Press Release
E INK HONORED BY AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
E Ink Scientists Receiving ACS Award For Team Innovation For Aiding In The Development of Next-Generation Visual Communications
Cambridge, MA. - April 9, 2002 – E Ink Corporation, the leading developer and marketer of electronic ink technology for paper-like displays, today announced that scientists from E Ink and Lucent would be receiving the American Chemical Society (ACS) 2002 National Award for Team Innovation for their work in furthering the developments of electronic paper. Karl Amundson, Paul Drzaic, Ananth Dodabalapur, Zhenan Bao and John Rogers will receive their award in a special ceremony today at the 223rd ACS National Meeting in Orlando, Fla. A symposium in honor of the team will be held on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 9 at the ACS meeting. Several team members will give presentations at that symposium.
E Ink and Lucent entered into a joint development agreement in October 1999 to co-develop a flexible, plastic electronic display made entirely with a process similar to ink-on-paper printing. One year later the two companies jointly demonstrated working prototypes built on thin sheets of plastic, an important step in the march towards electronic paper and next-generation displays.
The prototypes consist of a 25-square-inch display area made up of several hundred pixels. The displays were constructed using two ground-breaking developments: E Ink's electronic ink and Lucent's active-matrix drive circuits printed on plastic, which were developed by Bell Labs, Lucent's research and development unit. The transistors in these circuits are made of plastic materials and are fabricated with a low-cost printing process that uses high-resolution rubber stamps. Their switching properties are similar to typical thin film transistors made with silicon and conventional fabrication methods, but they are mechanically flexible, rugged and lightweight. The electronic ink enables the display's paper-like qualities: extraordinary brightness and contrast under a wide range of lighting conditions; easy viewing from all angles; low power consumption; and plastic film construction.
"E Ink's work with Lucent proved plastic transistors work well with electronic ink and are one option in the commercialization of RadioPaper™, E Ink's ultimate vision for a dynamic high-resolution electronic display that combines a paper-like reading experience with the ability to access information anytime, anywhere," said Karl Amundson, research associate at E Ink. "Our work with Lucent was a significant milestone in the development of electronic paper and in the future we see a wide variety of applications for electronic ink displays, including in PDAs, cell phones, point-of-purchase retail signage, and thin, portable electronic books and newspapers."
Additionally, Amundson and Rogers will present in the Industrial Pavilion at the Society Meeting. This presentation is part of a session entitled "Communication Trends: An Industrial Snapshot into the Materials and Technology Development of Electronic Paper and Ink, and will take place on Monday, April 8 from 3:30-4:30pm.
The American Chemical Society is a non-profit organization composed of more that 163,000 members. The society publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry.
The Team Innovation Awards highlight the value and importance of technical teams and teamwork to the chemical and allied industries by recognizing a multidisciplinary team for successfully moving an innovative idea to a product now in commercial use. Past winners of this award include Corning, Inc. (1996), DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. (1997), Procter & Gamble Co. (1999) and Shell Chemical Co. (2000).
About E Ink Holdings
Founded in 1992 by Taiwan's leading papermaking and printing group YFY (1907.TW), E Ink Holdings Inc. "E Ink" (8069.TW) is the pioneer of TFT and ePaper business in Taiwan. Its corporate philosophy aims to deliver revolutionary products, user experiences, and environmental benefits through advanced technology development. This vision has led to its continuous investments in the field of ePaper display as well as its 2008 acquisition of Hydis Technologies, manufacturer of the world's best wide viewing angle LCDs and its 2009 acquisition of E Ink Corp., the worldwide leader in ePaper. Listed in Taiwan's GreTai Securities Market and the Luxembourg market, E Ink is now the world's largest supplier of displays to the eBook market. For corporate information, please visit www.einkgroup.com; for EPD information, please visit www.eink.com / tw.eink.com; and for FFS information, please visit www.hydis.com.