ABSTRACT

E-paper is a revolutionary material that can be used to make next generation electronic displays.
It is portable reusable storage and display medium that look like paper but can be repeatedly
written one thousands of times. These displays make the beginning of a new area for battery
power information applications such as cell phones, pagers, watches and hand-held computers
etc.
Two companies are carrying our pioneering works in the field of development of electronic ink
and both have developed ingenious methods to produce electronic ink. One is E-ink, a company
based at Cambridge, in U.S.A. The other company is Xerox doing research work at the Xerox's
Palo Alto Research Centre. Both technologies being developed commercially for electronically
configurable paper like displays rely on microscopic beads that change color in response to the
charges on nearby electrodes.
To build e-paper, several different technologies exist, some using plastic substrate and
electronics so that the display is flexible. E-paper or electronics ink display technology designed
to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display, which
uses a back light 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 change later.
Like traditional paper, E-paper must be lightweight, flexible, glare free and low cost. Research
found that in just few years this technology could replace paper in many situations and leading
us ink a truly paperless world.

ASHISH KUMAR SAHOO [12012011003]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 History

2. TECHNOLOGY USED
2.1 Gyricon

3
3

2.2 Electrophoretic
2.3 Electrowetting

3
6

2.4 Electrofluidic

3. KEY BENIFITS

3.1 Paper-like Readability

3.2 Ultra-Low Power Consumption

10

3.3 Thin, Light Form Factor

10

3.4 The Ultimate Mobile Display Solution

3.5 Twistable

10
11

3.6 Simple manufacturing process

4. HIGHLIGHTS OF ELECTRONIC INK
12

11

5. DISADVANTAGES
13
6. APPLICATIONS
14
6.1 Electronic Shelf Label

14

6.2 Electronic Watch and Clock

15

6.3 e-Book

15

6.3 Smart Card Display

16

6.4 Newspapers

16

6.5 Other products

7. THE FUTURE SCENARIO

17
18

8. CONCLUSION
19
BIBLIOGRAPHY
20

E-Paper Technology 1

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 highresolution 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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E-Paper Technology 2

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 cofounded the corporation E Ink which formed a partnership with Philips Components two years
later to develop and market the technology

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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.

Fig-2.1: Basic Scheme of an Electrophoretic Display

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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 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 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.
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

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E-Paper Technology 5
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 wellknown electrophoretic display technology,
but the use of microcapsules allowed the display to be used on flexible plastic sheets instead of
glass.

Fig-2.2: Basic Scheme of an Electrophoretic Display using color filters

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
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E-Paper Technology 6
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 Electrowetting
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.

Fig-2.3: Appearance of pixels seen from transparent electrode layer

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E-Paper Technology 7
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 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 pixel, 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 coloured 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-colour 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 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 is able to 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.

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 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

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E-Paper Technology 8
in the May 2009 Issue of Nature Photonics, the technology can potentially provide >85% white
state reflectance for electronic paper.

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E-Paper Technology 9

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
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 drain

Required power to hold images

Legible under most lighting conditions

Often requires backlight

Plastic or glass

Glass only

Light Weight

Power supply and glass make LCDs

relatively heavy

Thin (~1 mm)

Thick (~7 mm)

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E-Paper Technology 10

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 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.

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E-Paper Technology 11
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.

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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E-Paper Technology 12

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E-Paper Technology 13

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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E-Paper Technology 14

5. DISADVANTAGES
Electronic paper technologies have a very low refresh rate comparing with other lowpower
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.
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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E-Paper Technology 15

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.

Fig-6.1: Electronic Paper used in Price Tag Application

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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E-Paper Technology 16

6.2 Electronic Watch and Clock

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

Fig-6.2: Electronic Paper Watch and Bendable Module

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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E-Paper Technology 17

Fig-6.3: Sony e-Book reader

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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E-Paper Technology 18

Fig-6.4: Electronic newspaper

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 times 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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E-Paper Technology 19

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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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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E-Paper Technology 21

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Crowley, J. M.; Sheridon, N. K.; Romano, L. "Dipole moments of gyricon balls" Journal of
Electrostatics 2002, 55, (3-4), 247.
[2] Comiskey, B.; Albert, J. D.; Yoshizawa, H.; Jacobson, J. "An electrophoretic ink for
allprinted reflective electronic displays" Nature 1998, 394, (6690), 253-255.
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper.
[4] Blankenbach K, Schmoll A, Bitman A, Bartels F and Jerosch D 2008 Novel highly
reflective and bistable electrowetting displays SID J. 16 23744.
[5] Andersson, P.; Nilsson, D.; Svensson, P. O.; Chen, M.; Malmstrm, A.; Remonen, T.;
Kugler, T.; Berggren, M. "Active Matrix Displays Based on All-Organic Electrochemical
Smart Pixels Printed on Paper" Adv Mater 2002, 14, (20), 1460-1464.
[6] Huitema, H. E. A.; Gelinck, G. H.; van der Putten, J. B. P. H.; Kuijk, K. E.; Hart, C. M.;
Cantatore, E.; Herwig, P. T.; van Breemen, A. J. J. M.; de Leeuw, D. M. "Plastic transistors
in active-matrix displays" Nature 2001, 414, (6864), 599.

Ashish Kumar Sahoo