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Sunic to go Public and Release a 6th Gen Deposition Tool
September 11, 2017 
 
The Korean press reported that Sunic Systems, currently a subsidiary of DongA Eltek will become a listed company on the 21st of this month and will be offering 1.875m shares, with a price between $61.7m and $73.5m or $32.91 and $39.20/share in US dollars, although no filings have been made thus far.  Sunic supplies a number of types of deposition tools, particularly cluster and in-line OLED material deposition systems used by OLED panel producers. Over the last few years, as OLED production capacity has increased, Canon-Tokki, SFA, SNU, AP Systems, Ulvac and Sunic have emerged in the OLED deposition field and have been vying for an increasing amount of business. But by far the leading supplier is Canon Tokki, whose equipment is currently backordered. With lead times between 6 month and 12 months and long waiting lists for equipment, demand has outstripped capacity.  Canon has been the supplier to Samsung Display; Sunic has become a supplier to many other panel makers.   LG Display was unable to secure Canon tools in 2013, when they expanded their OLED TV production capacity, and went to Sunic as an alternative supplier.  Sunic developed tools for LGD under a long-term agreement and has been a primary supplier since then, and is expected to be a supplier to LGD’s Gen 10.5 fab, slated for early January 2019.  Additionally, Sunic has supplied R&D tools to Tianma, and Apple and Visionox, China Star, WiseChip and BOE with a total of ~140 tools in R&D, pilot line, or production settings. Most of the 140 systems have been in the R&D and pilot category.
 
There are also a number of Chinese deposition tool vendors that have been vying for a place with Chinese panel producers, but despite their continuing efforts, few installations of consequence have emerged, with most units being tested by producers on a trial as to the basis while under continued development.  These tools are quite expensive and must be accurate, consistent, and cost effective, as they are one of the key determinants of yield. 
 
 
Figure 1: Sunic In-line OLED Deposition Tool

Source: Sunic Systems