E Ink Introduces Tablet-Size Flexible Electronic Paper Display

**hnelson59** · 10-19-05, 12:09 AM

E Ink Introduces Tablet-Size Flexible Electronic Paper Display

Found this over on Geekzone. With the rapid changes occurring in technology, it is not a far leap to envision a paper-thin pocket pc.

E Ink Corporation and LG.Philips LCD have built a 10.1" flexible electronic paper display. The display will be shown at the FPD International trade show in Japan, attended by over 60,000 visitors each year.

Less than 300 microns thick, the paper-white display is as thin and flexible as construction paper. With a 10.1" diagonal, the prototype achieves SVGA (600x800) resolution at 100 pixels per inch and has a 10:1 contrast ratio with 4 levels of grayscale.

E Ink Imaging Film is a novel display material that looks like printed ink on paper and has been designed for use in paper-like electronic displays. Like paper, the material can be flexed and rolled. As an additional benefit, the E Ink Imaging Film uses 100 times less energy than a liquid crystal display because it can hold an image without power and without a backlight.

LG.Philips LCD and E Ink selected a steel foil material that could be supplied by Sumitomo Corporation in high volume and which was developed by Nippon Steel Corporation (5401.JP), the leading steel company in Japan. The flexible foil is a super-thin, extremely flat, high-performance steel that can easily withstand the high temperatures of a TFT production process.

Both materials were then combined to manufacture the display panel at an existing pilot TFT line in Korea. LG.Philips and E Ink jointly designed the display electronics and produced the final prototype to achieve the world's largest high-resolution flexible electronic paper display.

And here is an interesting tidbit on electronic ink. Cool stuff. :approve:

MSAgent · 10-19-05, 12:20 AM

Why have we been hearing this for years now?

Quote:

it is not a far leap to envision a paper-thin pocket pc.

Keitherlyn · 10-19-05, 12:32 AM

A friend of mine did reseach on this kind of stuff. It uses something called OLED (organic light emitting diode), which is similar to LEDs, except it uses organic molecules. Pretty cool they have a working prototype.

Here is some more info:
http://komar.cs.stthomas.edu/qm425/01s/Tollefsrud2.htm

NOTE: also requires much less battery power to use.

**Rishad** · 10-19-05, 02:05 AM

thats some really cool bits of info. science and science fiction.. the line is ever more blurred.

notenufsleep · 10-19-05, 03:08 AM

they just need a paper thin battery to go with it and it'll be set ;)

SubaruWRX · 10-19-05, 03:37 AM

Originally Posted by Keitherlyn

A friend of mine did reseach on this kind of stuff. It uses something called OLED (organic light emitting diode), which is similar to LEDs, except it uses organic molecules. Pretty cool they have a working prototype.

Here is some more info:
http://komar.cs.stthomas.edu/qm425/01s/Tollefsrud2.htm

NOTE: also requires much less battery power to use.

my phone has a OLED display it's pretty sweet! no need to use a backlight, speaking of that I can't wait until OLED replace LED's for computer monitors.

neicul · 10-19-05, 04:01 AM

I just watched Serenity last night and thought how cool it would be to have his super thin vidoe screen. Doesn't seem so far off now.

If you haven't seen Serenity yet (or heard of it), it is a great sifi - http://www.serenitymovie.com/

X5X5X5 · 10-19-05, 08:58 AM

The time will come when we won't even need paper anymore...amazing.

Pocketbrain · 10-19-05, 10:16 AM

I can see using an E-ink display on a PPC, but it really doesn't need to be "Paper thin." You still need slots for your SD cards! Of course, I like the idea of a roll-up display for a PPC in a cigar-tube form factor. I wonder if the digitizer would be flexible? Seems improbable, so we would more likely have an auxiliary display. Think Nintendo DS, but with the top display rolling away into your otherwise standard PPC. That would be nice for playing multimedia (movie) files! Mate it up with an internal HDD of 10GB or so, and you would truly have the killer gadget.

snowglyder · 10-19-05, 10:28 AM

Maybe a wireless (highspeed Bluetooth 3.0?) enabled, 10" wide roll-away screen that slides into the other side of your PDA like a stylus. :approve:

I think this is a display that MIT Meida Lab is hoping to use eventually with their $100 laptop.

h0t1ce · 10-19-05, 10:54 AM

My only concern is how much glare the screen can create. Paper doesnt reflect as much light as this. Although the possibilities with this is much higher than paper. E-Paper Origami anyone? ;)

10-19-05, 11:14 AM

Would hate to see my pocketpc flying off with a little breeze :)

CodeBubba · 10-19-05, 11:37 AM

Hmm ... with displays this thin you could build a multifunction display for the cockpit that weighs less - and be able to carry more payload.

-CB :approve:

10-19-05, 03:27 PM

One day these will replace our lcds and I can drop my ax all I want :D

milp · 10-19-05, 03:41 PM

Just 2 random thoughts:

That thing looks more like a "transperency" than paper

A neat use of such a flexible screen can be in Camouflaging. Remember the Bond movie where the whole car is 'invisible'. You can manage that by selective displaying the back image.