fantastic plastic

According to the NewScientist, full-colour photonic crystal displays could be on the market within two years. A team of Canadian researchers have developed a reflective display based on silica microspheres which can produce the whole visible spectrum without the need for colour filters.

The researchers stretch the crystals by bonding them to an electroactive polymer that expands when a voltage is applied to it, causing a change in the crystal structure. “By gradually increasing the voltage, we can span the whole visible spectrum, and even the UV and IR ranges. Such full-colour tuning is unprecedented,” says Arsenault, who has co-founded a start-up company called Opalux to commercialise the technology.
The crystals could be used to make full-colour flexible electronic paper, small displays, and large roadside billboards, say the researchers. But this will involve scaling up the process, a task that has proven challenging for other display technologies.

The work was published in Nature Photonics.

[Update:]
The Opalux web page has a few more details on the P-Ink (photonic ink) display technology:

The materials are based on highly reflective synthetic opal. Colors produced are brilliant and pure. Other features:

1. Full color display from single material for low materials and production cost.
2. Meet signage needs in size from shelf edge to highway billboards.
3. High brightness, peak reflectivity up to 95%.
4. Low power consumption.
Low voltage and current during switching.
Minimal power consumption when image is static.
5. Sub-second switching speed.
6. Heat management through controllable IR reflectivity.
7. Applicable on rigid or flexible substrates.
8. Lightweight, rugged, durable, and damage tolerant.
9. Costs scales only linearly with size.

The NewScientist is reporting on colloidal photonic crystals consisting of dispersions of magnetic iron oxide particles with a charged surface coating, developed by Yadong Yin and colleagues at the Department of Chemistry at University of California, Riverside.
The charged particles repel each other but their packing can be influenced by applying a magnetic field. Tuning the spacing of the particles in the colloidal crystal, by varying the magnetic field strength, changes the wavelength of the reflected light.

The crystal reflects brilliant colours from red to violet as the magnetic field strength increases (see image, right). But, when the field is switched off, the crystal reverts back to its original brownish colour.

“This is the first report of a photonic crystal that is fully tuneable in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum,” says Yin.
“We see applications in various areas, including sensors, optical switches and flexible colour displays,” he told New Scientist. “For example, the system can be used to make extra-large displays or posters to replace expensive LCD monitors. And, because the colour is based on reflection, it is better for outdoor applications than current LCD displays that perform poorly in direct sunlight.”

The work was reported in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

E Ink announced the launch of a faster a brighter version of its electrophoretic display medium:

Further:

E Ink and PrimeView International (PVI), the pioneer and currently the world’s sole active matrix EPD maker, jointly announced TFT modules built with Vizplex, in an expanded size range that includes 1.9″, 5″, 6″, 8″ and 9.7″ diagonal displays available this summer.
[…]
E Ink also announced the sampling availability of the MetronomeTM Display Controller, which adds new functions at a lower cost.
[…]
Active Matrix Prototype Kits
To accelerate customers’ evaluation and product development, E Ink will offer EPD prototyping kits in more sizes and with both Metronome and Apollo display controller options.

Via Register Hardware.

Polymer Vision (Eindhoven, NL) has announced its cooperation with Innos (Southampton, UK) to manufacture rollable displays:

Following 10 years of research, Polymer Vision has spent the past three years processing displays in its own pilot facility in Eindhoven to develop the technology to maturity. Polymer Vision and Innos will together transfer the process technology and finalise qualifications in Southampton, UK, where Innos has already started installing equipment in its newly built cleanroom. In line with their strategy to use mainstream Thin Film Transistor (TFT) equipment, Polymer Vision is confident that they will rapidly scale up to commercial volumes in 2007.

Polymer Vision, who presented the first functional device with a rollable display at IFA 2005, have announced their spin-out from Philips:

Philips™ Incubator activity Polymer Vision will become an independent company – Polymer Vision Ltd., focusing on products for the rollable display market. Technology Capital has invested €21 million in the company and will become the major shareholder. Philips will retain a 20% stake in the new company.

The transaction will allow Polymer Vision to push ahead with its commercialization plans to meet strongly growing market demand from the mobile device industry. Volume production of its 5-inch monochrome rollable display will start this year in cooperation with existing partners. The company will continue to operate from its location at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Plastic Logic announced that it has raised $100 million to build a factory for flexible active matrix display modules in Dresden (Germany).

To fund this comprehensive commercialization program, Plastic Logic has completed a first closing of $100 million of equity finance led by Oak Investment Partners and Tudor Investment Corporation. Existing investors Amadeus, which led the seed financing of Plastic Logic, Intel Capital, Bank of America, BASF Venture Capital, Quest for Growth and Merifin Capital also participated. The financing is one of the largest in the history of European venture capital. […]
The facility will produce display modules for portable electronic reader devices – a product category that is predicted to grow to 41.6 million units in 2010. It will have an initial capacity of more than a million display modules per year and production will start in 2008. Dresden in the ‘Silicon Saxony’ region of eastern Germany has been chosen as the facility location following an extensive worldwide site selection process.

Gizmag is reporting on SiPix and SmartDisplayer’s recently announced payment card with a flexible electrophoretic display, which

enables cardholders to generate and display a dynamic passcode for one-time use.

The application subsequently landed the companies the Display Application of the Year Award from the Society for Information Display (SID). […]
SiPix Microcup Electronic Paper is the key enabler for the DisplayCard solution, specifically designed for the application’s requirements – flexibility, impact resistance, extreme thinness, and ultra-low power consumption. The result is a flexible, 0.25-mm thin e-paper display […].
To meet demand by merchant banks, SiPix will complete expansion of its automated high-volume module production line before the end of 2006.

The Cambridge Evening News is reporting that

Amazon, the world’s biggest bookseller, is in talks with Cambridge company, Plastic Logic, about the end of books as we know them. […]
News of the Amazon/Plastic Logic link was given to a Cambridge audience on Thursday night when Hermann Hauser delivered the RSA Lecture at Magdalene College. […]
“The reason why Amazon doesn’t sell e-books at the moment is because people don’t like reading on a screen, but now they can curl
up with an e-book,” Dr Hauser said.

This past week, Plastic Logic has been showing off its new product concepts at a trade show in San Francisco, under the heading ‘Life is Flexible‘.

NanoMarkets predictions for the OLED and e-paper, smart packaging, and thin-film photovoltaics industries:

Markets for OLED and Paper-Like Displays to Total $10.2 Billion by 2011:

• combined sales of OLED displays and paper-like displays will reach $10.2 billion by 2011 and then go on to reach $14.7 billion by 2013.
• shelf-edge displays will be the biggest opportunity for the paper-like display business in the next few years, generating $1.2 billion in annual revenues by 2011.
• OLED televisions will reach $2.2 billion in revenues in 2011
• by 2011, flexible displays will account for $1.7 billion in revenues.

Smart Packaging Market to Reach $4.8 billion by 2011:

• The global smart packaging market will grow to $4.8 billion in 2011 and reach $14.1 billion in 2013
• Smart packaging will account for over $1.1 billion in printable electronics components by 2011 growing to $4.2 billion in 2013
• Smart packaging will also consume $1.1 billion in printable and chip-based RFID tags by 2011

Thin Film and Organic Photovoltaic Market To Reach $2.3 Billion ($US) in 2011:

• Integrated building and construction products such as PV enabled roofing and window materials are projected to be the largest market opportunity measuring $800 million ($US) in 2011 with large project and consumer electronic products the second and third largest market opportunities.
• On the materials front, amorphous silicon, the best established of the various thin-film PV materials, will represent an $800 million ($US) opportunity followed by organic and hybrid organic/inorganic materials and then CIS/CIGS.
• Thin film/organic PV is also generating buzz in the industry and several companies have received large VC rounds. Major multinationals are also supporting this technology as Honda has announced it will soon start full-scale production of thin film PV and Shell has just sold off its conventional PV business to focus on thin film. On the other hand, NanoMarkets points out that thin film and organic PV is also a technology space that has received its fair share of hype and controversy with competing claims by different manufacturers on where and how it can be applied and disputes over conversion efficiencies and costs per watt.

The New York times has an article (free registration required) on newspapers going electronic. The Belgian newspaper “De Tijd” is currently running a trial (Mobile Read article) with the iRex iLiad Reader. [via Engadget]

A while ago a group at Philips research presented (’Video-speed electronic paper based on electrowetting‘, Nature Vol. 425, pp. 383-385, 25 September 2003; link to pdf reprint) a novel display type based on the principle of electrowetting.
Liquavista, a spin-out with New Venture Partners as main investor and Philips remaining a shareholder, is now commercialising this technology (press release).

Some of the benefits compared to other display technologies are:

• video speed
• low power consumption
  (less need for supplimentary illumination)
• indoor & outdoor usability
• no inherent limit on viewing angle

Regarding the manufacturing process, Liquavista is building on existing LCD technoloy:

To contemplate the development and promotion of a new technology, without considering accessibility of large scale manufacturing resource would challenge the benefits of even the most exciting of technologies. That is why, from the outset, Liquavista has developed electrowetting display technology to be almost entirely compatible with existing display manufacturing techniques and processes. […]
A proprietary low cost, scalable fill process, performed at the bipane level, and patented by Liquavista, improves further on the standard LCD manufacturing cycle.

More background information here.

Quantum Paper Inc. (nothing on their website yet) appears to be a relatively new player in the electronic paper business.

According to PrintWeek, the company claims it has created the “first production quantities”:

The US firm said its paper features an electronic display that can be printed on ordinary paper, board or plastic. […]
President Michael Feldman said: […] “The technology is prototype, but we hope to roll out licences for printers to make electronic paper-based displays later this year. “It is made on paper by standard printing presses, with no need for specialised gear.”
Chief technology officer Dr William Ray said: “It is one of the most important developments in printing in more than 10 years. “The paper is a unique marriage between the relative simplicity and low cost of printing and the high technology of pixel-based electronic displays.” He claimed it had the potential to replace mobile phone and computer screens, interactive billboards and high-definition TVs at a “fraction of today’s cost”.

Unfortunately no technical information yet, but some more PR at package printing:

“This technology has the potential to transform printing as we know it,” says Dr. William J. Ray, the principal inventor and Quantum Paper’s chief technology officer. “It is no exaggeration to call Quantum Paper’s electronic paper as one of the most important developments in the printing industry in more than 100 years.”
The technology can also be used to create the equivalent of television on paper. Quantum Paper has fully addressable, high-quality dynamic color displays under development with the potential of replacing conventional cell phone and PDA screens, computer monitors, interactive billboards, electronic wallpaper, and high-definition televisions at a fraction of today’s cost.
“Quantum Paper’s electronic paper is a unique marriage between the relative simplicity and low cost of conventional printing and the high technology of pixel-based electronic displays,” said Ray. “The performance of our displays meets or exceeds that of competing technologies but our electronic paper can be manufactured at such a low cost as to be considered disposable.”

[via MobileRead]

The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) has been awarded a $1.7M R&D contract by the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC)

to develop the process technology and know-how to produce amorphous silicon thin film transistors (a-Si TFTs) on a clear, high temperature-capable polymer foil substrate.

[…] organic substrates cannot withstand typical TFT semiconductor on glass processing temperatures of >300°C. The Princeton program is based on a new type of clear, flexible polymer substrate that is capable of use at these “glass-like” processing temperatures.

The two-year program has several important milestones. For example, by the end of Year 1, a best effort will be made to demonstrate an electrophoretic test array and an OLED test array on the plastic substrate. […]
The principal investigators, Wagner and PRISM director Dr. James Sturm, have been working on experimental substrates for some time and have made a-Si TFTs at 280° C with performance nearly identical to typical TFTs made on glass. Applied Materials’ subsidiary, AKT, will collaborate to investigate the scale up of these materials using industry-standard fabrication tools.

According to their press release

Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. has developed an amorphous oxide semiconductor thin film transistor (TFT) array and succeeded in driving an electrophoretic E Ink front panel laminate to fabricate a prototype flexible electronic paper display.

Apparently the amorphous InGaZnO semiconductor used here has a higher charge carrier mobility (> 5cm^2/Vs) than a-Si and can be deposited at room temperature. Flexible TFTs based on a-InGaZnO were first demonstrated by Professor Hosono and coworkers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Nomura et al, Nature 432, 488 (2004)).
All layers of the 2 inch diagonal (80 x 60 pixels) display were deposited onto the flexible PEN substrate by sputtering, but Toppan plans to deposit and pattern some of the layers by printing.

Toppan plans to develop flexible TFTs with goals to commercialize thin, lightweight and flexible displays such as electronic paper, starting with a practical prototype display in fiscal 2008. In parallel, we aim to introduce printing methods into the fabrication process of flexible TFTs for simplification and cost reduction.

Note: This research was reported at IDW’05 as EP2-4L (International Display Workshop, Dec.6-9, 2005, Takamatsu, Japan)