E-Paper Technology Documentation
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Electronic paper, or e-paper, is a display technology that mimics the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike LCD displays which use backlighting, e-paper reflects light like paper and can hold text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity. It was first developed in the 1970s at Xerox PARC. E-paper works through tiny plastic beads or microcapsules embedded in a sheet, each with two sides of different colors. An electric field rotates the beads to display one color or the other. E-paper provides advantages like wide viewing angle, flexibility, low power consumption, and readability in sunlight. However, it also has disadvantages like low refresh rates and needing backlighting for low-
E-Paper Technology Documentation
- 1. 1 Introduction Electronic paper, e-paper or electronic ink display is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display, which uses a backlight to illuminate its pixels, electronic paper reflects light like ordinary paper. It is capable of holding text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed later. 1.1 What is E-Paper Technology.? The terms electronic paper, e-paper describe a range of display technologies which are designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper Electronic paper displays reflect light like ordinary paper In this many of the technologies are capable of holding text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed late 1.2 Who Invented E-Paper Technology? Electronic paper was first developed in the 1970s by Nicholas K Sheridon at Xerox’s at Palo Alto Research Center. The first electronic paper, called GYRICON consisted of polyethylene spheres between 75 and 106 micro meters across. Each sphere is a JENUS PARTICLE composed of negatively charged black plastic on one side and positively charged white plastic on the other. The spheres are embedded in a transparent silicone sheet, with each sphere suspended in a bubble of oil so that they can rotate freely. The polarity of the voltage applied to each pair of electrodes then determines whether the white or black side is face-up, thus giving the pixel a white or black appearance. At the FPD 2008 exhibition, Japanese company Soken has demonstrated a wall with electronic wall-paper using this technology.
- 2. 2 1.3 How E-Paper Technology Works? It based on a thin sheet of flexible plastic containing a layer of tiny plastic beads each encapsulated in oil and it rotate freely. Each hemisphere of a bead has different coloured and different electric charge. Electric field is applied the beads are rotate, create two-coloured pattern. Paper Windows system overview.
- 3. 3 1.4 How to use E-Paper Technology? E-paper comprises two different parts: the first is electronic ink, sometimes referred to as the “front plane”; and the second is the electronics required to generate the pattern of text and images on the e-ink page, called the “backplane”. Over the years, a number of methods for creating e-ink have been developed. On a thin sheet of flexible plastic containing a layer of tiny plastic beads, each encapsulated in a little pocket of oil and thus able to freely rotate within the plastic sheet. Each hemisphere of a bead has a different color and a different electrical charge. When an electric field is applied by the backplane, the beads rotate, creating a two-colored pattern. This method of creating e-ink was dubbed bichromal front plane. Originally, bichromal front plane had a number of limitations, including relatively low brightness and resolution and a lack of color. Although these issues are still being tackled, other forms of e-ink, with improved properties compared to the original Gyricon, have been developed over the years. One such technology is electrophoretic front plane, developed by the E Ink Corporation Electrophoretic front plane consists of millions of tiny microcapsules, each approximately 100 microns in diameter—about as wide as a human hair. Each microcapsule is filled with a clear fluid containing positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles. When a negative electric field is applied, the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule, causing the area to appear to the viewer as a white dot, while the black particles move to the bottom of the capsule and are thus
- 4. 4 hidden from view. When a positive electric field is applied, the black particles migrate to the top and the white particles move to the bottom, generating black text or a picture. The brightness and resolution of electrophoretic-based e-ink is better than that of bichromal-based e-ink, but both are monochromatic in nature. To create color, E Ink joined hands with the Japanese company Toppan Printing, which produces color filters. Another drawback of electrophoretic e-ink is its low refresh rate, making electrophoretic e-ink unsuitable for displaying animation or video. Since it takes time for the particles to move from one side of the microcapsule to the other, drawing a new text or image is too slow and creates a flicker effect. A completely different solution for creating e-paper, known as cholesterol liquid crystal (ChLCD), is being developed by such companies as IBM and Philips, as well as HP and Fujitsu, which have demonstrated actual devices. ChLCD technology is based on the well-known and widespread technology of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which work by applying a current to spiral-shaped liquid-crystal molecules that can change from a vertical to a horizontal position. Although other potential technologies for developing advanced color electronic paper exist such as photonic crystals (P-ink) recently covered by TFOT, many analysts believe that ChLCD technology could become the dominant e-paper technology of the next decade.
- 5. 5 Features of E-paper Technology? Education: digital schoolbooks In January 2007, the Dutch specialist in e-Paper edupaper.nl started a pilot project in a secondary school in Maastricht, using e-Paper as digital schoolbooks to reduce costs and students' daily burden of books. Wristwatches In December 2005 Seiko released their Spectrum SVRD001 wristwatch, which has a flexible electrophoretic display and in March 2010 Seiko released a second generation of this famous e-ink watch with an active matrix display. Phosphors of Hong Kong have launched 3 series of watches using flexible electrophoretic display using eink technology. E-Books In September 2006 Sony released the PRS-500 Sony Reader e-book reader. On October 2, 2007, Sony announced the PRS-505, an updated version of the Reader. In November 2008, Sony released the PRS-700BC which incorporated backlight and a touchscreen. IN November 2006, the iRex iLaid was ready for the consumer market. Consumers could initially read e-Books in PDF and HTML formats, and in JulyE-Paper2007 support for the popular mobipocket PRC format was added, but price was still a problem. With the introduction of the competing cybook, prices have decreased almost 50%.In late 2007, Amazon began producing and marketing the Amazon kindles ane-book with an e-paper display. In February 2009, Amazon released thekindle2 and in May 2009 the larger kindle dx was announced.
- 6. 6 Newspapers In February 2006, the Flemish daily De Tijd distributed an electronic version of the paper to select subscribers in a limited marketing study, using a prerelease version of the iRex iLaid. This was the first recorded application of electronic ink to newspaper publishing. IN September 2007, the French daily les Echos announced the official launch of an electronic version of the paper on a subscription basis. Two offers are available, combining a one year subscription and a reading device. One interesting point of the offer is the choice of a light reading device or the iRex iLaid. Two different processing platforms are used to deliver readable information of the daily, one based on the newly developed GPP electronic ink platform fromGanaxa, and the other one developed internally by LesEchos.E-PaperSince January 2008, the Dutch daily NRC handelsbade is distributed for the Readerirex iLaid. Digital Photo Frame In the future as electronic paper displays improve and full high quality color is possible, the technology may become incorporated in digital photo frame products. Existing digital photo frames require a constant power supply and have a limited viewing angle and physical thickness that is inferior to aconventionalphotograph. A digital photo frame using e-paper technology would address all of these shortcomings. A well-designed digital photo frame using an electronic ink display could, in theory, run for months or years from batteries, because such a device would require electricity only to briefly boot up to connect to a other storage device and change the display before powering off all components.
- 7. 7 Information Board An extension of the Digital Photo Frame concept is to display other media such as webpages or other documents. Examples include web pages such as news sites or status pages such as stocks or other information. The current days weather forecast would be a good example for installation in a domestic location such as near the front door in a hall way. Such a deviceE- Papercould also be connected wirelessly allowing remote or automatic updates without human intervention. Such a product will have a low physical and energy footprint compared to older technology. At present (Q4 2009) no such product is available on the market despite the technology already existing to Manufacture it. Unlike digital photo frames, digital information boards couldrun acceptably with greyscale epaper. Displays embedded in smart cards Flexible display cards enable financial payment cardholders to generate aone time password to reduce online banking and transaction fraud. Electronic paper could offer a flat and thin alternative to existing key fob tokens for data security. The world’s first ISO compliant smart cards with an embedded display was developed by Innovative Card Technologies, www.incard.com and nCryptone in 2005. The cards used display technology from www.sipex.com and was manufactured by Nagra ID, www.nagraid.com.E-Paper Status displays Some devices, likeUSb flash drive, have used electronic paper to display status information, such as available storage space.
- 8. 8 Comparison of e-paper & LCD Electronic ink display Liquid Crystal Displays Wide viewing angle Best image only from one position Black on paper white Gray on gray Readable in sunlight Can be difficult to see Holds image without power drain Required power to hold images Plastic or glass Glass only Light Weight Power supply and glass make LCDs relatively heavy Thin (~1 mm) Thick (~7 mm)
- 9. 9 Advantages They are persistent without power, drawing current only when they change, which means low power consumption therefore batteries can be smaller and last longer. An electronic ink display module is thinner, lighter weight, and more robust than conventional LCD's. Electronic Paper is highly flexible and it is able to be twisted or bended into different curvatures. The Electronic Paper can be applied to different shapes of products, without being limited to being bonded to flat display panels. The manufacturing process is carried out using a roll- to-roll method, similar to printing paper, by injecting dielectric fluid and charged particles into the layer of capsules, and then sealing the top layer. The production is performed continuously at high speed. Conventional displays have a number of disadvantages in this application. They may be too expensive, too power consuming, or too hard to see when affixed to a shelf. On the other hand, e- paper can produce small, battery-operated, flexible displays. E-paper’s potential flexibility can also be an advantage when affixing displays to shelves. Conversely, e-paper’s current limitation-poor color capability-is not much of a disadvantage in this context. Color is not a requirement; monochrome displays would be quite capable of displaying most pricing or product information. When improved color is developed, it would then increase the advertising capabilities of such displays.
- 10. 10 1. Readable E-Paper are easily readable even in direct sunlight because E-Paper displays reflect light like ordinary paper. An E-paper display has the appearance of ordinary ink on paper, for it reflects light like ordinary paper. Unlike conventional LCD displays, which emit lights, the E-paper display is highly readable, not only indoors but also in direct sunlight, and the image on it is clear and modest, without flickering, and the viewing angle is near 180°. Therefore, it’s very suitable for reading. E-paper vs. paper
- 11. 11 Compared to a traditional LCD display (LEFT), the E-paper display (RIGHT) is easily readable in sunlight. The E-paper display has higher contrast ratio, reflectance and viewing angle than TN LCDs.
- 12. 12 2. Rugged E-Paper displays are rugged... meaning they are flexible, lightweight, durable and reliable. Compared to LCD displays, the E-paper displays have obvious advantage in thickness and weight, and due to the polymer film based structure, it's flexible in shape and size. What's more, E-paper is durable and reliable. The flexibility feature of E-paper enables its various applications, even for some extreme requirements that other types of display technology cannot meet. Based on the ultra-thin and flexible feature, the E-paper can be used on the smart card as a display showing balance and transaction record information.
- 13. 13 3. Green If we could replace all paper newspapers with E-Newspapers tomorrow, it would save 95 million trees which could remove 98 million tons of greenhouse gas each year. The E-paper display is energy efficient due to two advantages it has.Frstly, it doesn't use a back light which consume most power, but rather, it mimics the picture by reflecting ambient light. Secondly, it's bi-stable, which means no power is needed to hold a static picture. This makes the E-paper display consume much less power than conventional displays, such as LCD displays. We know that less power consumption means longer lasting battery life. Therefore, E-paper displays are highly suitable for the products which are limited to the size or require extreme battery condition. The bistable E-paper display
- 14. 14 The powerconsumption of E-paper is so low that it can be powered by a solar cell battery.
- 15. 15 Disadvantages 1. Very low refresh rate: A notable disadvantage of electrophoretic display and electronic ink display is that it has very low refresh rate when compared to LCD IPS technology and AMOLED display technology this is also true for other electronic paper display technologies. A low refresh rate is disadvantageous because it prevents manufacturers for using this display technology in electronic devices that have high degree of user interactivity. Note that user interactivity is high in devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. 2. Ghosting effect: Electrophoretic display and electronic ink display are prone to ghosting effect. A shadow of an image may be visible after refreshing parts of the screen. This ghosting effect is due to the low refresh rate and the fact that the display technology works by moving charged pigment particles. Some particles end up stuck in the visible surface of a microcapsule. 3. High market competition: Another disadvantage of electrophoretic display and electronic ink display is that it competes with existing display technologies that have become industry standards. Note that IPS displays and AMOLED displays have become very popular in smartphones and tablet computers, as well as in large screens such as televisions and computer monitors. Advancements in IPS and AMOLED display technologies have addressed issues concerning power consumption or energy efficiency, display longevity, and pixel density capacity, among others.
- 16. 16 4. Still needs backlighting: One of the advantages of reflective displays is their reliance on ambient light. This means less power consumption form backlighting. However, this advantage can also be a disadvantage for electrophoretic display and electronic ink display. Devices that use this display technology still need some light source such as backlighting in order to be usable when in the dark. Note that some electronic readers are actually unreadable when in the dark—just like books or newspapers. Like all technologies, E-paper has its flaws that make it inaccurate to use. Organizations face many disadvantages with e-paper and e-paper technologies. Publishing departments may have a bad time adapting to this new technology because it is still complex to use. Organizations still have manufacturing costs that were higher than expected, and some companies had trouble programming signs in their stores. Hence, companies are still reluctant to use this technology because it is more complex than paper and it is more expensive to use. Also, e-paper is still less attractive to technologies such as LED or LCD, because it still unable to reproduce animations and it is difficult to read when there’s no light. Thus, unless the room is not bright enough, employees in an organization will have a very hard time reading the e-paper. The biggest challenge a company faces with e-paper and its sister technologies is piracy.
- 18. 18 (Fig2) Electrophoretic display & Gyricon
- 19. 19 Fig (3) Back Plane Layout
- 20. 20 Fig (4) Rubber Stamped Plastic Circuitry for Electronic Paper
- 21. 21 Conclusion Electronic ink is not intended to diminish or do away with traditional displays. Instead electronic ink will initially co-exist with traditional paper and other display technologies. In the long run, electronic ink may have a multibillion-dollar impact on the publishing industry. Ultimately electronic ink will permit almost any surface to become a display, bringing information out of the confines of traditional devices and into the world around us.