Bendable and colorful: Japan makers pursuing e-paper

Various Japan-based display companies have been developing electronic paper (e-paper) technology, claiming that the technology offers an alternative to TFT LCD displays, as the technology features high brightness and contrast ratios, has strong color reproduction and consumes less power.

At a private show at the Tokyo International Forum (July 20-21), Hitachi presented a 13.1-inch monochrome e-paper display that also featured WLAN support and a secondary battery pack. The company is planning to bring it to market at a price lower than LCD panels next April, with the focus being on applications such as signboards at public buildings, according to Nikkei Electronics.

Fujitsu also introduced a colorful and bendable e-paper prototype and said commercialization will commence before the first quarter of 2007.

The company claims the prototype consumes only one one-hundredth to one ten-thousandth the energy of conventional display technologies, with color that is vivid and unaffected even when the screen is bent or pressed with fingers.

Sony has also been aggressively developing e-paper technology. The company has been working with Riken, Royal Philips Electronics and E-Ink and recently started using e-paper produced by Taiwan-based Prime View International (PVI), according both Philips and PVI.

Last March, Sony announced that it developed the world’s first consumer application of an electronic paper display module with its e-Book reader, LIBRIé.

Seiko Epson has also been working with E-Ink and announced a 2-inch prototype at the Society for Information Display (SID) 2005 International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition in Boston (Mar 22-27). It also stated that it is working on an A4-size foldable sheet to be used for applications such as business documents, newspapers and books. The company stated it will have commercial applications of the technology within the next five years, according to IDG News Service, as cited by TechWorld.

Commercial e-paper has mainly been monochrome and color models will not hit the market until 2007, according to DigiTimes Research.

Source: companies and various websites, compiled by DigiTimes, July 2005.

Sony E-book with e-paper by PVI
Photo: PVI

Fujitsu bendable paper
Photo: company

Fujitsu bendable paper with colors
Photo: company

Background:

Hitachi develops electronic paper with WLAN capability, secondary battery system (Jul 21)

Fujitsu develops world's first film substrate-based bendable color electronic paper featuring image memory function (Jul 13)

Sony claims e-paper breakthrough (Jul 8)

First-generation electronic paper display from Philips, Sony and E-Ink to be used in new electronic reading device (Mar 24)

E-paper boost thanks to flexible microprocessor (Feb 14)

Epson develops the world's first flexible 8-bit asynchronous microprocessor (Feb 9)

Seiko Epson develops 200 ppi definition flexible d-paper (May 30)

Article edited by Carrie Yu