Electronic Ink Takes a Step Closer

One of the technologies to to keep an eye on for the future of handhelds is electronic ink. This is the general term for ultra thin, flexible displays made of thin-film transistors as well as a variety of printed conductor and semiconductor materials, including organic, plastic transistors. This is a hot area of research now and E Ink Corporation has just opened a facility in Massachusets to house its Microelectronics Technology Group. Their plan is to make electronic ink not just possible, but practical and cost effective.

"William Shockley announced the transistor in 1948, but it wasn't until Texas Instruments perfected a production method in the 1950s that you could actually buy one," noted Dr. Michael McCreary, E Ink's vice president of research and development. "Flexible transistors have been possible for several years, but we plan to be first to market by creating a commercial design and a production process that is suitable for high volumes."

E Ink's next generation displays deliver the readability of paper under virtually any conditions, without backlighting. And electronic ink displays can maintain their image without power, drawing current only when they change, which means batteries can be smaller and last longer.

Their new facility can handle displays up to an 18-inch diagonal.

E Ink has won an R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine for its demonstration in November 2000 of the world's first working flexible active matrix display using plastic transistors from Lucent Technologies.

In June, Philips Components and E Ink Corporation showcased their first display prototypes of high-resolution Electronic Ink displays for handheld devices. These consist of a five-inch diagonal sheet of E Ink's electronic ink integrated with Philips' active matrix backplanes and drivers. These initial modules can display monochrome or grayscale images, including text and illustrations, and deliver a resolution of 80 pixels per inch (ppi). The displays' paper-white and deep-black image capabilities provide significantly improved readability over the traditional display technology found in today's handheld devices.

Related Information:

• PIC: New Screen Technologies on Display