E-Paper

Abstract
Electronic paper(E-paper) is a portable. Reusable storage and display medium that looks like paper but can be repeatedly written on (refreshed) by electronic means, thousands or millions of times. E-paper will be used for applications such as e-books, electronics newspaper, portable signs, & foldable, rollable displays. Information to be displays is downloaded through a connection to a computer or a cell phone,or created with mechanical tools such as an electronic pencil. The electronic paper display is reflective & can be easily read in bright sunlight or dimly lit environments while being able to be seen at virtually any angle just like paper. Its black & white ink-on-paper look gives an appearance similar to that of the most widely read material on the planet newspaper. The unique technology results in a compact & lightweight from factor allowing it to be ideal for highly portable applications. This seminar aims to throw light on the different technological approaches working towards the complete realization of E-paper concept.

M. W. Nasim

E-Paper

Contents:

Introduction History Technology o Gyricon o Electrophoretic Development Appearance of pixel

o Electrowetting o Challenges o Commercial applications o Disadvantages o Conclusion

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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. To build e-paper, several different technologies exist, some using plastic substrate and electronics so that the display is flexible. E-paper has the potential to be more comfortable to read than conventional display. This is due to the stable image, which does not need to be refreshed constantly, the wider viewing angle, and the fact that it reflects ambient light rather than emitting its own light. An e-paper display can be read in direct sunlight without the image appearing to fade. The contrast ratioin available displays as of 2008 might be described as similar to that of newspaper, though newly-developed implementations are slightly better. There is ongoing competition among manufacturers to provide full-color capability. Applications include electronic pricing labels in retail shops, and general signage, time tables at bus stations, electronic billboards,the mobile phoneMOTOROLA FONE F3, and e-Readers capable of displaying digital versions of books and e-paper magazines. Electronic paper

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should not be confused with digital paper, which is a pad to create handwritten digital documents with a digital pen.

HISTORY: Electronic paper was first developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at xeroxs 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.

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Electronic paper

Electrophoretic
An electrophoretic display forms visible images by rearranging charged pigment particles using an applied electric field. In the simplest implementation of an electrophoretic display titanium dioxide particles approximately one micrometer in diameter are dispersed in hydrocarbon oil. A dark-colored dye is also added to the oil, along with charging agents that cause the particles to take on an electric charge. This mixture is placed between two parallel, conductive plates separated by a gap of 10 to 100 micro meters. When a voltage is applied across the two plates, the particles will migrate electrophoretically to the plate bearing the opposite charge from that on the particles. When the particles are located at the front (viewing) side of the display, it appears white, because light is scattered back to the viewer by the high-index titanium particles. When the particles are located at the rear side of the display, it appears dark, because the incident light is absorbed by the colored dye. If the rear

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electrode is divided into a number of small picture elements then an image can be formed by applying the appropriate voltage to each region of the display to create a pattern of reflecting and absorbing regions. Electrophoretic displays are considered prime examples of the electronic paper category, because of their paper-like appearance and low power consumption Development In the 1990s another type of electronic paper was invented by Joseph Jacobson, who later co-founded E ink corporation the which formed a partnership with Philips components two years later to develop and market the technology. In 2005, Philips sold the electronic paper business as well as its related patents to Prime View International. This used tiny microcapsules filled with electrically charged white particles suspended in colored oil. In early versions, the underlying circuitry controlled whether the white particles were at the top of the capsule (so it looked white to the viewer) or at the bottom of the capsule (so the viewer saw the color of the oil). This was essentially a reintroduction of the well-known electrophoretic display technology, but the use of microcapsules allowed the display to be used on flexible plastic sheets instead of glass. One early version of electronic paper consists of a sheet of very small transparent capsules, each about 40 micro meters across. Each capsule contains an oily solution containing black dye (the electronic ink), with numerous white titanium dioxide particles suspended within. The particles are slightly negatively charged, and each one is naturally white. The microcapsules are held in a layer of liquid polymers, sandwiched between two arrays of electrodes, the upper of which is made transparent. The two arrays are
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aligned so that the sheet is divided into pixels, which each pixel corresponding to a pair of electrodes situated either side of the sheet. The sheet is laminated with transparent plastic for protection, resulting in an overall thickness of 80 micro meters, or twice that of ordinary paper.

Appearance of pixels
The network of electrodes is connected to display circuitry, which turns the electronic ink 'on' and 'off' at specific pixels by applying a voltage to specific pairs of electrodes. Applying a negative charge to the surface electrode repels the particles to the bottom of local capsules, forcing the black dye to the surface and giving the pixel a black appearance. Reversing the voltage has the opposite effect the particles are forced from the surface, giving the pixel a white appearance. A more recent incarnation[14] of this concept requires only one layer of electrodes beneath the microcapsules.

Electrowetting
Electro-wetting display (EWD) is based on controlling the shape of a confirm water/oil interface by an applied voltage. With no voltage applied, the colored oil forms a flat film between the water and a hydrophobic (waterrepellent), insulating coating of an electrode, resulting in a colored pixel.

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When a voltage is applied between the electrode and the water, the interfacial tension between the water and the coating changes. As a result the stacked state is no longer stable, causing the water to move the oil aside. This results in a partly transparent pixel, or, in case a reflective white surface is used under the switchable element, a white pixel. Because of the small size of the pixel, the user only experiences the average reflection, which means that a highbrightness, high-contrast switchable element is obtained, which forms the basis of the reflective display. Displays based on electrowetting have several attractive features. The switching between white and colored reflection is fast enough to display video content. It is a low-power and low-voltage technology, and displays based on the effect can be made flat and thin. The reflectivity and contrast are better than or equal to those of other reflective display types and are approaching those of paper. In addition, the technology offers a unique path toward high-brightness full-color displays, leading to displays that are four times brighter than reflective LCDs and twice as bright as other emerging technologies.

Challenges:

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Several companies are simultaneously developing electronic paper and ink. While the technologies used by each company provide many of the same features, each has its own distinct technological advantages. All electronic paper technologies face the following general challenges:

A method for encapsulation An ink or active material to fill the encapsulation Electronics to activate the ink

Electronic ink can be applied to both flexible and rigid materials. In the case of flexible displays, the base requires a thin, flexible material tough enough to withstand considerable wear, such as extremely thin plastic. The method of how the inks are encapsulated and then applied to the substrate is what distinguishes each company from each other. These processes are complex and are carefully guarded industry secrets. The manufacture of electronic paper promises to be less complicated and less costly than traditional LCD manufacture.

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The MOTOROLA F3 uses an e-paper display instead of an LCD

(power is only drawn when the display is updated), flexibility and better readability than most displays. Electronic ink can be printed on any surface, including walls, billboards, product labels and T-shirts. The ink's flexibility would also make it possible to develop rollable
displays for electronic devices. The ideal electronic paper product is a digital book that can

typeset itself and could be read as if it were made of regular paper, yet programmed todownload and display the text from any book. Another possible use is in the distribution of an electronic version of a daily paper.

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Commercial applications
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1) Education: Digital schoolbooks

2) Wristwatches

3) E-books

4) Newspaper

5) Digital frame

6) Information board

7) Displays embedded in smart cards

8) Cell phones

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Commercial applications in brief:

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.

Phosphor 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 a 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 July

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2007 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 kindle an e-book with an e-paper display. In February 2009, Amazon released the kindle2 and in May 2009 the larger kindle dx was announced.

In November 2009 Barnes and Noble launched the Barnes and noble nook , based on theAndroid operating system. It differs from other big name readers in that it has a replaceable battery and a separate touch-screen below the main reading screen.

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 Les Echos.

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Since January 2008, theDutch 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 a conventionalphotograph. 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.

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 device

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could 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 could run acceptably with greyscale epaper.

Displays embedded in smart cards

Flexible display cards enable financial payment cardholders to generate a one 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 worlds 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.

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Status displays

Some devices, likeUSb flash drive , have used electronic paper to display status information, such as available storage space.

Cell phones

Motorola's low-cost mobile phone, the Motorola F3, also uses an alphanumeric black/white electrophoretic display.

The Samsung Alias 2 mobile phone incorporates electronic ink from E Ink into the keypad, which allows the keypad to change character sets and orientation while in different display modes.

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Disadvantages
Electronic paper technologies have a very low refresh rate comparing with other low-power display technologies, such as LCD. This prevents producers from implementing sophisticated interactive applications (using fast moving menus, mouse pointers or scrolling) like those which are possible onhandheld computer.

An e-ink screen showing the "ghost" of a previous image

An example of this limitation is that a document cannot be smoothly zoomed without either extreme blurring during the transition or a very slow zoom Another limitation is that an imprint of an image may be visible after refreshing parts of the screen. Those imprints are known as "ghost images", and the effect is known as "ghosting". This effect is reminiscent of screen burn in but, unlike it, is solved after the screen is refreshed several times. Turning every pixel white, then black, then white, helps normalize the contrast of the pixels. This is why several devices with this technology "flash" the entire screen white and black when loading a new image, in order to prevent ghosting from happening.

M. W. Nasim