used To make small screens, it can also be used to make medium and large screens.

IGZO can be used to manufacture LCD, OLED, AMOLED and other products. Due to its excellent performance, wide application range and low cost, panels made with IGZO have been used in domestic and foreign brand electronic products such as Sharp, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Xiaomi. IGZO can be widely used in smartphones, tablets, laptops, wearable devices, AR/VR, TVs, smart homes, automotive electronics and other fields. From the perspective of the field of VR (virtual reality), insufficient resolution is currently one of the important factors limiting its development. Using IGZO to manufacture display driver chips can significantly increase its resolution, which is conducive to increasing the penetration rate of the VR market.

In addition to the display panel field, detectors are also an important downstream market for IGZO. Due to its high resolution in imaging systems, IGZO can be used to manufacture dynamic X-ray detectors for medical imaging such as DSA (digital subtraction angiography), oral CBCT (cone beam CT), and C-arm X-ray machines. In the field of equipment production, it has the characteristics of high cost performance. It is expected that the demand for IGZO in the X-ray detector field will grow rapidly in the next three years, and the global market size will reach US$240 million by 2024.

Industry analysts said that in TFT technology, IGZO has obvious competitive advantages, and its production companies are constantly increasing. Globally, IGZO-related manufacturers mainly include American Elements, Japan’s Mitsui, Japan’s Ulvac, Japan’s Sharp, Japan’s Fujitsu, Japan’s JX Nippon Mining & Metals, South Korea’s Samsung, South Korea’s LG, China’s Taiwan AU Optronics, China’s Changsha Inna Optoelectronics wait. In my country, companies that use IGZO TFT technology to produce display panels include CEC Panda, BOE, CSOT, etc., which is beneficial to the development of the IGZO industry.