E-Paper Technology 1

Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT

1. INTRODUCTION

Today's electronic displays have ever more evolved to be more lightweight, efficient and clear.
Yet the importance of the paper has not diminished. We still prefer it to others for a variety of
reasons including its readability, high contrast, convenient handling, minimum power
requirement cost and strain less reading it offers. At the same time, an electronic display offers
us a paperless environment and relieves us from carrying loads of paper for referring to
information when required.
Electronic ink is a pioneering invention that combines all the desired features of a modern
electronic display and the sheer convenience and physical versatility of sheet of paper. E-paper
or electronic paper is sometimes called radio paper or smart paper. Paper would be perfect except
for one obvious thing: printed words can't change. The effort is to create a dynamic high-
resolution electronic display that's thin and flexible enough to become the next generation of
paper.
The technology has been identified and developed is well under way. Within five years, it is
envisioned electronic books that can display volumes of information as easily as flipping a page
and permanent newspapers that update themselves daily via wireless broadcast. They deliver the
readability of paper under virtually any condition, without backlighting. And electronic ink
displays are persistent without power, drawing current only when they change, which means
batteries can be smaller and last longer.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
1.1 History
Electronic paper was first developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at Xeroxs Palo Alto
Research center. The first electronic paper, called Gyricon, consisted of tiny, statically charged
balls that were black on one side and white on the other. The "text" of the paper was altered by
the presence of an electric field, which turned the balls up or down.

In the 1990s another type of electronic paper was invented by Joseph Jacobson, who later co-
founded the corporation E Ink which formed a partnership with Philips Components two years
later to develop and market the technology

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
2. TECHNOLOGY USED
2.1 Gyricon
Electronic paper was first developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's Palo Alto
Research Center. The first electronic paper, called Gyricon, consisted of polyethylene spheres
between 75 and 106 micrometers across. Each sphere is a Janus particle composed of negatively
charged black plastic on one side and positively charged white plastic on the other(each bead is
thus a dipole). 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 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 a hydrocarbon oil. A dark-colored
dye is also added to the oil, along with surfactants and 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 micrometers. When a voltage is applied across the two plates, the
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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
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 electrode is divided into a number of small picture
lements (pixels), 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. Electrophoretic displays can be
manufactured using the Electronics on Plastic by Laser Release (EPLaR) process developed by
Philips Research to enable existing AM-LCD (Active matrix liquid crystal display)
manufacturing plants to create flexible plastic displays.

2.2.1. Electronics on Plastic by Laser Release (EPLaR) :
Electronics on Plastic by Laser Release (EPLaR) is a method for manufacturing flexible
electrophoretic display using conventional AM-LCD manufacturing equipment avoiding the
need to build new factories. The technology can also be used to manufacture flexible OLED
(Organic LED) displays using standard OLED fabrication facilities. The technology was
developed by Philips Research and uses standard display glass as used in TFT-LCD processing
plants. It is coated with a layer of polyimide using a standard spin-coating procedure used in the
production of AM-LCD displays. This polymide coating can now have a regular TFT matrix
formed on top of it in a standard TFT processing plant to form the plastic display, which can then
be removed using a laser to finish the display and the glass reused thus lowering the total cost of
manufacture.
2.2.2 Development in Electrophoretic Display:
In the 1990s another type of electronic paper was invented by Joseph Jacobson, who later co-
founded the E Ink Corporation 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.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT

One early version of electronic paper consists of a sheet of very small transparent capsules, each
about 40 micrometers 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 polymer, sandwiched between two arrays of
electrodes, the upper of which is made transparent. The two arrays are 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 micrometers, or twice that of ordinary paper. 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 of this concept requires only one layer of electrodes beneath the microcapsules.
2.3 Electro wetting
Electro-wetting display (EWD) is based on controlling the shape of a confined water/oil interface
by an applied voltage. With no voltage applied, the (colored) oil forms a flat film between the
water and a hydrophobic (water-repellent), insulating coating of an electrode, resulting in a
colored pixel.
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.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
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 p ixel, the user only
experiences the average reflection, which means that a high-brightness, high-contrast switchable
element is obtained, which forms the basis of the reflective display. Displays based on electro-
wetting 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 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.

Instead of using red, green and blue (RGB) filters or alternating segments of the three primary
colors, which effectively result in only one third of the display reflecting light in the desired
color, electro-wetting allows for a system in which one sub-pixel is able to switch two different
colors independently. This results in the availability of two thirds of the display area to reflect
light in any desired color. This is achieved by building up a pixel with a stack of two
independently controllable colored oil films plus a color filter.
2.4 Electrofluidic
Electrofluidic displays are a variation of an electrowetting display. Electrofluidic displays place
an aqueous pigment dispersion inside a tiny reservoir. The reservoir comprises <5-10% of the
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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
viewable pixel area and therefore the pigment is substantially hidden from view. Voltage is used
to electromechanically pull the pigment out of the reservoir and spread it as a film directly
behind the viewing substrate. As a result, the display takes on color and brightness similar to that
of conventional pigments printed on paper. When voltage is removed liquid surface tension
causes the pigment dispersion to rapidly recoil into the reservoir. As reported in the May 2009
Issue of Nature Photonics, the technology can potentially provide >85% white state reflectance
for electronic paper.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
3. KEY BENEFITS
E-Paper has numerous benefits. The reader does not need to get used to a new format - reading
an E-Paper equals reading a printed newspaper. However, E-Paper guarantees independency
regarding room and time. E-Paper can be read everywhere in the world, at every hour, and since
digital editions can also be received on PDAs and smart phones, mobility is almost limitless.
Additionally, E-Paper saves resources. On the one hand, paper and space are saved - because E-
Paper does not pile up anywhere - on the other hand, valuable time is saved. Since the complete
pages are displayed on the PC monitor, one instantly gets an overview over all headlines and
thus gets to the relevant articles a lot faster Unlike conventional LCD's and other kinds of
reflective displays, an electronic ink display is exceptionally bright and is ready viewable under
both bright and dim lighting conditions. To be more assertive we could compare electronic ink
display with the latest liquid crystal displays.

Table 3.1: Comparison of E- ink & LCD



3.1 Paper-like Readability
Paper is easily readable over wide variations in lighting conditions and viewing angle. E Ink's
electronic ink technology approaches printed paper in performance by incorporating the same
coloring pigments often used to make paper white and ink black. When reading text, both
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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
reflectance and contrast are important factors in determining the readability of a display. In fact,
the contrast of E Ink is nearly twice that of printed newspaper. As can be seen from its high
reflectance and contrast the E Ink display is much more readable than LCD. The bright paper-
white background of electronic ink eliminates the need for a backlight is most conditions.

3.2 Ultra-Low Power Consumption
Electronic ink displays offer greatly reduced power consumption. Lower power consumption
translates to longer battery life, and perhaps more importantly, the ability to use smaller batteries
in electronic ink devices- reducing device weight and cost. The reason for the reduced power
consumption offered by electronic ink displays is two- fold: (1) they are completely reflective
requiring no backlight and (2) they are inherently bi-stable for extended periods of time. Once an
image is written on an electronic ink display, it will be retained without additional power input
until the next image is written. Hence the power consumption of an electronic ink display will
ultimately depend upon the frequency at which the displayed image is changed. However, in
both cases, a reduction in power consumption by several orders of magnitude can be achieved by
using electronic ink with its bi-stable imaging.
3.3 Thin, Light Form Factor
An electronic ink display module is thinner, lighter weight, and more robust than conventional
LCD's. These benefits are especially important in smart handheld applications where portability
is paramount. First generation, electronic ink displays will be but by laminating electronic ink to
a conventional glass TFT substrate In addition, no polarizes are required for electronic ink
displays. The resulting electronic ink display cell is also about half that of a typical LCD cell.
Elimination of the glass top sheet means that displays made with an electronic ink display
module should be inherently more robust.
3.4 The Ultimate Mobile Display Solution
Paper-like viewing characteristics and appearance, combined with ultra- low power consumption
and thin light form factors, make E ink's electronic ink display material the ideal technology
solution for information intensive, handheld devices such as PDAs, mobile phones and electronic
readers; or any applications requiring a high degree of display legibility.
3.5 Twistable
Electronic Paper is made using soft plastic containing small particles and fluid. As there is no
hard material, 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 end product becomes more imaginative
in shape and style.
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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
3.6 Simple Manufacturing Process

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. The Electronic Paper can be
produced in a large form and then cut into any desired size and shape for different application
requirements.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
4. HIGHLIGHTS OF ELECTRONIC INK

Electronic ink moves information display to a new dynamic level, with dramatic benefits over
traditional media.

Superior Look - Because it's made from the same basic materials as regular ink and
paper, electronic ink retains the superior viewing characteristics of paper, including high
contrast, wide viewing angle, and bright paper-white background.

Versatile - Electronic ink can be printed on almost any surface, from plastic to metal to
paper. And it can be coated over large areas cheaply.

Low Power - Electronic ink is a real power miser. It displays an image even when the
power is turned off and it's even legible in low light reducing the need for a backlight.
This can significantly extend battery life for portable devices.

Scalable - E Ink's electronic ink process is highly scalable, which makes it competitive
against today's older technologies.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
5. ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
5.1 Advantages
5.1.1 Readable
E-Paper is 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, its very suitable
for reading.
5.1.2 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 eight,
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.
5.1.3 Green
If we could replace all paper newspapers with eNewspapers 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. Firstly, 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.



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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
5.2. Disadvantages
5.2.1 Very low refresh rate
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 on handheld computers. 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.

5.2.3 Ghost images
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.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
6. APPLICATIONS
Electronic Paper behaves similarly to conventional paper, allowing high readability under low or
high light conditions, and being thin and lightweight and fully pliable. In addition, Electronic
Paper has the advantage of allowing the content to be changed easily at any time via the
electronic Paper driver IC. Electronic Paper will provide a viable substitute to paper in certain
areas. Some examples of Electronic Paper applications are described below.

6.1 Electronic Shelf Label
In a large department store or supermarket, there are many price tag labels on the shelves
indicating product price. Whenever there is a change of price information, it is very tedious to
change the price tags individually. By replacing the paper price tag with Electronic Paper, the
price information can be easily updated once the Electronic Paper price tags are connected via a
wireless network.



The Electronic Paper price tag requires no battery power to maintain display and prices can be
updated using the energy from the RF wave to change the image content.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
6.2 Electronic Watch and Clock

Watch and clock designs can become more imaginative using Electronic Paper.

For example, a watch using Electronic Paper will allow time and image to be displayed on the
wrist strap of the watch.

6.3 e-Books

In 2004 Sony released Libri EBR-1000EP in Japan, the first e-book reader with an Electronic
paper display. In November 2006, the iRex iLiad was ready for the consumer market. In
November 2009 Barnes and Noble launched the Barnes & Noble Nook, based on the Android
operating system. In late 2007, Amazon began producing and marketing the Amazon Kindle, an
e-book reader with an e-paper display.
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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT

6.4 Smart Card Display
Today, many credit cards contain a smart card to store information such as accumulated credit
and money expenses etc. Since Electronic Paper has the advantage of lower power consumption
and is as flexible as the card, it offers a good solution to displaying this type of information on
the card.

6.5 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 pre-release version of the iRex iLiad.
This was the first recorded application of electronic ink to newspaper publishing. In September
2007, the French daily Les chos announced the official launch of an electronic version of the
paper on a subscription basis. Since January 2008, the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad is
distributed for the iRex iLiad reader.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT


6.6 Other Products
E- Ink unveiled its first product using electronic ink- immediate large-area displays- in 1999.
These large signs draw only 0.1 watts of power, which means that the same power required
running a single 100-watt light bulb, could power 1,000 immediate signs. E Ink said that in
electronic devices, electronic ink would use 50 to 100 t imes power than liquid crystal displays
because electronic ink only needs power when changing its display. Electronic ink can be printed
on any surface, including walls, billboards, product labels and T-shirts. Homeowners could soon
be able to instantly change their digital wallpaper by sending a signal to the electronic ink
painted on their walls.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
7. THE FUTURE SCENARIO
The Holy Grail of electronic ink technology is a digital book that can typeset itself and that
readers could leaf through just as if it were made of regular paper. Such a book could be
programmed to display the text from a literary work and once you've finished that tale, you could
automatically replace it by wirelessly downloading the latest book from a computer database.
Xerox had introduced plants to insert a memory device into the spine of the book, which would
allow users to alternate between up to 10 books stored on the device.

Just as electronic ink could radically change the way we read books, it could change the way you
receive your daily newspaper. It could very well bring an end to newspaper delivery, as we know
it. Instead of delivery people tossing the paper from their bike or out their car window, a new
high- tech breed of paper deliverers who simply press a button on their computer that would
simultaneously update thousands of electronic newspapers each morning. Sure, it would look and
feel like your old paper, but you wouldn't have to worry about the newsprint getting smudged on
your fingers, and it would also eliminate the piles of old newspapers that need recycling. Prior to
developing digital books and newspapers E-Ink will be developing a marketable electronic
display screen for cell phones, PDA's, pagers and digital watches.

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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
8. 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.
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Bsc. Information Technology MGMs Dr. G. Y. Pathrikar College of CS & IT
9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper.
[2] Comiskey, B.; Albert, J. D.; Yoshizawa, H.; Jacobson, J. "An electrophoretic ink for
allprinted reflective electronic displays" Nature 1998, 394, (6690), 253-255.