Seiko Epson develops high-resolution e-paper

Japan's Seiko Epson Corp. has developed a prototype electronic-paper display that offers the world's highest resolution, the company said Monday.

The 7.1-inch screen that Seiko Epson has developed is approximately the same size as an A6 piece of paper (105 millimeters by 148mm) and has a resolution of 1,536 pixels by 2048 pixels, the company said.

Electronic paper is a hot area of display research at present. The screens are made on sheets of plastic and so are flexible and thin just like a piece of paper, hence their name. Developers envisage that they could be used as foldable or rollable displays instead of newspapers. Because they are digital, the news could be updated in real time or even include video.

The prototype screen combines several technologies that Seiko Epson has previously developed, said Alastair Bourne, a spokesman for the company, which is based in Suwa, Japan. The technologies include flexible memory chips, development of which was announced last year. The chips can be built onto the same plastic substrate as the display and can bend with the screen.

The screen is partly based on technology from E Ink Corp. The two companies and Seiko Watch Corp. last year began sales of a wristwatch with a flexible electronic paper display. The new prototype display is not only bigger than that used in the watch but is also an active type, which means it can show moving images. The watch display wasn't capable of that, said Epson.

IDG News Service

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