Viewing Electronic Paper Development from Electronic Ink Performance Benefits

First, the main performance characteristics of electronic ink

The explosive development of broadband and wireless communication technologies allows people to access a large amount of information easily and quickly, but display size and readability are the main obstacles to limit the rapid transmission of information. At this time, electronic inks with high-resolution display capabilities have become The most ideal solution, the main performance advantages can be summarized as follows.

Readability

The existing display technologies are classified into two types: an emission type and a reflection type. Examples of the former include a cathode ray tube display, a plasma display, and a light emitting diode. The liquid crystal display and the rotating ball display belong to the latter, and the background light uses a reflective type. The premise of the monitor.

The readability of electronic display products is mostly measured by the two major technical indicators of brightness and contrast. The brightness of the reflective display is determined by the reflectance of the ambient lighting and the display in the white state; the contrast is defined as the ratio of the white state reflectance of the display to the black state reflectance, and the ability of the eye to distinguish the display results from light and shade is measured.

Emission-based displays can generate light by themselves. With the enhancement of ambient lighting, the display content gradually becomes blurred, and the readability is drastically reduced. In contrast, reflective displays use ambient light to produce images that vary in brightness as the eye adapts to changes in lighting conditions. In addition, since the ambient light has the same influence on the bright state and the dark state of the reflective display, the contrast is insensitive to changes in the ambient light and is suitable for use in different lighting conditions.

The benchmark for measuring display technology is the ink/paper reproduction process because paper is the easiest to read information recording material for different lighting conditions and viewing angles. The measurement results show that the reflectivity of the electronic ink display is 3 to 6 times that of the liquid crystal display, and the contrast ratio is 2 times that of the liquid crystal display. Although the reflectance is lower than that of the newspaper, the contrast is significantly higher than that of the newspaper. Therefore, the electronic ink display is much more readable than a liquid crystal display device and is comparable to a newspaper.

2. Power consumption

Compared with the liquid crystal display, the power consumption of the electronic ink display is greatly reduced, which means that the battery life is extended under the same other conditions, or a smaller battery can be used to reduce the display weight and the use cost.

The reason why the electronic ink display can reduce the power consumption is as follows: First, it is completely reflective, no background light is needed, and it can meet the lighting conditions of reading books; secondly, the memory effect of the electronic ink display, after the image is displayed on the screen That is, it does not need to be continued unless the user requests a new round of display. Therefore, the power consumption depends on the frequency of the image display state change, not the length of time the same image is displayed.

3. Use function

The electronic ink display has excellent use functions, not only is thinner than the liquid crystal display, but also has the advantages of light weight, firmness, durability, flexibility, and extremely low power consumption, and can produce an ultra-thin lightweight handheld display device. This brings about the portability of the electronic ink display, which is necessary for simulating the combination of the conventional ink/paper reproduction technology, so that the electronic book prepared by the electronic ink technology has a function similar to that of a paper book.

The factors behind the surge in global paper consumption in the past decade are, of course, the explosion in the volume of information output. In addition to the newspapers, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of magazines, publicity posters, and computer prints. The threat to the forest caused by the huge amount of traditional paper is angering environmentalists. This background is very advantageous for the application of electronic paper technology because it helps to save paper consumption. Industry estimates that the potential market size of e-paper in 2005 will have a business opportunity of US$10 billion. However, due to the immatureness of related technologies, there is still room for improvement, as well as the reduction in the production cost of manufacturers and the ability of production capacity to cooperate. The actual market size in the year is about 1 billion US dollars.

Reprinted from: Ink Information