October 20, 2008 Electronic paper is one of those technologies that offers obvious benefits. It provides highly visible displays in direct sunlight due to its reliance on reflected light to view text and images, and it is much more energy efficient as it can retain images without constant refreshing. With a number of different technologies vying for the e-paper crown and the financial reward such a title would bring, Samsung has demonstrated the world’s first carbon nanotube-based color active matrix electrophoretic display (EPD) e-paper at the International Meeting on Information Display (iMiD) at KINTEX, Ilsan, Korea.
The new color e-paper device is a 14.3-inch format display and is the result of an ongoing joint development program between Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Unidym, who developed the carbon nanotube (CNT) transparent electrode the e-paper device uses.
EPD’s have inherent advantages over traditional flat panel displays due to their low power consumption and bright light readability, which make them well suited for handheld and mobile applications. Since they can be produced on thin, flexible substrates, EPD’s also are ideally suited for use in e-paper applications.
Samsung demonstrated the world’s first 2.3-inch black and white active matrix EPD made with carbon nanotubes in May of this year, and now they have demonstrated the first color large scale EPD e-paper device, in an A4 format.