A

Technical Seminar Report

On
“e-PAPER TECHNOLOGY”
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

Requirement for the award of degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

Submitted by

MD. BADARUDDIN ALI (14M61A0434)

Under the Guidance of

Mrs. K. YOJANA M. Tech

Associate Professor

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

SWARNA BHARATHI INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, KHAMMAM
(Approved by AICTE, Govt. of T.S. & Affiliated to JNTUH, Hyderabad)

(2017-18)
 Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering
Swarna Bharathi Institute of Science & Technology::Khammam
(Approved by AICTE, Govt. of T.S. & Affiliated to JNTUH, Hyderabad)

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Technical Seminar report entitled “e-Paper
Technology” is a bonafide record of work carried out by

MD. BADARUDDIN ALI (14M61A0434)

We hereby accord our approval of it as a Technical Seminar work carried out

and presented in a manner required for its acceptance in partial fulfillment for the
award of degree of BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY in ELECTRONICS AND
COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University Hyderabad, Hyderabad during the academic year 2017-2018.

INTERNAL GUIDE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

Mrs. K. Yojana M. Tech Mr. Gandham Srinivasa Rao M. Tech, MIEEE, MISTE.
Associate Professor Associate Professor
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take the opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude to the Project guide, Mrs.

K. YOJANA, Associate Professor, Department of ECE, Swarna Bharathi Institute of Science

& Technology, Khammam, for her excellent guidance, technical information and support

which helped me in successfully completing this technical seminar report.

I take the opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the Head of the Department

Mr. Gandham Srinivasa Rao, Associate Professor, Department of Electronics &

Communication Engineering, Swarna Bharathi Institute of Science & Technology,

Khammam, for his excellent guidance, technical information and support which helped me in

successfully completing this seminar report.

MD. BADARUDDIN ALI (14M61A0434)

 DECLARATION

I declare that the seminar entitled “e-PAPER TECHNOLOGY” recorded in this

report does not form part of any other thesis on which a degree has been awarded earlier. I
further declare that this seminar report is based on my work carried out at the “SWARNA
BHARATHI INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY”, Khammam during the B.
Tech course.

DATE:

PLACE: Khammam

REPORTED BY

MD. BADARUDDIN ALI (14M61A0434)

 ABSTRACT
Smart paper is one of the next generation paper technologies. It is a portable reusable
storage display medium that in physical appearance looks like an ordinary paper but we can
erase and write on it more than a thousand million times. These smart papers have a battery
power application such as pager, watches, hand held computer, cell phones etc., Smart paper
is the technology used for applications such as eBooks, electronic newspaper, portable signs
& and foldable, rollable displays. It is reflective and can be easily read in bright sunlight and
also dim or dark environment. It can also be seen virtually in any angle just like a paper. It is
light in weight from factor allowing it to be ideal for highly portable application. It is also
being low in cost. In case of building a smart paper many new and different technologies
exist in it for making it a flexible device. It is not a digital paper which is written with a pad
and digital pen.
 INDEX

SL.NO DESCRIPTION PAGE NO

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 What is e-Paper Technology? 1

1.2 Who invented e-Paper Technology? 1

1.3 How e-Paper Technology works? 2

1.4 How to use e-Paper Technology? 3

2 TECHNOLOGIES 5

2.1 Gyricon 5

2.2 Electrophoretic 5

2.3 Electro Wetting 8

2.4 Electro Fluidic 9

2.5 Interferometric Modulator 10

2.6 Other Bi-Stable Displays 10

2.7 Other Technologies 10

3 APPLICATIONS 11

3.1 Wrist Watches 12

3.2 e-Books 12

3.3 Education: Digital School Books 13

3.4 Digital Photo Frame 13

3.5 News Papers 14

3.6 Information Boards 14

SL.NO DESCRIPTION PAGE NO

3.7 Displays embedded in smart cards 14

3.8 Status Displays 15

3.9 Mobile Phones 15

4 ADVANTAGES 17

4.1 Readable 17

4.2 Rugged 19

4.3 Green 20

5 DISADVANTAGES 22

6 CONCLUSION 23

8 REFERENCES 23
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIG.NO DESCRIPTION PAGE NO

1.0 Paper Windows System Overview 2

2.0 Appearance of Pixels 5

2.1 Scheme of an electrophoretic display 6

2.2 Scheme of an electrophoretic display using colour filters 7

2.3 Macro photograph of Kindle 3 screen 7

3.0 The Motorola F3 12

3.1 iLiad e-book reader 12

3.2 USB flash drive with E Ink-implemented capacity meter 15

4.0 E-paper vs. paper 18

4.1 Comparison to traditional LCD display and e-Paper 18

4.2 The E-paper display has higher contrast ratio,

reflectance and viewing angle than TN LCDs 19

4.3 The bi stable E-paper display 21

5.6 JuQUEEN Supercomputer in Germany 21

5.6 JuQUEEN Supercomputer in Germany 21

5.6 JuQUEEN Supercomputer in Germany 21

5.6 JuQUEEN Supercomputer in Germany 21

5.6 JuQUEEN Supercomputer in Germany 21

 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE.NO DESCRIPTION PAGE NO

3.0 Comparison of e-Paper and LCD 16

 e-Paper Technology

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Electronic paper, also called e-paper, 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 and 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 is considered more comfortable to read than
conventional displays. This is due to the stable image, which does not need to be refreshed
constantly, the wider viewing angle, and the fact that it uses reflected ambient light. While it is
lightweight and durable, it still lacks good colour reproduction. The contrast ratio in common
devices as of 2008 might be described as similar to dirty newspaper, though newly-developed
implementations are slightly better.

Applications include e-book readers capable of displaying digital versions of books and
e-paper magazines, electronic pricing labels in retail shops, time tables at bus stations electronic
billboards, and the mobile phone Motorola FONE F3.

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

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

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 e-Paper Technology

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.

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

Fig 1.0 Paper Windows System Overview

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 e-Paper Technology

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 tow-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 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

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 e-Paper Technology

(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.

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 e-Paper Technology

CHAPTER 2
TECHNOLOGIES

2.1 Gyricon

Electronic paper was first developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's Palo
Alto Research Centre. The first electronic paper, called Gyricon, consisted of polyethylene
spheres between 75 and 106 micrometres 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
demonstrated a wall with electronic wall-paper using this technology. From 2007 Estonian
company Visitret Displays is developing this kind of displays using PVDF as material for
spheres dramatically improving the video speed and decreasing the control voltage.

2.2 Electrophoretic

Fig 2.0 Electrphoretic

Appearance of pixels

In the simplest implementation of an electrophoretic display, titanium dioxide (titania)

particles approximately one micrometre 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 micrometres. When a voltage is applied across the two

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 e-Paper Technology

plates, the particles migrate electrophoretically to the plate that bears 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 titania particles.
When the particles are located at the rear side of the display, it appears dark, because the
incident light is absorbed by the coloured dye. If the rear electrode is divided into a number of
small picture elements (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.

Examples of commercial electrophoretic displays include the high-resolution active

matrix displays used in the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Librie, Sony Reader,
Kobo eReader and iRex iLiad e-readers. These displays are constructed from an electrophoretic
imaging film manufactured by E Ink Corporation. A mobile phone that used the technology is
the Motorola Fone.

Electrophoretic Display technology has also been developed by Sipix and

Bridgestone/Delta. SiPix is now part of E Ink. The Sipix design uses a flexible 0.15mm
Microcup architecture, instead of E Ink's 0.04mm diameter microcapsules. Bridgestone Corp.'s
Advanced Materials Division cooperated with Delta Optoelectronics Inc. in developing the
Quick Response Liquid Powder Display (QR-LPD) technology.

Electrophoretic displays can be manufactured using the Electronics on Plastic by Laser

Release (EPLaR) process developed by Philips Research to enable existing AM-LCD
manufacturing plants to create flexible plastic displays.

Electrophoretic display

Fig 2.1 Scheme of an electrophoretic display.

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 e-Paper Technology

Fig 2.2 Scheme of an electrophoretic display using colour filters.

An electrophoretic display forms images by rearranging charged pigment particles

with an applied electric field.

Fig 2.3 Macro photograph of Kindle 3 screen

In the 1990s another type of electronic paper was invented by Joseph Jacobson, who
later cofounded 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 a coloured 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 colour
of the oil). This was essentially a reintroduction of the well-known electrophoretic display
technology, but microcapsules meant the display could be made 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 micrometres 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.

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 e-Paper Technology

The screen holds microcapsules in a layer of liquid polymer, sandwiched between two
arrays of electrodes, the upper of which is transparent. The two arrays are aligned to divide the
sheet into pixels, and each pixel corresponds to a pair of electrodes situated on either side of
the sheet. The sheet is laminated with transparent plastic for protection, resulting in an overall
thickness of 80 micrometres, or twice that of ordinary paper. The network of electrodes
connects to display circuitry, which turns the electronic ink 'on' and 'off' at specific pixels by
applying a voltage to specific electrode pairs. A negative charge to the surface electrode repels
the particles to the bottom of local capsules, forcing the black dye to the surface and turning
the pixel black. Reversing the voltage has the opposite effect. It forces the particles to the
surface, turning the pixel white. A more recent implementation 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 (coloured) oil forms a flat film
between the water and a hydrophobic (water-repellent) insulating coating of an electrode,
resulting in a coloured 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.

This makes a partly transparent pixel, or, if a reflective white surface is under the
switchable element, a white pixel. Because of the small pixel size, the user only experiences
the average reflection, which provides a high-brightness, high-contrast switchable element.

Displays based on electro-wetting provide several attractive features. The switching

between white and coloured reflection is fast enough to display video content.

It's 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 other reflective
display types and approach the visual qualities of paper.

In addition, the technology offers a unique path toward high-brightness full-colour

displays, leading to displays that are four times brighter than reflective LCDs and twice as
bright as other emerging technologies.

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 e-Paper Technology

Instead of using red, green and blue (RGB) filters or alternating segments of the three
primary colours, which effectively result in only one third of the display reflecting light in the
desired colour, electro-wetting allows for a system in which one sub-pixel can switch two
different colours independently.

This results in the availability of two thirds of the display area to reflect light in any
desired colour. This is achieved by building up a pixel with a stack of two independently
controllable coloured oil films plus a colour filter.

The colours are cyan, magenta and yellow, which is a subtractive system, comparable
to the principle used in inkjet printing for example. Compared to LCD another factor two in
brightness is gained because no polarisers are required.

Examples of commercial electro wetting displays include Liquavista, ITRI, PVI and ADT.

Miortech’s 2nd generation electro wetting display technology solves a number of issues
of 1st generation electro wetting display technology and large-area devices are easy to
manufacture since the pixel walls act as spacers. Miortech develops rear-view mirrors using its
2nd generation EWD technology.

2.4 Electro fluidic

Electro fluidic displays are a variation of an electro wetting display. Electro fluidic
displays place an aqueous pigment dispersion inside a tiny reservoir. The reservoir comprises
<5-10% of the 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 colour 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.

The core technology was invented at the Novel Devices Laboratory at the University
of Cincinnati. The technology is currently being commercialized by Gamma Dynamics.

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 e-Paper Technology

2.5 Interferometric modulator (Mirasol)

Technology used in electronic visual displays that can create various colours via
interference of reflected light. The colour is selected with an electrically switched light
modulator comprising a microscopic cavity that is switched on and off using driver integrated
circuits similar to those used to address liquid crystal displays (LCD).

2.6 Other bi stable displays

 Plastic Logic, manufacturer of flexible plastic electrophoretic displays

 Kent Displays, manufacturer of cholesteric liquid crystal display (ChLCD)
 Nemoptic, nematic materials]
 TRED
 Sharp Memory LCD, used in Pebble smartwatch.

2.7 Other technologies

Other research efforts into e-paper have involved using organic transistors embedded
into flexible substrates, including attempts to build them into conventional paper. Simple
colour e-paper consists of a thin coloured optical filter added to the monochrome technology
described above. The array of pixels is divided into triads, typically consisting of the standard
cyan, magenta and yellow, in the same way as CRT monitors (although using subtractive
primary colours as opposed to additive primary colours). The display is then controlled like
any other electronic colour display.

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 e-Paper Technology

CHAPTER 3
APPLICATIONS

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 flexible or rigid materials. For 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 others. These processes are complex and
are carefully guarded industry secrets. Nevertheless, making electronic paper is less complex
and costly than LCDs.

There are many approaches to electronic paper, with many companies developing
technology in this area. Other technologies being applied to electronic paper include
modifications of liquid crystal displays, electrochromic displays, and the electronic equivalent
of an Etch a Sketch at Kyushu University. Advantages of electronic paper includes low power
usage (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 roll able
displays for electronic devices.

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 e-Paper Technology

Fig 3.0 The Motorola F3 uses an e-paper display instead of an LCD.

3.1 Wristwatches

In December 2005 Seiko released the first electronic ink based watch called the
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. The Pebble smart watch (2013) uses a low-power memory LCD manufactured by
Sharp for its e-paper display.

3.2 e-Books

Fig 3.1 iLiad e-book reader

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 e-Paper Technology

In 2004 Sony released Librié EBR-1000EP in Japan, the first e-book reader with an
electronic paper display. In September 2006 Sony released the PRS-500 Sony Reader e-book
reader in the USA. 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 late 2007, Amazon began producing and marketing the Amazon Kindle, an e-book
reader with an e-paper display. In February 2009, Amazon released the Kindle 2 and in May
2009 the larger Kindle DX was announced. In July 2010 the third generation Kindle was
announced, with notable design changes. The fourth generation of Kindles were announced in
September 2011. This generation was unique as it marked the Kindle's first departure from
keyboards in favour of touchscreens. In September 2012, Amazon announced the fifth
generation of the Kindle, which incorporates a LED front light and a higher contrast display.

In November 2009 Barnes and Noble launched the Barnes & Noble Nook, running an
Android operating system. It differs from other big name readers in having a replaceable
battery, and a separate touch-screen colour LCD below the main electronic paper reading
screen.

3.3 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.

3.4 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 conventional photograph. 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 another storage device
and change the display before powering off all components.

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 e-Paper Technology

3.5 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.

The French daily Les Échos announced the official launch of an electronic version of
the paper on a subscription basis, in September 2007. Two offers were available, combining a
one year subscription and a reading device. The offer included either a light (176g) reading
device (adapted for Les Echos by Ganaxa) or the iRex iLiad. Two different processing
platforms were used to deliver readable information of the daily, one based on the newly
developed GPP electronic ink platform from Ganaxa, and the other one developed internally
by Les Echos.

3.6 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 day’s 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 e-Paper 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 e-paper.

3.7 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 offers a flat and thin
alternative to existing key fob tokens for data security.

The world’s first ISO compliant smart card with an embedded display was developed
by Innovative Card Technologies and nCryptone in 2005. The cards were manufactured by
Nagra ID.

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 e-Paper Technology

3.8 Status Displays

Fig 3.2 USB flash drive with E Ink-implemented capacity meter

Some devices, like USB flash drives, have used electronic paper to display status
information, such as available storage space. Once the image on the electronic paper has been
set, it requires no power to maintain, so the readout can be seen even when the flash drive is
not plugged in.

3.9 Mobile phones

Motorola's low-cost mobile phone, the Motorola F3, uses an alphanumeric black-and-
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.

On December 12, 2012, Yota Devices announced the first "YotaPhone" prototype and
was later released on December 2013, a unique double-display smartphone. It has a 4.3-inch,
HD LCD display on the front and an e-ink display on the back with smart battery usage.

Electronic shelf labels

E-Paper based electronic shelf labels (ESL) are used to digitally display the prices at
retail stores. Electronic paper based labels are updated via two-way infrared or radio
technology.

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 e-Paper Technology

Other

Other proposed applications include clothes, digital photo frames, information boards
and keyboards. Keyboards with dynamically changeable keys are useful for less represented
languages, non-standard keyboard layouts such as Dvorak, or for special non-alphabetical
applications such as video editing or games.

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 Required power to hold images

drain

Plastic or glass Glass only

Light Weight Power supply and glass make

LCDs relatively heavy

Thin (~1 mm) Thick (~7 mm)

Table 3.0 Comparison of e-Paper and LCD

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 e-Paper Technology

CHAPTER 4
ADVANTAGES
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.

There is tremendous opportunity here as stores have ongoing problems with changing
prices for promotions and other variables. Smart shelving would also add value by reducing
incorrect pricing on the shelves; the bane of every customer.

From the e-paper industry point of view the volume of displays would be very large
because of the number of items in any given store that need pricing information. Hundreds of
displays are likely. However, such displays would be very small (2 to 3 inches).

4.1 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.

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Fig 4.0 E-paper vs. paper

Fig 4.1 Compared to a traditional LCD display (LEFT), the E-paper display (RIGHT) is
easily readable in sunlight.

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Fig 4.2 The E-paper display has higher contrast ratio, reflectance and viewing angle
than TN LCDs.

4.2 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.

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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.

4.3 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. 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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Fig 4.3 The bi stable E-paper display

The power consumption of E-paper is so low that it can be powered by a solar cell
battery.

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CHAPTER 5
DISADVANTAGES
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.

In this internet era, it is easy to send information from one side of the globe to another,
thus, organizations have to be careful with their information. For example, your file can be
easily emailed to someone living thousands of miles away. It can even be placed in a public
server for anyone to download.

Hence, this could be troublesome for book publishing companies that may lose millions
of dollars and for organizations that have classified information.

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CHAPTER 6
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.

REFERENCES
[1]. E-paper ppt e paper.ppt/slideshare.net

[2]. E-paper technology.http://pedian.com/seminar/e-paper-technology-seminar-report.pdf.ppt

abstract.php

[3]. A seminar report on E-Paper "http://www. seminarsonly.com /computer%20%science/E-paper

technology.php

[4]. “Advantages of Electronic Paper”.

http://www/wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_advantages_of_electronic_paper#ixzz28EtL5VtL.

[5]. “Electronic Paper”. from http://www.enwikipedia.org/wiki/electronic-paper.

[6]. “Electronic-Paper: The Electronic Display of the future by Akwukwuma, V.V.N. and F.O. Chete.
2012.”. Pacific Journal of Science and Technology. http://www.akamaiuniversity.us/PJST.html

[7]. E-paper Central. 2010. “E-Paper Technologies Reference Guide”

http://www.epapercentral.com/epaper-technologies-guide.

[8]. Genuth, I. 2007. “The Future of Electronic Paper”.

http://thefutureofthings.com/articles.

[9]. E-paper Catalog. 2011. “List of Online Papers and E-papers”.

http://www.epapecatalog.com/nigeria-epapers.

[10]. Sheridon, N. 2007. “The future of Electronic Paper”. http://www.thefutureofthings.com/articles.

[11]. Daimaon, G. 2005. “The First Watch that uses Flexible E-Paper “

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