PVI: Towards a Flexible E-Book Reader
Development of Gen II e-book readers- EPLaR
Being thinner, flexible and more robust, Gen II e-book readers are currently being developed and will be replacing their heavier, rigid predecessors.
E-ink has made demonstrators with 8 different partners but mass manufacturing is not so easy.
The EPLaR (Electronics on Plastic by Laser Release) process was developed by Philips in the EU FlexiDis programme from 2005 to 2007, most notably with Thales-LCD. EPLaR was subsequently licensed to PVI in May 2007. Using their experience in manufacturing electrophoretic displays on glass, PVI are using the EPLaR process to develop their flexible electronic paper. 95% of the process is identical to the glass electronic paper manufacture and this facilitates the transition from rigid to flexible mass production. The use of well-established a-Si TFTs minimizes the need for acquiring new equipment and so, product release is predicted by PVI for 2009.
The company also has activities on developing wearable displays, secondary displays for laptops and mobile phones as well as electronic shelf labels and smart cards.