Vault Creation, a South Korea etching company, has completed preparations for mass-producing 500ppi FMM for mobile

Achieving a resolution of 500ppi with proprietary technology and having completed initial setup of a production equipment for mass production

SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Korean dry etching specialized company, Vault Creation Co., Ltd., has announced that it will start selling FMM for smartphones with a resolution of 500ppi, which is an essential component of mobile displays, to demand companies and research institutes that need it from September 1, 2023.

Until now, FMM-related companies worldwide have invested astronomical resources exclusively in Japan to develop high-resolution FMM for smartphones. However, it is true that encountered technical limitations without providing practical results.

In this situation, Vault Creation, a South Korea company, which announced its entry into the market, has a golden opportunity to reshape the global FMM industry. As a venture established less than a decade ago in South Korea, Vault Creation has succeed in implementing the world’s best resolution after seven years of research and showed its amazing ability to build mass production facilities in a short time.

FMM(Fine Metal Mask) is a mask used to form Red(R), Green(G), and Blue(B) subpixels in small and medium-sized OLED panels and is a key material in the OLED deposition process. The microring mirroring is uniform and cross-sectional angles, step height, and location precision are required because the deposited organic matter serves as a major component that allows precise deposition only in the TFT(Thin Film Transistor) pixel area. No defects, such as appearance deformation, imprinting, clogging, or sticking, are allowed.

Accordingly, FMM-related companies around the world, including Korea, Mainland China, Japan, and Taiwan have invested heavily in the development of high-resolution FMM using methods like wet or electroplating etching. However, up until now, no company has succeeded in achieving mass production for the market, and supplying or selling to demand sources was simply not possible. This situation has led to complete dependence on Japan for FMM.

Especially, FMM for OLED used in smartphone panel production has been produced by companies such as TOPPAN in Japan and Darwin in Taiwan. However, in practice, a Japanese company DNP(Dai Nippon Printing) has effectively monopolized the global market for OLED FMM.

Since 2015, Vault Creation has developed its own ‘Ion Beam Dry Etching Technology’ to secure global intellectual property and completed FMM development 2 years ago using a low-temperature process, and until recently, it has been confirmed that it has advanced technology for mass production.

The ion beam dry etching technology developed by Vault Creation stands out from another etching process like wet etching or electroplating. It allows etching without damaging the material and leaves no residual impurities. Moreover, using the advantages of dry etching, they claim to be able to manufacture according to the specifications of customers in terms of etching angles and shapes, as required.

CIPO(STEVE JAY) has announced the official start of sales stating, "Until now, the only company capable of providing FMM for the high-resolution market worldwide was Japan’s ‘DNP’. Over the past 7years, we have completed technological development that can diversify this exclusive market and we are fully prepared for mass production to supply 500ppi FMM to any company in need. The supply price can also be offered much more affordably than before, so we encourage all global demand companies to inquire anytime."

A representative from the display industry said, "Currently, high-resolution FMM production can only be produced in Japan globally. As a result, many companies had problems in the research and development of displays because the supply is limited and not smooth. If the mass production volume of Vault Creation comes to the market, it is expected that much research and development will be activated in the VR and AR industries as well as the research and development of existing high-resolution displays.

Currently, Vault Creation is accepting orders through its website.

* FMM order and contact E-MAIL : fmm@vaultcreation.com