E-Ink and Sony create JV for e-paper display product development
E-Ink Holdings (8069.TT) and Sony Semiconductor (SNE) have formed a JV based in Taiwan and Japan, that will design, develop, manufacturer and license products that are based electronic paper displays. While the two companies have collaborated on products since 2004, the new arrangement will formalize the development once it receives regulatory approvals. Together the two companies will own ~70% of the JV shares, with the remaining stake being held by venture capital investors.
E-Ink has been around since 1992 (formerly called Prime View International) and is the primary developer and manufacturer of E-paper products that are based on electrophoretic technology. This technology, which is used in a wide variety of commercial applications, is based on inks that are placed in ‘micro-cups’ between two sheets of glass or plastic. Electrodes below and above the ink capsules can address them with a positive or negative charge, changing the reflective top layer of ink from black to white on an individual pixel basis. What makes this technology different than LCD or other display technologies is that once the ‘state’ has been set, the ink remains in position without the application of power, while TFT based displays need constant refreshing to maintain a state, which obviously uses considerably more power. While primarily used for black and white displays, E-Ink has developed ways to incorporate other color inks and systems to address these additional colors leading to low-power multi-color displays that have far wider applications than those in black and white.
Applications for E-Ink type products vary widely but the keys are very low power consumption, remote updating, and as the displays are reflective (no backlight), they are ideal for applications where sunlight or other issues would wash out other display types. While most would recognize E-Ink type displays as those used in e-readers, they continue to find their way into a increasing variety of products and applications that would be unable to support more conventional LCD or even OLED displays.
E-Ink has been around since 1992 (formerly called Prime View International) and is the primary developer and manufacturer of E-paper products that are based on electrophoretic technology. This technology, which is used in a wide variety of commercial applications, is based on inks that are placed in ‘micro-cups’ between two sheets of glass or plastic. Electrodes below and above the ink capsules can address them with a positive or negative charge, changing the reflective top layer of ink from black to white on an individual pixel basis. What makes this technology different than LCD or other display technologies is that once the ‘state’ has been set, the ink remains in position without the application of power, while TFT based displays need constant refreshing to maintain a state, which obviously uses considerably more power. While primarily used for black and white displays, E-Ink has developed ways to incorporate other color inks and systems to address these additional colors leading to low-power multi-color displays that have far wider applications than those in black and white.
Applications for E-Ink type products vary widely but the keys are very low power consumption, remote updating, and as the displays are reflective (no backlight), they are ideal for applications where sunlight or other issues would wash out other display types. While most would recognize E-Ink type displays as those used in e-readers, they continue to find their way into a increasing variety of products and applications that would be unable to support more conventional LCD or even OLED displays.
Electrophoretic Display Technology - Source: University of Gent
Ruggedized E-Reader - Source: SurfaceInk
E-Ink smart signage - Source: E-Ink
Outdoor E-Paper Display - Source: E-Ink
Smart Music Stand - Source: Continuum
RSS Feed