
Philoptics said on Wednesday that it secured 4 billion won in funding that will be spent on its on-going fine metal mask (FMM) development.
Its subsidiary Philmaterials was also looking to secure an additional 10 billion won within the year, the company said.
Philoptics received the funds from Aju IB Investment, Korea Investment Partners and other venture capital firms by offering redeemable convertible preferred stocks.
The company will spend the 4 billion won to secure the quality of its Gen 6 (1500x1850mm) FMM and to build a pilot production line.
It is developing FMM production technology that uses electro forming, where an invar is plated on the patterned substrate.
Philoptics has claimed this method can make the invar thin, allowing for higher resolution in OLED panels and overcome limitations of the previous wet etching method.
Electro forming was superior in lead time and quality control compared to laser patterning, a Philmaterials spokesperson said.
Rival APS Materials is developing a laser patterning technology for its FMM production.
Philmaterials is also developing FMM technologies for LED and multi layer ceramic capacitor productions.
Besides the masks, it was also developing repair equipment that can be paired together.
Meanwhile, in February, Philoptics failed to clinch the national project given by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on FMM development.
It lost the chance to become the lead of the project the APS Materials.