Technical / Research - Page 14

LG Display is showing a new 19" flexible E Ink prototype - that's almost as big as an A3-sized newpaper. It is only 0.3mm thin and weights only 130 grams. 

The display uses metal foil, and so it can recover its original shape after being bent. 

Engadget has got some new information on Qualcomm's Mirasol display exhibited at CES:

• Qualcomm claims a 6X (!) power advantage over E Ink in a typical usage scenario, even with the color and video.
• Qualcomm expects that the first product that uses their display will indeed use the 5.7" XGA display that Qualcomm are showing.
• The display can be paired with a capactivie or resistive touchscreen (which impairs visibility a little, just like it does with any other display).
• Qualcomm has a method to light the display from the edges, which will provide even lighting across the display.

TI has collaborated with E Ink to create new chips for E Ink e-readers. The new chips integrate E Ink's e-paper displays with TI power management ICs and OMAP 3 processors - in the world's first power management integrated circuit for E Ink displays. TI has also developed a new software-based display controller.

The companies says that this will result in smaller silicon footprint and cheaper hardware that are more energy efficient than before.

Liquavista is showing their color e-paper display at CES. They say they expect product announcements in 2010/2011. Here's a nice video showing how it compares to an E Ink display:

Apple are working on a tablet computer - this rumor has been around for ages. Now there are new rumors that the new gadget will primarily be an e-reader. Obviously that might shake up the whole e-reader market...

It'll be interesting to see what kind of display will the new device have. The best display for e-readers is e-paper (currently almost all e-readers use E Ink displays). There were rumors that Apple will use OLEDs in their new tablet. We'll have to wait and see...

IBM is developing new systems for retail and energy suppliers. This is part of their 'Smarter-Planet' initiative to create useful, efficient and green systems. IBM has shown new electronic shelf labels that use E Ink to display prices. The labels themselves are made by MariSense.

IBM E Ink shelf labels

Toppan Printing has developed and prototyped a new solution-processed TFT using transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor and a low-temperature manufacturing process. Toppan is using this to drive a flexible e-paper - they say that the new technology will enable cheap, light weight and flexible e-papers. 

Toppan is showing a 2" x 2" prototype, with a 80x60 resolution. The TFT substrate is made of glass, and the semiconductor material is a transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor.

Philips say they have developed a new kind of color e-paper. They call it"e-skins", and think it is suitable for covering gadgets, such as mobile phones or mp3-players...

Taiwan's Delta Electronics plans to broaden its e-paper business to applications such as highway billboards. They are using Bridgestone's e-paper. They will also launch e-readers in 1H 2010.

Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) showed off a few flexible e-paper prototypes. One of these is a color e-reader touchscreen display. It's a Ch-LCD (cholesteric liquid crystal display), thin and light and consumes very little power, and should be cheap to make.