E-Paper News - Page 1

US-based Solchroma develops a novel reflective inks and actuators based display technology, targeting the outdoor signage market (at least as a first step).

The company introduced its interesting technology at SID Displayweek 2021. The company's CEO, Dr. Roger Diebold was kind enough to explain the company's technology and business to E-Ink-Info.

Hello Roger, thank you for your time. Can you explain Solchroma's ePaper technology?

Solchroma creates reflective digital displays to change how we interact with the built environment and world around us. Solchroma’s technology is based on hydraulically forcing of colored liquid ink in and out of view. A backplane of actuators acts as an array of electrically-controlled pumps that push on nearby reservoirs of ink. Ink reservoirs are shielded from view by a white reflector, while simultaneously allowing passage of ink from the reservoirs behind the reflector to three sealed, viewable chambers stacked one atop the next on the viewable side.

Dasung has launched a crowdfunding campaign for its Paperlike 253 monitor, a computer monitor with a 25.3-inch 3200x1800 E Ink display, and both HDMI and DisplayPort connectors.

The Paperlike 253 monitor costs $2,550, but crowdfunding supporters will get a $300 discount. The campaign will end in a month, and Dasung already received over 60 backers.

E Ink Holdings has launched an on-cell touch ePaper module, which it says is the world's first. EIH's on-cell touch technology can be applied to the company's E Ink Carta monochrome displays and its Kaleido Plus color displays.

Most e-readers today add a touch layer onto the E Ink display. EIH says that the new technology will increase the contrast ratio by 30% compared to the standard added touch layer solution. For the Kaleido Plus displays, the on-cell will increase color contrast ratio by 40% and the color saturation by 15%. As an added bonus, the on-cell touch solution will be more cost effective and could help reduce eReader prices.

E Ink Holdings says that it is seeing high demand for ePaper displays and expects to see a growth in revenue in 2021. The company is worried though that the shortage in components may hurt its full potential.

EIH says that 2021 will be better than 2020, and it sees its performance in Q2 to be similar to its performance in Q1. The demand for E Ink's display is higher than what it can supply, and the company is building four new production lines to increase capacity.

During SID Displayweek 2021, Tianma showed an interesting display that places a transparent microLED display in front of an ePaper display. The microLED is a 7.65" 480x720 panel while the ePaper is a 5.84" 648x480 (138 PPI) E Ink panel.

Tianma says that the E Ink display was developed in collaboration with WeiFeng. E Ink invested in Wuxi Wei Feng back in 2016.