Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Electronic paper
Summary
Electronic paper, also known as electronic ink (e-ink) or intelligent paper, is a display device that mimics the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display reflects ambient light, like paper. This may make them more comfortable to read, and provide a wider viewing angle than most light-emitting displays. The contrast ratio in electronic displays available as of 2008 approaches newspaper, and newly developed displays are slightly better. An ideal e-paper display can be read in direct sunlight without the image appearing to fade.
Technologies include Gyricon, electrophoretics, electrowetting, interferometry, and plasmonics.
Many electronic paper technologies hold static text and images indefinitely without electricity. Flexible electronic paper uses plastic substrates and plastic electronics for the display backplane. Applications of electronic visual displays include electronic shelf labels and digital signage, bus station time tables, electronic billboards, smartphone displays, and e-readers able to display digital versions of books and magazines.
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 it 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 demonstrated a wall with electronic wall-paper using this technology.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (11)
MICRO-566: Large-area electronics: devices and materials
Introduction to the physical concepts involved in the description of optical and electronic transport properties of thin-film semiconductor materials found in many large-area applications (solar cells
MICRO-505: Organic and printed electronics
This course addresses the implementation of organic and printed electronics technologies using large area manufacturing techniques. It will provide knowledge on materials, printing techniques, devices
PHYS-433: Semiconductor physics and light-matter interaction
Lectures on the fundamental aspects of semiconductor physics and the main properties of the p-n junction that is at the heart of devices like LEDs & laser diodes. The last part deals with light-matter
Related lectures (34)
Thin-film transistors and flat-panel displays
Explores the history, applications, and technologies of thin-film transistors and flat-panel displays, including LCD, OLED, and advanced color e-paper.
Thin-film transistors and flat panel displays
Explores the history, applications, and technologies of thin-film transistors and flat panel displays, covering various display technologies and emerging concepts.
Organic and Printed Electronics: Applications, Markets, Roadmaps
Explores organic and printed electronics, focusing on innovation, market perspectives, and roadmaps in the field.
Related publications (200)
Related people (32)
Related concepts (15)
Smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone functions and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which facilitate wider software, access to the internet (including web browsing over mobile broadband), and multimedia functionality (including music, video, cameras, and gaming), alongside core phone functions such as voice calls and text messaging.
OLED
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light in response to an electric current. This organic layer is situated between two electrodes; typically, at least one of these electrodes is transparent. OLEDs are used to create digital displays in devices such as television screens, computer monitors, and portable systems such as smartphones and handheld game consoles.
Flat-panel display
A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment. Flat-panel displays are thin, lightweight, provide better linearity and are capable of higher resolution than typical consumer-grade TVs from earlier eras. They are usually less than thick. While the highest resolution for consumer-grade CRT televisions was 1080i, many flat-panel displays in the 2020s are capable of 1080p and 4K resolution.