The current situation and future of electronic paper technology

(Electronic Paper Still On the Horizon, But Getting Closer)

The publishing industry is no longer unfamiliar with the term “electronic paper”. This kind of electronic device that integrates paper and digital display technology has been successfully developed, but there is still some distance from general application. The current consumer market for such products is still Not very big, there are three main reasons: First, the cost of the realization of this technology is higher; Second, the reading format supported by such products is limited; Third, the display effect of this product is still not satisfactory, pending further improvement. Some professionals predict that, despite the rapid development of various digital display technologies including the application of liquid crystal display technology in the near future, it will take time for these display devices to truly replace paper. In fact, with the application of digital display technology, the consumption of paper just happens to be proportional to it, which, to a certain extent, makes it even more urgent for “electronic paper” to achieve greater technological breakthrough.

I. Background

In 1975, a scientist named Nick Sheridon of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center developed a new type of display technology. The product developed from this technology has the superior micro-thinness, flexibility, and high contrast of paper. And electronic display related features. Sheridon's display technology, called Gyricon's display technology, is made up of thousands of balls embedded in a flexible rubber-shaped sheet. Half of the balls are black and positively charged; the other half is white and uncharged; the ball underneath the rubber sheet is energized and the ball rotates, displaying a simple black and white pattern on the display. Gyricon displays are thinner, lighter, and more flexible than previous displays. In theory, it has exactly the same display function as the paper, and it can update the display content at any time based on the input digital information. What's more, the Gyricon display only needs to supply power when turning the ball to change the display content. After the pattern on the page is set, it can still be displayed when the power is off. Unfortunately, Xerox stopped further research and development of Gyricon technology and turned to projects that seemed to be more promising at the time.

In the mid-1990s, a physics researcher named Joseph Jacobson of the MIT Media Lab also developed a strong interest in "electronic paper" display technology. He and his two graduate students have developed a display technology similar to Sheridon's. Of course, Jacobson's plan is not a copy of Sheridon's. Instead of using solid pellets, Jacobson's solution uses a hollow, transparent sphere filled with a blue dye and a titanium white wafer called a "microcapsule." After energization, the wafers in these spheres float to the top or sink to the bottom, creating shades of light. The electronic ink microcapsules are very small and only about 100 micrometers in diameter, so that high-resolution graphic information can be displayed. The microcapsules can be sprayed or compressed on many types of materials and it is possible to generate electronic ink "pages" using streamline mass production techniques. The surface of the phosphor formed by the microcapsules can produce a contrast ratio similar to that of the printed newspaper, so that people can view the graphic information at a wide viewing angle under different lighting conditions. Because electronic energy is only needed to change the content of the page, electronic ink technology can also significantly reduce power consumption.

In 1997, Jacobson resigned from his post at MIT and established Electronic Ink Inc. (E Ink Inc.) with millions of dollars in venture capital. Electronic ink companies today have $50 million in assets including Motorola and Hearst. At the same time, Nick Sheridon, a senior researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, resumed the development of his electronic ink technology. Last year, Xerox separated Gyricon and established a wholly-owned company. Nick Sheridon served as the company's director of research and development.

Second, application prospects

Although both electronic ink companies and Gyricon are developing similar technologies, the two companies have different strategies for their business development. Gyricon focuses on the development of electronic design logo design projects for retailers or other commercial purposes. Gyricon's main product is MaestroSign (design master). It integrates the company's electronic ink technology and software, allowing retailers to monitor the display of logos at multiple locations at one location. For example, a retailer using the MaestroSign system can immediately adjust the price of a product on the display and advertise slogans based on market conditions. The MaestroSign system not only lacks printing and distribution costs, but also reduces the labor costs of maintaining dozens or hundreds of display icons at multiple retail locations. Gyricon has already released agreements with Macy's and Thomson-Leeds. The three parties agreed that as early as June 2001, the two department stores placed the MaestroSign system's displays at all of their retail outlets.

Electronic ink companies have also initially focused on the development of electronic icon projects for retailers and outdoor advertisers and have now changed. After completing a navigation project that included 200 electronic displays from 30 retailers, electronic ink companies announced that they will not launch retail icon technology again until early next year. Because some of the recent advancements in this technology have already exceeded the company's technological level by a large margin, the main reason is that electronic ink companies have signed cooperation agreements with Philips. Under this agreement, electronic ink companies will provide technical support for Philips' next-generation PDA monitors, e-readers and other products. Wilcox, general manager of electronic ink company, revealed that Philips plans to launch a series of products using electronic ink company display technology by mid-2003.

Third, technical obstacles

Although electronic inks can be “printed” onto many types of surfaces, researchers will face more and more technical difficulties, such as how to handle the display's transistor arrays. The liquid crystal display uses a silicon wafer and a resin integrated circuit board to process each pixel unit, but the cost is too high, and it is rather bulky. This is the main reason why Gyricon and electronic ink companies initially focused on developing retail point displays rather than developing mobile device display technology.

However, over the past few years, researchers at many companies, including Lucent and IBM, have been solving organic thin film crystal film solutions. This polymer crystal sheet is light, thin, and flexible, that is, a conductive plastic. The researchers pressed the integrated circuit onto this plastic board and used gold and other highly ductile metals to guide the power supply, resulting in a flexible, bendable, reelable, foldable, and non-destructive circuit board.

In September 1999, Lucent and Electronic Ink Company began to develop a new generation of integrated ink display technology from Lucent's printed plastic integrated circuit board and electronic ink company. According to a semiconductor physicist at Lucent, the basic development of this project is progressing smoothly. In November last year, the two companies released a 256-pixel display, the first time the two companies demonstrated an electronic display system. This display, in theory, combines the visual and physical properties of paper and ink, which is a significant technological advancement for electronics manufacturers and publishers.

Fourth, the realization of large-scale production

Although Lucent and E Ink have demonstrated this new technology, both companies face another problem: how to turn this technology into a low-cost, high-performance, mass-produced product. At present, display production technology is too many processes, too complicated, and expensive. The computer manufacturing industry is still unable to carry out large-scale production, so the price index has been consistently high. Therefore, both companies want to seek more advanced production methods.

Lucent's plan is to seek technical production methods with relatively low cost and simple processes from the R&D stage. It can be said that Lucent's solution is a set of production tools that are more similar to printing tools than traditional silicon wafer production processes, because their processes are compatible with continuous disc production processes, and plastic semiconductors can reduce the cost of display production. One or two grades and can make corresponding technical improvements, and this is not possible in the LCD production technology. With this type of printing production process, the company can enter many fields, develop large-screen displays, and the cost is relatively low. In this way, this single production method can be used to produce everything from PDA displays to outdoor billboards, and the unit costs are comparable. Of course, this kind of plastic integrated circuit board technology still needs to be improved, and it will take time to put it into production.

V. Future technological improvements

EInk plans to further improve this production technology. The company’s Philips electronics uses a traditional silicon integrated circuit board production process with display screen resolutions of 125 and 150 ppi, which is twice the resolution of existing PDA screens. And brightness and contrast are higher than the traditional display, weight reduction 30-50%, viewing angle is wider, the use of liquid crystal display power supply, power consumption reduced by 99%, showing that this new type of equipment a strong market competitiveness.

Display speed is also a concern for people. Of course, it is preferable that the electronic ink and its integrated circuit board can quickly process the input video display information. Although plastic semiconductors are inherently lower in performance than silicon crystals, Lucent has achieved rapid processing of full-screen video information on plastic integrated circuit boards. Although the first wave of mobile devices using E Ink's technology does not yet need to reach this level, E Ink is currently developing display technologies that support full-screen video information, and the project is progressing well and is nearing completion.

Another big challenge is the issue of color output. Although E Ink monitors currently only support two colors (black/blue+white), the company recently announced that it has teamed up with Toppan Printing to develop color electronic ink displays. As the world's largest manufacturer of color filter arrays for flat screen display systems, Toppan will provide basic technical support for the production of color filters for E Ink displays. Of course, the first color display will probably be more than a monochrome display. Thicker (but still 20-50% lighter than LCD monitors). The two companies also reached a consensus agreement on the joint development of plastic color filters and flexible color displays.

Sixth, the impact on the publishing industry At present, at least Hearst publishing giant is very interested in E Ink's technology, and has invested millions of dollars in this technology. In addition, many electronic equipment manufacturers including Philips, Motorola and Toppan have invested in E Ink and signed a joint development agreement with the company. However, E Ink's ultimate goal is to develop a low-cost super-light display that can support wireless communication. Some people name this new type of display “radio paper”. Of course, the realization of the goal will take time and it may happen. Unexpected problem. Do publishers need to intervene early in the face of such rapid technological innovations?

As we all know, the publishing industry is currently focusing on the development of the e-book market. Publishers should probably support or even invest in this technology. E-book production costs and distribution costs may be low, but people do not want to pay as much for online products as print books. The difference between the two is not content but container issues. If the e-book reading experience is ideal, people will be more willing to buy. The current status quo is that only those early adopters and vertical markets (such as school textbooks) are interested. It can be predicted that in the near future, E Ink's technology will make e-books a product with a broad market space.

Publishers should carefully consider the ultimate goal of E Ink. Once the company's goal is achieved, it will be extremely competitive. At present, many technology analysts have great interest in electronic paper technology, but the publishing industry is not necessarily aware of the seriousness of this problem. Even if it is realized, it is only considering the impact of this new technology on e-book technology.

Philips has pointed out that the impact of this new technology is far more than these, this monitor may have the unification of the future of the monitor market, may change